Runner Coming Through
In the tragic aftermath of a national mystery with a vanishing mother during a morning river path dog walk later found drowned in N West England, I was glad to learn of the suggested etiquette for male joggers when passing lone female walkers in such locations.
From campaigner Jamie Klingler, who co-founded Reclaim These Streets after she herself had been accosted during her canal-side runs by men a deeply concerning eight times, giving straightforward tips.
As well as the 'runner coming past' line of this post title, she recommends adding clear directional simplicity. A further recommended trio being; excuse me, behind you, to your left.
Then politely wave a quick thanks as you trot past.
A definite no-no though is for the man to say, 'don't worry, I'm a nice guy'.
Ew.
Allied to welcome guidance for ♂ runners, I couldn't help but think of such advice when on the selling path.
I hark particularly back to cold call encounters.
Who hasn't at one time tried to mix things up a little during such a prospecting session?
'Hi, I'm cold calling...'
Spoiler alert; it doesn't really work.
Chiefly because - as I reflect on doing so in my cub rep days - they'd heard it all before.
So as an intro line it's pretty much a 'meh' generator.
The flip side of this, is when the person you reach (whether gatekeeper or intended contact) sighs, "is this a cold call?"
This can actually be related to the classic pats objection trident; no time/money, send info, not looking.
There's seldom success from a snappy rejoinder here.
I mainly kept it professional and succinct with a glimpse of intrigue.
I recall each of this trio have brought me progress.
Well, yeah, because people are pretty much unaware they can now do something in the area I specialise in...
The things you do when you try and add a node to your network...
Well, if you've caught yourself thinking about ______, then maybe it's a warm call...
It makes me wonder how these might fare in today's Sales cauldron.
If I were forced to assess the reason behind why each gained results, I'd say;
the first taps into those rare souls who in the back of their minds realise the folly of being an 'unconscious incompetent',
the second is one to make Metcalfe proud, he of the eponymous Law aka the Network Effect, which sets out to show that 'the value of networks grows exponentially with the number of people using that specific network; every time you add a new user to a network, the number of connections increases proportionally to the square of the number of users' and most useful to cite when selling into Tech, and finally
the third is a winner where you've framed the issue they're thinking about in terms of the problem you primarily fix for your clients and find a match.
'legacy-maker coming through'...