Building Your Contact List

Dear Nikken Friend,

Everyone has said, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” And this is most certainly true in Network Marketing. And stepping forward on this, “It’s not who you know. It’s who they know that matters.” If you want to build a strong business, it is imperative that you build a strong contact list. A great list is not simply a reflection of who you are, it is so much more. An effective list has people on it who are interested in what you do or what you are about?

Contact lists have changed over the years, haven’t they? I remember when I was 22 and I joined a network marketing company in England. The first task given me was to build a list of 100 people who I knew and contact at least three people a day, inviting them to a presentation. Then, by the end of the month I should have at least three new people in my business as a result, and I would be on my way. The challenge was – I didn’t know 100 people (or so I thought). I was new to the country. I was young. I didn’t have any relationship with my bank manager, my chiropractor, my accountant… actually I didn’t even have an accountant or a chiropractor. I left one of the early business meetings feeling like my hopes and dreams for success were evaporating. It baffles me how people could simply just keep reaching out to new people and keep finding new connections all the time.

Fortunately, now, today, we live in a world that is built to support our business model better than ever before. Now, if I were to ask you to go to your contact list on your cell phone, you would probably already have over 100 people in it. Great! But that doesn’t really make it your contact list does it! You probably have in the hundreds of people that you’re connected with on Facebook also? Fantastic. But I’m guessing that they aren’t necessarily all contact list people either correct? So where is the sweet spot? How do you create a list of ongoing people that share values, interests and goals?

The primary task is to create a list not of 100 people, but of 100 ways to find people. And let’s not be vague or ambiguous. Let me give you some examples:

Wrong examples:

  1. Social media
  2. Special interest groups
  3. People I bump into each day

Effective examples:

  1. Facebook
    • Facebook ads
    • Facebook groups – healthy living/water/lifestyle/entrepreneurship/sports performance/parents/alternative therapies/etc.
    • Create my own Facebook groups
    • Engage in conversations
    • Private Message people I’m talking with to move them to my contact list
    • Facebook Live meetings
  2. LinkedIn
    • Make new connections and start conversations
    • Post blogs
    • LinkedIn Live
    • LinkedIn Ads
    • Follow LinkedIn Influencers on key issues: entrepreneurship/business/trends/social media experts/leadership/etc.

Do you notice the key difference? The first one is a broad-brush view of who you can connect with. It’s superficial and doesn’t encourage engagement or lead to strategy and action. The second is specific, meaningful, detailed and engaging. It also leads to action and suggests strategy and activity that should follow as a result.

The key in developing 100 different ways to connect with people is to identify and appreciate a few key points:

  1. This is a creative idea finding exercise. You are not required to engage all 100 ways to build your business. The objective here is to reveal so many different ways that you are given the realisation that you can tap into a few and get building with confidence. You choose which ones work best for you. You choose which methods fit your skill set and which methods you want to learn and develop. You decide which are the most effective.
  2. The key here also is to find people of influence who have networks already. Not competitive networks where you are reaching out to other MLM’s and trying to poach them. Delve a few layers deeper and look for complimentary but non-competitive niches and interests: sports performance, recovery, healthy living, entrepreneurship, parenting etc. People that are influencers here don’t compete with you but they do have huge networks of people that share interests. Connect, support them and invite them to support you back. Cross-pollinate. There is great value in doing this.

Our invitation to you today is to build a strong and robust, dynamic contact list that has value. We want you to see the opportunities that are ahead as you see the benefit of cross pollination with other non-competitive groups and individuals. We have so much in front of us. Let’s make the most of it.

Much love

Ben and Dave