Gameshow Prospecting
Now this idea has the scent of genius on it. I wish I could take total credit on making this one up, but the honor goes to Peggy Duncan. Once a year Peggy sponsors “The Messiest Office Contest” and has been doing it for the past 5 years. How does it work? People send in pictures of their messy office and the winner receives 6 hours of Peggy Duncan’s time , 2 of her books and a host of products related to her business. Do you want to know who the BIG winner is? Why, its Peggy Duncan!
While there can be only 1 winner, everybody who joins in on this contest obviously needs the help of a Professional Organizer and Peggy happens to be an excellent choice! Do you see the beauty in this? She starts a contest and business comes hunting for her.
Check her out! http://duncanresource.com/2002%20messiest%20office%20contest.htm
Now consider your expertise! What kind of contest can you pitch to potential employers that will have them knocking on your door to give you their business?
Drawing a blank? Not a problem, you can go about this from another angle. How about a free training session? I received in my email the other day a sales letter announcing a free seminar on Supply-Logistics. I immediately hit “delete” because I had no interest in that. However, if this person sent news of their seminar to UPS, Airborne or Federal Express then curiosity may bring them out to the meeting. Now, arranging a free seminar could be expensive. I mean renting out a meeting hall and supplying snacks could eat at your pocketbook. Of course, there is always a cheaper alternative! (smile)
Why not approach a restaurant and convince them to give you some space for free. Afterall, you are bringing potential repeat customers into their establishment. If you don’t like the idea of a restaurant, how about the local library? A lot of people do not realize how useful a library can be. The larger libraries have meeting rooms for free and all you have to do is book them in time. Something to think about, hm?
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Comments
Here’s another idea: instead of doing an in-person meeting at a restaurant, library, etc. you could do either a webinar or a conference call. You can get a free conference call number at http://www.freeconferencecall.com or http://www.instantconference.com.
You can also record the call and use it in a podcast, as a bonus for the participants, burn it to CD and send it along with your resume (of course, if the topic is relevant for the position), have it transcribed and turned into a special report or white paper, and more. Use your imagination!
To your success,
David B. Wright
Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves
http://www.thegetajobbook.com
[...] Gameshow Prospecting If you don’t like the idea of a restaurant, how about the local library? A lot of people do not realize how useful a library can be. [...]