I’ve been in sales now for nearly ten years. When I first set foot into the role, I panicked at the idea of sales prospecting. How was I going to do cold outreach and convince people to speak with me? I’m a relationship person, you see, so the thought of picking up the phone or sending an email asking for someone’s time to let me pitch to them was the rudest thing I could imagine.

I started to hit the pavement, had some success, but it never seemed to be with the right targets. The people I wanted to talk to weren’t interested in responding to my emails. Life was rough…

The Golden Rule of Sales Prospecting

I spent some time with one of my mentors, Jim Durham, who kindly suggested that I scour his LinkedIn for connections. He was then the Chief Marketing Officer of a prominent law firm, and was incredibly well connected.

He trusted me to reach out to anyone that I’d love to meet with and mention that we know each other. How could I turn down this generous offer?