It Doesn't Matter Who You Know, it Matters Who THEY Know

When I work with someone developing their contacts, I encourage him/her to not pre-judge anyone as a good or bad prospect. just write down everyone you can think of.You might say that you only know a few people. Well, think about this interesting tidbit: if you were to pass away, God forbid, the funeral home would print up an average of 285 prayer cards to be given away to those who attended your wake and funeral. So, get going, and make a list of as many people as you can think of.A technique which was taught to me that I regularly use is randomly cracking open the white pages and going down a few columns. I look at the first names and ask my new representative "Who do you know named Sam?", "Who do you know named Mary?", "Who do you know named Tom?, etc. I them use the yellow pages and ask "Who is your accountant?", "Who is your hair stylist?", "Who is your pet groomer?", etc.I will be honest with you, no one enjoys this exercise. For me, I positively loath this process preferring online network marketing by a long shot. However, this is extremely effective at initially at getting a new representative's business off the ground while you are teaching that new representative how to market their business online.It really does not matter who you know, it matters who THEY know. Think about it. You might pre-judge a co-worker as not fitting in to your business and not put him/her on your list. This could be a mistake because this person could know the next network marketing superstar.Let me give you an example. When I was with a network marketing company which was about to introduce their network marketing company into China, I found someone I sponsored who was a part-time Chinese restaurant waitress and a full-time Chinese educator in Boston. Unfortunately she had done little to build her business beyond consuming our products. I met with her and she said my timing was excellent as she would be visiting relatives in China during the upcoming summer months.Her brother, a mayor-type of office holder, joined our company. Once he did, he sponsored in hundreds of other representatives which accounted for large group volume numbers.Had I not added this part-time Chinese waitress on my list, I would not have benefited from that volume. It really did not matter that I knew her, what mattered is who she knew.