Should one post to their blog, weekly; or, only when one has something relevant and important to say? This is the dilemma posed by Blogging Heroes, a recently published book which features bloggers who have achieved significant readership and results. Since I’m a stickler for making the most of my waking hours, I’m inclined to post when I have a specific, timely message which is relevant to the focus of this blog. Thus, I hope you will appreciate my intelligent choice!

My focus for this and succeeding nearterm blog postings will be building and maximizing referral relationships. Continuing where I left off in my November 26th posting, my focus will be leveraging and maximizing networking peer groups.

One of my foremost, developing networking peer groups is the TEC Group. I have chosen to have Ray Watson, a guest blogger and a TEC Chair in Central Florida, explain the advantages of TEC Membership. In Ray’s own words:

Peer group organizations for Presidents and CEO’s have proven to be a tremendous vehicle to develop better leaders making better decisions that create effective results.  Studies have shown that companies involved in peer groups outperform their competition by a factor of 2 or 3 times.  The reasons are simple.  CEO’s  that join peer groups realize they do not have all the answers and involving 10-15 other CEO’s from non-competing companies in the decision making process results in better decisions.  I’m sure you will agree: 15 people are smarter than 1.

In good times, participation in a peer group is a positive thing.  However, in the challenging times we are facing, peer groups are even more beneficial, if not critical.  When times are good, bad decisions can be overcome.  In challenging times, bad decisions or the failure to take advantage of an opportunity may result in the demise of the company.  Many companies are operating on a thin edge and the difference between successes or failures may be just be the difference between making one right or wrong decision.

How can a peer group help?

1.      Improved decision making:  Many CEO’s wrestle with issues which cannot be discussed with staff, friends, or other business people and may be operating in a vacuum.  A peer group provides a talented experienced and supportive team where any and all issues may be discussed in a totally confidential environment.

2.      Increased accountability:  As a CEO, you ensure those who work with you are held accountable.  But who holds you accountable in a supportive and helpful way?  Each peer group and group chairman maintains a strong emphasis on follow-through and implementation of actions committed to by the members.

3.      Personal and Professional Growth: Peer groups participate in workshops and seminars by bringing talented people to the group to work on major business and personal development topics.

4.      Isolation:  Most CEO’s experience a sense of isolation.  In these challenging times, that feeling may be amplified due to the exerted financial pressures.  A peer group provides a support team where members can discuss the undiscussable, helping reduce the stress associated with that level of responsibility.

5.      Change:  Change, in our information age, is coming at us at light speed.  Recent events have accelerated the speed of change.  Most CEO’s are caught up in the tactical battles of day to day management.  They hardly have the time to step away from the business and work “on the business” and think strategically.  Change may overtake the business rather than the business adapting to and taking advantage of change.  A peer group provides a forum for the CEO to recognize how change is affecting his or her business and stay current with the effect of change.

One of the premier and oldest peer group organizations is TEC (The Executive Committee).  There are over 14,000 members internationally and TEC has been helping CEO’s outperform their competition for over 50 years.

I’m not a TEC Member. As a sales prospecting consultant, I offer my services to TEC Member Companies in Central Florida. Recently, I gained access to one TEC Member Group by conducting a free 90 minute presentation about b2b sales prospecting; or in my lingo, POWER Prospecting®, a formula which empowers b2b sales professionals to consistently and painlessly gain ethical access to decision-makers.

While TEC policy strictly prohibits presenters from pitching their services, it does encourage presenters to share their cutting edge business practices with examples of how TEC Members can implement these processes and formulas into their business environment.

TEC Chairs, like Ray Watson, are strict gatekeepers. Ray and I have known each other since the 1980s, when he was President of Inacomp Computer Centers, an $80 million/year computer dealership which was one of my major clients. We have built a trusting relationship which now enables me to share my formula and 26 years of tactical sales prospecting experience with members of his TEC Group.

Already, several TEC Members who attended my November 2007 presentation have hired me to make my magic work inside their organizations; plus, I have also received several well-qualified referrals from those attendees into non-TEC organizations.

To qualify for TEC Membership, companies must have revenues of $1-5 million/year or $6-100 million/year. Those with the former annual revenues may qualify for The President’s Forum and larger organization CEOs may qualify for TEC (The Executive Committee). I say, may qualify, because TEC Membership Chairs follow strict guidelines during individual interviews to ensure membership candidates fit well with others in their small 8-15 member peer groups.

To learn more about TEC and to locate TEC Groups near you, go to www.vistage.com. I can’t say enough good things about this wonderful organization and the services it provides its 14,000 members worldwide. Plus, it is becoming a robust source of new business and networking referrals for my company. Talk about a Win-Win Networking Opportunity!

While the 30 BNI Chapters in my Central Florida Region provide me exposure to 700+ companies who typically generate less than $5 million/year, TEC Group companies cover the higher end of the spectrum. Nurturing these two peer networking groups in this challenging 2009 economy is my “Bail Out Plan”! Whats yours?   

You may recall, in my November 13th posting, I talked about how the 30 Chapters in my Central Florida BNI Region comprised my formal network. Also, how BNI-sponsored referral training has been instrumental in insulating us from this Recession. BNI teaches us the process of how to conduct Dance Cards. A Dance Card is a face-time interview between two BNI members. First, members of the same chapter and later, members of other chapters. 

Scheduling Dance Cards every week inside and outside my chapter has resulted in what I refer to as my informal Super GIVERS Network. Basically, it’s my Central Florida Regional Network. These are BNI Members who are serious about exchanging referrals which convert into paying customers and even, advocates who become second and third tiered referral sources inside our 4 county region.

Right now, there are 26 business professionals in my informal BNI Super GIVERS Network and it continues to grow. In return for their vigilance, I constantly listen and look for referrals which will convert to paying customers for them in West Orange and South Lake Counties. Unselfish reciprocity is our battle cry.

It sounds like a lot of paper shuffling. It’s not. In fact, all of the 1 page Dance Card INFO Profiles of these Super GIVERS are kept in my red binder in my car, tab-divided by service category. For example, I have several Super GIVERS who are in the Payroll-Processing tab section. I avoid confusion by sub-dividing their expertise. One specializes in fast-food restaurants and take-out services while another is a construction industry expert.

I don’t deal with generalists - those who claim to know it all - or, who want the whole pie. Why not? Well, I’m living-proof clients prefer to hire specialists. I don’t train b2b sales professionals how to present, close the sale or how to conduct customer service after the sale. I am well-versed and experienced in these skills. I just choose NOT to be a generalist sales trainer. My expertise is giving them the tools to painlessly and systematically gain repeated, ethical access to those who sign the checks for what they sell.

Actually, NOT giving these b2b sales professionals the tools but teaching them how & when to use these tools to gain repeated, ethical access. The difference between access and ethical access is important. With ‘ethical access’ one is always invited back by the prospective client. There are no gimmicks used to end-run the gatekeeper or to attempt to fool the decision-maker. Also, by choosing NOT to, I’m doing what I love to do which is to train and rub elbows with the World’s Greatest Sales Prospectors.

This isn’t work, it’s fun! I’m not a golfer, bowler or bass fisherman. One day each month I enjoy surf-fishing in the Atlantic Ocean with my retired friends whom I refuse to join as another retiree. I plan to work as long as I can help others master the art and science of Power Prospecting.

Back to my informal Super GIVERS network! These are sales professionals who passed my test. The ‘test’ is whether they share serious referrals - unselfishly - or whether, it’s the you give me 1 referral and then I’ll give you 1 childish mindset. Once I sense I’m sitting in the presence of a Super GIVER, I will open my address book and share all my worthy contacts with my new-found Super GIVER associate. Sometimes, it’s as many as 20 or as few as 5 contacts. It depends on what I understand to be an ideal contact for that person. During the Dance Card (BNI lingo) we sit down and understand each other’s best prospect trigger phrases or cues. For example, on my 1 Page Dance Card INFO sheet, there is this question: What trigger phrases should I listen for?  These are cues, which when overheard, would indicate I’m in the presence of a good prospect for you.  

My 3 trigger phrases are: “I just can’t seem to get in front of decision-makers” or,  “How do you get past voice mail jail and get decision-makers to return your voice mail messages?” or, “My commission check is on a diet during this Recession.”  When one of my Super GIVERS hears one of these statements, he/she is trained to reply, “I know someone who may be able to help you. He specializes in helping b2b sales professionals earn the income they deserve. If I ask Gordie Allen to call you, will you accept his call?”  An affirmative answer results in a business card exchange and a confirming preferred call time. That’s all I need for a lead. A recommendation  or a referral is better but this door-opening lead works for me.

BNI provides members a lengthy 3 page questionnaire to conduct a very thorough Dance Card. I prefer my 1 page Dance Card INFO Sheet since it provides me an accurate snapshot, something I can quickly review while gridlocked in traffic. I like having all the relevant Super GIVERS info captured on 1 single sided page.

Dance Cards need to be updated. At least monthly, so I’ll call my informal Super GIVER network partners to discover what’s new? What new services, products or testimonials or ’specials’ they have added to make their offering that much more customer-attractive. The BIG BENEfit of organizing and building an informal referral network of Super GIVERS is they never stop giving as long as everyone reciprocates. Sustaining and growing the informal network is easy once you build momentum and referral partners get referrals which convert into paying customers.  

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, I’m waiting to convert one more referral into a paying customer which would make this my best November sales-topper in 30 years! Next week, I’ll give you my November Report Card: the ROI and Why my Super GIVERS Gain Network is worth the nurturing and effort. Also, in December, you will learn about another group which is becoming a hugely productive source of more board-room level referrals for me.

FYI, if you’d like a copy of my Super GIVERS Dance Card INFO Sheet, to start your own informal Super GIVERS Network, do this: e-mail me at: eurekaman43@hotmail.com and in the Subject line, enter Send Super GIVERS INFO Sheet. This will be my early Holiday Gift to you. Stay well, prosper and make it a memorable Thanksgiving!

Today, my 30 years of experience has better equipped me to rise above the Chicken Little fray of, “The Sky is Falling…..the Sky is Falling” mindsets of an alarming number of small business owners.

Did I see THIS Recession coming? Yes, but I just wasn’t prepared for the Government to be so unprepared to respond so poorly to manage and slow down this deepening crisis. Nor, did I anticipate how quickly the R-word would become our grim reality. Like many self-employed small business owners I have been sticking to my knitting; meeting my daily challenges; and letting the BIG Picture take care of itself.

Well, the BIG Picture has front-and-centered and gotten my attention! In my face, on the nightly news and also in my pocket. Suddenly, sales training budgets with several of my oldest b2b clients have gone on crash diets!

Did I have a Backup Plan? Yes. Today, I will begin the process of sharing with you the nuts-and-bolts of my Plan. I’ll tell you how and why to structure your own Recession-Proof source of new business referrals. 

I have a formal business contact network and my own Super-Givers network inside this group. One of the lead organizations in my formal network is BNI (Business Network International), the World’s foremost Business Referral Networking Organization. Founded in 1985, in Southern California by Dr. Ivan Misner, an organizational management consultant, BNI has grown to become the ‘800 pound Gorilla’ in the face-to-face world of business networking. With over 5,000 chapters in over 40 counties, BNI is growing exponentially at about 100 chapters monthly.

I can’t say enough good things about BNI, especially now as we ride out what looks like a lengthy Recession. The 30 local Chapters in the Central Florida BNI Region have become my “Islands of Prosperity in a Sea of Recession”.  These 30 chapters have 600+ member companies whose reps meet weekly to document and share serious b2b and b2c referrals in the spirit of BNI’s Givers-Gain Philosophy.

Besides providing a catalyst in the form of robust, well-managed chapters with non-competing member companies, BNI provides several monthly members-only, informative referral marketing 2 hour training workshops. Member Success Programs, MSPs in BNI’s lingo, enables chapter members to continually sharpen their referral marketing skills. These are top notch, info-packed sessions well worth the nominal $15. fee.

While my company, Leads-Plus, Inc., is a member of BNI’s Referral Masters Chapter in Winter Garden, FL, my BNI membership entitles me to visit any of the 29 other Central Florida chapters so I can actively exchange referrals and network to my heart’s content. These 30 chapters are my formal network.   I attend my weekly Referral Masters Chapter meeting plus, one of the other 29 Chapter meetings. 

Dr. Misner has authored and co-authored several best-selling books on the subject of referral marketing and networking. According to the mainstream press, he is  “The Father of Modern Networking”, a richly deserved title since he is still trotting the Globe spreading the BNI Gospel to thousands of business professionals, monthly. 

Even if you aren’t a BNI member you can subscribe to SuccessNET, his monthly e-newsletter. It’s filled with timely tips for mastering the referral  marketing process. Go to www.bni.com to learn more about this great organization; to locate a nearby chapter and to subscribe to SuccessNET.

ROI Realities. My most recent 6 visits, in the past 30 days, to other local BNI Chapters resulted in 17 referrals, 6 of which have already converted into $4,600 in new b2b client sales prospecting training contracts and sales of my September-released eBook titled, How to Get Face-Time with People Who Buy What You Sell. To download a FREE Preview Minibook, CLICK on The Purchase eBook Now button in the right or top margin.

Next week, I’ll tell you about my Super-Givers network inside the 30 BNI Chapters in my Central FL Region and how to avoid participating in the Recession by weaving your own Recession-Proof Business Safety Net! 

I’m constantly getting e-mails and voice-mails from consulting associates telling me about the wonderful ‘exposure’ they received speaking for free at local trade association chapter or business networking luncheons. It’s their shameless way of coaxing me to do the same. Most often, I politely refuse and just keep prospecting and working my referrals. Exposure, without meaningful sales contacts, is counter-productive!

I could fill every waking hour in my appointment planner with free speaking or networking engagements but I don’t for several reasons. First, I have to pay my bills. Second, when I’m not on the phone or my laptop connecting to new sales prospects, following up on strategic referrals, or servicing clients; I’m not ringing up sales. Negative cashflow is a commission sales person’s worst nightmare. There are too few prime time prospecting hours in my day even though my day begins at 4:00 am.

So, today, I’m going to share with you my 4 test questions for deciding whether to be distracted or to pass on an ‘opportunity’. Distractions are always cloaked as ‘opportunities’. I still do an occasional free luncheon speech, and I selectively attend b2b networking luncheons but ONLY if they pass my test.

When I am invited to attend an event or to speak at an event, I always ask the meeting planner 4 questions:

• What is the exact purpose of the meeting or event?
• Were I attending as a guest, what would it cost me?
• Name some of last month’s attendees by company and their job titles?
• How many people attended your meeting last [week, month or quarter]? 

What is the exact purpose of the meeting or event? I avoid meetings or events positioned as ‘the networking event of the year’. It’s pure hype. Anyone who has to pitch their event so blatantly is seeking to seat  ‘breathers’,  not professionals. Not for me! Also, I’m not into networking luncheons open to ‘entrepreneurs’. ‘Entrepreneur’ is a code-word for b2c MLM sales agent who seem to be popping up, like attorneys at  traffic accidents. Since I only train b2b sales professionals and I only accept money, not beads and blankets (trade-outs) for my services, I avoid b2c MLM groupie events.

Were I attending as a guest, what would it cost me? I avoid free events. The food is usually marginal and the company isn’t much better. Moochers who are regulars at free events don’t spend money. I guess that’s why the moochers usually show up en mass. My interest begins at $35 per person. People who call themselves professionals realize they will not sit in the company of peers for free. They ‘get’ it and so do I.

Name some of last month’s attendees by company and their job titles? The answer to this question is the deciding factor for me. While b2b company names are important, I’m more interested in the job title of the typical attendee. Why? My best prospect-types by job title are: sales managers, regional sales managers, new business development directors and marketing directors. These are the people who sign contracts to hire me to re-tool their b2b sales teams and they make quantity purchases of my eBooks. So, an opportunity to rub elbows or to speak to a group of 40-60 of these job titles is worth my time. 

How many people attended your meeting last [week, month or quarter]?  For some reason, meeting planners have a tendency to add 10 to their last attendance count. Maybe, 10 more attendees is a lucky number! So, if I hear 25-30, I presume, it’s usually 15-20 which is too small for me to net any worthwhile contacts. When I attend functions, I’m seeking a critical mass of 40 - 60 attendees. This is true whether I’m the speaker or just an attendee because I will always meet 3-5 serious b2b decision-making prospects for my services. 

How do you find out about these business event luncheons? Of course, most daily newspaper have a business section with weekly event listings. Also, GOOGLE ”local business event luncheons by City, ST”. But what about business event luncheons of decision-makers, by their job titles, for what you sell?

Read Chapter 1 of my new How to Get Face-Time with People Who Buy What You Sell ebook (also called the PowerProspecting eBook) and you will learn how and where to get FREE Lists of these decision-makers, by their job-titles, for contacts in your local, regional or national sales territories. To preview my eBook for FREE, CLICK on Purchase The eBook Now, in the right sidebar. CLICK on Home Page. CLICK on View FREE Minibook. Remember, you have a 1 Year Money-Back Guarantee to tailor and test my Power Prospecting Formula to painlessly and systematically get qualified prospect appointments for your b2b products and services. 

Starting next week and every week, thereafter I’ll deliver shorter blogs beginning with Part 1 of How to Prosper in Tough Times.  Have a happy and carefree Halloween and remember to vote next Tuesday.

How do you, the sales professional, determine whether the person on the other end of the phone is being truthful?  Your questions and how you ask them will reveal whether you are speaking with a liar or a potential buyer. Asking these questions on the phone will eliminate wasted face-time sales calls.

Professional Pollsters and Marketing Researchers who use the phone know the answer and so should you. They ask shielded questions. Actually, the same question, worded differently and asked once, twice or three times during the same phone interview.

I’m a great believer in having my 5-6 Qualifying Questions documented on a form I refer to as a CPQ (Call Planner Questionnaire). In fact, the CPQ is the lynchpin accountability tool  I encourage sales managers and small business owners to use to make certain their sales team members are turning in legitimate expense reports at week end.

You may recall from past blogs my statement, “You are making a Social NOT a SALES CALL if you do not have 1 completed CPQ for each face-time decision-maker appointment.” None of us in sales were hired to make social calls.  We aren’t paid for visits - ONLY CLOSED SALES! There should be 1 CPQ for each completed face-time sales appointment. This is RULE Number 2 of my Power Prospecting Formula.

One of the ‘key’ questions asked early on during the Qualifying Phone Follow up Calling Sequence should answer the important question:

1. Who, in addition to you [Mr/Mrs/Ms. Prospect Name] is involved in the decision to [buy, choose one vendor over another or change suppliers]?
2. Another variation of this is: [Mr/Mrs/Ms. Prospect Name], how many copies of [my report, executive summary, review and analysis, or, my survey] would you like me to bring to our meeting?
3. Still, another variation is:  [Mr/Mrs/Ms. Prospect Name], would you describe for me the decision-to-buy-process at your company?

 Answering these questions strikes at the very heart of my Power Prospecting Formula. In 1967, when I began my formal sales career with NCR selling computers to the hoteliers on Miami Beach, I often discovered decisions to purchase equipment were made at the holding company HQ office, seldom at the local hotel property. My sales proposals were accompanied by the local managers’ purchase request and mailed to a distant decision-making office, far removed from Miami Beach.

Today, more than ever before, determining who signs the checks locally is critically important.

Many times, when I have conducted my Qualifying Phone Follow up Calling Sequence, I have discovered I’m speaking with an ego-centric ‘decision-maker’ who replies, “I make the decision!” Then, when I ask a variation of the same question later on during the same phone interview, their answer conflicts with their first reply.

Ah ha, a liar versus a buyer!

As a rule, I will not keep an appointment with a prospect to fails my shielded questions test. How can I believe anything else that person will tell me at our face-time appointment?

Am I being too sensitive? Am I placing an X on the door of a potential prospect? No! In fact, those few times when I have kept the face-time appointment with a liar, I have wasted my time on non-prospects. I don’t have the time or patience to meet with people who don’t respect me. When someone lies to me, they don’t respect me!

This shielded questions technique works especially well for commercial and industrial telemarketing sales. In 1987, I developed a CPQ scenario for an industrial sales software vendor. Elaborate product information kits were mailed, in advance, to all inquiries. Yet, fewer than 8% of these elaborate product information kits resulted in sales.

Two CPQ Questionnaires were designed and tested. The first CPQ narrow-focused an inquirer’s: urgency, decision-making-process, including who in the company by name and position was seated on the Software Evaluation Committee and whether the committee had a ‘funded budget’  to thoroughly research, conduct field trips to vendor installation sites prior to creating a short list of the three most capable solution providers. The ‘funded budget’ shielded questions and answers separated the curious from the serious.

The second CPQ Questionnaire was used after the prospect received the basic information kit which was one quarter the length of the original elaborate product information kit. The telemarketers asked the prospects specific questions about the software architecture and platform. Questions which could only be answered if the prospect thoroughly read the basic information kit. Both CPQ’s included multiple shielded questions.

Almost 8 months to the day the dual CPQ Questionnaires were implemented, conversions to sales were averaging 19-24%.

I’d be shocked if most of you aren’t using a CPQ type document, either printed or screen-displayed. However, if you aren’t using shielded questions, make some changes; add a few and you are sure to improve your conversion to serious, not curious decision-making prospects.

In Chapter 7 of the September edition of my How to Get Face-Time with People Who Buy What You Sell ebook (also called the PowerProspecting eBook) I detail how to design the ideal CPQ. Also,  how to skillfully use my best secret weapon: The Columbo to forever eliminate wasted face-time sales appointments! CLICK on Purchase eBook Now. CLICK on Home Page. CLICK on View FREE Minibook. Remember, you have a 1 Year Money-Back Guarantee to test my Formula.

So, what works for you and your sales team? How do you filter liars and buyers?

Yet, with all this gloom and doom news, I’m still very optimistic. My reason? I’ve been here before.

For 30 years, I have been a thriver, not just a survivor. Prospering in lean and mean times because I accept this as a natural progression in the entrepreneurial business climate in which we live.

Frequent readers of this blog already know I’m no Spring Chicken but neither am I Chicken Little, fearful the Sky will Fall! In the 60’s, I weathered the Vietnam War; gas crisis of the 70’s; dog days of the Nixon Whitehouse in the 80’s; Savings & Loan Scandal; Dot.com bust and every bump and grind in The Economy since the mid-70’s.

Guess what? That majestic Lady at the entrance of New York Harbor still shines her radiant torch of freedom on all who pass her graceful post  and the NFL continues to entertain us on Sundays.

The fact is: I lived it and rode out every lean and mean lapse of economic insecurity. Tough Times, too……but serious career selling professionals who worked their system, not only survived, but thrived.

Here’s the secret: Only the strong survive in nature and especially in sales. It’s decision time for the carpet baggers or short-timers. They are in it when the economy is booming and running for the lifeboats when stormy seas are ahead. I’m not upset to see them go. In fact, I will cheerfully wave them goodbye!

FACT: Right now, NEW Opportunities abound!

This is not a typo or the rantings of an energized senior citizen who od’d on the Kool Aid! Here are 4 reasons to substantiate this claim:

First, I am thrilled to pieces my competition is pulling back, laying off sales staff and playing the Economic Blame Game.  Meanwhile, I’m quietly harvesting the ripe, low hanging fruit they left behind.

My systematic laser-focused snail mail and e-mailings to decision-makers have doubled as have my timely qualifying phone calls to book the new business. Someone has to fulfill their needs, so why not me?

Second, less competition means more marketshare for me to prospect! With competition thinning out, there are many more new prospects for me to target. My favorite fishing holes are full, again.

Third, I can work my established networking contacts to reach out and touch many more new referrals. Both my BNI contacts and my LinkedIN Connections are ready and willing to extend my reach. Why should they do this, you say? Because my door is always open to help others achieve the income they deserve, in good and bad times, and they know it. So, with a little help from my friends, I’ll continue to nurture new opportunities.

Fourth, my sales message is tuned into the times. I preach value-added benefits and have a pocket full of client testimonial referral letters to backup my claims. Plus, I have made it much easier for clients to buy my services and new content-rich eBooks at market-sensitive prices with zero risk guarantees.

My latest $40. eBook is now available as a printable document. Titled, How to Get Face-Time with People Who Buy What You Sell, it’s chock full of time-and-money-saving techniques for getting b2b decision-maker face-time appointments in the era of $3.80/per gallon. 

From where to get FREE prospect lists just like your best customers to How to Escape Voice Mail Jail. It’s all here. What works and why with complete examples. No hidden add-ons. All tactical hands-on how-to’s with very specific examples tested by me and my customers. Plus, you can download the FREE Minibook and take a look before you buy the complete book. Best of all there is No Risk because of my 1 Year Money-Back Guarantee. Interested? Go to the right sidebar or the top of this blog page and Click on Purchase eBook Now. Then, Click on Home Page. To preview my FREE MiniBook Click on View Free Minibook.  Ok, enough shameless commercials! Let’s summerize and get back to business.

KEY POINTS for  thriving in Hard Times:

• Banish the garbage of self-doubt from your mind. Stop your Stink’in Think’in*
• Recognize the marketing and sales opportunities in front of you.
• Less competition means many more prospects for you.
• Make your products and services more price-sensitive and build in a risk-free guarantee.
• Get busy marketing and selling. Stop getting around to it and just do it!
• Book this profitable new business and ride the waves of prosperity.

 I did many times before and I will once, again. I’ll see you out on the street, Gordie

*one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotations.

FACT: There are NO SHORTCUTS in the DOING process. 

Training b2b sales professionals by helping them to understand and apply the tactical hands-on how-to’s is where I have spent most of my 25 years. Not in a training classroom but out on the streets in the sales territory. Yes, it is a long time. Let’s face it, it is the stuff of my life as Ben Franklin said “time is the stuff life is made of”.

When people ask me, as they often do, what have you enjoyed most about your sales training career? My answer is pretty much the same because it is what brings me joy and my feeling of accomplishment.  It is that I have invested my life, wisely that ‘my ladder has been leaning again the right wall’ in Stephen Covey lingo.

My answer is ’seeing the light go on when a sales trainee finally gets it’. When that person realizes the currency of success in the selling game  is systematically filling the funnel with ‘qualified’ prospects who have an identified urgent need; true decision-making authority; and a concise understanding of what the sales person is selling. Once this realization becomes an urgent priority to be dealt with every week; then, my mission is accomplished.

It was 25 years ago, I believed that transferring the knowledge and skills was the difficult challenge to be reckoned with. Yet 25 years later, TODAY, to be exact (the day before my 65th birthday), I now realize it is really the second part which is the truly elusive challenge: that ’you have your priorities in the correct order’. This is what really matters most in sales. Getting my training clients to laser-focus on the essential activity of systematic and painless prospecting.

NOT checking e-mail or re-arranging the order of stuff on your desk; NOT hanging out at the corner coffee shop or the cooler down the hall. Having the iron-willed discipline to get down to the tactical business of speaking with real prospects; qualifying their needs; getting face-time and meeting their needs with your products and services.

In sales, everything else is secondary to getting the order and with it a check or purchase order to cement the deal. Chatter all you want about the up and down price of a gallon of gas (black gold) or the effects of IKE on the near-term price at the pump; the housing slump; the Recession, the War………..getting in front of qualified prospects……..determining their needs…………moulding your products and services to fill those needs; convincing the prospect that you can……….then, getting their name on the dotted line and their payment with their signed order………………….in sales…………THIS PROCESS is What Really Matters Most!

Three days ago, I sat down opposite a selling veteran I have known for some time who was making a lateral career adjustment. He was getting started selling a new service. He wanted me to analyze why he just wasn’t closing as much business as his new bosses thought he should be at this stage of this employment. I listened patiently through 2 cups of strong coffee and occasionally, I asked a question or two.

To my amazement, sat before me, a seasoned selling professional who, after all these years, had lost his way. Who was so distracted by the visions of sugar plums (fat commission checks) and promises of stacked commission spiffs that he had lost track of what really mattered most.

Yet, when I told him, he was almost indignant with surpise! Mark, ‘I said’, “you need to shelve all the crap and just get down to the business of prospecting’………….”FORGET everything else. Wrap your mind and your willpower around making the calls. Park that cute little PDA and sports car and plant your seat and start making calls”. He meekly agreed with me, when I asked to see his Calling Log Sheet and I pointed out how few calls he was making for each sitdown session. He was clearly a victim of the distraction of the trappings of selling success!

He was spending those commissions before he earned them. WHY wasn’t he making the calls? Was it a fear of rejection or, having to leapfrog the gatekkeepers; or, just doing the mundane task of making calls?

Make no mistake, if you and your peers, want to truly earn the income you deserve, it boils down to getting face-time with people who buy what you sell. Re-dedicate yourself to the PROCESS of systematically and painlessly prospecting. Every week, set aside whatever time it takes to book the number of ‘qualified’ face-time appointments it takes to exceed your weekly sales quota.

If you need a refresher course, I recommend you take a look at my newest eBook, titled “How to Get Face-Time with People Who Buy What You Sell”. Click on Purchase the eBook Now, in the right sidebar. My newest version is a PDF formatted version, chock full of stuff you can use to painlessly and systematically gain ethical access to decision-makers. It includes complete Phone Follow up Calling Scripts; a mailing campaign I used to get an 83% response; plus, how to get out of Voice Mail Jail. My newest version includes a FREE minibook you can download and read the Table of Contents; the Introduction and Chapter 3, How to Get and Use Ideal Testimonial Referral Letters; plus, my 1 Year Money-Back Guarantee. OK, that’s my shameless commercial plug!

Whatever you decide to do, I urge you to get back to the business of prospecting. My gift to you on my 65th Birthday is to remind you of this career enriching activity. Do it, NOW!

Call Reluctance (CR) is a career-threathening condition which limits what sales people can achieve by emotionally limiting the number of sales calls they are able to make. CR is “emotional sludge”! 

I can’t take credit for the CR definition. This belongs to George Dudley and Shannon Goodson, Phds and co-authors of “The Psychology of Call Relectance (How to Overcome the Fear of Self-Promotion) a 1986 paperback published by Behavioral Science Research Press, Inc., Dallas, TX.

Since I couldn’t put my finger on the reasons many of my trainees were making excuses instead of conducting their timely qualifying follow up phone calls, I was thrilled to hear about this book which came highly recommended by another sales training consultant.

I was even more anxious to read the book when I learned both authors conducted extensive CR field testing of sales professionals from entry-level through top producers with major clients in the insurance, computer,  management consulting and telecommunications industries.   

Besides publishing the results of their exhaustive field tests, the book identified 11 specific CR Tendencies with their characteristics; and, explained their application of a pre-employment testing instrument which they used to pre-test sales candidates.

The SPQ Gold Test Instrument was not a Personality Test. It specifically measured:

• The severity of CR in 11 major areas.
• Identified wannabe “Sales Imposters”.
• Filtered Test-Takers’ Impression Management, Evasion, Haphazard Answering and Critical Defensiveness.

Out of curiousity, I took the SPQ Gold Test and much to my surprise, discovered I had some degree of Over Preparer Tendencies! While not career-threathening, I was interested in remediation so I flew to Dallas and enrolled in a 2-day CR Remediation Clinic taught and managed by  Dudley and Goodson.

At the time, I thought some of the classroom exercises designed to remediate the 11 CR Tendencies were questionable and unlikely to be practiced by even the most ardent student. I was impressed enough with the veracity of the SPQ Gold Test Instrument to become an authorized test-administrator and marketer in Central Florida.

The Test Instrument was software-platformed and test results with a Remediation Analysis were provided to client management for each enrollee.

For several of our clients, the SPQ Gold Test became the primary pre-employment testing instrument.  We offered the test instrument to several clients until the Dudley and Goodson Organization insisted we also conduct local CR Remediation Clinics. We declined since it was incompatible with our business model and we preferred to pass them on to Dallas for Clinic enrollments.

Even though we discontinued our affiliation with the Dudley and Goodson Organization, this book and the CR concepts are still relevant and applicable.

Shortly before writing this blog posting, I visited Amazon.com to see what books were in print. I found several used copies of the original 1986 Dudley and Goodson book and a later 2001 edition for sale.

I highly recommend this material to both sales agents and sales managers since the bone-shaking fear of picking up the phone to call prospects is still a malady which afflicts many of us.

Do you agree?

My reason for posing it is by anticipating these objections, we can carefully word our answers and commit their conversational adaption to one side of Cue Cards [3], [4], [5] and [6].

If you are a first-time visitor to this blog, please get caught up. Click and read  the two Recent Posts. The Phone as a Sales Prospecting Tool (Part 2) and Mastering the Phone as a Sales Prospecting Tool.

Still stumped? The answer is easier than you think. Here’s why. Your mailing campaign will limit the type and nature of the objections asked by your prospects, provided of course, your prospect received the 1,2, 3 or 4 greeting cards spaced 4-5 days apart; and you conducted your timely Qualifying Phone Follow up Call within 5 days of their receipt of the last card.

In prior posts, I said the purpose of a pre-mailing is to set the stage for your timely Qualifying Phone Follow up Call. Your strategy should be to whet the prospect’s appetite with just enough information so they will thirst for your timely phone follow up call.  Another important duty of your pre-mailing is to narrow-focus their objections to these 4:

1. “I Don’t Remember Your Mailings (greeting cards or letters)”
2. “I’m Not Interested, Now! or “I Don’t Have Time to Speak with You, Now!”
3. “We do Business with Your Competition”
4. “That’s NOT My Responsibility”

How can I make such an assumption? It’s simple. The focus copy of your pre-mailing raises a problem or the ‘pain’ issue  your prospect is likely to have recently experienced or is currently experiencing which is even better.  Your solution, is reinforced by testimonial comments from clients (who are no longer pain-afflicted) because of your brand of Rx which soothed their pain or solved their problem.

If your pre-mailer copy is NOT focused on Pain issues, it should be! To waste this very limited real estate (copy block) which should not exceed 34 total words or about 2 sentences inside a greeting card on nearly any other subject, is the sign of an amateur or someone who has money to burn!

If There is NO PAIN………………………………..There is NO GAIN!

Isn’t just a cute saying. If the person who is opening your sequenced mailings isn’t feeling a pain or is someone who hasn’t felt this pain in their very recent past; they won’t be motivated to want to listen to your solution. They just don’t have a need now for what you sell. They have no sense of urgency!  Your message will fall on deaf ears. So,  do your homework. Don’t waste this precious space inside your 3 or 4 greeting cards with fluff.

Lets do Cue Card [3], one of the most commonly heard of the 4 Objections (copy between the ====):

==================================================================

[3] “We do Business with Your Competition”  (top line in red ink)

[hand-print the body copy, in blue ink]

You Say: “[Mr. Prospect] DO YOU have COMPETITION in Your Business?” (pause and continue)

“I just Want the Opportunity to Compete for YOUR ACCOUNT. Does That sound fair to you?”

 (pause and wait for reply)    Prospect Says:  

YES-> Go to Cue Card [7] -> [ask your 5 key Qualifying Questions] -> Re-confirm Appointment day, date, time and appointment address] -> End Call -> Decide?

NO -> Go to Cue Cards [4], [5], or [6] -> End the Call and Begin next Qualifying Call.

====================================================================

If you would like to see the carefully chosen wording for each of the remaining 3 Objection Cue Cards and a complete explanation with justification for use, CLICK on Purchase the E-Book Now in the right sidebar. My Power Prospecting eBook costs $40 and includes 4 FREE Bonus items. Plus, my NO NONSENSE Money-Back Guarantee gives you an entire year to try my program and then, if it doesn’t work for you; e-mail me your 5 completed Homework Assignments as proof, and I’ll refund your $40 credit card payment.

Why do I require proof of your completed Homework Assignments? To discourage impulse buyers!   My mission with this eBook is to encourage you, a seriously motivated B2B selling professional, to end the pain of your weekly prospecting so you can systematically and painlessly earn the income you deserve! 

Absolutely, nothing beats learning, by doing!  If you are willing to complete my 5 paper and pen exercises to personalize this Formula to your needs, you will succeed, provided you apply the Formula, as designed and presented to you in this eBook to your prospecting situation in your B2B marketplace. Completing the 5 Exercises is important. Testing and re-testing (re-writes of your Cue Cards, too) the Power Prospecting Formula on your real world prospects usually takes several months of pre-mailings; timely qualifying calls; asking the 5 all important qualifying questions and then forming the disciplined habit of deciding to keep or cancel a booked in person appointment. You are deciding whether to make sales calls or social calls. Ultimately, you are deciding if this prospect deserves your time. Breaking old, unproductive sales prospecting habits takes time. You owe it to yourself and to those who depend upon you for groceries to allow the time for this new concept to produce tangible results. Thus, the reason for a 1 year guarantee.

In my next post, I’ll have several proven effective techniques for overcoming the bone-shaking fear of picking up the phone. This affliction, exclusive to sales professionals, is called: call reluctance. In the mid-1980’s, two behaviorial science specialists in Dallas, TX, wrote an excellent book about how to overcome the fear of call reluctance. The book includes a self-test which identifies several types of call reluctance with listed characteristics; detailed remedies and coping mechanisms. I have personally witnessed the transformation of several formerly shy sales wannabes into fearless Power Prospectors with the application of these techniques.  You will not be disappointed!

If you are confused by this opening statement, please read my June 30th blog posting titled: Mastering the Phone as a Sales Prospecting Tool because today’s blog posting is a continuation of the process begun on June 30th.

If you hear the sound of silence (no reply, no heavy breathing) then, the contents of Cue Card [2] should be vocalized to re-gain control of the qualifying call and to grab the prospect’s attention. It is called The Big BENE Card because it states very concisely the reason this prospect will WANT to listen to what you are about to say.

This is the moment you discover IF your direct mailing campaign worked. Most importantly of all, if it effectively set the stage for your timely qualifying follow up phone call. Did it uncover an open wound or raw pain this prospect is feeling?  So much pain, that the prospect has been waiting to hear from you?

When you are composing your Qualifying Phone Follow up Presentation Script, hold this thought:

IF There is NO Pain……………..There is NO GAIN!

It is a selling reality. Selling is about satisfying an urgent need or soothing a FELT top of mind pain. If the person with whom you are speaking is tramatized by a lack of something you sell and they have the authority and ability to pay for it, you have a serious prospect on the phone, especially, if it is a constant, nagging pain they continue to experience. This nagging pain creates urgency. An immediate urgency from this felt-pain.

Wouldn’t our lives be so much more enjoyable if all prospects were this qualified? Not really! Our bosses wouldn’t need our services if order-taking was this easy and uncomplicated. This skill and our ability to use it repeatedly and successfully is really what sets the super successful sales achievers apart from the wannabes in the selling game. It’s the ultimate sales test where the rubber meets the road!

PAIN…..gets and holds a prospect’s attention. In 1999, an errant disc in my lower back got my undivided attention when it suddenly separated from my spinal vertabrae. From the moment it happened early on the morning of Oct 27, 1999 until 72 hours later when I slipped into unconsciousness on a surgical gurney my one-and-only focus was doing absolutely nothing to aggravate my severe pain.

Another, more timely example is the PAIN we are feeling at the pump, today! Since February 1974, the time of the first gas crisis, I have been repeating in print and on the presentation platform “the way we do business will change forever when gas increases to $4.00 per gallon”.  Suddenly, I am getting media attention and being hailed as a visionary. Baloney! I have been parroting this for years. People just weren’t listening when gas was $2.00 or even $3.00 per gallon. They weren’t listening because they weren’t feeling THE PAIN.

 Enough about pain! See below, between the ===== lines an example of Cue Card [2].

=====================================================================

[2] “[Mr. Prospect], SUPPOSE I Could Show You How To“   [top line in red ink]

[hand-print this body copy, in blue ink]

“DRAMATICALLY CUT YOUR COST of Getting NEW BUSINESS?” [This is an example of my BIG BENEfit Statement taken from one of my best Testimonial letters where the delivered 'quantified' value of my services was a single $52,000 order for 11 desktop computer systems booked 26 days after 1 of 83 Inacomp Computer Centers' store managers attended my December 1985 Power Prospecting seminar in Troy, MI.

[pause and  continue]

“ I’m talking about REAL SAVINGS HERE….For One CLIENT a 52,000 DOLLAR RETURN on a 5,000 DOLLAR INVESTMENT in just 26 Days”. [I re-worded my BIG Benefit Statement Testimonial Story so it fits into my scripted, conversational delivery style].  ”I’m sure you would agree Results, such as these would be worth 20 minutes of your time, wouldn’t it?”         [pause and wait for a reply]

Prospect replies:

YES-> Go to Cue Card [7] -> [ask your 5 key Qualifying Questions] -> Re-confirm your Appointment day, date, time and appointment address] -> End the Call and Decide to keep the appointment or cancel it based on the prospect’s answers to my 5 key Qualifying Questions.

NO -> Go to Cue Cards [3], [4], [5], or [6] -> End the Call and Begin the next Qualifying Call.

====================================================================

That’s all Cue Card [2] has to say. See the final, edited version of Cue Card [2] below. 

====================================================================

[2] “[Mr. Prospect], SUPPOSE I Could Show You How To“  

“DRAMATICALLY CUT YOUR COST of Getting NEW BUSINESS?” [pause and  continue]

“ I’m talking about REAL SAVINGS HERE….For One CLIENT a 52,000 DOLLAR RETURN on a 5,000 DOLLAR INVESTMENT in JUST 26 Days….  ”I KNOW you would agree…. Results, such as these would be worth 20 minutes of your time, wouldn’t it?”    [pause and wait for a reply]

 YES-> Go to Cue Card [7] -> [ask your 5 key Qualifying Questions] -> Re-confirm Appointment day, date, time and appointment address] -> End Call -> Decide?

NO -> Go to Cue Cards [3], [4], [5], or [6] -> End the Call and Begin next Qualifying Call.

====================================================================

5 ’Key’ Cue Card [2] Composition and Use Points to Remember:

1. Only use Cue Card [2] to regain control of the call and to grab the prospect’s attention.
2. Grab their attention by ‘quantifying’ the value of your products and services’ from a client testimonial.
3. Keep Cue Card [2] BIG Benefits short, expressive and conversational.
4. Cue Card [2] must resemble your natural expression and speaking style.
5. Include Yes and No Branching Statements at card bottom so you can transition, smoothly.

If you would like to see Cue Card [2] and the entire Scripted 8 Cue Card set with actual wording and the complete explanation and justification for use, CLICK on Purchase the E-Book Now in the right sidebar. My Power Prospecting eBook costs $40 and includes 4 FREE Bonus items. Plus, my NO NONSENSE Money-Back Guarantee gives you an entire year to try my program and then, if it doesn’t work for you; e-mail me your 5 completed Homework Assignments as proof, and I’ll refund your $40 credit card payment. Why does my guarantee require proof you have completed the 5 Homework Assignments? To discourage impulse buyers!

Part 3 of The Phone as a Sales Prospecting Tool will address your 4 typical Objection-Response Cards.