Written by: Garry Gamber
Being
able to bring up the topic of nutrition or the topic of home businesses
during a conversation is an important part of prospecting. We develop a
formal technique for cold calling but we want to be able to talk to
friends, acquaintances, and certain strangers in a warm, easy, natural,
and informal way. In some ways bringing up a business topic in informal
situations is more difficult than it is in more formal settings.
The best advice is to be conversational and natural with people.
In informal situations topics should come up easily and
naturally. The conversation should not be forced and good humor
should be used. However, what people often don’t appreciate is
that being “easy and natural” generally has to be learned and
practiced. Good conversational ice breakers may not seem natural
to a person when first used. But with good practice and usage
they become natural. Remember how uncomfortable it felt as a
child to talk to people? Practice, practice, practice.
So, what are some good ice breakers? See if some of the ideas in the list below help you.
Books
Carry Dr. Ray Strand’s book, What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About
Nutrition May Be Killing You. The book can be placed in a
location that will cause people to notice it and ask questions.
Or when you see someone glance at the book you can make an appropriate
comment about it to get the conversation started. A good
provocative statement to use early in the conversation would be, “This
book helped me to think about nutrition in a very different way.”
Carry Robert Allen’s book, Multiple Streams of Income. As with
Dr. Strand’s book, place this book in a convenient spot and wait for
comments and opportunities to open a conversation with. Also, use
a similar provocative statement like, “This book helped me to think
about wealth and income in a very different way.”
There are numerous other books, even magazines that you can carry to
accomplish the same goals. The choices are up to your imagination
and familiarity with the literature.
Brochures
As with books, product brochures and catalogs can also be carried and
placed in such a way as to spur a person’s interest. One of the
advantages of a brochure or a catalog is that it can be given to the
prospect who has shown interest. The brochure should have your
name and contact information on it somewhere.
Business Cards
It’s hard to start a conversation with a business card, but they should
be handy to give away once the conversation has been started. The
card can have an interesting design or provocative facts to help elicit
a comment and further conversation.
Carrying Bag
This is not an ice breaker but it is a good idea to carry books,
brochures, catalogs, business cards, and products with you in your
car. Put them into a canvas bag that can be purchased at a craft
store or a discount store inexpensively. Have your children
decorate the bag and you’ll enjoy keeping it in the car at all
times. You may think of additional items that you want to have
handy in the bag. That way you will be prepared for a variety of
situations.
Signs
Have you noticed how many people have magnetic signs on the side or the
back of their vehicle? They are quite noticeable and not
prohibitively expensive. The signs produce many questions and
comments, and if the phone number is easy to read and remember, you’ll
receive some phone calls. It pays to advertise.
Lapel Pin
I’m sure you notice the pins that people wear on their shirt or
jacket. Well, other people will notice yours if you wear
one. Either someone will ask you about the pin or you will notice
someone glancing at it and you can start a conversation about it.
Call it a pin of achievement so that you can talk about success.
Button
Similar to a lapel pin, a good button can initiate a
conversation. Buttons often are humorous, sometimes large and
gaudy, so the conversation they start may be different from the one
started by a lapel pin.
Friends and Acquaintances
How are you doing? Certainly this is the most obvious ice breaker
question to ask and it is appropriate to ask of strangers as well as of
friends. If the person goes into some detail about how they are
feeling and doing healthwise, you have the perfect opportunity to talk
about your nutrition products. Do so with a conversational tone
and ask numerous questions about the other person’s health. Since
people like to talk about themselves this will build a significant
amount of trust. Then, add some testimonials from your own
experience or from someone else’s experience. The stories help to
ensure your position as an expert on the subject.
If the person does not respond to your question with details about
their own health, you do have the opportunity to talk about your
own. You can talk about how you recently recovered from a cold or
slight illness that didn’t last nearly as long or was nearly as severe
as such illnesses used to be. The reason? The new
nutritional supplements that you are now taking. Be sure to add
that these products have gotten you to thinking about health in a very
different way.
Perhaps you have not had an illness in a very long time and your health
is super. That’s good to talk about, and the reason your health
is so good is because of the nutritional supplements that you have been
taking regularly.
Has someone in your family recently recovered from a mild
illness? Talk about them. Or perhaps someone in the family
is not taking the same nutritional supplements that you are and they
have had some recent illnesses that they did not recover from
quickly. Both types of stories will allow you to talk about the
nutritional products and the business opportunity that goes with it.
What have you been doing lately? People usually respond to such a
question with remarks about working hard as usual and not having enough
time for anything else. They’re busy, busy, busy. This
presents a good opportunity to talk about how a good home business
would allow them possibly to replace their current income and give them
the time freedom that they want and deserve.
Ask the person if there have been any layoffs at their workplace.
If there have been, then you’ll be able to talk about backup plans and
residual income. You can point out how wise it is to take action
now just in case something happens to their current job.
Usually the person will return the question and inquire about what you
have been doing recently. With that opening you can freely talk
about your favorite business opportunity in appropriate detail.
Be sure to ask some questions here so that you know how much detail is
appropriate. Avoid boring the person and losing out on the chance
to follow up with them at a later date. Your objective is to
inspire their curiosity and then ask their permission to send them more
information about the products or opportunity or to make a personal
presentation.
Have you found any good money making ideas? It’s okay to ask an
off the wall question of someone who knows you. Their answer may
surprise you. You may find that they have no desire to do
anything other than what they have been doing for years. Or you
may find that they have been actively looking for a good idea.
Probably they will ask you if you have found a good money making idea.
Give an enthusiastic response and then ask for their permission to
share your idea with them.
Strangers
How are you doing? The same advice applies here as under
the Friends heading. Look for the opportunity to say good things
about the nutritional supplements that you are using. Be
sure to add that these are not just good products but this is a good
business.
What do you do? Listen intently to their answer so that you can
detect any dissatisfaction with their current situation. Ask a
few appropriate questions and show an interest in what they do.
Hopefully they will return the question to you. Even if they
don’t return the question you have the chance here to give them your 30
second introduction.
You should have a 30 second intro, sometimes called an elevator speech,
already thought out and rehearsed. This short speech should
mention the problem that you help to solve, give a short statement
about how you solve the problem, and provide an opening for the other
person to learn more. If it is provocative and with some humor,
so much the better.
Here’s a short example: “You know how as people get older they
start to think more and more about their health and about
retirement? What I do is teach people how to improve their health
and how to add sources of income to their lives.” If you are
truly in an elevator or some other very brief meeting situation you
might add, “Could I talk to you sometime about some ideas I have that
would benefit you? Perhaps we could meet? Do you have a
card? Here is mine.”
If the time element is not so short you should have the basis for the
start of a good conversation. Just keep it lively and full of
self confidence. Let the other person pick up on how satisfied
you are with what you are doing.
Conclusion
Practice, practice, practice as many of these ideas as you can.
Add your own ideas. A few failures will help to guide you to
success. A few successes will build your confidence. I
believe that the learning curve is fairly fast here, and eventually you
will find that being able to bring up your products and opportunity in
a conversation is easy and natural.
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Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He
writes articles about real estate, health and nutrition, and internet
dating services. He is the owner of Anchorage-Homes.com and
TheDatingAdvisor.com.