Tag Archives: Prospecting

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5 Steps to Crafting a Powerful Elevator Speech

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In a previous post – 12 Keys to Becoming a Top Producer – Faster! – I shared that one of those keys is reading.  I mentioned in that section that I had wanted to improve the impact of my elevator speech so I read Small Message, Big Impact by Terri Sjodin.  Great book.  This is a must read for anyone in sales.  By the way, we are all in sales in some way.

Cory Spanko commented on that post asking if I would share that elevator speech.  So this is my response to his request.  (Thanks Cory for giving me the idea for this post!  DM me your address on twitter – I’d like to send you this book.)

About a year ago, I was in Chicago for the Sperry Van Ness National Convention. It is always a great event.  I leave with dozens of actionable ideas from the first-class advisors that attend.  This convention had a competition called SVN Idol.  The premise of the competition was 4 advisors would compete in giving “The Presentation.”  The winner won $1000.  I was one of the four.  I was going to win that prize.

We were told in advance that we would compete in giving the canned SVN listing presentation.  (I don’t like canned presentations, but that is a topic for another post.)  We were not told that there would be round two.  In round two, we had to give an elevator speech.  I was not prepared.  Transparently, I tend to be good when I’m prepared.  I’m not awesome on the fly.  I did well in round 1.  I bombed round 2.  My good friend Henry Hanna left victorious.  I left knowing that I had a few books to read.

The key to a powerful elevator speech is that it gets you a meeting.  That is all it needs to do.  If I’m in line at Starbucks and have an opportunity, can I get a meeting with a prospect in 90 seconds?  Not only must it be powerful, but it needs to be adaptable.  Too many people look for the magic bullet – if I say these 3 things, I’ll get that meeting.  No.  You need a powerful framework that can be custom fit to the prospect.

That framework is Monroe’s Motivational Sequence (MMS).  Thank you @terrisjodin for writing a fantastic book!  MMS is a logical and sequential 5 step process to motivate someone to take action.  This method does not have to be an elevator speech.  It could be much longer.  It works brilliantly for a super short speech, however.

The 5 Steps of Monroe’s Motivational Sequence

  1. Attention – I always think about Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross here.  But you don’t have to be a complete jerk to get someone’s attention.  You do have to be interesting.  You do have to understand what is important to your prospect.  Example: “There is only one way to maximize the value of your property, and my company is the only one that can do it.”
  2. Problem – This could also be an opportunity.  I’ve heard John McDermott say 100 times that people sell property because they have a problem or an opportunity.  That’s it.  I think the same is true of anyone buying or selling anything.  They have a problem or an opportunity.  You need to know what it is, and hone in on it here.
  3. Solution – Share with them the solution to their problem or opportunity.  Ideally, how you can solve their problem or help them capitalize on their opportunity.
  4. Visualize – This step hooks them.  Here you want to encourage them to visualize the glorious future destiny that awaits them if your solution becomes a reality for them.  Use the word “imagine.”  “Imagine how much fun it will be, Mr. Prospect, when multiple capable buyers are competing for your property and driving up the price!”
  5. Action – Now you share with them what you would like them to do.  In the context of an elevator speech, you want them to agree to have the next meeting.  If you are a politician, you want their vote.  Be specific.  Ask them to sign on the line that is dotted!

As a parting example, watch this video of my dad making his announcement speech to run for office.  It is short and sweet.  See if you can pick out the steps above.  [Skip to the 4 minute mark]

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.  Share a story of an elevator speech opportunity that went well.  Or that bombed.  What other elevator speech methods have you used with success?

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How Physics is Similar to Your Business

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The Avengers came out yesterday.  Big moment for my family.  I would be Iron Man – coolest cat on the planet.  My wife is a big fan of Thor.  I’ve tried to pull of that accent but it doesn’t do it for her.  My 10-year-old would be Captain America, and he should.  He already has that True North sense of right and wrong.  My 6-year-old goes between the Hulk and Hawk-eye.  My daughter still doesn’t understand the rules and ran into the living room with a Spiderman costume on.  It is futility explaining to a 3-year-old that Spiderman wasn’t an Avenger – not to mention he didn’t have a pony-tail.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I bring up the Avengers for a different reason, though.  I feel like the Hulk is sitting on my face.  I have the distinct pleasure of having both nostrils out of commission.  So, I’m going to tell a quick story and then ask a few questions.  Then I’m going to bed.

 

The Story

This may be hard to believe, but my favorite subject in high school was physics.  I am a thinker.  I’m not sure why.  I’m not much of a feeler, a bit more of a doer, but definitely a thinker.  I want to know why stuff works the way it does.  Physics was full of ‘Aha’ moments for me.  I remember when Mr. Claypool showed me the formula behind why a curved road is banked at a certain degree.  This was super cool to me.

I remember toying with actually majoring in Physics in college.  Turns out that I majored in playing guitar into wee hours of the morning and dropping class….  My youngest brother is currently studying physics at my college right now.  In some ways I envy him.

But enough about physics.  Do you know how Physics is like Commercial Real Estate – or any other business?

If A=B and B=C then A=C

What do I mean, you say?  Consider this about your business.  What works?  What led up to that big sale – that big deal?  Did you know that if you repeat certain patterns you will get certain desired outcomes?  My business of CRE is just like yours in this regard.

The question is how do we do more of those patterns to get more of those desired outcomes?  You need a formula that works.

In my business and with my coaching clients, we call these systems.  I understand that if I send out this many letters and follow-up with this many cold calls, then I will get this many meetings.  If I get this many meetings, I will win this many assignments.  This is prospecting, and it needs to be a system.

Repeat certain behaviors to achieve desired results.

A Few Questions

Why don’t you systematize your business?  One of my hero’s in the business spends 2 hours a day cold-calling.  He’s the boss of is office.  He is working a system.  And he’s killing it.

Have you ever sat down with your team to brainstorm what works – and what doesn’t?  You’d be shocked at what you find out.  That is, if you’ve created a team that trusts enough to tell you truth.  Break things down to their smallest parts.  Delegate.  Maximize efficiencies.  Spend more time with clients and prospects.  Let your staff do anything that they can do so that you can do the tasks that only you can do!  Systematize!

What’s keeping you from taking that time needed to work ON your business instead of IN your business?  Something to think about:  top performers have accountability and coaches.

Let me hear your thoughts.

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How to Get You and Your Agents to Make More Calls – These 3 Easy Ways

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Commercial Real Estate (or any) sales is about calls:  cold calls, warm calls, personal calls, and so on.  He who makes the most calls generally does the most deals.  Making calls is also a lost art.

I recently had a review with one of my agents.  He was not making enough calls.  He and I had spoken a couple of times about this subject with no change.  Then it dawned on me.  Performance flows from leadership.  The problem was with me.

When I was in college I had a mentor who would teach me things by this method.  Teach me why.  Show me how.  Do it in front of me.  It was incredibly effective.  Answering the questions ‘why’ deals with casting the vision for the desired future outcome.  And this is rarely about making money.  Teaching the ‘how’ is the book smarts.  Demonstrating how introduces the street smarts.

I had been neglecting the third step.  So Friday morning, we went into my office and I spent nearly an hour making calls – on one of his deals.  I believe doing this on a regular basis is going to reap rewards.  More deals will be done, sure.  But there will be growth in our team in this area.

Here are 3 easy ways to make more calls:

1.  Block out time on your calendar.  This seems like such a no-brainer, but we don’t do it.  Prospecting for new business is the key to healthy deal flow and sustainable cash-flow.  Yet, it is the activity that is the most dreaded and overlooked. Block out time every day to make prospecting calls.  A top producer I know, who owns his company, schedules two hours a day on his calendar.  He gives his team the green light to ask him to get busy calling when he gets distracted by another task.  He knows that making calls is the absolute best use of his time.

2.  Keep the calls short.  The first call I made on Friday lasted 20 minutes.  I know better.  This should never happen.  The purpose of a prospecting call is to get a meeting.  If you get a talker, politely transition the conversation after 4 minutes to scheduling a meeting.  If they want to talk, do it face to face at a later date.  Remember that prospecting calls are a numbers game.  The more calls you can make, the more meetings you can get.  Challenge yourself to a certain amount of calls in your scheduled time.  Don’t let one talker derail you.

3.  Schedule an office wide calling blitz.  Most agents do not like cold calling.  Some of the weird ones, like me, do.  But most salespeople are ultra-competitive so make it a game.  Schedule a block of time once or twice a month when everyone in the office is making calls at the same time.  Make it a competition.  Have a prize for the winner.

So what other ways do you encourage more calls?  What ideas have I missed?  Let’s see how many great ideas we can come up with!

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