“What’s your secret sauce?” they ask. “Where DID you get this stuff?” they demand. “How DO you do this so fast?” they want to know. The queries take different forms but they all boil down to the same-ol’-same-ol’: How do I do what I do?

I spend the early parts of my mornings doing phone banks, posting in my groups, answering customer inquiries and things like that. What I do most of the hours in the day, is either think about, dream about or actually telephone names source. Yep, it’s the air I breathe, oh lucky me.

“What’s name sourcing?” you may be thinking. Names sourcing is the activity of finding people who hold specific titles, or who do specific job functions, usually inside specific organizations. These “persons of interest” are usually not found in large numbers on the internet, which differentiates the two branches of names sourcing. Internet sourcers scour the net for these folks; telephone sourcers call into the companies to obtain the names. The difference is obvious: telephone sourcers dig out the candidates behind the corporate brick and mortar walls – Internet sourcers peel them off the Internet pavement. Telephone sourcers sometimes begin their searches on the net – many times it’s necessary to “have a name” ready for the Gatekeeper in order to be transferred inside the company. Most times it’s just easier and faster to get on the telephone, call and ASK for what you need.

“Isn’t that hard?” you may be wondering. Believe it or not, about half the time you call and “just ask”, you will receive! Not many people get this. It has something to do with the fact that many people, over the last ten years, have become accustomed to working on the anonymous net, where nobody gives you headwind, nobody demands to know what your business is in asking, nobody gives you anything remotely resembling a hard time. You don’t have to “talk” to anybody on the net – the browser obeys your every command. Don’t find it on Google? Go to Altavista. Altavista not delivering it either? Try dogpile! Want someone to do it for you? Shell out for ZoomInfo – their crawlers are doing this stuff 24/7. The choices are endless and the navigating is painless. It’s the drug-of-choice for some. And who could blame them? It’s still a pretty effective delivery means for names, but, in my estimation, dwindling in importance by the day. But then, I’m biased.

Biased to telephone names sourcing. I believe this is where the real gold at the end of the rainbow lies; this is where the folks who, at present, are not, will not or have not any hope of ever being found on the internet, reside. He’s the curmudgeon sitting at his desk, head down, busy at his CAD (computer aided drawing) job as a valuable Individual Contributor to his organization. She’s the top software sales person in her region who spends half her year on the road selling her company’s product. They’re the ones living in the shadows, too busy to even think about another opportunity – until you come along! And the only way you’re going to find them is to call into the company, or network with someone who has, or can obtain, this information, to get their names. There’s simply no other way.

“Isn’t that wrong?” maybe you're thinking. What’s “wrong” about the fact that you’re working to find people with the best skill set for your opportunities? If you think there’s something “wrong” with competition, well, dear, you’re living in the “wrong” space and time. Try the serf society of medieval Europe. That might suit your fancy.

“So, how DO you do it?” you may be asking. It’s simple. Really, it is. And, I’m willing to tell you, him, her, and anyone willing to listen. When someone needs to find, say, pharmaceutical marketing managers, or .net developers, or financial software sales reps or actuarial analysts or rocket scientists or underwriters or civil engineers in wastewater or...you get the idea. The need is endless. The opportunities are endless. You get on the phone. You call the companies who have these people secreted inside their walls and you ASK who they are. And if you don’t want to do that, call someone who can do it for you! Like me.

;)

"A wave of panic passed over the vessel, and these rough and hardy men, who feared no mortal foe, shook with terror at the shadows of their own minds." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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