Prospecting and Pools

Prospecting and Pools…..


This morning while I was vacumming our pool manually, I started mulling over in my head the way prospecting related to owning a pool. This is our third year with the pool, and let me say right off the bat, that it was not an enjoyable task as my husband did not want it in the first place. He knew most of the work would fall on his shoulders once it was installed, at least that is what he thought. But with todays technology, owning your own pool is a breeze, it is a one two three step process, and once you get it set up, the rest of the summer is a breeze. Kind of like owning your own home business!

So here are some ways that I compare the two. First we had to make the decision to get the pool—I didn’t have the support of my husband to make this decision—yet I investigated the pros and cons, and made the decision and was going to do it with or without his blessing. See I knew that in the beginning, it was going to take extra effort to have it installed, extra money to pay for it, and it would take extra time to learn how it all worked. But I also knew the end result would be that my kids and I could relax in our own backyard, swim at our leisure, and not have to compete with a whole group of people for swimming space, chairs, tables, and everything else that goes along with a public pool or beach. Just like with prospecting, in the beginning you have to invest, time and money to learn the skills necessary and to have the right tools. But the end result is you get to do and have all that you want. .

So we had it in installed and together we learned how to operate it. But it wasn’t until this morning as I pushed and pulled the vacuum back and forth attempting to pick up all the dirt that was on the bottom, that the comparisons hit me. Why, because here I was doing the first vacuum of the year manually, back and forth, back and forth, following a system to be sure I didn’t miss any dirt. A system that was crucial to the pool operating on autopilot the rest of the summer. A system that we as networkers follow to get our prospects to take a look at our opportunity. The vacuum did not pick up every piece, just as some prospects won’t take a look, or won’t be interested in what it is we are doing. There were some pieces that just were not ready to be sucked up and taken to the filter, they wanted to stay in the water and float around a bit, and try a different part of the pool. A bit like prospects that float through your system, but never do anything. But the end result was that eventually they would have to deal with change, because if I didn’t get them with the manual vacuum, the automatic ladybug would get them at some point.

Now I could have started vacuuming with no system and went back and forth in the pool just stirring everything up but not learning the exact method to get the most dirt up the first time, and I know that I would have to keep doing the same thing over and over, and over again, with the same result—a dirty pool. But if I perfected my method, I could get the most dirt the first time around and only have to spend one morning manually vacuuming, and the rest of the summer just putting the automatic ladybug in the pool. As in prospecting, perfect your methods, connect with more people, bring more people thru the system, yes some will disappear and float off, but at some point it will become automatic, and more and more people will be duplicating your efforts all the time, with less and less effort on your part.

So what did I do when I was done vacuuming, after I jumped in the cool clean water, I came inside and prospected for a couple of hours while the kids continued swimming, safe in my own backyard.

See it isn’t about the quantity of time you put in, but the quality.

Just Keep Swimming!