The 1-6-10 Rule

Here's my method for knuckling down and making sure those calls get made (They are not Cold Calls, they are Introductory Calls).
My objectives are to make 1 new prospect per day, retain 6 contacts, issue 10 emails.
1 Prospect
· (1) I locate the prime candidate in the one to four news releases harvested by Weather Vain from Canada News Wire.
· (2) I build a dossier on that company
· (3) I telephone them to obtain 2 emails
· (4) I build the letter
· (5) I send the letter
· (6) I make a follow-up telephone call
· (7) I record the result.
Now I don't do all that in one day.
On Monday I'll do steps (1) and (2).
On Tuesday I'll do step (3) for the company I located last Friday.
On Wednesday I'll be doing step (5) for the company I located last Thursday
And so on. With each prospect there is a time to work on that prospect, and a time to let it lie. For another example, I ALWAYS leave the draft letter overnight and re-read it the next day.
It is important to introduce a new prospect into the pipeline EACH DAY and to keep the pipeline moving.
6 Contacts
· (1) I locate the "stalest" contact in my Contacts database.
· (2) I phone and chat or leave a voice-mail asking them to call me back.
· (3) I record the result
Each day I'll perform that sequence for the 6 stalest contacts, where THE stalest contact is the one whose record has the lowest date-last-modified value. That is, it's been the longest time since I spoke with them.
I am asking them to call me back because I am in a process of removing dead-wood contacts from my list – prospects with who I've had no significant conversation – to make room for better prospects.
If they don't call me back within 2 weeks, I delete them from the database.
10 eMails
· (1) I locate 10 potential email contacts from my MASS database culled from Canada News Wire.
· (2) I locate their web page
· (3) I load their web page to the email database
· (4) I phone them with an offer
· (5) I send them an email
· (6) I record the result.
Each day I'll touch 10 potential users of Indxr and try to get them to try it.
A positive result means they are added to my list as new contacts, of better quality than those I have identified as dead wood.
A positive result also means they are candidates for a future emailing about other products and services.
The Daily Quota
This won't work unless I apply myself rigorously to the process.

Here is the one-page form I print out and maintain in my 3-ring binder marketing diary.
By the end of the day, the 2nd and 3rd tables should be filled in completely.
By the end of a fortnight, the top table should be filled in completely.
Stragglers (more recent than a fortnight) will see the top table in various stages of completion.
Logging the Time
If like me you use a time-logging device (BillT is my choice) then assign a generic code for prospecting and a specific code for each of Prospect, Contact and Emails, thus "PROSPECTP", "PROSPECTC" AND "PROSPECTE".
Now you can keep track of the hours you spend prospecting 'PROSPECT" and the time on each separate task.
You have budgeted your time, so you can see how well you are going.
When to Call?
Obviously you can research the web name and so on out-of-hours.
Many telephone calls can be made outside of regular business hours if you feel that a voice-mail will suffice, but CAUTION: Small businesses run out of a home office will NOT appreciate a call when you can't sleep at 3 a.m., and some corporate types will forward their office number to their mobile phone so that they can annoy the rest of us while we are reading on the bus. They won't appreciate a 3 a.m. call either!
Voice-Mail Script
A standard script, with optional variations, will help you to leave a professional message when your contact can not or does not pick up their phone.
Don't spend more than five minutes on a script.
Build it like any business letter, with a Goal. Name and phone as the first two and last two words. Speak slowly and crisply – don't make them rewind!
Monitor your voice with a digital recording device; my voice tends to creep to a higher octave with anxiety, so I work to tone it down.
Make notes on your script "("I wish I'd [not] said that"!) and refine it as you go.
· Pay especial attention to every voice mail you receive.
Which ones fire YOU up? Since you are looking for contacts who (are) like you, the same style will probably fire them up too!
Steal ruthlessly!
For the results, please read The 1-6-10 Rule – How Did it Work?