Every weekday, I spend one hour making 100 phone calls. I call it my Hour of Power. I select a group of people I want to contact. The group may consist of the people I work with on the Macomb County Voice (a community blog I created). It may be the top selling Real Estate agents I know through STAR POWER Systems. It may be people I sold houses for or those I sold houses to. I tell everyone in the office that my Hour of Power is about to commence, and they know not to disturb me. Then, I shut myself in my office and start dialing.

If someone answers, I deliver my energetic greeting, ask them how they’re doing, and perhaps mention one of the details I’ve recorded in my contact management program — maybe it’s their anniversary or one of their children’s birthdays. If nobody answers, I move on to my next call. If I get the answering machine, I leave a message. I may even sing “Happy Birthday,” wish the person a happy St. Patrick’s Day, or say something goofy right off the top of my head that I think will make them smile. What you say isn’t all that important, but it can’t be about selling — NO SELLING. The Hour of Power is about connecting on a personal level. It’s about leveraging the power of the rule of 250 — that each person knows at least 250 other people they can tell about you.

When you’re doing your Hour of Power, you cannot be interrupted. Make sure anyone who may be tempted to interrupt you knows not to. If you call someone and leave a message and that person calls back, someone in your office should answer the call and take a message. NO interruptions. You can call the person back later, after the hour is up. Your goal is to make it through your list of 100 people, and you have only 60 minutes to do it.

I strongly recommend that you implement the Hour of Power strategy, regardless of what you sell. If you make 100 calls a day, five or six days a week, I can almost guarantee that you will begin to see a dramatic boost in sales in a relatively short period of time. When you are ready to take the leap and implement your own Hour of Power, keep the following important points in mind:

• Keep a log sheet, so you have a record of the number of calls you actually placed.
• Strive to achieve the goal of 100 calls a day. When I coach people, I have them turn in their call logs to me at the end of every week. Making the bare minimum of 25 calls a day delivers some benefit, but the truly successful salespeople are those who do closer to 100 calls a day.
• What you say when you call is not all that important. What is important is that you make the call and establish contact. Leaving a voicemail message counts as contact.
• Do not sell. The Hour of Power is about building relationships.
• Do not get into a lengthy conversation. You have an average of 36 seconds per call.
• Limit yourself to five or six days to avoid burnout.

The single most important thing about the Hour of Power is that you do it. Keep a log and hold yourself accountable or team up with another salesperson you know and hold one another accountable. No matter what you are selling, you get pearls called “referrals” when you make these calls.