My friend David Greer recently joined a start-up. As the new VP Sales and Marketing, David's job is to sell his company's product, a software scheduling solution. Like most start-ups, David's new employer has limited human resources (as in, if you want it done, you have to do it yourself) and financial resources (as in, if you want it, you'd better sell something first so we have the money to buy it with.)

"Where do you recommend I get a list of prospects?", David asked when he called me today.

A couple of the the chapters in my book will be for David and people who are in his current situation. They have a product or service and now they are looking for people to buy it.

This chapter will be on How do I find customers-to-be? (Note, it assumes you've already read the chapter on Who is my customer-to-be!)

The world is your oyster. You've got a great widget to sell. You've analyzed your target market profiles to death. Today is the day you start to sell! You're pumped about making 50 calls and can almost taste the sales you are going to make today. You pick up the phone to start calling, but you don't have the names of any people or companies to call.

Where do you start?

There aren't many options: You either have to create your list or acquire one.

Creating a List

• go to your existing network. Tell them what you are doing. Ask for their thoughts
• create a new network. Join an association. Go to industry networking function. Collect business cards
• attend a trade show. Put out a fish bowl and go fishing for leads

Acquiring a List

I've bought lists before, so gladly referred David to the businesses I'd worked with in the past. I was hesitant to make a professional recommendation, however, because my experience with buying lists has left me feeling less than satisfied.

If you Google "list broker" or "sales leads" you will find thousands of references to people or busiensses willing to sell you lists of names. I find that you can divide the possibilities into 3 general piles:

• list vendors
• list brokers
• other