The Corona Close: How to Prospect Effectively Today
The Corona Close: How to Prospect Effectively in Today’s New Market
Sales coach Dan Jourdan says now is a great time to be reaching out to prospective customers. Why? “Everybody is waiting for something to happen,” Jourdan of “Sales Arbiter” told attendees at the Sept. 15 virtual meeting of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.
View a recording of the meeting at this link.
While getting referrals is always a great way to get new clients, Jourdan — or “The Deej” as he is known — said cold-calling prospects is also a good strategy. He encouraged entrepreneurs to prospect by using publicly available information about business owners, such as Reference USA, a business database available through public libraries.
Another tip, avoid contacting prospects with messages laden with words such as “I, we, us.” “Those three words literally repel your prospects,” he said. Instead, try “you, yours, y’all.”
The seven magic words for breaking the ice? “I wonder if you could help me?” Most people will respond to people seeking help. Another good ice-breaker: “I wonder if you could give me some advice?” Queries that criticize a potential clients business or web page are huge turn-offs.
One recent solicitation from a potential client included a video clip, which instantly puts a potential partner into the client’s office. “It’s like you met them without meeting them,” he said.
Videos and cold calling are great ways to prospect.
“If you make enough noise, you’ll get more referrals,” Jourdan said.
Jourdan is a salesman who has successfully started from scratch, built up, and sold five out of six of his own businesses. But he is not a businessman, he is a salesman. The one business that failed was when he tried to be a real human, instead of a salesman. With his current firm, “Sales Arbiter, ” Dan and his partner Crispin Cruz work with small businesses in town that want to have self-functioning, highly profitable sales organizations within their company in which the owner is not involved. This way business brokers can sell the companies for more money! His business philosophy is a cross between Confucius and Robin Williams. Dan lives in Georgia with his wife Sharon and two children Matthew and Sophie.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers, or GABB, is the state’s premier organization devoted to buying and selling businesses and franchises, and operates the state’s only real estate school dedicated to business brokering. For more information about GABB, please email diane.loupe@gabb.org, call or text 404-374-3990, or contact GABB president Dean Burnette at dean@b3brokers.com or (912) 247-3209.
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What is Marketing, Really?
By Diane Conklin
Diane is the founder of Complete Marketing Systems. She will be speaking on Wednesday, Aug. 21, to the Georgia Association of Business Brokers meeting at the Georgia Association of Realtors auditorium at 6065 Barfield Road, Sandy Springs, GA, 30328. More information on the GABB blog.
Marketing sometimes gets a bad rap…
People will say things like “it’s yucky” or “it makes me feel dirty” and the list goes on and on.
If that’s true for you, then what you’re experiencing is Not Marketing – at least not marketing done the way it should be.
Marketing can be defined in many ways. Simply put, it’s really everything you do in your business to put yourself in a situation to sell your programs, products and services.
While that may seem like a big, broad definition, if you think about it, it may be the truest definition of marketing you’ve ever heard.
So, what does that really mean?
It means that marketing is about building the relationship with your prospect and your client so they will want to know more about you and what you do and then buy from you.
By that definition what does marketing include…
√ Social Media √ Articles
√ Emails √ Interviews
√ Snail Mail √ Speaking
√ Print Ads √ Ads
And, so much more…
If you put you in your marketing and stop thinking about it as some formula you have to follow or how you can use the latest tactic to get a sale, you may just discover that marketing is fun.
Marketing is how you let your clients and prospects get to know you a little better, it’s how you ultimately SERVE your clients and how you make money.
Do some people use tactics that might not resonate with you? Sure, they do. We’ve all had less than stellar experiences with people marketing to us or trying to sell us something that didn’t sit right with us.
The key for you is to not do those same things…to be more personal, caring and to come from a place of serving and doing what’s right for your clients and prospects (please don’t think I’m saying here that the client is always right – I don’t believe that, but that’s a discussion for another day).
I’d love to hear your feedback or stories of great marketing.
- (866) 293-0589
- Email: info@completemarketingsystems.com