Do. The. Research!

This is point #2 from my previous blog post So You Have a Lead! Great! Now Close the Business!

For starters, I always like to know as much as possible about the person I am about to call.

Is the individual a friendly sort? Does he or she support societal causes? What university did the individual graduate from? Are they married? Do they have kids? Are they grandparents? Are they members of any clubs like Shiners, Rotary Club, etc.? Is the target a former athlete? What is their preferred hobby? Any associations? Is the target a lecturer, an author? Who’s their former employer? Any outstanding accomplishments? Do they do webinars? Any photos posted on the Web?

You get the idea. In short, you want to know as much about your intended target as possible.In particular, I consult Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo… and of course Google. If I find a photo I tend to post it right in front of me and I leave it there until I feel familiarity & warmth about the person. This will afford me the luxury of preparing my “persona,” something we’ll deal with in later blog posts. I may even place a call to the target’s personal assistant (PA) to gain some additional information with a simple question about the target–without disclosing my name or purpose.

For example, I may call and ask if the candidate is new to the firm, explaining that I may have known the person from a previous working relationship and that I am calling to ensure it’s the same person.

How about you? What are your techniques for getting up close and personal with your target?