For goal #1, getting a referral, the objective is to confirm the best point of contact for a first conversation and get referred to them. Then, you can email the new contact (to whom you are referred) directly while mentioning (or Cc’ing) the individual who referred you. This shows the new contact that you aren’t making a cold call and you’ve already been engaged with someone from his or her team. Internal referrals create the highest likelihood of getting a response. For goal #2, setting up a call, the objective is to set up a quick time to see if there’s a high level fit between your company and the prospect’s company. This call should be focused entirely on their business—not your business. You should lead the conversation and ask open questions that encourage them to talk about their business—not your business. If you’re talking more than 30% of the time on prospecting or scoping calls, you need to ask more questions or just keep your mouth shut more. If someone responds with a negative, “Not interested”, find out why. Remember, “No” doesn’t matter until you hear it from the CEO or your ideal decision maker. And even then when you get a No, you should find out why to determine if it’s coming from an objection you can handle. Oftentimes prospects misunderstand what you do or what value you offer, and will say “no” out of confusion. Contacts Who Didn’t Respond If somebody doesn’t respond to your email, that doesn’t mean there isn’t legitimate potential in the account. By sending mass emails from Salesforce.com or another system that tracks “email opens,” you can track which prospects opened your emails and how often they did it (or how many people they’ve passed your email to). Here’s an example: