The Prospecting Professor

Ice Breaker

There is good ice-breaking...and bad ice-breaking.

Bad ice-breaking.

Average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world. Arctic ice is getting thinner, melting and rupturing. For example, the largest single block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3,000 years before it started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces.

Good ice-breaking

Have you ever been in a social situation, conversation with a client, or a sales cold call...where the the social interaction and exchange of words...is completely rote and devoid of emotion or meaning? "Hi...Howsitgoing?...Hotenoughforyou?...Nice!...Seeyouaround"

This is  even smaller than smalltalk...it's minuscule talk, and a guaranteed way to NOT build rapport. How to get around this? Here are some tips for conversation starters from an article by Michael E. Rega, in the June 2006 issue of The American Salesman.

1. Shared hobby or interest. This may seem obvious,  yet the key is to find a shared hobby or interest. For example, I hate golf. For me, golf is not a shared interest with anyone. Therefore, to ask someone "How you hittin' them?" is a shallow attempt on my part.
2. Deserved compliment. A sincere, deserved compliment is always well-received...and can go a long way in getting attention.
3. Common background. Common acquaintances or history are one of the easiest ways  to get things going. For example, I'm a native San Franciscan...although I have since moved away from The City. Whenever I mention that I'm from San Francisco, a conversation will follow...guaranteed.
4. Astute general comment. This might be a comment about current events, or something that you just saw in the lobby, or something different entirely. However, the central purpose is to communicate on a conscious level (viz-a-viz subconscious), and pique the other person's interest so the focus is on your astute powers of observation.

Above all else, these rapport-building techniques must be natural, and suit your own voice and personality. Building rapport can often be a delicate balance. On the one hand, you want to go beyond the superficial...yet you don't want to be blatantly smarmy either.

Use these ice-breaking tips to find the right balance.

"Salespeople are data pigs."

"Salespeople are data pigs,"...so says Jim Fowler, the founder of Jigsaw Data Corp., the online contact management service.

Are you in sales? Do you prospect? Have you heard of Jigsaw Data? Well, you have now.

Jigsaw Data is Dun & Bradstreet Reports meets Wikipedia, and was designed for the salesperson who 'dials for dollars.' Here's how it works. Operating on a point system, as a user you begin with 200 points. For every business contact that you provide the Jigsaw database of 2.75 million people (as of April of 2006), you accrue 10 points.  However, if you provide bad or inaccurate information, your account is debited 10 points. Members can also challenge bad contacts, and earn points by exposing the outdated information. Those who deliberately input bad info, or include personal e-mail addresses or cell numbers...are 86'ed. Jigsaw has 52,000 members, is adding 10,000 contacts to the database daily, and is growing exponentially.

Members pay $25 per month to access 25 contacts, and corporate users can spend $10,000 of more for unlimited access. About 80% of subscribers pay, and the rest add in so many new names that they accrue excess points, which they can sell to other members for cash.

A few years ago, Jim Fowler was a snowboard-addict who owned a small ski area in Northern Idaho, called Lookout Pass. There, he met Rick Magnuson, an Idaho native who became Jigsaw's angel investor by providing $750,000 in venture capital seed money. Today, Jim Fowler and Jigsaw are headquartered in San Mateo, CA...with $12 million in new funding, and a desire to "map every business organization on the planet."

Says Mr. Fowler, "People think the hardest part of sales is cold calling. It's not. It's finding the right people to call."

Fowler hopes that Jigsaw is the missing piece of the sales puzzle.

Drip Marketing

Hank Paulson is the Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Although he has never, ever used e-mail, he is an inveterate user of the phone...on average he has many hundreds of phone conversations daily. In a recent interview in Fortune, he revealed some of his work methods and successes.

"When I got back to the office in January, I called 60 CEOs in the first week to wish them happy New Year. I had never done that before, but it was great. I asked them about their business and their relationship with Goldman."

Goldman Sachs is one of the world's most prominent investment banks, with $43 billion in revenues and 22,000+ employees. Although it is shocking that he has never used e-mail, it is heartening to see that simple, "staying-in-touch" phone calls are used by CEOs who make $30.1 million annually (his 2005 income).

Cold Walking Tips

One of the best-ever "cold-walking" salespersons was the late, great Ben Feldman...who worked for New York Life for 50+ years.

He never used the phone. Surprisingly, he was very self-conscious of rejection...on the phone, that is. However, he was relentless when it came to meeting prospects through "cold-walking."

He didn't call it "cold-walking." He referred to the process as simply "making calls." He targeted business owners within the radius of his sales geography, Youngstown, OH. He would make 30-40 calls weekly. Although he was very successful at making it through the gate-keeper the first time, he was often turned away. The prospect of this sort of rejection never bothered him. In fact, he would always return to the businesses that rejected him. He would count on the sympathy of the screener, who would begin to feel pity towards Ben...when the business owner refused to see him on the first, second, or even third attempt.

Ben always did his research before he made his calls. He never called on a business without knowing who the business owner, or the key personnel, were. To gather this information,  he used Dun & Bradstreet...which gave him this information, as well as data on the size, and financial health, of the company.

For salespersons who are cold-walking these days, another good reference source is Reference USA. Reference USA is available at many public libraries, and has a comprehensive database that lists all businesses, public and private, in North America.

If you are cold-walking,  a useful feature of Reference USA is the ability to identify all businesses within a certain radius. For example, if you are calling on Acme Tool in Keokuk, Iowa (Actually there is no Acme Tool in Keokuk...but there is one in Denver, CO.) But, hypothetically, if there was an Acme Tool in Keokuk, and you were calling on it...you could use Reference USA to find all other businesses within a certain radius. I believe you are allowed to find all businesses up to a 20-mile radius...and as low as 1/10th of a mile.

Armed with this information, the enterprising salesperson could drop in on businesses within the area (without calling beforehand), or alternatively, call one of the business-owners close to Acme Tool and say, "I was going to be in your area tomorrow visiting John Dough at Acme Tool. If you had 5 minutes, I'd love the chance to stop by and introduce myself."

Of course, if you were Ben Feldman, you wouldn't even bother calling ahead...but we are not all Ben Feldman.

Hope this helps. Ciao!

The Power of First Impressions

Bill Brooks is the CEO of The Brooks Group. In the April issue of The American Salesman he discusses a salesperson's need to favorably impress prospects on the first meeting in an article entitled, "The Power of First Impressions."

Here are 8 tips that he provides that, in his view, can make or break a sale. First impressions, although not indelible, are pretty long-lasting. Prospects pay attention to those whom they perceive as having something important to say to them. This can be communicated within the first 30 seconds of interaction.

1. Portray a confident, but not superior, manner.
2. A clean, neat appearance is essential.
3. Smile.
4. Use the prospect's name...and pronounce it correctly.
5. Set a tone of  importance.
6. Never apologize for 'taking the prospect's time.'
7. Be comfortable and relaxed.
8. Position yourself through everything you say or do.

Let's think of it another way. When you meet a prospect in a sales dialogue, what is the main objective of the call? In other words...best-case scenario...what is the desired outcome when you meet a prospect for the first time?

Make a sale? Not likely, the sales cycle will entail many interactions between salesperson and prospect. Closing the prospect on the first contact is a fantasy.

Build rapport? Yes...but so what? What does this 'rapport' lead to?

Get a second meeting? Yes! The goal for their first meeting...is to get 'permission' to have a second meeting or contact.

Importantly, knowing that the goal of a first meeting is NOT to close a sale...but to simply get to the next meeting, the pressure is off. However, since the prospect may have made a judgment about you...the salesperson...within the first 30 seconds of contact...the pressure is back on!

Sorry!

Prospecting...the Ben Feldman Way

Ben Feldman is the quintessential American Success Story...and one of the best salesmen ever. He went from a $10-a-week butter-and-egg salesman to the world's greatest insurance salesman. For 52 years he sold insurance for New York Life...from 1941 to 1993. His lifetime sales volume exceeded $1.5 billion...with 1/3 of his sales coming after he reached the 'retirement' age of 65.

He was based in East Liverpool, Ohio, a sleepy river town of 13,000 on the banks of the Ohio River...that has been steadily losing population over the years. East Liverpool's other claim to fame is that it is also the birthplace of football coach, Lou Holtz. If you passed Ben Feldman on the street, you wouldn't have any inkling about his sales prowess. He was short, heavyset and balding. When he spoke, his speech was slow and deliberate...with a distinct lisp.

How did Ben Feldman do it? How did he sell more life insurance by himself, than 1000 life insurance COMPANIES in America?

1. Hard Work. Ben worked 7-day weeks, and 12-hour days. At the end of the day, he would come home and read-and-study for another 2 hours. "It's his chief form of relaxation," his very understanding wife, Fritzie Feldman said.
2. Preparation. In Ben's words, "Read. Study never stops because publications never stop coming in. It's read and study.  And think about what you're studying. Take it apart and put it together. Ask 'why?' And know the answers."
3. Chutzpah. Each and every week, Ben made 30-40, face-to-face, in-person cold calls. No warm-up telephone calls beforehand. No pre-approach letters. No warm, referred calls. These were walk-right-in, ask-to-see-the-owner, no-apologies cold calls.

The Feldman Method. Ben's approach is best described in his own words in  "The Feldman Method," an out-of-print book that details his straightforward style.

• "I rarely use the telephone because he may not want to see me. I have a better chance of seeing the man I want to see if I do go. Besides, switchboard girls and secretaries have become very good. They've learned to take you apart. 'Who? Why? What for? What company?' You don't always get by. I seldom call on the phone. I'd rather go.
• "On calls, I just walk right in...and my first barrier is usually the switchboard operator or the receptionist. On the phone, a switchboard operator can stop me dead. But face to face, the odds are I'll get by. And when I go, I may leave something with her. You know what it is? It's a pair of little golden slippers. She doesn't know what they are until I've left and she's opened the box. They I usually get a thank you note. From that time on, I get in."
• "I'm very frank, very open. I just say I want to meet her boss, whatever his name might be. (And you'd better know his name.) The receptionist ordinarily announces me, but it's a cold call, and the odds are he doesn't want to see me. I get thrown out of more places!"
• "There are many ways of saying, 'No.' He probably won't see me the first time. That isn't so bad. Why? Because I'm coming back, and when I come back I'm no longer a stranger! I've been here before!"

A few side comments. Ben's target audience were the many small business owners who worked in the East Liverpool-Youngstown, eastern Ohio region. As also can be determined by Ben's words, he betrays an American business climate of the '40s and '50s, that was overwhelmingly male.

Also, Ben's sales calls were not 'cold,' in this sense. Before each call, he would study and prepare beforehand. He would use Dun & Bradstreet to determine who the owner and the key personnel were, and the approximate sales volume of the company the age of the owner, the corporate structure, etc.

He was relentless. If the 'boss' didn't see him, he would come back, again and again. Over time, he would make the receptionist his ally.

• "...If I call once of twice more, and if the answer is still 'No,' she'll probably begin to feel sorry for me. Now she's on  my team. She'll do her best to open the door for me. Particularly if she feels I'd be helping her boss. You've got to have disturbing things to say to the receptionist that will make her boss want to see you, just as you have disturbing things to say to the boss himself."

Ben Feldman...Salesman Extraordinaire. A relic from a different time. His quaint straight-ahead approach certainly wouldn't work today...in a day where we are all much more sophisticated and savvy with regard to sales techniques. Or would it?

More on this later.

That's all for now...Ciao!

The Appointment Ointment

Yesterday, in the on-line publication, Horsesmouth, I published an article entitled, "Olympic-Style Prospecting: The 3-a-Day Appointment Regimen."

Olympic-Style Prospecting: The 3-a-Day Appointment Regimen
www.horsesmouth.com/linkpo/77672_18.htm
When you're following the "appointment imperative" system, you're sitting down with clients and prospects every day, every week, spreading the word, delivering value, and gathering assets. Once you make this business-building style your own, you'll be unstoppable. Now go for the gold.

The article is intended to be a salve, an antidote, for the abrasive and chafing sales-prospecting techniques that many financial advisors have been taught in past years, e.g. cold-calling on the phone, direct mail, group seminars, etc.

In my view, face-to-face appointments are the most important part of sales courtship. Sales activities that do not point to getting face-time with clients or prospects are mindless and irrelevant.

In "Olympic-Style Prospecting...," I espouse various techniques that enable the salesperson to get to a point where three face-to-face appointments is a possible and expected daily sales regimen.

I realize that, for many financial advisors, the prospect of three daily appointments, each and every day, seems daunting to the point of being impossible. Most advisors that I've known are lucky to have one appointment daily...let alone three.

It ain't easy...but it is possible.

Case in point. Some of you may be familiar with the Bernstein Private Client Group. In 1992, Bernstein had $5 billion in assets. Today, they have more than $75 billion in AUM, an annual compounded growth rate of 23+% during the past 14 years. Nationally, Bernstein has about 200 financial advisors. In 2005, the average for new assets among all Bernstein Financial Advisors was in excess of $65 million. 37 senior advisors brought in more than $100 million. The top producer raised close to $400 million in new money.

The primary vehicle for raising these unprecedented amounts of money is through face-to-face appointments...3-per-day is the expected threshold for the Bernstein Financial Advisor, starting out.

In Bernstein's case, many of their appointments are secured through CPAs and attorneys. They have built this network very aggressively.

In my view, CPAs and attorneys aren't the only Centers of Influence that financial advisors should tap into...in fact, for reasons that I've outlined in past articles, there are other professions filled with "super-connectors" who I would network with first...before CPAs and attorneys.

However, it is indubitable that a 3-a-day appointment schedule is a Sisyphean task...without the help of others. This "help" will come in the a variety of forms: a finely-tuned referral network, Centers of Influence, "Super-Connectors", domination of a niche...or all of the above.

Lastly, I am a big believer in setting goals that are attainable. If you are a salesperson, impossibly unattainable goals are meaningless and counter-productive. Therefore, if you are now at a level of three appointments per MONTH, you are not going to get to three appointments DAILY, overnight. My suggestion towards achieving impossible targets is to do what the best salespeople do...break your goals down to smaller, bite-size steps that are achievable, and build your confidence through small successes and "wins."

Rainmaking

George Catlin (1796-1872), was a self-taught artist who gave up the legal profession to devote his career to painting Native Americans in their native land. "Rainmaking Among the Mandan", depicted at left, came from his studies of the Mandan Indians during the 1830s.

In modern times, "Rainmakers" are super-networker, law firm partners, who contribute to their firm's success by building relationships in the industry, and within their community. In the February issue of Partner's Report, a trade journal for the legal profession, the 10 Rules of Networking are outlined.

1. Establish networking goals. Create a Most Wanted list of 12-15 clients who could make an impact upon your business. Collect ideas, referrals, and support.
2. Prospect proactively. Research the prospective clients on your list using industry lead services, company reports/newsletters, the Internet, inquiries at industry events, etc. Find out who the decision makers are and what they like to do, lifestyles, long-term goals.
3. Prospect and qualify leads. Collect business cards from everyone you meet. Make a note on the back about the contact and what you want to remember about that person, or firm. Evaluate each contact. Figure out how you can help them, and what they can add to your own network.
4. Work the market. Join professional associations, industry groups, alumni associations, and civic organizations. To maximize contacts, join a committee and become active by writing, speaking, teaching or mentoring. Develop an "infomercial" that quickly summarizes your firm, and your own experience.
5. Give more than you take. Add value to bring in value.
6. Stay in touch with those already in your database. Scan the news for reasons to call, send out your firm's newsletter, special-interest articles, or notes acknowledging personal milestones and achievements. Contact at least quarterly.
7. Take 15 minutes. Making just two cold calls daily to people not in your database adds up to 500 new contacts per year.
8. Maintain a positive attitude. Develop an end game, and focus on that.
9. Follow up! Follow up! Follow up! You need to follow up each contact with a personal note or brief phone call within 10 days of the initial meeting. It often takes 5-6 contacts or touches to develop any level of trust.
10. Let others know what you're doing. Issue a monthly report that summarizes your networking efforts.

Lastly, contrary to popular wisdom, effective "rainmakers" are made...not born. Even if you are not a natural born schmoozer, you have the basic skills needed to build a network, and profit from these contacts.

The Death of Interruptive Marketing

Interruptive marketing is the process of interrupting prospective clients from whatever they are doing at the moment...to get their attention in order to begin/further a sales relationship.

Salespeople have practiced interruptive marketing for years. During the mid-1800s, tinkers and peddlers went from town-to-town knocking on doors...selling household goods, lightning rods, books, etc. In 1906, Alfred C. Fuller started a company that made door-to-door selling acceptable, as his hard-working sales force became a cultural icon. In the 1980s, telemarketing became the favored form of interruptive marketing...more than $100 billion worth of goods and services were sold by telemarketers in 2002.

Interrupting marketing was effective because it rewarded tactics that many Americans embraced:

• Hard work
• Doggedness
• Persistence

In 2006, the effectiveness of many forms of interruptive marketing is declining rapidly.

1. With more than 110 million phone numbers on the FTC's Do-Not-Call list, the heyday of the telemarketer is long gone.
2. Direct mail effectiveness is greatly reduced. Our mailboxes are too full with junk, to take much notice of anything of value.

In short, irritating prospective clients is out. Salespeople must find other methods to engage a prospect's interest. I'll have more on alternative approaches...in future posts.

Cold Calling Corporate Executives and Managers

  With more than 110 million phone numbers signed up for the Do Not Call list, fewer financial advisors are "cold calling" residences...and with good reason. Studies have shown the individuals who fit the profile of a prospective investor-client, have been among the first to take their names out of circulation.

As a consequence, those financial advisors who are still in the cold calling business, are calling prospects at their place of work. This has created a problematic scenario.

Consider the circumstance...from the reality of a person who works for a typical large corporate bureaucracy.

• With downsizing, corporations are "lean and mean." Managers and executives are doing the work of 2-3 people. Everyone has too much to do...and too little time.
• Imagine yourself as a corporate decision-maker. It's 10:00 a.m., and you have just emerged from your second meeting of the morning. There's a bright yellow Post-It on your phone from your boss...asking you for a status report on the big project that is behind schedule. You log onto your email, and you see that there are 37 new ones. To make things even worse, you check your voicemail and you have 16 unread messages.

What's the likelihood that this harried corporate executive will read your unsolicited cold call...let alone return it? Is it any wonder that you don't get call-backs from your generic, plain-vanilla voicemail message?

Put yourself in the place of the person that you have just cold-called. If you were the previously-described hypothetical executive...would you waste your valuable time to see you?

If not, you need to re-think your approach...and consider these points while you do this:

• Corporate decision-makers want to hear from sellers who can help them achieve THEIR goals and objectives.
• To capture their attention, focus on the DIFFERENCE that your product or service would make in their lives.
• Get to the point.
• Be professional.
• Finally, remember that a switch to you...means more work for them. They won't do this if there is no perceived value.

In the sales business, you never go wrong by putting yourself in the shoes of your prospects.