Category Archives: 30 Days to a Better Business

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How to Prospect by Phone With Confidence – Day 11 of 30 D2aBB

Why the Opening Statement is Most Important...

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At the Massimo Group, and personally, no topic gets more questions than that of prospecting.

I’ve heard stories about how animals can smell fear. I think prospects can too. The truth is, there is only one thing you are almost guaranteed to be able to say on a prospecting call – the opening statement.

Prospecting by Phone

I know there are people out there that like to work of scripts – where they decided beforehand everything they are going to say. I’ve read books about prospecting and different ways to do it. Most I would not recommend. The best prospectors are those that get into a call asking questions and guide the conversation based on what they are learning.

Conceivably, no two prospecting calls should sound the same…save for the opening statement. This is your opening line. This you should script. This you should practice…and then practice some more.

This benefit statement should communicate who you are, who you work with, and why you are calling. It should share with them the benefit that lies in their future should they give you more time.

The entire purpose of this benefit statement is to earn the right for more time – that’s it.

Here is the template of my opening statement:

Hello Mr. [Prospect]. My name is [Your Name] with [Your Company]. The purpose of my call is to share with you [benefit you are offering to entice them to agree to meet with you].

The benefit you are offering them needs to be compelling. Maybe it is a market report (boring). Maybe it is a recent deal you did that is a comp for their property (exciting). Maybe it is some juicy market info that will affect the value of their property. Regardless, it needs to be enticing.

So I want you to script your opening statement. Practice it until it is as natural to say as it is to breath. When you get to that point, you can begin your calls with confidence – and not timidity and fear – knowing you are going to nail the one thing you know you will get to say.

After that – it’s up to you!

Question: How do you start a prospecting call? I’d love to see many of us share what we do and how it works. Let’s make the comment section a repository of the wisdom and experience that makes up the readers of this blog! You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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A World-Class Prospecting Letter – Day 10 of 30 D2aBB

Put your system on auto-pilot and improve your ratios

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I’ve written a couple of posts on how to write a world-class prospecting system. You can find them below:

Day 10 of 30 D2aBB

What I want to do in today’s post is share with you how to systematize it. It makes all the difference.

In fact, sales professionals should systematize for maximum efficiency with these 4 tips.

4 Tips to Systematize the Use of a Great Prospecting Letter

  1. Write one letter to many prospects – The purpose of the letter is to warm up the call. Therefore, you don’t want to spend a bunch of time you should use calling writing letters. You need a letter you can use over and over again. In reality, you probably will have a couple of different letters that work for different geographies or submarkets.
  2. Customize the first paragraph – A best practice here is to write the first paragraph in a way that can be customized. Use the address – sometimes that is all you need. Then write the rest of the letter that can stay the same for the rest or your prospective buildings/prospects in that market.
  3. Delegate as much as possible – We used to send 30 letters a week on average. My assistant printed the letters, hand addressed the envelopes, sent them, logged that they were sent and to whom in ClientLook, and then created a follow-up task for me to call them the following week. All I did was write the original letter and physically sign the letters she printed. The entire system was almost entirely executed without my involvement. After we set it up, I spent zero mental energy on it.
  4. Decide how many each week (it shouldn’t be the same) – A key part of the letter is to inform the reader you will be calling. Because of that, you never want to send more letters than you can call the following week. So keep an eye on your capacity. Do you have a particularly full week coming up? Going on vacation? Adjust accordingly.

If you would like a copy of a letter I used years ago with great results, just click the button below. Keep in mind that this letter is very simple. But simple works and can be very effective. In fact, I was taught the original version of this letter from a friend and colleague.

Download My Prospecting Letter

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Nailing Your Value Proposition – Day 9 of 30 D2aBB

Why You? Why Your Company? And Why Now?

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There is so much written about crafting a value proposition – or an elevator speech. I’ve written about it in the past as well. You can read that post here for information on how to craft it.

What I want to share with you in this post is how dynamic a value proposition can be – and the different version you need at the ready.

Nail Your Value Proposition

A value proposition communicates three things: why you, why your company, and why now. It does so in terms of the benefits for the prospect.

But it can’t be rote memorized. Your value proposition needs to be dynamic. When you explain why you, you need to do it in a way that speaks to your audience. In other words, if I’m speaking to an institutional investor, I may communicate how I produce returns for my clients. If I’m talking to a widow, I may communicate how I take the headaches out of a real estate transaction and simplify the lives of my clients.

You don’t commit intellectual suicide when you are prospecting. You have to think and anticipate. And then act accordingly.

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How to Achieve Virtual Freedom – Day 8 of 30 D2aBB

Anything that Anyone Else Can Do They Should Do

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Entrepreneurs suffer from what John Maxwell calls the Law of the Lid. This law says that the entrepreneur is the cap on what can be accomplished. In other words, he or she is the bottle-neck of their own business. Most entrepreneurs I know suffer from some version of this. The truth is just because you can do it better doesn’t mean that you should.

How to Achieve Virtual Freedom

There is one particular conversation I have had with my wife about 4 times now. We had it again just last week.

I want to hire someone to come and clean the house. She doesn’t like to clean (though she does a great job). And I want to free her up so she can spend her time on other things. Seems like a no-brainer, right?

The problem is she doesn’t want a house-cleaner. She stays home with the kids. She feels like it is part of her responsibility to clean the house.

What I think she is missing is that our family would run better if she spent her time on the most important things. My guess is that if I asked her to make a list of the most important things, physically cleaning the house wouldn’t be on it. Spending time with our kids would be on the list. Volunteering in their schools would be on the list. Working out and taking care of herself would be on the list. Have more time for the things that matter – that is real benefit of a house cleaner.

The same is true in your business. What is it that you are doing that you shouldn’t be doing?

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Choose a CRM – Day 5 of 30 D2aBB

This is My Rifle...There are Many Like it, but this One is Mine!

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One of any Marine’s favorite movies is Full Metal Jacket. If you haven’t seen it, know that it is very R rated. It is also a very accurate picture of what Marine Boot Camp was like.

In one scene, the recruits are reciting the Rifleman’s Creed. I, along with all my fellow recruits, had to memorize and recite this creed when I was in boot camp as well. It is one of the ways the Marine Corps indoctrinates its recruits. You can read it by clicking here.

Day 5 of 30 D2aBB

I’ve taken the liberty of writing the Prospector’s Creed. Instead of a rifle, we have our CRM…

The Prospector’s Creed

This is my CRM. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My CRM is my best friend. It is my business. I must master it as I must master my life.

My CRM, without me, is useless. Without my CRM, I am useless. I must use my CRM true. I must dial more than my competition who is trying to beat me. I must out dial him before he out dials me. I will…

My CRM and I know that what counts in business is not the calls we make, the noise of our presentations, nor the smoke that we blow. We know that it is the meetings that count. We will have meetings…

My CRM is dynamic and changing, even as I, because it is the foundation of my business. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its features, its functions, and its benefits. I will keep my CRM updated and ready, even as I am poised and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

Before God, I swear this creed. My CRM and I are the prospectors of my business. We are the masters of our competition. We are the benefactors of my life.

So be it, until the business is mine, and there is no competition, but complacency!

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Build Your Database – Day 4 of 30 D2aBB

Know Your Prospects and How to Pursue Them

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Lists. Anyone who sells anything needs a list. A list of prospects. A list of influencers. A list of connectors. Your database is where those lists live.

Build Yoru

I have a coaching client who has a complete database mess. He literally has 3 different databases that live in different places. One list lives in this CRM. One list lives in that CRM. His other list is an excel spreadsheet.

But at least he has a list.

My first years in commercial real estate were full of fits and starts. I didn’t prospect. I simply relied on our company’s presence in the market. Business would just walk in the door or call. Or it wouldn’t. Even if I wanted to prospect, I didn’t have a database.

Again in 2010, I restructured my prospecting focus. I didn’t have a list. So I built one (actually, my assistant did most of the work. I hope you all have a Teresa.)

Regardless of where you are in your career, you need a database full of all the people, prospects, and/or properties in your farm area. It is crucial that you can go pursue the business you want. To do that, you need to know who they are and how to contact them.

My most popular post ever is on the 3 ways to build a database. You can read it here. As a recap, here are the three ways to build your database:

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Specialize – Day 3 of 30 D2aBB

Why Specializing Matters and How to Choose What Your Specialty Should Be

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My mom’s side of the family is from the Chicago area. I love it up there. When I was younger, I would go spend some time in the summers with family.

One particular summer, my great aunt and uncle took me to a very large house in their neighborhood. Whatever size house just popped in your mind when I said ‘very large,’ think bigger than that. It was the largest house I’d ever seen at the time.

Specialize

The reason for our visit was to see the owner’s garage. He had a four car garage with 8 Ferraris in it. He literally had a lift in each bay with one Ferrari held up over another. The owner walked into the garage from his house wearing a Ferrari racing suit. He was passionate. And incredibly wealthy.

I got to see a 1958 Spider (classic yellow). I sat in one of two F40’s that he had. I remember not being able to move after he strapped in the 5 point harness. I did not get to see his Testarossa as it was in the shop.

This man – this Ferrari enthusiast – was one of the top brain surgeons in the country. He was a specialist. You didn’t go see him if you had a bad case of poison ivy. You didn’t go see him for the flu or a muscle tear. You saw him if you had a problem with your brain.

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Systemizing Your Business – Day 2 of 30 D2aBB

Stop Throwing Stuff Against The Wall And Hoping Something Sticks

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I spent 5+ years in the Marine Corps. It changed me, and there was a ripple effect.

When I was in college, and my wife can testify, I was a slob. My room was more than messy. My bathroom was frightening. Before that, my mom made me do my own laundry because I would not pick up my room. When she saw that I was ok with that deal, she made me keep the door to my room shut so my younger siblings would not see my bad example.

Day 2 of 30 D2aBB

Then I enlisted. The Marines are fanatical about cleanliness – from the head (bathroom), to personal hygiene, to our uniforms. Everything should be perfect all the time. I was married after 1 year in the Corps. For the sake of my marriage, I had to get over my heartburn because my wife did fold my undershirts 6″ x 6″.

In fact, I took my 3 kids to see the Marine recruiter earlier tonight after we ate dinner. I was actually embarrassed walking in there because I did not shave today. Sheesh.

The Marines are also fanatical about systems. Everything they do is thought out and time tested. There is no reinventing the wheel. The reason we are so passionate about systems is they produce a predictable and desired outcome.

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30 Days to a Better Business Challenge – Day 1

Let's Dust Complacency and Break Through to the Next Level

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I am a Dave Ramsey fan. I think I started listening to him on the radio when I was in high school. His latest book, Entreleadership, is outstanding. I would highly recommend it if you haven’t read it already.

Dave has this saying about momentum. He says that momentum is focused intensity over time.

30 days to a better business social image

I love that.

Don’t we all want a little more momentum in our lives – or a lot? Momentum is that mysterious force that makes things go your way. If you share my worldview, you would call it favor. Regardless, it is a great place to be.

I’m challenging you to manufacture some focused intensity – over the next 30 days. Each weekday over the next 30 days, I’m going to publish a blog post. Understandably, these posts are going to be a little shorter than what I normally post. However, they will be packed full of tactics and best practices you can instantly apply to your business.

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