Rather than give you a bunch of philosophy on the subject of prospecting, I have a short personal story from my own life that I’d like to share with you.

It illustrates exactly how I successfully applied a simple prospecting formula during an awkward and uncomfortable situation. But before I tell you my story, I want to divulge the single greatest formula I ever learned to help me determine who is a legitimate prospect and who is not. You may have already heard of it yourself… it’s called F.O.R.M.

When speaking with a new contact, you would do well to ask about their family, their occupation, and what they do for recreation to have fun. Listen carefully to their answers before delivering your message.

The acronym to remember the order of those points is “F.O.R.M”: Family, Occupation, Recreation, Message.

A REAL-LIFE STORY

I’m going to take you back to the 1990s with me. I was in Lexington, Kentucky. One of my new reps wanted to introduce me to a contact of hers, so the 3 of us met in the lobby of a local hotel. The meeting didn’t get off to a great start. Far from it. He took one look at me and immediately decided that he didn’t like me. First, I’m an Italian from New Jersey, and I’m in the South. Then, I was wearing a suit and tie.

He was just coming off a hard day’s work and was still in his work clothes. He heard my New Jersey accent and saw how dressed up I was. He felt for certain that I was NOT his kind of guy. He let me know it, too. He wouldn’t even shake my hand. I could plainly see that he was already in a defensive and irritable mood when I sat down near him. He was on guard, waiting for me to “pitch” him. But I took another approach.

FAMILY

After introducing myself and telling him just a little about me, I asked him about his family.

He told me he was married with a couple of kids.  I asked him how long he was married and how old his children were. I asked him about what he liked to do with his kids. He told me that he worked so many hours and was away from home so much that he didn’t get to see them as often as he liked.

OCCUPATION

I asked about his work. He told me he repaired elevators and that he was an experienced specialist. He’s the guy they’d call when any big building throughout the entire region had a breakdown. It meant he was out of town trouble-shooting elevator problems several weeks out of every month.

He told me they paid him well, but he was unhappy about being away from home so often. He could hardly ever make it to see his son’s Little League games.

He also told me that he was embarrassed to shake hands with people. That’s because he could never quite get all the black grease from the elevator cables out of his skin, no matter how hard he’d wash his hands. He seemed to get a little emotional when admitting that. It clearly bothered him.

RECREATION

The conversation had taken a dark turn, so I steered it in a happier direction. I asked what he liked to do for fun.

He told me he loved bass fishing and that he really enjoyed it whenever he could take his kids with him.  I wanted to know how often he went. He said, “Not often enough,” and kind of laughed a bit. He was finally loosening up a touch.

Then I asked what sort of bass fishing boat he had. Again, he gave a small laugh, a little sarcastically this time. He told me he couldn’t afford one.

So, I asked if he could buy one, what kind would he get? That got him going. He told me all about the exact type of boat he’d like, how much it would cost and all the things he would do with his kids if he had one.

We had been talking for about 20 minutes. After collecting all that information, it was time for me to deliver my message. I told him that now I understood why our mutual friend wanted us to meet. I explained that we may have just the solution to help with the things he mentioned.

I told him that with our business, he could eventually replace his income so he wouldn’t need to travel so often and could be home with his family. He’d have time to see his son’s ball games. Because the work was clean, he wouldn’t have to worry about feeling embarrassed about having dirty hands every day. It would also free him up to go fishing and even provide the extra money to get that flat-bottom fishing boat he so vividly described.

And just like that… he got it.

His whole personality changed. He smiled. He thanked me. I had given him hope for a possible solution to several of the biggest issues he was struggling with. At no time did I ever talk about our products, our company, our pay plan, or our business. I didn’t need to. That would come soon enough.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

When I first got introduced to this young man, my job was to determine whether or not he was a good prospect for our business.  If so, then I needed to help get his attitude shifted into being more open. He needed to become willing to listen to what we had to offer. He needed to be in the right frame of mind.

I did my job.

Another day soon afterward, during a business presentation, when he saw our products (which dealt with metal treatments to improve the way motors work and helped them run smoother and last longer), he immediately understood what the products did and why the business would be a good fit for him. There were NO objections to overcome. He saw a clear path to a better, happier life.

THE LESSON TO TAKE AWAY

I still recall where I was when a speaker at a big regional training event taught the F.O.R.M technique. It seemed to make perfect sense. Sitting there in that crowded room, I understood that it was a good idea, even though I hadn’t ever used it before.

But hearing a speaker talk about it, or reading it in some magazine article like you are doing now, is a far cry from actually putting this technique into practice. In order to use the F.O.R.M system correctly, you must genuinely listen to the other person. You’re seeking to determine whether he or she is a prospect or not. Do they have an actual need for what you’ve got?

You must listen to how you might apply your products or business as solutions to their problems. The more specific you are, the better. When others see how their problems can be solved with what you offer, you’ll become a recruiting machine. They’ll happily buy from you or join your business.

Doing that will enable you to build a strong, successful downline team so that you can enjoy a richer and more fulfilling life.