Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money

by Pat Flynn

There are several methods you can choose to directly interact with your prospects. One-on-one is always going to be the most effective, but there are a lot of ways to interact in this manner. The following one-on-one methods are ranked from most effective (top) to the least effective (bottom), but also most time consuming in the same order. In person A video call, like a Google Hangout or Skype conversation A phone call A private message (i.e. on a forum or social media channel) A direct one-on-one email You’ll have to strike a balance based on what works for you, but also what works for your prospects based on how you’re finding them. There are also methods you can use to interact with a large number of your prospects at the same time. These methods can save you time, but they take a little more work up front to set up. If you’ve already built a following and have earned trust from your audience, these can work very well, especially if you have an email list. Again, these are ranked from most effective (top) to the least effective (bottom). A live stream or webinar with chat functionality A live stream or webinar without chat functionality An email broadcast A web page with an explainer video A web page with text and images only Morse code No matter which method you choose to interact with your prospect, there are three things you must do first before you present your solution, each of which will help your prospect get to know, like, and trust you.