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Conversations with Prospects: A Fast Seller

Who could have predicted? Sure, acquisition strategies top virtually every banker’s “to do list” in 2008. Sure, bankers have finally discovered that blitzing and cold calling are ineffective and they seek an integrated approach to prospecting. Who knew, though, less than one month after receiving our initial print run of Conversations with Prospects that we would be on our way to selling out?

Beyond banks’ ongoing need to continually book new business, the Trusted Advisor Prospecting System (TAPS) described in the book works–plain and simple. Let’s all be real and state overtly that no one system works 100% of the time. Some pre-clients don’t see the value in the process; they don’t see the value, they get angry, hang up, swear and maybe even call your manager. All of that has occurred. Has any of that happened on cold calls, campaigns or other kinds of prospecting you’ve done and did that stop you or the bank from continuing on?

Here’s what else has happened. Over $600million in new business has been generated in a value-focused manner. Bankers are opening pre-client doors at up to an 80% rate. Business owners have even asked the banker to present the process to their salespeople because it is so unique and creative.

Don’t buy this book if you have a closed mind to new approaches. Don’t buy this book if you are not disciplined enough to make TAPS a workstyle change. And, don’t buy this book if you are too busy for the new business you will generate.

If you want to buy it, hurry. We may not print another run.

Help Me Understand...Giving Leads and Getting Cards

By Jack Hubbard, Chief Experience Officer (and Rantmaster)

“You are the Jeffrey Gitomer of bank sales.” That’s how an enthusiastic banker greeted the Rantmaster at a speech recently on the West Coast. He said it was a compliment. Jeffrey deserves a great deal of admiration at a number of levels. His eight books are all must-reads. Every Tuesday morning his Sales Caffeine newsletter is one of the first e-mails nearly 300,000 salespeople open.

Jeffrey is outspokenly passionate about sales conversations. His directness may get him in trouble sometimes. I know it does me: at home, with my SM&H colleagues and even in speeches on occasion. Two of Jeffrey’s many “git bits” are leaving more than you take and needing a great business card. So, with all props to Mr. Gitomer, help me understand about giving leads and getting cards.

It is common to exchange leads with CPAs, lawyers and other Centers of Influence. That’s fine and one of those “givens” in any good relationship. I’m talking about being proactive on behalf of your clients and pre-clients. Mike Dillon, our Senior Vice President of Client Partnerships, does it almost every day. Mike knows that PIM (people in motion) translate to MIM (money in motion). On any given day, it’s not uncommon to get copied in on five to ten e-mails Mike has sent to bankers across the country. A banker in Seattle learns about a new CFO that has just joined a company in their area. A bank CEO in Tampa finds an inbox message about a new company moving to the area along with 29 new jobs.

There are three issues here: finding, doing and expectations. Mike locates his leads for free. He uses Google Alerts, Biz Journal notifications and other confidential sources (he won’t even tell me where he gets some of them) to source these leads.

To be able to execute on this value strategy, Mike receives more e-mails than most and this approach does take him some extra time. They come to him at all hours of the day and night. Instead of seeing this as a “have to” or a “tick mark”, he views these notifications through the lens of our clients and pre-clients and he tells me that it is his responsibility to help. His goal is always to be a valued resource.

His expectations are nothing…nada…zero! If he would send an e-mail with a lead and follow it up two days later with a phone call, “did you get my lead and do you want to buy something?” the correspondence goes from communicative to manipulative. Mike NEVER makes that call. The thank you calls come to him.

What can Mike teach us about selflessness and true value? How can you introduce this concept to your people? With the many things they have to do every day, how can they find the time? What kinds of leads should they look for? Hmmm. Help me understand how this can’t be a great sales meeting topic!

Everyone has an ego and having a great title on your business card is a feel-good. “Chief Experience Officer” is what’s on mine and it always gets a reaction. As a recipient of a card, it makes no sense to me that anyone would hand out a card with the following titles:

These titles commoditize you. No offense, but I don’t want to invest my time with an assistant someone. I don’t borrow, so being a lender verticalizes you in a product set and therefore, I don’t need you. I understand if this is what you have to be called inside the bank because of some logical-enough food chain. Have a few printed up with the above titles and leave them in your desk or send them to relatives. Consider having some cards printed with the following titles that say something different:

And my new favorite…

These titles suggest your bank is different from the sea of banking sameness and that you are someone that can help my business go to the next level. The card is about me, not you, and that’s the way it should be. The key, of course, is acting congruently with what the card says you will do: be a resource, help me perform better, get stuff done for me. Got a VP title or above? Great. I would still consider having one of the above as part of your title, like Senior Vice President/Resource Manager.

Finally, on the back of that card, don’t print your mission statement, your hours or any of that. Print your assistant’s name, phone number and e-mail address. It makes the assistant feel better and it makes you easy to buy from.

PS: Jeffrey Gitomer suggests that you invest money in your business card so that it stands out from the rest. The Rantmaster agrees.

Presentainment…The Fine Art of Catching Versus Pitching (Part Two)

Sales and buying cycles are increasing. In 2007 it took an average of seven calls to earn a new business banking relationship and two or three calls to cross-solve additional services to a current client. With gas prices at record levels, not to mention other hard and soft costs, face-to-face calls these days are in the $500-600 range. Because of that and their many other responsibilities, some bankers are falling back to old methods of attempting to “close” the business.

For some that might mean faxing term sheets instead of discussing solutions in person. Others still include pricing in the actual solutions document and e-mail it. Others send the proposal through regular mail where there is no chance to verbally articulate the benefits of doing business with their bank. All of the above scream “WE’RE THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE.”

Last month we dealt with the critical nature of presentation preparation. This time we’ll discuss some high level presentainment strategies that ring the cash register. Our final column in April lays out some specifics about the Solutions Proposal.

Let the Goals Come to You

The client controls the final outcome of the sale. The banker controls his or her behaviors. Everyone wants the bank to reach its financial goals and to exceed their own personal numbers. When your bogie or your bonus enters your head around presentation time, the entire process becomes about you and not the client. At that point, everything becomes forced and desperate salespeople have very low close rates. That extra pressure is exhibited through words, body language and facial expressions, making it apparent to the recipient. When the solution is about the client, you know it is right for them and you have worked to create trust throughout the sales and buying cycle, the good karma will help everything take care of itself.

Belief and Conviction

It’s not just closing the remote capture service so you can build up your sales scorecard. It’s about the clients living with their decisions to buy it. If you do not believe in your products or the people that support them, why are you selling them to begin with?

Always Leave More Than You Take

The business owner can read your document without you being there. He or she could perhaps even buy your product via the Internet without a human being present. You are at this stage of the sales process because the prospect believes you added enough value to make the finals.

Take advantage of that by subtly interweaving industry best practices and thought-provoking ideas at various points. Discuss ideas you have gleaned from White Papers, articles, industry data and even from your own clients’ experiences. By becoming a Performance Consultant you differentiate yourself from that typical Loan Officer that touts Lines of Credit. Leave the White Paper/article at the conclusion of the presentation (don’t hand it to them during the meeting) and customize it by pre-highlighting for them.

Become a Story Teller and Use Humor

Starting your presentainment with an anecdote makes you stand out compared to the “typical presentation.” The story can be directly related to what you are selling or analogous to the situation. Make it short and connect it to the needs of the prospect and the solutions you bring to the table. This approach serves several purposes. It shows you are different from the other banks. It sets a positive tone at the outset of the meeting and it relieves the tension that often is present at this stage of the sales process.

In his book, Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, Jeffrey Gitomer suggests, “If you can make ‘em laugh, you can make ‘em buy.” Laughter is a universal bond that creates connections. Yes, it must be used carefully and this is not the time to fine tune your stand-up material. Without going overboard, the story and a small amount of neutral, self-deprecating can work well for you. When you laugh at yourself, people laugh with you.

Marketing, PowerPoint and Other Tools

Marketing and sales are connected at both the client experience and the wallet. When the CMO becomes a partner in sales and the business banker is open for marketing to become engaged with their presentations, good things happen. There are many subtleties that make the sale and marketing can help with those nuances.

One bank’s Marketing Director took a tape recorder to several bank clients with the goal of creating an Advocacy File. These testimonials are now regularly used in various presentations. The process involved:

“Death by PowerPoint” is a commonly used phrase in sales. Executed wisely and well, PowerPoint makes a presentation come to life. Color, charts, quotes and graphics help visual learners see the benefit of what you are discussing.

Time being the factor it is for all sales professionals, it is important to be able to assemble documents and supporting materials quickly and easily. There are many programs on the market that make putting presentations together simple and efficient. There are few better than those available from the Sant Corporation. ProposalMaster® and PresentationBuilder™ are intuitive and allow for total customization. Many of the nation’s largest banks employ Sant’s suite of products. They are very affordable for any size organization.

Some Final Thoughts Until April

When we conduct our Presentation Skills Workshop at a client bank, we ask several questions as concluding discussion points. How would you answer the following?

Think about those questions for 30 days and in the April 2008 Conversation Signposts we’ll provide some answers.

Solid win rates result from the great energies bankers put into every contact made with clients or pre-clients. In this competitive age, no less energy should be put into every presentation whether that is made one-on-one or one-on-many.