Let's say that over the next several months you set a goal to increase your sales and your income. You begin that plan by increasing your frequency and type of client and prospect contacts. The more opportunities you have the better chance to succeed. For example, if you are now making about 5 to 6 contacts per week and net out 1 sale, you have a 20% "hit rate" of success (1 out of every 5-6 contacts becomes a sale.) That means that if you started contacting 2 prospects or clients per day, you would double you income in a month! (10 contacts at 20% yielding 2 loans a week.)

To make this dream a reality, you first must plan a time to make it happen. If it takes you 5 hours to contact 10 people a week, you need to plan and schedule 5 hours of your 40 to 50 hour workweek to make contacts. You could allocate one full morning each week for contacts, sales calls and prospecting or you could schedule an hour a day; whatever works for you. Contacts take time and although they make you money, investing time in anything where you don't see an immediate result or return may be hard for you. You just have to believe in it and do it.

Now that you have planned the time, you must choose the method of contact. There are basically five methods of contact you can use:

   1. Face-to-face
   2. Phone
   3. Email
   4. Mail
   5. Fax

Within these means of contact you can now choose the specific activity. For face-to-face, you can make a sales visit, have lunch or go golfing. For mail you can send a letter, postcard or handwritten note. The possibilities are endless.

It should be no surprise to learn that the list above is shown in order of effectiveness. Clearly, a face-to-face sales call has a greater impact than a fax, and a personal phone conversation is more powerful than an Email. While all have their place with different prospects and targets of business, don't take the easy way out and opt for the cheapest or less risky activity. It might be much easier to blast out a fax to 30 clients, but 3 face-to-face encounters will probably get you a much better result.

Do all contacts pay off in business? Certainly not. You can come up empty more often than not. But if you never make contact or make limited contacts every month, don't be surprised when your pipeline and production numbers begin slipping fast.

Making money starts with making contacts, so pick up the phone or grab your car keys right now…and make some contacts!

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