Category Archives: Prospecting

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Why You Fail to Achieve Your Potential

Understanding the Power of Preparation

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I was leaving my son’s football game recently. As I stepped onto the parking lot, I saw my wife stop. Then I saw a man in his car hitting his son.

We were stunned, to say the least…and we froze. I literally froze. I didn’t know what to do.

why-you-fail

As I stood 15 feet from the car, a woman ran up to the car and began beating on the window (that probably should have been my reaction). This led to a yelling match – the man still in the car and the woman outside the car.

The whole while I’m standing there. It was surreal.

Then the man saw me looking at him and started yelling at me. Then he got out of his car.

Turns out he is much taller when he’s standing up. 6’5” and 230 lbs tall. I know this because I found his numerous police reports online later that day.

Shortly thereafter, an older gentleman got in between me and this large mountain of a man and the situation was diffused. I looked around and saw my brother, some coaches and other men who had my back.

The police were called, and I don’t know what happened after that.

This Friday, Oct 7th at 2pm EST, I’m holding a webinar – How to Become a coach for the Massimo Group. If you are a coach or teacher at heart and love positively impacting others, I’d love to have you join me. Click Here to register.

My brother and I were talking that evening. We both had the same take away. We were completely unprepared for that situation.

I suppose I could make a list of every crazy situation I may chance upon. I could take karate. I could make use of my conceal carry permit. But I’m not going to do that.

What’s your excuse?

You know the situations you will be facing, and yet you do not prepare.

You know you are going to be making prospecting dials – or that you should be. But you wing it instead of researching your prospects and preparing. You don’t roleplay with your coworkers because it is awkward and embarrassing.

You know you will be leaving voicemails, but you just bumble through the message hoping to strike a chord. Or worse, you don’t leave a message at all. “No one returns calls. Why bother?”

You are going to have that next opportunity to present to win the business. But you will go in with a canned presentation that you will give to anyone. No understanding of the objectives of the client. No customized approach.

My favorite quote of all time is:

“Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.”

You need to practice on purpose for the situations you know you will face. And then practice some more. Practice until until you can leave a compelling voicemail with a real reason to call back…and nail it every time. Practice until you know your customized pitch so well that you can improvise according to the need of the minute…and know exactly where to return to in the presentation.

Practice until you can’t get it wrong. You may not succeed every time, but your preparation will put you in the best situation to come through when stakes are the highest.

This is the way you reach your potential. Prepare. Practice. Rinse. Repeat.

So the question is…are you going to do it?

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The 4 Mindsets of Your Prospects

And why you must address them in the first 15 seconds...

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You don’t prospect enough. Maybe you are new to the business and fear holds you back. Maybe you are like me, and the fear of looking stupid holds you back. Regardless, you should be picking up the phone more. With our coaching clients at the Massimo Group, systematic prospect is one of the pillars of the Massimo Methods.

The 4 Mindsets

I’ve shared this before, but when I left the Marine Corps in 2004 to work with my dad in commercial real estate, I was paralyzed when it came to prospecting. I would sit at my desk and stare at the phone. I had no clue what to say. I had no idea of the directions a prospecting conversation could take.

I couldn’t bear the idea that I would look stupid and fall on my face. What I lacked was confidence.

I was recently in Phoenix at a mastermind. I heard a man say that “Action unlocks greatness. Simplicity unlocks action.” That got me thinking. If we can understand the mindset of our prospects when we call, then we have the opportunity to address those mindsets quickly. Then we can prospect with more confidence.

Any of us in sales of any kind can prospect with more confidence by understanding these 4 mindsets of our prospects.

The 4 Mindsets of Our Prospects

  1. Your prospects are busy – Most people are these days. When you are able to connect with your prospect on the phone, you need to recognize that they have many things on their mind.
  2. You are interrupting them – One moment, your prospects were working away. Now they are speaking with you. You have changed their direction. Because they are busy and you have interrupted them, it is in your best interest to honor their time and get right to the point.
  3. They are wondering who the heck you are – Sometimes you are prospecting on someone you know. Often times, you are not. Given that you don’t know who you are calling, I promise the first question they have about you is who you are and what company you are with. You have to answer this unspoken question immediately.
  4. They want to know what’s in it for them – As they are busy, have just been interrupted, and you’ve just shared with them who you are, you must quickly tell them what they will benefit by having a conversation with you. Many CRE brokers make the mistake of vomiting their services all over their prospects. Do not. They do not care about what you can do. They only care about how your services can benefit them. Always speak in benefits statements with short deal stories to substantiate your claims.

Knowing these mindsets is one thing. Being able to use them to your advantage on a prospecting call is another.

That is why I want to invite you to a webinar I am presenting on Wednesday, June 1 at 2:00pm EST – How to Nail the Most Important Part of a Prospecting Call. You can register by clicking the button below.

In this webinar, we’ll dive deeper into the mindsets of your prospects and discuss how use them to your advantage. We are also going to dive into:

  • 4 Mental Triggers that can move the prospect your way
  • 4 things to absolutely NOT do on a prospecting call
  • How to craft the beginning of a prospecting call to engage your prospect, move them your direction, and earn the rest of the call.
  • …and ultimately prospect with more confidence!

Grab My Seat Now

Question: What questions about prospecting by phone would you like me to address on the webinar? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

 

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Free Training: Choosing the Right CRM for Your Business

How Ease of Use is the Most Important Factor

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Have you ever had the nagging feeling that you are stuck? Have you plateaued? Have you ever wondered why others seem to be blowing by you?

I’ve been there. For whatever reason, my mind is formatted to think in processes. In other words, I believe there is a way to create a process, or a system, to maximize the efficiency of just about any task. So I’m always looking for better processes to simplify and maximize efficiency.

Free Training-

In my early CRE days, my CRM was a legal pad. That was what my dad did at the time. But I knew there had to be a better way. So I tried using Outlook – because that is what my dad had moved to. Then I tried Goldmine – then ACT!. Then I tried RealHound – and others. Each time I switched, I gained more efficiency. I was becoming more productive.

Then I switched to the cloud, and everything changed.

In tomorrow’s webinar, I’m going to bring on the ClientLook guys so they can demonstrate what a simple and powerful CRM system can do…and how that can lead to more business for you.

This past weekend, I got to spend some time with Michael Griffin and John Dawson in San Diego at the NAR Convention and Expo. What they have coming is so exciting. I am pumped to share it with you.

You will learn:

  • Why simplicity is the most important factor in adoption of a technology
  • Why a cloud-based CRM is so necessary in today’s mobile world
  • How ClientLook can save you from data entry
  • And so much more…

In addition, I’ve worked out a special deal for my readers you can’t get anywhere else.

So if you are frustrated with your current CRM solution – if you long for more power and more simplicity, this webinar is for you. Seats are limited (one of these days I need to increase my GoToWebinar account), so be sure to sign up now.

And I’ll see you tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov 18, at 1:00pm Eastern) on the webinar.

Claim Your Seat!

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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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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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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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[Free Webinar] How to Simplify and Expand Your Business with ClientLook

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I’ve written about this before, but I get asked about my recommendation on CRMs more than anything.

And rightfully so. A great Customer Relationship Management application is a crucial part of the technology backbone of any business – especially commercial real estate.

I’m really excited to announce my first webinar with ClientLook this Wednesday, August 19 at 3pm Eastern.

Claim My Seat for the Webinar!

You want to be on this webinar if:

  • You are frustrated with complex CRMs that suck your time instead of save your time.
  • You want all your data with you at all times so you can maximize your productivity on the move.
  • Or in other words…never feel chained to your desk again!
  • You waste too much time with data entry – ClientLook has a brilliant solution for this.
  • You spend too much time reporting deal activity to your clients and owners.
  • You want a CRM that will not only help you find and track, but will actually help you win business.
  • …and so much more!

John Dawson, VP of Sales for ClientLook, is going to join me on the webinar to give a product demonstration. If you have ever wondered what ClientLook looks like behind the curtain, or what it can do, this is your opportunity.

I’ve also negotiated a special deal with ClientLook that you can only take advantage of on the webinar.

ClientLook is simplified CRM – everything you need and nothing you don’t!

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So I hope you’ll join me on Wednesday at 3pm Eastern. You will be glad you did as ClientLook is everything you need in a CRM, and nothing you don’t.

Claim My Seat for the Webinar!

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