Just as our intent in the real world of networking and prospecting is to find the right people, meet them, and then win them over through effective follow-up and follow through, the same is true in the virtual world of sales and marketing. According to Patrick Anderson and Michael Henderson of ADNet International of Atlanta, a company specializing in Internet design and marketing, "The Internet is a big world and rather confusing at first. However, once the methods of prospecting are understood, you'll be in a position to increase your profits substantially."

Make a Good System Even Better

If, as part of your overall sales and marketing plan, you already utilize referral-based marketing, direct response advertising, outbound calling and telemarketing, introductory sales letters and brochures, and/or any of the principles and techniques discussed throughout this book, the Internet will provide a wealth of new prospecting leads, networking contacts and strategic alliance partners. In this chapter, we'll cover various Internet techniques to use with each of these strategies.

From a technical perspective, the Internet is an interrelated network of computers. From a business perspective, it is a way to interact with people who share similar interests. When the principles of this book are applied to the online world, it becomes, according to Anderson and Henderson, "Inter-Net-Working."

By and large, people use the Internet when they are alone at their computers and have set aside time to explore, communicate, research, or relax. This is a very opportune time to connect with them. Whatever is on their minds at this very moment is what they will search for. Whatever intrigues them or interests them in the next moment is where they will go to next. They will remain in, and return to, the areas which interest them the most.

As Henderson and Anderson point out, "Look at what your fellow business people are doing on the Internet. They are spending time and money creating Web sites that tell us who they are and what they are interested in. They are leaving notes and comments in public discussion areas. They are telling us something about themselves and their needs and then they are asking the Netpreneur, or seller, to get in touch with them!" And the general online consumer is actively searching for what interests them as well.

Because of this, the Internet allows us to do something truly unique. It allows us to target and prequalify our prospects in a very different way - not by demographics, but by actions! In other words, as an online marketer, we are able to target our audience by finding people who, by their very actions, have already demonstrated that they are interested in our products and services.

This leads to a very interesting observation made by Anderson and Henderson: "By looking through someone's Web site, and/or listening in (observation through public chat rooms) on their online conversations, you can learn quite a bit about them. People will reveal several things about themselves and their business or wants that make it easy to predict their level of interest in what you have to offer. You can read their personal stories, look for things you both have in common, and quickly strike up a mutually interesting conversation. This doesn't happen in any other medium. Don't ignore it! Anyone who catches on to this idea will never have to make a cold call again!"

Know you, like you, and trust you becomes more critical than ever while establishing yourself on this new medium. After all, there is still lots of uncertainty by the general populace over who can be trusted on the Internet. The media fuels the fear of Big Brother practically every day with stories of credit card thieves, hackers, and viruses all somehow invading our computers and getting access to our personal information. However, such an extreme amount of unverified information sometimes makes it difficult to determine which sources can be relied on. For these reasons, mistrust is the single most important obstacle to overcome in order to establish an opening dialog with a new prospect.

And that's okay, because those who can overcome this challenge will profit greatly. And Anderson and Henderson explain that it is actually very easy to set yourself apart from the crowd. They describe this as the biggest secret to Internet success, and it is simply, "Don't act like a computer! That's all. Interact with people on a "personal level." The two explain that although it seems obvious, most people try to rely on automatic ways to contact people "en masse," and it makes their prospects suspicious. "Remember," says Anderson, "that they are alone at their computer, willing to visit with another human - but not another machine."

Many people who begin marketing online are anxious to jump right into the various newsgroups, chat rooms, and listservs in order to promote their various products and services. Not only will that strategy prove ineffective, it would rank right up there with Spamming when it comes to irritating, if not downright offending, the very people they want to have as customers.

Newsgroups and chat rooms are basically just a crowd of like-minded people. A group of people like any other group. Try not to see the Internet as one large network of computers but instead as several different communities, ongoing conversations, and meeting places for people with similar interests.

The good news is that, just as in the real world, within these cyber groups are centers of influence. These people can be determined by the fact that they are very vocal (lots of posts) and, more important, they receive lots of responses. This indicates they are respected by others.

Many experts suggest that, when researching a particular market, finding its related newsgroups and chat rooms and "lurking" is a good idea. This way you can monitor the conversations and gain a deeper understanding of the wants, needs, likes, dislikes, etc., of their participants before jumping in. It's a good form of recognizance, and that is an excellent start. Let's take it even a step further:

Let's set a goal to identify the centers of influence within those groups and then propel the relationships with those people using the information in Chapter 3 - how to work any crowd. Also, refer back to the section in this chapter on linking.

Patrick Anderson noticed in one of the local Atlanta newsgroups that three people seemed to fit the category of center of influence. One was an artist. Patrick checked this person's Web site, really enjoyed what he saw, and felt there might be some way he could use his work for his own Web site, as well as referring him to others. So he called the artist, whose name is Joe, on the telephone (note that he didn't e-mail him, he called him!) to introduce himself. He then related to Joe his thoughts about the artist's work.

Understandably, Joe was delighted, and right away suggested someone who could use Patrick's Web site design and marketing services as well. Another 250-person or more sphere of influence was now part of Patrick's life, and Joe's as well. We can only imagine how far this new network beginning with Patrick and Joe will extend and how many lives and businesses will be affected and influenced positively.

Now let's talk a bit about "time leveraging." The typical newsgroup prospector, in order to attain a large number of valid leads, must basically become a newsgroup junkie. The fact is, most of us don't have that kind of time to devote to this one avenue of prospecting. As Patrick points out, however, "when you make a great Inter-Net-working connection with someone who is, in fact, a newsgroup junkie, she can become your personal walking ambassador to the news room community. You are then benefiting as though you've invested the time there yourself."

Here's a great example illustrating this point: Michael and Patrick were able to generate over 2 million hits for the Country Music Association Award's webcast with just ten days to promote! One person commented to them afterward, "I can understand how you pulled that off, I saw your promotions regarding the event all over the newsgroups." What's so amazing about this is that I personally know Patrick and Michael never posted one message to any of the newsgroups ,themselves. Not one! They simply enlisted the help of several of the centers of influence they had cultivated prior to the promotion, and those persons' natural cyber conversations and fantastic "third-party" endorsements resulted in a simply outstanding cyber turnout.

When prospecting through newsgroups and such, Michael Henderson advises that the rules of the game are clearly outlined. Unfortunately, some individuals will ignore that and try to push their way into the process. He says that it is much more effective to ask questions of those in the know, in a very humble, unassuming manner. "You'll find the newsgroup veterans who will be only too glad to help."

When it comes to establishing mutually beneficial relationships, the rules that apply to real-world organizations basically apply to the virtual world as well. That's why I suggest that before you begin to prospect via the Internet that you again review and internalize the information in Chapters 2 and 3.

One more important point: Although this particular section really focused on newsgroups, please do not overlook the fact that the exact same approaches and techniques will work just as well in chat rooms, discussion forums, and listservs.