Im sure it looked stupid to grown-ups and to people who had a lot of money in their pockets.

But as my friends and I would walk down city streets, wed take turns reaching into the coin slots in pay phones to see if there was any change that Ma Bell had accidentally disgorged, or callers had left behind.

Every now and then, wed feel a coin, and rarely, but it did happen, wed hit the jackpot.

There would be five or six coins waiting for our greedy little fingers.

Was it worth the effort?

You bet!

And of course, it was my first lesson in prospecting. It taught me that I may come up empty handed quite a bit, but if I keep reaching in, Ill be rewarded.

A company is a lot like an old pay phone. If you try only once to make it relinquish its riches, youll come up short.

Most salespeople will make a single call into a company. If theyre rebuffed or frustrated by secretaries, voice mail, or especially by one middling manager who says no, theyll abandon their pursuit of those firms, opting to phone the next company on their lists.

They dont understand that the same pay phone, like a slot machine, can pay off with the very next effort.

Lets say youre selling a training program, as I do, to Customer Service units in organizations.

Whom should I call? Theoretically, the manager of the department should be interested, but that isnt generally the case. More often than not, shes defensive about letting outsiders into the nest.

But her boss, the VP of Operations, may be more receptive, because she is responsible for making Customer Service efficient and productive.

Lets say I call her and she is off-putting; is that the end of the line? Should I turn tail and run to the next lead?

I dont think so. SOMEONE IS PAID TO CARE about productivity, and more often than not, SOMEONE DOES CARE.

I just havent found that person, the one that will serve as my champion.

The VP of Marketing might suspect or know that Customer Service needs improvement, or perhaps it is the President or CEO.

Sooner or later, Ill reach the right person.

A while ago, I did a very successful direct mail campaign promoting a slate of my public seminars. Instead of sending just one mailer into a company, I sent a half-dozen, to various job titles.

After the seminars concluded, and one of the participating companies became a consulting client, my contact there told me that she not only received one mailer, but four or five because her colleagues passed along theirs to her.

Instead of being upset, she was pleased. It made my seminars seem more significant.

So, I wouldnt worry about people who said no ganging up to throw you out once you get one of their colleagues to invite you in.

They may be very pleasant. It just took a while and your persistent reaching in to make that happen!