Evan Carmichael explains why warm introductions beat cold outreach for growing your business. He shares how a banker connected him to a consultant, who introduced him to John, a well-connected contact who opened doors to valuable networks. Even distant contacts like lawyers and accountants can help if you clearly explain what you need.
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Get introductions. If you're having a hard time marketing your product, one of my favorite ways to grow a business is to get introductions to people who are my potential customers instead of me trying to go out there, knock on doors, or cold call them because they probably won't be interested. You gotta hit them at the right time and with a warm introduction. If you do that, then you dramatically increase the chances of you closing the deal. I got a comment from a YouTube video viewer, uh, Shaqui, Shaqui, hope I pronounced that properly. Anyways, in the clothing business, wants to market his clothing samples, wants to know what to do to get his name out there. Should he go knock on retail stores and just go visit them and tell them about his product, or what should he do? He's confused. And my best advice here is to go out and try to get somebody who can help make those warm introductions for you. It's so much easier. They have the contacts and the sale comes almost instantly if it comes from a recommendation from somebody who they know, like, and trust. I know at the beginning it's really hard to get that to happen, right? If you don't have any contacts, how do you build it up? How do you start from scratch? That was me when I had my first business. I knew nobody. I barely had anybody to support me in what I was doing, like friends and family, a few who actually believed in what I was doing, but they didn't have any contacts to help me. I didn't know where to start. I had to start from like scratch, from nothing. So what I did, and maybe you could do it a little faster than how long it took me, I went and spoke to my banker. Like, I know nobody, I don't even know my banker, but I have a bank account, so I could at least— they'll at least talk to me. And I went to talk to my banker and I said, here's what I'm trying to do. I don't, I don't know if I need money, I don't really know what I'm doing, I'm looking for some contacts, what do you think, can you help me out? And luckily I had a nice enough banker who liked me and believed in what I was trying to do. There was passion for my business. And he offered to connect me with a consultant that the bank had used before. Now I couldn't afford a consultant, but I was happy to meet with him to see if he had any ideas. And I met up with this consultant and he had this great downtown office, you know, dressed in a full suit. This guy was money. But he didn't really understand what I did. He spoke a good game, but he didn't really understand what I did. So he brought in a friend of his who also was similar background, always wore suits and spoke a really good game again, but also didn't really understand what we did. And so he brought in another friend. This guy's name was John, who got what we did, who understood building up technology companies and selling them. And who had a lot of contacts who he could introduce us to. And we ended up working with him and not with anybody else that I spoke with at the beginning. And that made a huge difference for my business. It opened up huge doors for me that I didn't have access to before. And so instead of me knocking on people's doors and saying, "Hey, buy my product, it's something really great," and just trying to compete with everybody else, he opened up the doors for us because he already had a lot of contacts and they would listen to him because they knew him, liked him, trusted him. And the path to finding John is hard to replicate, right? And on the surface seems strange, at least for me, to be able to say it, but it works and you can do it. I knew nobody, right? I started from scratch. I went to my bank thinking that banks were supposed to be the friends of entrepreneurs, right? Mm-hmm, we all know that story. And I had to go through two other people after the bank who weren't the right fit for me, and I almost gave up hope. Like, doesn't anybody understand what I'm trying to do? Can anybody out there really help me? And that's when we met John. And so keep reaching, and you can start even if you know nobody. You start by telling some of the people who you do have a contact with Even if it's a distant contact like a bank or like a lawyer, like an accountant, let them know what you're trying to do and who you're looking for. And they may pass you on to somebody who may pass you on to somebody who may pass you on to somebody else who passes you on to the person who can really help you open up the doors that you need. Keep building your company, keep trying to market it, but the best way to be able to do it at this stage for you is really to get somebody to help you open up those doors and mentor you along the way. Believe. For those of you watching, like the video, give it a thumbs up below, and I'd love to hear what you have to think. Leave a comment underneath, I'll make a video response for you. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
