Now: But, 1 year ago, more of us than anticipated did the American Thing. We dug our heels into the dirt, rolled up our shirt sleeves and did the heavy lifting. We did what Americans do best when others doubt us: we demonstrated our true grit!

Here is the true story of one small business owner who demonstrated the guts to grind it out and succeed in this tough 10 month economic period. He did it without any fanfare, government handouts or help. He prospered, in an industry which experienced a 56% failure rate of his service-provider peers, serving a former Top 5 Florida Growth Industry which has experienced an 81% decline since December 2008.We met in November 2008. A business associate who knew us both brought us together.

He described it as: the ideal marriage. The client needed a marketing guy with fresh ideas and a proven track record for making positive change become a bankable reality. I needed a new challenge, in a new industry plus, a client with the ability to pay me and the courage to step outside his comfort zone to try something new.

Together, we made it happen for less than an investment in 1 Chevy from the New General Motors. Our process increased his monthly sales 273% over the same 2008 period. He added new jobsite work crews while his competition’s assets were being auctioned on the courthouse steps. 

He insisted I add his testimonial to my website at: www.salesprospectingexpert.com. Remember folks, ‘it ain’t boasting if you make it happen’, in the homespun words of FSU’s most famous football coach. The process began with a quality mailing list of ideal target prospects.  So, what’s ideal? Ideal prospects were large enough to weather the peaks and valleys of this economic storm with the ability to pay plus, a continuing need for my client’s services.

We needed a ‘scrubbed’ list of named decision-makers with their current business addresses and phone numbers. There were 2 sources. One, at the Florida Department of Professional Regulation in Tallahassee which maintains the database of all licensees, permitted to offer these services inside the state. The other, and the one we chose, was the statewide membership directory of their professional trade association.

 It was harder to get and it took 3 months of happy hour drinks to get one printed directory. Next, we assigned a telemarketer to call every ‘pre-selected’ name in the directory to correct any changes or inaccuracies. This ‘scrubbing’ process, no matter how time-intensive, was critical to the success of our mailing campaign.

 During my 32 years in business, I can name, from memory, each mailing list vendor who didn’t bother to verify the correct spelling of my name. You would be shocked at the number of misspelled versions of my name, Gordie Allen!  Spelling someone’s name correctly demonstrates respect and professionalism. It takes minutes but it’s worth it, especially when you may ask this person to take action on your behalf at some future time.

In my next blog, I’ll discuss the mailing campaign which led to the resulting 273% monthly sales increase.

 OK, it’s your turn! Please share your good, bad or even ugly mailing list experiences.

I still prefer a greeting card, delivered the old-fashioned way by the mailman; even when I don’t know the sender. To me, it’s always a mysterious little package.

I’m not alone because so does most of America! NOT advertising hype from THAT card company who often pitches us to “always send the very best.” According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive Research, 51% of Americans will direct mail at least 25 greeting cards between Halloween and year-end.

Americans enjoy being carded, even while at work. They are people first and business professionals, second. Sending cards to people at work is appropriate and attention-getting even if they are strangers and you are trying to introduce yourself.

Using greeting cards as a solicitation tool isn’t new. What is new is a lesson I learned as a result of conducting a 2006 Test Mailing. The Lesson: mail 3 funny message cards over 15 days to decision makers. Then, place a phone call within 4 days of their receipt of card # 3.

To your delight, you will discover you will NOT be speaking to a stranger. Mail 3 appropriate cards to a business person so they receive one card, 5 days later – another card, and 5 days later – another card. That person will be waiting for your call, provided your 3 cards:

1. Don’t hard sell you, your company, product or service.

2. Are tastefully funny and your message is direct and business-like.

3. Include your basic business card info: name, job title, company, cell ph

Even when they are up to their backsides in alligators, busy people will take a few minutes to speak with someone who creatively contacts them out of respect and curiosity. Respect for imagination and curiosity about the mailing. Human Nature, at work, at its best.

The Secret Sauce: link your call purpose with your 3 just-mailed greeting cards, and maybe you, too will speak with a shocking 83% of mailed addressees, as we did in 2006. No kidding, an 83% response to my Test Mailing!

Stay tuned and next week, you will learn why 332 of the 400 mailed card addressees responded favorably to my 2006 Test Mailing, in my blog titled, “Why Americans LOVE to be Carded”.

No, this isn’t the ranting of a nearly over-the-hill sales professional who has finally flipped out! Good Failures are errors I have made which have taught me important life and business lessons.

Not surprisingly, the most expensive financial errors were the most memorable and sometimes painful to my wounded wallet and damaged ego.

While none of us intentionally seek failure, especially in our success-centric, society; I have become a believer in one of Friedrich Nietzsche’s most famous quotation:

“Whatever doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

Am I rationalizing? You bet! I accept my failures as ‘grist for the mill’ in the words of my high school Latin Teacher, John Bell, as long as the price wasn’t too stressful. To me, failure is an acceptable option!

I’m in good company as I look at some of history’s most famous failures. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Dale Carnegie, John H. Patterson Walt Disney, and Thomas Watson, Jr. Watson was fired by NCR (National Cash Register Company), my first employer. He moved on to found IBM so, he learned well from his failures. Now, that’s a happy ending!

Good Failures can be wonderful learning landmarks, provided we don’t give up; repeat our failures, or become cynical during our failing process.

While I have lost count of my failures, I have recited several during paid speaking engagements. Audiences love to hear a speaker brandish self-deprecating humor provided it is relevant to the presentation. Humor is an excellent tool for anchoring a message and for bonding the speaker with the audience. WOW, this guy isn’t too big to admit his goofs!

Good Failures’ greatest lessons are dissected and thoroughly analyzed because they reveal what behaviors to avoid and when to avoid them.

Failing forward is the mindset of an optimist, who upon gleaning the lessons of one’s own failure and taking personal responsibility builds upon the lesson and attempts to succeed until success and the ‘aha moment’ are achieved, and with it, the ultimate satisfaction of accomplishment.

In November 1967, after 9 months of cold calling every hotel and motel from South Beach to Golden Beach, and only closing 3 sales while employed as an NCR accounting machine salesman in the Miami Beach sales territory; I learned a formula for systematically gaining access to Hospitality Industry decision makers which I named the: the Power Prospecting™ Formula. Little did I realize the significance of my ‘aha moment’.

Teaching others to apply this formula would one day become the focal point of my life. It would give my life purpose. Between 1967 and 1983, I repeatedly applied improved versions of this Power Prospecting™ formula and I moved from being an employee to an entrepreneur, several times with good failures, successes and compensation to match.

Yes, good failures have become a way of life for me as acceptable options.

The positive learning experiences and the confidence gained from prior failures which lead to successful outcomes have resulted in achieved goals with financial and personal gains beyond my wildest imagination.

Next week, I’ll share my views of the ‘Twitter Fad’. 

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!