Your first meeting with Ms. BIG has just ended. Your slides (all 56 of them) were dazzling. You described your services in minute detail. Surely, you “wowed” her with your expertise.

At the end, you half-expected her to say “Great presentation. When can we start working together?” Instead, she said “Thanks for coming in. We’ll call if we need your services.”

You just blew it.

You committed one of the mortal sins in sales. You did all the talking.

You didn’t learn about her problems. You didn’t establish rapport. You didn’t agree on next steps. Your first meeting with Ms. BIG will also be your last.

Whet Her Appetite with K.F.C.

Ian Brodie, a UK-based business development consultant, offers a better way. He advocates the K.F.C. approach: Know, Feel, Commit.

• Know – The prospect has to know you have the expertise to solve her problems 
• Feel – More importantly, she must feel that you understand her problems and that she can trust you. 
• Commit – At the end of the meeting, both of you must commit to next steps: a second meeting, sending information, an introduction to a colleague, etc.

As Ian suggests, the best way to solve the Know and the Feel issues is a conversation, not a presentation. The prospect can learn about your services from a presentation (if she doesn’t fall asleep first). But she won’t get to know you.

“Most often, the route to both establishing the things the client needs to know, and in getting them to feel the right way about you is to ask smart questions. Being able to ask the right questions that really home in on tough issues and the underlying causes will establish your expertise far more than any claims you might make about it, qualifications you might have or awards you might have won,” Ian writes.

Be Prepared

Ian suggests developing a plan before the meeting. What do you want to achieve?

 If you’re selling a complex service, you’re not going to make the sale in the first meeting. The best you can hope for is an agreement to take the next step.

First, set a realistic goal for the meeting. Maybe it’s a second meeting with Ms. BIG to discuss her problems and your services in greater detail. Then, decide how you want the initial meeting to unfold.

 To stimulate a discussion, prepare a list of questions. Without sounding like a prosecutor, you want to probe to find out more about her problems. This will not only help you find out about her but help her find out about you.

Diagnose. Don’t Prescribe.

Ian points out that consultants commit two major errors in initial meetings. They don’t listen, and they don’t probe.

 OK, you’re an expert. But your job is to diagnose before you prescribe. How often has a doctor said what’s wrong with you before first asking questions?

You’re a business doctor. First, you have to listen.

 Don’t interrupt or jump to conclusions. Ask subtle but probing questions and get the prospect to describe her problem. You need to understand the problem, but the prospect needs to understand that you understand.

It’s called empathy. You’re also building rapport.

Once you’ve completed your preliminary diagnosis, resist the urge to prescribe. Your prospect must understand that she can’t simply ignore the problem.  She’s got to solve it.

“It’s your job as a professional to help your client see the true impact of the issues they face. Not exaggerated. Not blown up or overly pessimistic to try to manipulate your way to a sale. But accurate and insightful,” says Ian.

The best way to accomplish this is to help her draw her own conclusions. Don’t try to convince her. Help the prospect convince herself.

I like blogging. It’s fun, and my blog has generated new business, useful connections, and speaking engagements for me.

But it’s not for everyone. Before you launch your own blog, test the waters by participating on other blogs. Then you can decide whether to take the plunge.

The Downside of Blogging

As Michael McLaughlin points out in   Saying “I Do” to Blogging: Key Questions to Ask Before You Commit to Starting One  “Blogging is the perfect Guerrilla Marketing tactic. You can reach a large audience quickly, and repeatedly. The cost of blogging is low, and the technology is simple to use. It’s an excellent way to stay in touch with your existing clients and help prospective clients get to know you. “

Sounds like a no-brainer. But it’s not. Michael suggests you look before you leap. Blogging may not be an effective marketing tactic for you. Here are some of the issues to consider:

It Takes Time – I think you need to devote at least four hours a week to a weekly blog. This includes research, writing and editing, and planning upcoming posts. If you don’t like writing, a blog can be drudgery.

And guess what? You also need to build an audience. That’s an ongoing effort.

It Takes Patience – Finding appropriate blog topics requires research. You may research several topics before settling on the right one. And then you’ve got to think about next week’s topic.

It Takes Discipline - As Michael points out, “the initial euphoria” of blogging can taper off in a few weeks, especially if you get tied up on client projects. If you’ve got a weekly blog, you must post weekly. Period. 

Very few things look as lame as a website where the latest blog post is six months old. It undermines your credibility.

It Takes Diligence – You’re not Britney Spears. No one cares what you had for breakfast.

Your prospects and referral sources care about your ideas. Your blog posts can’t be off- the-cuff comments about trivial topics.

Your posts must provide useful, substantive information to your readers. That means well researched, well thought out, and well written blog posts – every time.

Get Started….Slowly

Elge Premeau in Using Blogs to Attract Attention (Without having your own) offers a way to enjoy many of the benefits of blogging without the hard work.  Simply comment on other blogs.

Here are the steps she recommends:

What Do They Want? –Understand the issues that are important to your target market. A good way to get started is to identify the publications they read and the organizations they belong to.

 Where Do They Hang Out? – Once you figure out what they want, then you need to find them. I’d recommend LinkedIn Groups as a starting point. LinkedIn offers a very wide range of industry and affinity Groups/ blogs.  And it’s a comfortable environment for LinkedIn members.

Elge suggests blog directories such as Technorati, Blogarama, and Blog Catalog to find the   best blogs for your market. She also recommends blogs on newspaper and magazine sites.

What Do You Say? – Your comments on blog posts should be relevant and helpful. Don’t promote. Educate. If the blog’s readers like your comments, they’ll connect with you.

The advantages of this approach include:

• Getting sufficiently familiar with blogging to see if you want your own blog
• Finding topics you can write about
• Developing useful connections
• Driving traffic to your site

It’s tough to jump into the deep end when you don’t know how to swim. Start in the shallow end.

What did he just say?

“Let’s touch base to arrange a little face time so we can appear fully engaged. Let’s be proactive, synergistic and leverage this thing. Better yet, let’s circle back and do a deep dive so we can empower a paradigm shift with a value added, team building, best of breed, Six Sigma, perfect storm that could go viral.  ……. Net-net:  It’s a win-win. Got it? 

This monologue is not real. It is a humorous radio ad created by TDH Advertising for The Private Bank. To hear the ad, click here.

The ad is a spoof. But it sounds all too real. I often encounter similar language.

It’s a disease called “corporate-speak,” a common affliction among B2B marketers. Corporate-speak can be deadly: deadly boring and deadly to your business. If you can’t explain your business clearly, what will your prospects think?

Don’t Say These Things

Here are some words and phrases to avoid in your writing and conversations. I’ve gathered them from a variety of sources including David Meerman Scott’s The Gobbleygook Manifesto and MSMC

• Leverage – Experts argue about whether this is even a verb. Keep it simple and use the word “use,” instead
•  Incent – This is not even listed in the Oxford Dictionary website.
• Solution – It’s either a product or a service. Describe how it “solves” the problem
• Resource – Are you a resource? No, you’re a person.
• Next Generation – This is a euphemism for “new and improved.” Explain why the product or service is better.
• Leading Provider – What authority gave your company this designation?
• Robust – Does this mean powerful? More powerful than what?

Keep it Simple

Ernest Nicastro in Is Your Writing Driving Away Clients? cites a real example of corporate-speak, with the company name disguised.

“Leader Coaching leverages a proprietary coaching framework, proven over years of practical application and success, to collaborate with clients in pursuit of shared goals….. In other words, Leader Coaching’s services meet the expectations of business leaders who recognize the value of purposeful investments in human capital—often beginning with themselves—as a means of preparing and aligning people and systems in pursuit of growth.”

Ernest reduced all this gibberish to one sentence: Leader Coaching uses a proven coaching system to help clients manage their people and their business for greater profit.”

He offers the following tips:

• Keep sentences short
• Avoid the passive voice – I did it, not it was done by me
• Check for readability – Microsoft Word can give you readability statistics.

Marketing Lessons from Paul Krugman and Rush Limbaugh

New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman and Rush Limbaugh occupy opposite sides of the political spectrum. Yet, they have one thing in common. They are very effective communicators.

Krugman has a Phd in Economics and won the Nobel Prize in 2008. He could write like an academic or a policy wonk. But he doesn’t. He writes simply and clearly:

 “But isn’t keeping taxes for the affluent low also a form of stimulus? Not so you’d notice. When we save a schoolteacher’s job, that unambiguously aids employment; when we give millionaires more money instead, there’s a good chance that most of that money will just sit idle.”

Here is a quote from Limbaugh:

“Unspeakable tragedies happen to some families; they don’t happen to others. Some people live a long time; some people don’t. There’s no explaining any of this. Nobody’s in charge of this. There’s no government that can change this . . . the vast majority of things that occur in the process of living life are unequal and unfair.”

Forget the political and social commentary. Focus on the clear language, short words, and short sentences. They’re powerful.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

If you’re tempted to write “we leverage resources to achieve strategic objectives,” stop. Remember, you’re really trying to say “we use people effectively to accomplish key tasks.”

New technology has given us a myriad of ways to reach prospects: social media, email, text messages, and instant messaging, to name a few. But the most effective way to connect with prospects is through 130-year-old technology.

It’s called the telephone.

Make that Connection!

Telecom veterans refer to phones as P.O.T.S.: Plain Old Telephone Sets. ( Yeah, yeah, I know we have cell phones now.)

 Why is the phone more effective than other communications tools? You can actually create a human connection voice-to-voice.

Can you use email effectively to ask questions, handle objections, build rapport, grasp nuances, and agree on next steps? I doubt it.

Email and other tools are great for creating awareness BEFORE a phone call and for follow up AFTER a call. But nothing can replace a phone call for establishing a connection.

In a Rain Today survey of 700 companies, respondents ranked the phone as the most effective lead generation tool. Of course, they generally use the phone in combination with other tools such as email or direct mail.

Don’t Sell. Qualify.

Remember, the goal of a prospecting call is not to make a sale. It’s to qualify the lead.

Is this person a good fit for your services and does she have a need that you can fill? Once you’ve determined that, you can begin selling (in a subsequent phone call or meeting).

A traditional approach to lead qualification is B.A.N.T. : Budget, Authority, Need, Timing. You probably won’t determine all four criteria in the first phone call. The “N” and the “A” are the most important.

Does the prospect have a need and does he have the authority to purchase your services. If there is a need but he does not have ultimate purchasing authority, find out who does (it may be a committee).

Rules of the Road

Here are some “tele-prospecting” do’s and don’t’s. They apply to cold calls and what I call “luke-warm” calls, a referral with whom you’ve not spoken before.

DO

• Be Prepared – Research the prospect’s site and have a set of talking points/questions ready
• Observe the 80/20 Rule – Do 20% of the talking and let the prospect do the rest
• Ask Open Ended Questions – How do you handle this; how much does that cost you?
• Probe – Get beyond responses such as “we’re all set”
• Agree on Next Steps – If there is an interest, agree on Who, What,  and When. Who’s responsible? What will happen next? When will it happen?

DON’T

• Ramble On – Give your elevator speech and shut up. Get the prospect to start talking
• Be Pushy – Come across as a business professional, not a fast talking huckster
• Ask Closed Ended Questions – Get the prospect to elaborate, not answer with a “yes” or no”
• Be a Prosecutor – Ask questions in a relaxed conversational manner.
• End without a Resolution – The call ends with either “no interest” or agreed upon next steps. Period.

 Sending an email may be easier than cold calling. But you could end up in the junk mail “box.” A phone call can put you in the batter’s box.

Your prospects are like plants. Give them the proper attention and they’ll grow (into clients). On the other hand, you can “drown” them with too much attention or “starve” them with too little.

Determining the right amount of attention is tricky. It depends upon the stage in the sales cycle.

The Right Touch

A prospect ready to buy deserves a lot of attention. You know who they are and are probably all over them.

A prospect who is interested but not yet ready deserves less attention. If you bombard him with weekly calls and emails, you’ll scare him off. You’ve “drowned” him.

 At the same time, a not-yet-active prospect needs to hear from you on a regular basis. Otherwise, she’ll forget about you and do business with someone else. You’ve “starved” her.

The first step is to segment your prospects into categories with the appropriate level of contact.  Consider setting up an “A” “B” “C” “D” system.

• “A”s -  Hot prospects - Weekly or biweekly contacts with phone calls and emails
• “B”s – Interested and serious – Monthly contact via phone or email
• “C”s –   Possibly interested – Every two-three months via phone or email
• “D” -  All other contacts – Possibly via quarterly newsletter

Treat your top referral sources like your “B” prospects. Contact them monthly.

Educate…Consistently

Remember, in professional services, you don’t sell. You educate.

Brian Carroll in Lead Nurturing: Ripening the Right Bananas points out

“Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful dialog with viable prospects, regardless of their timeframe to buy.  It’s about building trusted relationships with the right people.  In the end, it’s the act of maintaining mind share and building solid relationships with economic buyers.  It’s not a sales person calling up every few months to find out if a prospect is “ready to buy yet………………………….

A key aspect of lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to your prospects up front, to become a trusted advisor.  Your potential client then perceives you to be an expert.  You don’t sell, you don’t make pitches.  Instead, you provide insights and solutions, all within the realm of your expertise and thus become the first they call when there’s a need.” 

Use Your Toolkit

As Brian’s chart below illustrates, you have numerous communication tools available. These include:

• Phone
• E-mail
• Events, including webinars
• Social media
• Direct mail

These tools are really delivery vehicles for your message and your content. Your content is what adds value and showcases your expertise.

Drip, Drip, Drip……

Below is one of Brian’s lead nurturing scenarios. The lead, in this case, came from a web inquiry. But you could follow the same process for a “B” prospect whom you met via referral or at a networking meeting.

Notice that you’re contacting the person, on the average, every 20 days over for almost six months. You’re “dripping” attention on the prospect in a very systematic way.

• Day 1: Make introductory phone call and send follow-up email.
• Day 28: Send e-newsletter with voicemail alert that it’s there.
• Day 42: E-mail recent customer success story, in related industry if possible.
• Day 60: Send personal invitation from selling professional to forthcoming seminar.
• Day 80: Mail case study and personalized letter of transmittal.
• Day 100: E-mail recent article of interest on Internet.
• Day 120: E-mail “touching base” note.
• Day 140: Mail follow-up letter with free report.
• Day 160: Prospect calls you: now a qualified lead!

 Get out the watering can and start cultivating your garden. And, remember, the seedlings need only a little water and the large bushes need a lot.

You’re at a networking meeting. A woman asks you what you do.

You respond “My firm is the leading provider of best-of-breed, next-generation, cutting-edge, enterprise-class, end-to-end solutions.” Her reaction is immediate….and predictable.

She will either: (a) slip into a boredom-induced coma or (b) have a sudden and uncontrollable urge to run to the bathroom. Either way, you lose.

Your elevator speech is not meant to sell. It’s meant to engage.

The “speech” (it’s an introduction, really) should give the person an idea of what you do. More importantly, it should start a conversation.

Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, says, “The ideal introduction is brief and memorable – one that provides enough impact to arouse the interest of those to whom you’re introducing yourself and get them to join your word-of-mouth team.”

Here are some ”Do’s and Don’ts” gleaned from several articles I read recently

DO

1. Explain briefly what you do, whom you work for, and the results you achieve
2.  Use your introduction to start a conversation
3. Quickly turn your attention to the other person so you can learn more about his or her business
4. Rehearse your speech beforehand so that it comes easily. But don’t sound like a robot.
5. Have different versions of your speech:  30 and 60 seconds and a few minutes. Use a version that is appropriate for the situation.

 DON’T

1. Pack everything into the speech. Keep it pithy and short, so you invite questions
2.  Use a slogan – “We’re the warm and fuzzy forensic accountants.” People will remember you but not in the way you’d like.
3. Prattle on about your services endlessly. You want a dialog, not a monolog.
4. Try to sell. Focus on the problems you solve.
5. Ask inane questions such as “What keeps you up at night?” None of your business, fella.

 As I regularly advocate in my blog posts, focus on these questions.

1. Who you are.
2. What you do
3. Whom you do it for
4. How you do it
5. What happens as a result

 I love this quotation from Alan Weiss in Why Elevator Pitches Never Go Forward (Just Up And Down)

“I have news for you. You are not going to make a sale in an elevator, and the probability of even moving to a next step is non-existent if you tell me you’ve built a better mousetrap, created an electronic cat, or have a rat vacuum. But if you are able to discern that I have a rodent problem, you just may be on the right track.”

I am pleased to announce that the Sales Lead Dynamics Blog is now part of the B2B Marketing Zone.  The “Zone” is a site that aggregates b2b blogs and also publishes a daily email digest of blogs.

 I find the site and the digest very useful. In fact, I get many of my blog ideas from the “Zone.” I urge you to check out the site regularly and subscribe to the digest.

My site now proudly carries the” B2B Marketing Official Rockstar Blogger” badge. I’ve wanted to be a rock star since I was a kid. It took only 62 years.

Here is some more info on the “Zone.” The goals of B2B Marketing Zone are:

Collect High Quality Content – The goal of a content community is to provide a high quality destination that highlights the most recent and best content from as defined by the community.

Provide an Easy to Navigate Site – End users most often are people who are not regular readers of the blogs and other sources.  They come to the content community to find information on particular topics of interest to them.  This links them across to the sources themselves.

Be A Jump Off Point – To be clear all content communities are only jump off points to the sources of the content.

Help Surface Content that Might Not be Found – It’s often hard to find and understand blog content that’s spread across sites.  Most users of B2B Marketing Zone are not regular subscribers to these blogs and other content sources.

In romance, The Big Question is “Will you marry me?” The answer is straightforward. It’s “yes or no”.

In networking, the Big Question is “What do you do?” The answer is anything but straightforward.

But you better get it right. Otherwise, forget about referrals.  

 Many service professionals cannot clearly explain what they do. This is particularly true for consultants with complex, hard-to-explain specialties.

If your colleagues cannot understand what you do, they can’t refer you.  And how do you think your prospects will react?

Mike Schultz and John Doerr of Rain Today make some interesting (and humorous) points in a recent blog post “ ‘What do you do?’ ” How to answer the toughest question in all of business?”

They describe six “traps” that consultants fall into. You can read the article to learn more about the traps, but two are particularly relevant.

 The “I talked but I didn’t say anything” Trap

“We offer efficient and effective consulting solutions to Fortune 500 and emerging growth companies, helping them to uncover and capitalize on hidden opportunities to provide value to their customers and increase shareholder value. We’re unique because…”

I guess you do something for everyone (a trap in itself) but I can’t figure out what it is. And tell me again what results you achieve.

The “Laundry List’ Trap

 “We are a law firm, and we focus on admiralty law, alternative dispute resolution, antitrust, bankruptcy, appellate litigation, complex litigation, debt financing, environmental law, foreign corrupt practices, government relations, ice cream patent and trademark, koala bear adoption, llama surrogate pregnancy litigation…”

This is a common affliction in the consulting world: I-can-do-anything-for-anyone-itis. How you can possibly be an expert in all these areas? How can anyone refer you? 

Buyers want specialists, not generalists.  Get specific about your target audience and your services.

 Say it Right

Mike and John offer six building blocks to a successful answer. You can get the details in the article but your answer must describe: your target market , the problems you solve, the services you offer, and the results you produce.

They offer an example of a strong positioning statement (I added the terms in bold. )

“I help large packaged goods companies (target market) understand why consumers decide to buy one brand over another (offering). For example just last week I presented findings to a client where we uncovered X, Y, Z. (results) It’s really interesting stuff that will likely to lead to $200 million in new sales (value) over the next three years if they implement our recommended changes.”

To parse the statement another way:

• Target market – Large package Goods companies
• Service – Customer Analysis
• Results – Better picture of customer
• Economic Value –  Additional sales

 So, what do you do?

Most of us probably use LinkedIn as a networking tool. Using LinkedIn to make connections is good. Using it to make money is better.

Marc Halpert can show you how.

Meet Mister LinkedIn

An  uber-networker (and that is an understatement), Marc has been using LinkedIn for five years. He now has over 700 direct connections. These contacts, together, have over 100,000 connections.  That’s quite a network.

 You might ask how anyone could possibly know 700 people. I’m not surprised. Marc gets around.

And Marc does not allow just anyone into his network. He must (a) know the person and (b) believe that there could be a mutually beneficial relationship.

Marc’s principal business is Your Best Interest, LLC which provides electronic payment services to businesses and non-profits. He’s also developed a separate LinkedIn consulting and training business called Connect2Collaborate .

Marc says LinkedIn has been essential to his success. Some examples:

• The Go-To Guy – When the head of a fraternal organization wanted to launch an Affinity credit card, he sought Marc’s advice about a very specific question. Marc reached out to his (vast) network and got exactly the right answer from, of all places, Belgium. Marc was subsequently able to bid on the business. 
• The Chilean Connection – As a personal gesture, Marc contacted a long lost Chilean business colleague after the earthquake there. He re-connected Marc with another former colleague in New York. That person is now a potential source of business
•  The Speaking Gig – A chance encounter with the head of a large non-profit at a party led to a more extensive connection via LinkedIn. And that led to a speaking engagement, getting Marc in front of a large number of prospects.
•  The Big Client – A brief introduction and then a subsequent LinkedIn connection blossomed into multiple projects with a business owner in Long Island.
•  The Referral Source – Marc posted a note on one of his Groups asking who was attending a trade show. He got a response and connected with that person at the event. They are now regularly referring business to one another.

 Online meets Offline

Note the pattern here.  The offline feeds the online and the online feeds the offline. Relationships launched in the physical world grow in the virtual world and vice versa.

Marc says Linked In is the “centerpiece” of his networking effort. But it’s not the only piece. You still need to attend networking events, have one-on-ones, and actually talk to people on the phone.

Branding, Branding, Branding

 “It’s all about branding,” says Marc. “Think of yourself as a cereal box on a grocery store shelf. You’ve got to stand out”

 The first (and most important) step to success on LinkedIn is your Profile. It has to be “absolutely stellar,” says Marc, “no one ever got any business with an anemic profile.” You need a good photo and you need to communicate your experience quickly but completely to accommodate readers’ short attention spans.

 Marc likens the profile to a website. But on the internet, with untold billions of web pages, it’s hard to get found.  

 LinkedIn is different. It has 65 million members, 13 million of whom are small business owners,  all looking to make business connections. By perfecting your profile and promoting yourself effectively, you can easily be found. “It’s all within your control,” says Marc.

After completing your profile, the next step is to be highly visible on LinkedIn. This means being active EVERY DAY. Marc religiously posts on groups, provides updates, asks and answers questions, and promotes events he’s attending or speaking at.  

 The secret of Marc’s success is no secret at all. He works at it. Hard. All the time.

Marc regularly speaks in front of groups and offers webinars. He also offers a four week LinkedIn course via weekly webinars. Week #1 – Your Profile; Week #2 – Making Connections and Getting Recommendations; Week #3 – Groups; Week #4 – The Extras.

 To learn more, you can contact Marc at ybillc@optonline.net or 203.373.0875. And I would be utterly remiss if I didn’t provide his LinkedIn profile:  www.linkedin.com/in/marchalpert.