Back in 2005 I was cold calling for a charity.

I did this for a few reasons — to get better at:

  1. Handling rejection; and
  2. Selling in hard environments.

We were given leads, but they were not qualified.

It was basically a glorified Whitepages.

So, what would happen was:

  1. I’d get a set of unqualified lead;
  2. Try to sell to them; and
  3. Eventually close a sale based purely on sheer numbers.

That experience taught me that you shouldn’t sell straight away!

Well, sell, but just not in the way we know…

…Sell unqualified prospects to become qualified leads, not customers.

There is a sales process that follows how people like to buy.

Skip steps and you play a numbers game.

But, let’s say you don’t want to use the Whitepages and you have found another channel you’d like to use.

You can’t just pitch the gatekeeper of that list to help you.

Well you can, but you’ll be doing a lot of hard work (and they will likely mock you behind your back.)

So what you need to do is:

  • Contact the gatekeeper;
  • Add value to them; and
  • Ask them or reciprocal favours by way of access to the attention, awareness or traffic they control.

To add value, you need them to:

  1. Know you;
  2. Like you; and
  3. Trust you.

This may be done, for example by:

  1. Following the gatekeeper;
  2. Promoting what they produce; and
  3. Completing a task for them which they find valuable.

Everyone skips this.

It is the secret sauce.

The silver bullet.

Now, asking for reciprocal favours by way of access to the attention, awareness or traffic they control, you need to simply ask them to promote your offer.

An offer isn’t a product or service though!

And once they agree to promote your offer, you need to work out how you will:

  1. Bait the attention, awareness or traffic they control;
  2. Sell the attention, awareness or traffic they control;
  3. Offer something valuable to the attention, awareness or traffic they control; and
  4. Request action from the attention, awareness or traffic they control.

First, you bait prospects attention via a pattern interrupt.

A pattern interrupt is something that interrupts the ongoing and regular thoughts.

It is usually something unique or different in the form of content or ads.

The bait stops them and shows the reason why what you have is important.

Second, you sell them.

This addresses any objections and focuses on the who.

Third, you offer something.

The offer solves the objections and shows what they will get.

Again, not a product or solution at this stage.

Finally, you request action.

The request moves them to the next step and shows how and where that happens.

You are not trying to sell this person to become a customer.

You are selling them to become a qualified lead only.

Working this out was not easy for me.

I don’t know why, maybe I am a slow learner, but I have spent my 24-year career working out how to successfully sell.

I started 18 business and had 12 jobs over that time in 26 industries:

  • Hospitality;
  • Delivery;
  • Recycling;
  • Memorabilia;
  • Sponsorship;
  • Web Development;
  • Books;
  • Fandom;
  • Music;
  • Retail;
  • Agriculture;
  • Marketplace;
  • Charity;
  • Banking;
  • Entertainment;
  • Training;
  • Health & Safety;
  • Hobbies;
  • Not-For-Profit;
  • Solar;
  • Augmented Reality;
  • Software;
  • Mobile;
  • Education;
  • Adult Products; and
  • Agency.

And the culmination of all that means I now have a clear path for what to do with any attention, awareness and traffic.

But, how do you find new sources of attention, awareness and traffic in the first place to sell to?

Over the years, I created a cloud-based software tool (Gmail required) that finds new marketing channels to access.

Having software that does this in a systematic and automated way leaves you time to do more important things.

All you have to do is input a keyword and it will find:

  1. Niche Websites;
  2. Mainstream Websites;
  3. Bloggers;
  4. Instagramers;
  5. Tweeters;
  6. Twitter Lists;
  7. LinkedIn Profiles;
  8. Facebook Groups;
  9. Facebook Pages;
  10. YouTubers;
  11. YouTube Channels;
  12. Subreddits;
  13. Quora Profiles;
  14. Podcasters;
  15. Press & Media; and
  16. TikTokers.

…Which you can then:

  • Add value to them; and
  • Ask them or reciprocal favours by way of access to the attention, awareness or traffic they control.

This equals 50 channels for Mainstream Websites and Press & Media Outlets PLUS 10 channels for other 16 platforms for a total discovery of up to 240 new marketing channels per search.

So, if you have been struggling with finding new paid and earned marketing channels quickly and easily, then this new version will most likely help you!

Get your 1-day trial to this software for $1 here.

NOTE: This post originally appeared on Medium.