During the Card Everyone project, I’m pulling cards out of the box of people who are total strangers.  Maybe I met them at a trade show.  Maybe we didn’t even meet, but they dropped a business card in my “enter to win” fish bowl.  Maybe they visited one of the many networking groups I’ve been apart of over the years.

So it’s always a little awkward when I draw one of those names out the box to call on.  But there’s still value in calling these people!

In fact, I think that part of what is going to be revealed throughout this process is something that I FEEL to be true.  But now we’ll have some data to back it up.  And it’s this:

No contact in your database is TRULY dead until you want it to be.

I’ve heard experts encourage rating people in your database.  Go through it, give everyone a grade.  A, B, C, and delete.  I’m not saying that’s bad advice, but how do you really KNOW someone is worthy of deletion?

Let’s face it, most of the time it is because we’re too LAZY to reach out and figure it out.  Or it’s too AWKWARD.  And we don’t know what to say so we just say, “Yep, they’re a Delete!”

I would submit to you that before you send that contact to your computer’s recycle bin, at least TRY to reach out.

Once you’ve tried, you can safely delete.

But before that, you just don’t know.

The call on this video is a great example of what I’m talking about.

I called on a perfect stranger, just because his business card crossed my path at some point in the past decade.  Really, let”s all admit that is one that we would usually pass right over, thinking it would be a waste of time.

Sometimes it might be.  But sometimes you may find a reason to explore further possibilities.  And who knows?  This could lead to a great business connection.  I’ll let you know after we meet in person next week.

In the meantime, watch how this awkward follow up call to a total stranger in my database becomes an appointment set!