THE COLD, HARD TRUTH: Prospecting 101, Part 4

The Cold, Hard Truth with Gabriel Siegel

We’re following the financial planner looking to expand his customer base by using cold call prospecting.

Our target is the small business owner and our source is the local yellow pages. The singular objective is to get an appointment. Each agent (financial planner) in the office has committed to spend at least one hour a day cold calling. The newest agent will be spending the bulk of her day cold calling for new clients. She understands that building a “book” of clients is a long process.


If you remember from our previous article, we have 3 objectives:

1) Introducing yourself

2) Overcoming objections

3) Getting a firm appointment


We spent a good part of each session working on overcoming objections. Perhaps you have heard some of these common objections:

“I’m not interested.” Click

“I have no money.”

“I have all the insurance I need.”

“I have a relative in the business.”

“I’m too young to think about retirement.”

“I keep my money in the bank.”

“My wife handles our money.”

“All my extra money goes back into my business.”


These may be valid objections, or simply a way for a prospect to “blow you off.” How these objections were handled will be the subject of a future article.

As I explained to this group, cold calling is an impersonal process. You don’t know each other. Second, most of us are conditioned to reject an unsolicited call. It helps when you keep your tone casual. Third, remember that your only objective is to get an appointment or permission to call back. Fourth, there’s always the next name on the list.

In our prospecting round table, we developed and role played a variety of openings. One of the agents decided to use the following approach in introducing herself to new clients. She speaks in a casual and soothing tone:

“Good day sir. My name is ________and I have been talking with business people in our area who may have questions or concerns about their investment and retirement funds and may not have the time, or even the inclination, given this economy, to give this much thought.”

Remember, this is only an opening. For those skeptics out there, I must emphasize this approach works for her. Others in the office used a similar opening, with variations suited to their individual styles. But, all the openings had a common theme: POINT OUT WHERE THE PROSPECT IS HURTING.

After asking one or two qualifying questions (also developed in our “Prospecting Round tables”) our agent concluded her phone presentation thus:

“Sir, we really need to talk. I’m not going to sell you anything, we just need to talk. Would __________________ or _________________ be a good time to meet?”

Our agent has made several contacts so far. She carries nothing with her to the initial interview; just a pad and pencil to make notes. As her principle agent notes, “The objective is to look for real money and that takes trust and time.”

Why does this approach work? There are two reasons. First, it utilizes the salesperson’s own personality and comfort level. There are no scripts, because as successful salespersons have learned, the prospect never follows the script. Second, there are no “steps.” Some sales programs take the salesperson through a series of steps designed to culminate in a sale or close. The salesperson becomes so wrapped up in the progression of steps that any curve thrown by a prospect (and it will happen every time) renders the steps moot with the salesperson trying to figure out where to go next.

Our approach emphasizes questions and responses to a prospect’s concerns. It works for the financial planner, it works for our carpet and upholstery cleaner, it works for the computer consultant, and recently a painting contractor working with realtors to prepare houses for sale. There’s no reason to doubt it could work for you.

In my next article, I will share some of our approaches to handling objections on the phone just using a simple phrase. Unfortunately, too many sales persons will give up at the first hint of an objection.

For anyone wishing to share thoughts or comments, the writer can be reached at guitarman1811@aol.com. I respond to emails more quickly and thoughtfully than I do when contacted on social networking sites.


For more information, please visit Gabriel's TNNWC Bio.

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THE COLD, HARD TRUTH: Prospecting 101, Part 4

PEOPLE, POWER AND POSSIBILITIES: Networking Isn't Just for Sales People

People, Power and Possibilities with Donna Fisher

Sure, networking is a vital sales tool for connecting with people to create a pipeline of sales prospects. However, everyone from executive assistant to computer analyst can utilize networking to be more effective with their work.

What if you thought of your organization as a series of interconnected networks rather than a top-down hierarchy? Imagine that you and every other individual in the company is the center of his or her own network, which interconnects with countless other individuals and their networks. The resources available throughout a corporate network provide effective ways to address issues, solve problems, create new initiatives and network with others in different departments, different locations and even different divisions.

When people relate to one another as part of the same network and work for the good of everyone and the overall business goal, then they are more likely to get together to talk through ideas, build positive relationships, share certain skills and resources, and produce powerful results.

What happens when you start to think of your company as a network of individuals rather than a hierarchy of jobs? Do you start to relate to people differently? Do you start to have different conversations geared around topics that lead to enhanced results? Do you feel more comfortable calling on others for help and support?

Networking within a company involves sharing best practices, brainstorming for great solutions and being resources throughout the corporate network. Networking is an important productivity skill for everyone!


For more information, please visit Donna's TNNW Bio.

*Editor's Note: As this is Donna's last submission, TNNW would like to thank her for the time spent with us and wish her every success in the future. WE'LL MISS YOU, DONNA!

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PEOPLE, POWER AND POSSIBILITIES: Networking Isn't Just for Sales People

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Dealing With the BIG BOYS, Getting to know you...

Dealing with Giants
with Claudine Halpern

I have received many comments on my articles in the last few months, but one has intrigued me so I will write about that today, the comment was, How do you get to the BIG BOYS to start off with?

Really Really, Really good question, I don’t claim to have all the answers but I have some ideas.

This is networking 101, the same way that you get yourself a good job, or accomplish any of your goals, the rules of networking work here, but slightly more targeted. Here are thirteen important points. I just turned 13 into a lucky number.

1) NO FEAR; I have a sign at my desk in 60 point type, bright red NO FEAR, the only thing that can go wrong is, you don’t get the business, but that’s where you are today

2) Target your company; Research the companies that you think might be a fit

3) Learn the pain points of those companies, it’s not about what your selling it’s about what they need first and want second, solve a problem

4) Calculate the companies cost benefit potential and keep that in your back pocket

5) Be a perfect fit, not a almost perfect fit, but a perfect fit

6) Work your network: the best way in is someone you know, or someone who knows someone in the company that you want to reach

7) Network your a** off, go to anything that might look like it may be sort of close to what your looking for, you may be able to expand your view

8) Prepare for a very long lead time, my experience is that 9-12 month lead cycle for this type of sale is not unusual

9) Become the go to expert, talk to everyone, use all the social networking sites, join groups, write blogs, answer queries

10) Work backwards, look at the web site of the company, see if any names pop out at you, old high school buddies, people you worked with 20 years ago, the guy who rides the train with you and go for it

11) Conference, Conference, Conference, oh and did I say attend conferences

12) DON’T GIVE UP EVER, choose more than one company and experiment with the one that you want the least, you may actually score that business

13) Constantly Recalibrate. Always keep up with issues that come to light. Laws change so quickly that you may be needed one day and obsolete the next, or the other way around

I’m a firm believer in being nice to the people on the way up, because you meet the same people on the way down, so if you’ve always been nice, great, you’ve got a foundation. If not, START NOW, BIG BOYS are people first, and want to work with people they like.

Hope this helps, please let me know…………………

Please send your questions and business situations to chalpern@theychgroup.com.

The YCH Group, Inc.

The YCH Group, Inc. makes things work. We have a proven track record in delivering projects to a successful end state on time and within budget. We work with on site management to improve deliverables and control costs to primary and secondary firms in the financial sector and across a broad span of business sectors, domestically and internationally.

Claudine Y. Halpern, President

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon, she has worked in many different situations during her more that twenty five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Dealing With the BIG BOYS, Getting to know you...

DEALING WITH GIANTS: Selling to the BIG BOYS - Doing the Job, Managing your Reputation, and GETTING PAID

Dealing With Giants
with Claudine Halpern

WOW, you’re business has it’s biggest customer ever, whether your business is a service or product business, there are some really important things to address now.

If you have a product business, you are probably finding yourself in the unenviable position of needing stock that you don’t have. You either need to purchase the stock or manufacture it. If you are well financed then it’s no problem, you go and buy it or make it.

WAIT, how did you set up your contract with your big customer? Let’s talk about some ways to make sure that you can keep your head above water while you’re getting the goods together.

• I very often suggest that a customer give you a percentage of the money that’s owed on contract signing, usually half, that might not cover all you costs but it should get you along the way to fulfilling your deal.

• Or you can get half up front and deliver incrementally, so that you can satisfy your customer and keep your head above water.

I did logistics work for a publicly held major BIG BOY catalogue retailer, it was Mother’s Day and the BIG BOY ordered squeaky bears that were selling for $5 as a bonus with other purchases. In order to save money, the BIG BOY outsourced the bears to China in January, with every expectation that they would show up in plenty of time for Mother’s Day. Each bear cost $2.50, so the profit margin was there. The BIG BOY had orders for over 1 million bears. They were planning on starting sorting and delivery in late March.

A storm hit the South China Sea, and the ship, carrying the squeaky bears, was delayed by three months. Oooooops, 1 million customers were not going to be happy, and the BIG BOY needed to do something fast.

In March, the BIG BOY ordered 1 million squeaky bears, from a local manufacturer, for $5.00 each. So the bears cost $2.50 +$5.00 or $7.50 each, and sold for $5 each. That created a loss of $2.5 million for that quarter, not happy shareholders.

1million bears showed up in July, decorated for Mother’s Day. What to do with 1 million Mother’s Day bears in July? The BIG BOY hired a local firm to redecorate the bears for Thanksgiving at $3.50 each and sold them in the catalogue for, you got it, $5. Total Profit ZERO, Total Loss well you figure it out.

So if you are producing goods for one of the BIG BOYS, Be smart, be careful, price intelligently and have a contingency plan, to keep your reputation intact you need to deliver quality merchandise on time and in budget.

If you have a service business, you may have a little more flexibility in pricing. I always recommend incremental pricing based on milestones. What does that mean? That means that you get paid for getting to the milestone, not for finishing the job. Here’s how you create the incremental milestones plan:

· clearly establish and document the BIG BOYS goals

· break down the deliverable into obvious, smaller pieces

· clearly establish and document what tasks belong to you and what belong to the BIG BOY

· clearly establish and document what the BIG BOY must provide (information, support, office space, technology, coffee, raw materials etc,) and when

· clearly establish and document change control procedures, that means that there are no changes unless all agree and the scope and dates are renegotiated

· clearly establish what you will get paid when you hit each milestones

I had a small software client who got a multi million dollar contract with one of the BIG BOYS. We wrote the contract following the rules above. We always got paid on time, even though we did not always hit the milestones, we could always prove that we didn’t hit the milestone because of something the BIG BOY promised and didn’t deliver.

When working with the BIG BOYS, Be Smart, Be Effective, Be Thrifty, Have Contingency Plans, Be Realistic, Be True to Yourself and Your Company, good ideas for business and good ideas for life.

Next Time; Building on current BIG BOY business to get more BIG BOY business.

About Claudine Halpern

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

EMAIL chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

For more information, please visit Claudine's TNNW Bio.

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: Selling to the BIG BOYS - Doing the Job, Managing your Reputation, and GETTING PAID

DEALING WITH GIANTS: When to Hold and When to Fold

Dealing With Giants

with Claudine Halpern

Next Steps
Getting closer to the Close...When to Hold and When to Fold

It’s time to think about what to do next, you’ve planned the meeting, and executed the meeting plan, is it in your company's best interest to proceed?

Remember, YOU OWN THE SALES PROCESS, you have an absolute RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to make the smart decisions about going forward with the BIG BOY prospect. Not every prospect is good for the company, every sales encounter, whether it comes to fruition or not, costs you time and by default costs you money, and that money adds up.

Like every other decision that you make for your business now is a good time to do your first Risk/Reward assessment. We will do more of these as we move forward but lets do the first one together.

Click on the Banner, and Receive your Membership Free Trial and Discount

How do you know if you should continue with this BIG BOY prospect? You don’t. Though by now you will be able to tell if you should stop here. DON’T CHASE A DUD CUSTOMER, they will drive you crazy and bleed you dry.

Let’s talk about some signs that point toward the exit.

1) Rudeness; Your BIG BOY prospect is rude, I mean really rude. Some people are rude to children and small cute animals. If a prospect is particularly rude, to you or to anyone else, think about the cost to your company. Rudeness is strange behavior; sometimes people will use rudeness as a cover for self-loathing, boredom, lack of motivation or any other possible negative feelings. Some business sectors actually expect certain amount of rudeness, if that’s the case then watch and see if the rudeness is cultural or personal.

I was a consultant on a major financial firm’s equity trading floor ten years ago. I had a client who was not only rude to me, he was rude to his junior staff, the people who cleaned the floors, the people who made the coffee and anyone else who got in his way. He also had the misfortune of having toilet mouth, which embarrassed the young people who worked for him and everyone else. He was a big money maker for the firm and they gave him too much leeway.

I told him that when he saw me coming he should picture his mother, and if he wouldn’t say or behave that way in front of his mother, it was unacceptable to me as well. Well I’m a tall woman, I used to watch him open his mouth, stop, look for me, and if he saw me he started behaving properly, if not his toilet mouth returned. About a year later I saw a picture of this guy in a perp walk, he was accused of aggravated sexual harassment and went to jail. Karma comes around.

Long story short, if a BIG BOY is so rude that he makes you, or any of your people feel uncomfortable, walk away, fold.

2) Excessive Neediness; There are people who can never see the positive side of anything, they whine, complain, constantly vent and call you all the time to talk about their terrible lives. Think about this person as a customer, is there any way that you will be able to satisfy this person with your goods or service, or will you get a small sale and have a huge customer service problem, walk away, fold.

3) Totally Unqualified: This BIG BOY is unqualified to make the purchase and won’t introduce you to his boss’s boss who may or may not be qualified. This BIG BOY likes the attention, make sure that you are dealing with a potentially qualified prospect. This does not mean that you don’t talk to the lower people to get to the higher ones, but when the lower person is a blocker but not a facilitator, you will not get past him, walk away, fold.

In this case you want to get the name of the qualified person, walk away for a bit, and try to find a way to get directly to the qualified BIG BOY.

4) Fails the Smell Test: Something smells, I mean something really smells. You have a very bad feeling about it. You are uncomfortable because the BIG BOY is not behaving in a legal or ethical manner, for example if he asks you for up front money or favors.

I used to be the person who interviewed the trainee technical people at a firm that I worked for many years ago. We made a habit of hiring second career people who had retrained as they had life experience that very often made them more motivated employees. I was asked to interview a second cousin twice removed of one of the senior managers for an open position that I had. As with most technical spots, I did a technical interview and this guy did not answer one question correctly, needless to say this was going to be a short interview. I was about to show him out. He pulled a roll of hundreds from his pocket and told me he would make it worth my while and started counting the benjamins. I stepped out, called security and had him removed from the building. He was lucky I didn’t call the cops.

Anything illegal, unlawful or unethical will affect your company negatively, walk away, fold.

Next Articles: Next steps, Getting closer to the Close, How to Follow Up, Moving Forward, Getting a Handshake Agreement

Claudine Y. Halpern, President, The YCH Group, Inc.

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum.

email chalpern@theychgroup.com

http://ychmagicclaudinehalpern.blogspot.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudinehalpern

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DEALING WITH GIANTS: When to Hold and When to Fold