Executive TLDR
Your business grows when you expand beyond your warm market.
Network on purpose through events, social circles, and daily interactions.
Use simple conversation starters to create consistent opportunities.
Success requires mindset discipline: suck it up and step it up.
Video Summary
Marketing 101: Build Beyond Your Warm Market
In The Power Of Networking, Donna Fykes delivers practical, no-excuse strategies for building a strong business inside Primerica.
Family and friends may help you practice, but long-term growth requires expanding your reach. A sustainable business demands consistent prospecting outside your immediate circle.
Create And Expand Your Active Marketing List
Start with the basics:
Friends
Family
Co-workers
Acquaintances
Then expand intentionally. Keep a dedicated notebook and continuously add names—without worrying about having full contact information. Over time, that notebook becomes a goldmine of opportunity.
The key is awareness. Stop pre-judging who may or may not be interested. You never truly know who is open to opportunity.
Network On Purpose
Growth does not happen accidentally. You must attend:
Social events
Volunteer activities
Community gatherings
Church events
Sports leagues
School functions
Airports and travel hubs
Talk to people where you already spend money. “Follow your money.” If you regularly interact with someone, that is a qualified conversation opportunity.
Use Short Scripts That Start Bigger Conversations
Fykes emphasizes mastering short, memorized conversation starters—15-second statements designed to create two-minute conversations. Examples include:
“Do you keep your career options open?”
“Are you making all the money you want to make?”
“Do you know anyone looking for part-time or full-time income?”
When practiced consistently, these simple prompts multiply business opportunities.
Stay In A Qualified Market
While you can talk to everyone, prioritize people who:
Have income
Have financial responsibilities
Have influence
Have networks
Over time, relationships compound into referrals and credibility.
Small Events Create Big Results
Hosting small “lunch and learn” sessions or informal presentations can generate steady business flow. Consistency beats size. Two small events per month can dramatically increase exposure.
Mindset Training Part One: Suck It Up
Rejection, objections, and excuses are part of the process.
“I don’t have time.”
“Not interested.”
“Life is busy.”
Instead of complaining about slow results, move forward. Emotional resilience is required for networking success.
Mindset Training Part Two: Step It Up
If results are low, improve skill.
Professionalism
Credibility
Objection handling
Relationship building
Product knowledge
Closing transitions
Application accuracy
Follow-up discipline
Skills build confidence. Confidence builds results.
If you are not getting results, either:
You are not doing it right.
Or you are not doing it enough.
Final Message
Networking is not talent-based—it is discipline-based. Expand your circle, sharpen your skills, strengthen your mindset, and your reach will multiply far beyond friends and family.
FAQs
1. Who is Donna Fykes?
Donna Fykes is a leader known for practical marketing and networking training within Primerica.
2. Why shouldn’t you rely only on friends and family?
Because long-term growth requires reaching beyond your immediate circle.
3. What is an active marketing list?
A continuously expanding list of potential contacts and prospects.
4. Why use a dedicated notebook?
To capture names consistently and build a growing prospect database.
5. What does “network on purpose” mean?
Intentionally placing yourself in environments where new relationships can form.
6. What is a qualified market?
People with income, financial needs, or influence who are more likely to benefit from financial services.
7. What are two-minute presentations?
Short conversation starters that open the door for deeper discussions.
8. Why follow your money?
Because businesses and individuals you regularly interact with may also need financial solutions.
9. How do lunch and learns help?
They create structured opportunities to educate and connect with prospects.
10. Why is mindset critical in networking?
Because rejection and objections are unavoidable.
11. What does “suck it up” refer to?
Developing resilience and moving past rejection without complaint.
12. What does “step it up” refer to?
Improving professional skills when results are lacking.
13. How do skills impact confidence?
Mastery of scripts, products, and processes reduces hesitation and increases authority.
14. Why is follow-up important?
Many opportunities close only after consistent and professional follow-up.
15. Should you pre-judge prospects?
No. You never know who may become a client or teammate.
16. How often should you expand your list?
Continuously—daily awareness creates steady growth.
Glossary
Warm Market
Friends, family, and close contacts you initially approach when starting.
Qualified Market
Individuals or groups more likely to need or afford financial services.
Two Minute Presentation
A short scripted conversation starter designed to open opportunity discussions.
Lunch And Learn
A small educational event used to generate leads and build relationships.
Follow Your Money
A prospecting strategy encouraging conversations with people you regularly transact with.
Mindset Training
Developing emotional resilience and skill improvement to increase business results.
Transcript: Hello, Primerica. All right. I hope nobody’s got the itis. Y’all paying attention, right? Yes. Lunch is way behind us. All right. We’re going to talk about marketing 101. We’re going to talk about marketing 101. What does it take to build a Primerica business? And you’ve heard from a lot of speakers today.
What I want to give you is some nuts and bolts on how to get out there and go build. And we think that our family and friends are going to help us. And they’re really there so that we can kind of use them to get practice on, but down the road, if you stick with it, you’re going to go back and talk to them, and they may pay attention.
Alright, so here we go. Uh, well let me say this. Get your cameras out, alright? Because I’m going to kind of roll through it. But these are points that you’re going to be able to go back and look at. Points that you’re going to be able to say, Gee, what do I need to do? Where am I supposed to find these people that they’re talking about?
Okay? So, here. To build an active marketing list, Here, you got friends, families, co workers. Okay, we have a memory jogger. Really easy, right? Number two. Network on purpose. You want to make sure that you’re attending events, you know, social groups, volunteer, alright? So, these are all categories that you can dig into, raise your awareness, okay?
Look around you, pay attention to who’s around you. Because you’d never know. You know, you may think, Ooh, no, not them. Yeah, maybe them. Maybe them. I never thought Colby. Not. I’m just saying. Okay, and I’m so freaking proud of her. You know, so, you can’t judge. You don’t know. Alright, here we go. There you go.
Don’t judge anyone. No, really, she’s supposed to be a forest fairy. Maybe a mermaid. Come on. You guys know your kids, right? Myra recruited her, not me. So I give Myra all the credit for that one. Okay. And then here, you know, constantly expand your list, get a notebook. And I’m going to recommend a composition notebook that you’re constantly just throwing names in.
Don’t worry about whether you have a phone number, throw the name in there. And before you know it, three months, six months, a year, your book is going to, you have to go get another book. If you work in the business. Okay, so this is where I want you to pull your phones out. Alright, hold on. I think I missed one.
There you go. Take a screenshot of that. Those are your multiplication tables for the business. Alright, we call them the two minute presentations. They’re not. It’s a 15 second sentence. But it should create a two minute conversation. Where you’re asking people, do you know of anyone who’s looking for either part-time or full-time?
Okay. Do you keep your career options open? Are you making all the money you want to make? Are you saving all the money you wanna save? Okay. So, you know, these are things, and like I say, if you use these and memorize them, just like you memorize your multiplication tables in the third grade, these will grow your business.
Alright, so here we go. These are different areas. Who should I talk to? A qualified market. It’s a big deal. You want to stay in a qualified market, don’t get me wrong. I talk to everyone. One day they’ll be qualified, Colby Romero. One day. Alright. Follow your money. If you’re spending money there, it can’t hurt to talk to the person who you’re handing your money to.
Talk to them. Okay? Social gatherings, and I mean you see the list underneath it to expand, you know, and like I say, open your notebook and start writing some of those names down as you look through these categories. Alright, small lunch and learns. A lot of people, Grace Kim taught us that. She does at least two events a month.
And that’s how she generates business, you know, to keep the business going. Alright, and your church family. That’s a big deal. Alright, here’s some more. Look at me, I’m nervous, right? Okay, sports teams. Some of you are coaches, your kids are in different sports things. Okay, social media. They all went all in on that better than I could.
Picnics, public transportation, schools, colleges. I’m through the airports all the time. I don’t hesitate to talk to gate agents, the wheelchair pushers. You know, and I say that because if you ask them, how long have you been doing it? Six years. How’d you end up here? Well, I got my college degree and I thought if I got in the airline, six years.
Okay, talk to them. They’re looking for something. All right? Now, this is the part of my training I want to dig in. Ready? All right. This is called mindset training. Now, part one. Suck it up. I want everyone to say, suck it up. I want to hear it. Say it. Suck it up. Say it again. Suck it up. Okay. Stop whimpering or complaining as to why you’re not seeing results.
Come on. Stop whimpering and whining as to why you’re not getting results. Alright. Rejection. Okay. Objections. People giving you a hard time. Okay. I don’t have time. Okay. There you go. Life is happening. Things are crazy. Suck it up. Suck it up. Come on, together guys. Suck it up. Suck it up. Alright, here you go.
You have to know how to just move on. Alright, now let’s go to part two of training. Ready? Part two of training. Here we go. Professionalism. How do you come across to other people? How’s your credibility? If it’s not good enough, I want you to say, Step it up. Step it up. Yeah, step it up. There you go. Okay, um, overcoming objections.
Do you know how to overcome objections? Step it up. Step it up if you don’t, right? Asking the right questions without drilling people. And then waiting for the right answer. If you don’t have that under control. Step it up. Step it up. There you go. Relationship building. Step it up. Presenting. Step it up.
Okay. Product knowledge. Step it up. Closing questions. The transitions. Step it up. Okay. Here we go. Application. Do you fumble through it? Step it up, come on, you can’t be, that’s your business, okay? Follow up calls, a lot of you are here because you’re a follow up call, alright? So are you using the scripts or are you freestyling?
We already know the answer, okay? Alright, just a second. Alright, skills build confidence, okay? If you’re not getting results, you’re not doing something right. Or, you’re not doing something enough. That’s my part. And I’m going to turn it back over.
