Brande and I decided to try some local promoting. So, we made up some telephone pole signs, yard signs, drop cards, etc. with a catchy message and our telephone number.

We went all about town handing this stuff out, sticking up signs, and putting things on windshields. We even discovered one competing network marketing company's Atlanta convention and put windshield circulars on all the cars on the parking lot.

We spent about two weeks doing this. Everywhere we went we would leave drop cards and circulars. Brande would hop out of the truck, dash across several lanes of traffic dodging horn blowing automobiles, hold a sign up against a telephone pole.. whack it with a hammer tacker (a staple gun that works like a hammer).. and dodge back through the traffic and jump into the truck hollering "GO! GO!".

What was the result of our hard effort and life-threatening antics? A handful of phone calls.. not counting the three calls from local police departments politely urging us not to hang signs on telephone poles in their jurisdictions again. We were very disappointed.

A few days later I was driving down the road with my mind deep in thought trying to figure out why our local prospecting campaign flopped.

I knew the problem wasn't the message on the signs and hand-outs. I composed the messages myself. Ya'll know what great composition skills I have. (ugh!)

I also knew it wasn't our voice-mail message. Very few ever heard it because no-one was bothering to dial the number. So what could it possibly be?

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Then, as I was driving past a new car lot and thinking of stopping in to look at the latest pickemup trucks, but thinking better of it because I did not want to be eaten by the sharks (salespersons) in the parking lot, a spark ignited in my head. The problem with our local prospecting campaign was simply the lack of two words in my otherwise perfectly and elegantly composed message: "pre-recorded message."

People want information. They do not want to be bothered with someone giving them a hard-sell when they are just looking. Ask any furniture salesperson. Nine out of ten times when they ask someone who is lying on the couch in the showroom with their hand down their britches "May I help you?", the answer is "Naw, I am just looking."

People want to "just look", and they will ask for help when they want it! So, I added the words "pre-recorded message" to the message on our materials, and Brande and I went to work again.

This time the response was overwhelming! We were getting 10 to 20 calls each day, and a number of them were leaving us messages to call them back! We hit the gold-mine!

Today, we contract with a local answering service to handle our calls. Callers are played a sales-pitch that lasts a little more than 5 minutes. At the end of the message they are given the option to 1) hang up now, 2) press zero for a live operator (who asks them some pre-qualifying questions and forwards them to Brande's cell phone if she is available), and 3) to leave their name and phone number and Brande will call them back.

By using the answering service, we are able to post ads anywhere and everywhere we want, and home business opportunity seekers are able to call the number 24 hours a day - seven days a week, and hear what the opportunity is about. Lately we have also been posting ads on internet sites with our toll-free number, leaving off our URL and e-mail address. The response we get is surprising.

The pre-recorded message also serves as a pre-qualifier. In our message we tell them that an investment is required, that they must have a checking account or charge card, and they will need to work hard at least 5 to 10 hours a week. If they leave their name and number then they are dead serious about earning an income from home. Thus, we do not waste our time trying to weed out the suspects from the prospects. Our pre-recorded message does it for us. All we have to do is feed callers into it.

If you want a great prospecting tool that works 24 hours a day - seven days a week, give voice mail a try. You will be glad you did.

Brande and Chris Bradford are active participants in a home based business opportunity and are the publishers of GREAT HEIGHTS, a monthly newsletter focused on home based business issues. To subscribe to their newsleter, send a blank e-mail to: Great-Heights-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit: http://www.brandebradford.com