In 1983, I opened the doors to my current company, Leads-Plus Inc. Then, I decided (against the advice of my peers) to narrow focus my sales consulting services rather than become a generalist, as did most of my peers. My niche was then and still is: training b2b sales professionals and small b2b owners how to painlessly and systematically get new customers. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I have passed up other sales training assignments outside of my niche expertise. I even coined the phrase: Power Prospecting® from which I developed a copyrighted formula.

From 1967-1978, I repeatedly tested and perfected my sales prospecting formula. In my early years it was primitive. While it produced results it wasn’t consistently successful. Oh, it worked well enough for me to book enough new sales clients to exceed my sales quotas and to rapidly progress up the corporate sales ladder. I became National Sales Manager for a computer industry leader at age 32 which is still remarkable by today’s career path standards.

Today, several hundred b2b clients later, the Power Prospecting® Formula continues to consistently improve and work its magic even in this lean economy. My point is simply this: dedication, perseverance and patience continue to payoff. When planted in fertile ground, they sow the seeds of prosperity, even in today’s economy. Here’s a case in point.

About 9 months ago, a CPA referred me into one of his b2b clients. The client provides technical OEM services to major corporations in one of the three very competitive growth industries which fuel our Central Florida Economy. Sales were flat, even before the effects of this Recession began to trickle down into our marketplace.

I was hired to work with one sales person and tasked to help him develop new market segments and to grow his prospecting skills. We developed a solid personal chemistry and worked well together. This young man, while lacking formal education, was highly motivated to learn from my experience and to apply my expertise to his selling style.

Since January he has become a first-rate sales prospector with polished, confident phone qualification skills and a disciplined mind for staying on-point and on-purpose, regardless of the sometimes sour attitudes of those he calls on, weekly.

As a result, he has become a sales star by greatly exceeding the expectations of his boss, his peers; and even himself. When we started the process he had doubts. I didn’t! I’d worked with enough raw sales talent since 1983, to have an experienced eye to spot a ‘diamond in the rough’. This young man was hungry to improve himself and to succeed.

I welcomed this opportunity to help him fulfill his destiny and mine, too. In sales, results speak louder than promises. Monthly sales and the size of the individual sales contracts have both tripled over this same period last year. Competition is a distant memory and the sales pipeline is full of qualified new prospects ready to join the ranks of satisfied customers.

Can I take all the credit? No. I was presented with an opportunity and the right set of circumstances with a client that needed my polished and proven skills set. I was ready for that ‘knock’, ‘knock’ on my door.

My question for you is this: What have you done lately to improve your skills set so when your sales opportunity knocks, you will be ready?

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’. 

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!

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.