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Beyond Referrals Page 14
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If you have enough time on your first call, find ways to engage your prospects in your materials. If you sent them printed literature, call their attention to one or more portions of that material. You will find it helpful to put sticky arrows or other such identifiers on the material so that when you direct the prospects over the phone, they will have no difficulty finding the right spot. (Don’t use the sticky arrows that say “sign here.” You’ll scare people off.)
If the prospects have access to the Internet (which most people will have unless you’ve reached them on their cell phone), then get them engaged in portions of your website. You can either direct them yourself or, better yet, use an online technology such as GoToMeeting, Webex, or one of the many other services so the prospects can view your computer screen as you walk them through parts of your website or other materials.
There are three benefits to engaging your prospects in this way:
1. People tend to learn faster and retain more through visual rather than auditory means.
2. They will get a clearer picture (literally) of what you are explaining to them. Your words will make more sense when they have a visual representation of those words.
3. The act of engaging them in this way gives you more opportunities for rapport and trust building, as well as opportunities for humor.
ACTION STEP
Don’t let the first time you try this idea be with a real-life prospect. Practice every single part of your phone appointments and in-person appointments with a colleague, manager, or friend. Don’t ever practice on prospects and clients!
REDUCE APPOINTMENT CANCELLATIONS
Some industries encounter the challenge of appointment cancellations and no-shows. Of course, the first line of defense in preventing this time-wasting, energy-zapping dynamic is to make sure your prospect has a strong sense of the value you provide, has an appreciation of the problems you solve, and is highly interested in meeting with you. This is always the first place to look when someone cancels an appointment and doesn’t want to reschedule.
Another strategy that can often reduce no-shows and cancellations is sending something of value to the prospect before your appointment. Now I’m not talking about bribes or other items of a personal nature that can get the prospect and you in a questionable situation. Here are a few things I’ve seen others provide in their efforts to reduce cancellations and no-shows:
1. Educational report, printed or electronic (purely educational—not a sales tool).
2. A printed book related to your prospect’s business or industry.
3. Something fun like a mug with candy in it or Girl Scout cookies your daughter is selling.
4. A list of resources that the prospect might find helpful, related or unrelated to your core product or service.
5. A fun, customized greeting card that you create online but that gets mailed to the prospect (with brownies or cookies, if you wish). I use SendOutCards for this all the time. To check out the service and send yourself a free sample card, go to http://www.SendOutCards.com/billcates.
11 STAYING IN TOUCH WITH PROSPECTS
KEEPING THE COURTSHIP ALIVE
With most businesses, when someone becomes interested in speaking, setting an appointment, or doing business with you is truly a matter of timing. For some of my largest clients, it’s taken three to five years to get the ball rolling on substantial business. I have a colleague whose motto is “I’ll prospect them until they buy or die!” Perhaps a little extreme, but we get the point. Most businesses need a model of staying in touch with prospects. When the prospect is a referral prospect and we have learned that he or she truly is a good match for us, it makes sense to keep the courtship alive—for at least a while.
And it is a courtship, kind of like dating. As in dating, you can’t come on too strong, and yet you have to remain interested. You never know when the other party is going to take a step in your direction. As I was conducting my preprogram research with a new client, I discovered that the client’s company had many sources of good leads. It was getting its fair share of referrals without asking for them, and it had some Internet marketing programs that were getting a large number of prospects to raise their hands and say, “I’m interested.” Yet the company lacked any systems to stay in touch with these interested parties after one (yes, just one) attempt to reach them. I could only imagine how much business it was losing by this shortsighted approach. Of course, I helped the client put a simple but effective system in place. The company’s sales increased by 43 percent!
Professional persistence is a critical key to success in client acquisition. This chapter will give you some great ideas to keep your courtships with prospects alive and to turn those prospects into new clients.
PLAN FOR MULTIPLE TOUCHES
Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling, writes, “From the onset, you need to plan a minimum of 8-12 touches. You can call people up. Send them letters. Invite them to events. Share good information with them. But think in terms of multiple contacts from the get-go. That way you’re not disappointed when you don’t get immediate results. And, you can spread your message (key points, value proposition, expertise) over time in the various mediums you use.”
Here are nine ideas to pick from to keep your courtship of big prospects alive over time:
1. Send them something of value, perhaps an article you wrote (or a book or report). My company has a series of referral tip sheets we send to prospects over a year’s time.
2. Invite them to an educational event (live or online webinar). Many companies like to host educational events for their clients and prospects. Sometimes this is an easier way for your prospects to get a sense of you and the work you do without having to sit down face-to-face, knowing you’ll be asking them to do business with you.
3. Invite them to a social event. As with educational events, many companies host client appreciation events, to which they also invite prospects. Now the prospects get to experience the type of relationships you have with your clients.
4. Sign them up for your newsletter (e-mail, blog, or paper). Putting prospects, with their permission, onto an e-mail newsletter is usually a pretty easy thing to do. Since “open rates” for e-mail newsletters continue to go down, many companies are returning to mailing printed newsletters so that they stand out and get read.
5. Make quick value-oriented phone calls. Keep looking for information related (and unrelated) to your core product or service that your prospects might find interesting or helpful. Call them now and then with this information. You never know when you might hear, “Funny you should call. Your timing is perfect. We were just discussing you.”
6. Call with “curiosity questions” that might expose a weakness in their current system or strategies.
7. Offer a “free coaching” session. This is something we do at RCI. When people experience our value firsthand, they are often interested in knowing how else we can help them. They get a “free taste” of our value—like the bourbon chicken samples that are handed out on toothpicks at the mall food court.
8. Create a VIP list for your most important prospects. Send them something of educational value or fun on a regular basis. At RCI, we have several lists of VIPs to whom we mail educational or fun items. One of the most well-received items was a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. (Needless to say, my daughter sold the most boxes of cookies in her troop that year.)
9. Invite them (and their family and friends) to participate in a community service event. Many prospects and clients like the opportunity to give back to the community and get their children involved.
ACTION STEP
Don’t wing it when it comes to staying in touch with prospects. Lay out a plan and follow it. Keep making it better.
MAKE IT EASY TO REMAIN PERSISTENT
I don’t know about you, but whenever I don’t keep good records of my conversations with prospects, my efforts to remain in touch in an effective way seem to fizzle. Relying on my memory just doesn’t cut it
. How about you?
To “keep the sale alive,” we must be in the habit of keeping good records of our conversations. We have to have enough detail so we remember the flow of our conversations. Once we get to the point of not remembering what we said or they said on the last call, we won’t feel confident picking up the phone. It will be awkward. We won’t know how to add value. The prospecting process dies.
Preplan Your Next Step
One solid habit I’ve been able to establish is the habit of planning my next contact either before I finish the call with the prospect (something we figure out together) or right after the call ends (part of keeping good records). Sometimes—especially when the prospects are genuinely interested, but it’s a timing issue—you can work with them to determine the next time and reason for the next call.
Have a Solid Reminder System in Place
What system do you use to make sure no prospects fall through the cracks? I hope you’re not relying on a paper system anymore. Okay … paper systems have worked for hundreds of years, but I think you’d be silly not to take advantage of all the efficiencies computers offer in this area.
As mentioned above, after each call with a new prospect, I plan my next strategy. I figure out the timing for the next contact, and then I set a reminder that pops up at the appropriate time. In this way, I can let go of that prospect for the time being, knowing that no one will drop through the cracks.
I happen to use Microsoft Outlook for this. My director of sales and marketing uses ACT. At the time of writing this book, we are about to switch to a program called Infusionsoft. There are many great systems out there. Use one! Never, ever rely on your memory.
BE A NUDGE-BUT WITH A PURPOSE
When you follow up with prospects, do you have a better reason than “I’m just checking in.” While I’m as guilty of this weak sort of follow-up call as the next person, I know that it’s not the best way to go.
Nudge with Value
These days, when I follow up with prospects who should have gotten back to me—per our verbal agreement from our previous call—but didn’t, I nudge them by providing some value at the same time. For instance, I have a number of referral tip sheets I’ve created as PDFs. When I reach out to prospects with an e-mail, I always attach another tip sheet for them. I’ll say, “Attached is our Referral Tip Sheet #3 for you to share with all your reps. I’m looking forward to our next conversation. Can we get it scheduled this week?” And per the previous strategy, I keep track of what I send to them.
Yes, I’m nudging the process, but doing so with value and with purpose.
Nudge with Scarcity
Sometimes you can move a prospect into action by creating a situation of scarcity. For example, I limit myself to no more than five out-of-town presentations per month. So when I follow up with people who expressed interest in having me speak at their conference or come in for a full training session, I will let them know my number. “George, as you recall, I can commit to five speaking engagements per month. I just booked another event for October. While the last thing I want to do is pressure you and your committee, I do want to remain available for your conference. Have you made a decision yet? Do you have a sense of when you will? Shall we get on the phone soon to further discuss my program and the benefits to your reps?”
Debbi is a very high-level financial advisor who uses this approach. She has the capacity for about 20 new clients per year. She lets her clients and prospects know this on a fairly regular basis (without being obnoxious about it). This scarce-resource approach has her clients saying, “She only takes on a few new clients each year. She’s very selective.” And it gets her prospects saying, “Do you think she’d take a look at our situation?”
ACTION STEP
Create an inventory of a few things that you can use to nudge with value. They can be purely digital in format. And think of a way you can create scarcity in how you talk about your value. Be careful with scarcity, however. This scarcity needs to be real, not something you’re making up just to move people to a decision.
USE EVENTS TO CONNECT WITH REFERRAL PROSPECTS
In Section II, I discussed how events can be used to create introductions from clients to prospects in a social or educational environment. You can also use events as a strategy to remain in contact with prospects. These events can be educational (value added) or fun (building rapport and trust through social interaction).
For example, Russ is a financial advisor near Houston. Since he’s quite adept at generating a steady flow of referral prospects, he always has an “inventory” of prospects he just can’t seem to meet with or move forward in their relationship. So he hosts social events (like wine tastings) just for these prospects. No clients allowed—just referral prospects. At his last event, he had 19 referral prospects attend, and 7 of them moved forward to become clients. Once they met him in a low-key social setting, they felt more comfortable moving into a business conversation.
KEEP THE FLOW OF VALUE GOING-CREATE VIP LISTS
I believe that a critical element in keeping referral prospects in your pipeline is the concept of “creating a flow of value.” We must continue to look for various ways to add value to the relationship. If you aren’t looking to add value with each phone call—and even between phone calls—then why are you even contacting people? You can’t keep calling them and asking, “Are you ready to meet with me now?” or some similar silly question.
Most effective prospectors work several contact strategies at the same time. For instance, you might put your prospects on a list to receive your monthly newsletter or weekly tips. Electronic methods have their place, but they aren’t usually enough.
As previously mentioned, at Referral Coach International we’ve created several VIP lists totaling over 300 high-level prospects, clients, and COIs. We send them something of value on a regular basis. (Yes! We use regular mail or sometimes UPS.) Over the years we’ve mailed books, audio CDs, DVDs, reports, checklists, lists of resources, etc. We are always working about two to three months in advance so we don’t have to rush anything. Some lists get something once per month and other lists once per quarter. We’ve even created a special sticker that goes on the outside of the envelope and package letting recipients know that they are one of our VIPs. In addition, we’ve had other companies that are trying to reach our market provide us with items of value to send to our VIPs.
GO FORTHE NO
While I believe in being professionally persistent with referral prospects, I don’t like to beat a dead horse, so to speak. If my prospect shows interest and responds favorably to my continued contact, I remain in touch.
When I have a prospect that seems to have no interest, I usually do one of three things:
1. I stop contacting the prospect and free up my time and energy to focus on generating new prospects and serving my current clients.
2. When I have a prospect that I know I can help or who represents a large amount of business for my company, I look for other people to refer me to this prospect again. Many times I find someone else who knows this prospect, and I ask the person to put a good word in for me. This is often all it takes to get the prospect active again.
3. I go for the no. This is a technique I learned from the late, great sales trainer Dave Sandler. When I have a prospect who keeps putting me off, I say something like, “George, please tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m getting the impression that we may never have the opportunity to do business together. Do you think that’s true?” Sometimes my prospect says yes, and I’m “free”! And sometimes my prospect lets me know he or she is still interested and often reveals new information that allows us to keep the courtship alive.
Only when you come from a place of abundance—trusting your ability to generate many new prospects—will you have no difficulty with this strategy. When you come from abundance, you’re never afraid of “no.”
ACTION STEP
Look at your pipeline of prospects. Can you get referred to them aga
in from another source? Or who among them should you go for the no? It could be time to free up your time and mental energy for some fresh prospects.
SECTION IV
GET MORE CLIENTS
Confirm the New Relationship with High-Value Clients
A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT SELLING
What is your relationship to selling? Do you get energized by moving someone along in your process and bringing that person on as a new client? Or do you see sales as a dirty word and not consider yourself a salesperson? On either account, I think you’re going to appreciate the following perspective.
Some people view selling in terms such as manipulation and pushing. Personally, I like to think of selling as positive influence. We form a relationship with new prospects and help them, advise them, influence them in their decision-making process. And we do it in a way where we’re always looking out for what’s best for the prospect.
I think that we accomplish this positive influence through building trust and then moving through a process that’s made up of a series of permissions or invitations. We gain permission to ask some questions, the answers to which not only inform us, but also, we hope, teach our prospects. We invite our prospects to continue the conversation when we send them information, make another phone call, or have an in-person meeting.