Do you let this guy stop you from getting the deal?

Years ago I had a scheduled an appointment with the VP of sales for FedEx. I had done everything right…found his pain, set an agenda, confirmed the appointment and tied it down to make sure it didn’t get canceled. He knew I was flying in to meet with him and had confirmed the night before. However when I showed up for the appointment he wasn’t there. I was concerned because he had confirmed and I didn’t believe anyone would miss it unless an emergency happened. I had his assistant track him down and she found him at home. He said he decided not to come in that day and that was it. So now I had a few hours before my flight out and I decided to make the best of the situation. I pulled out my org chart that I had made and started calling around. Everyone was either in meetings or out of the office. So I decided to shoot for the moon and do a cold walk-in on the CEO, Fred Smith.

With a little detective work that even Scotland Yard would have been proud of I found out that the CEO was in town and was in his office that day. I found out what building he was in and took the campus bus over to his building. When I walked in it was about 10am and the security was tight. I knew I couldn’t just ask for the CEO so I asked for the Sales VP who I knew was not there because he stood me up. So the security guard started tracking down the sales VP and after a few calls got nowhere as I knew would happen. What this did was gave me time to get to know the security guard. While I was getting to know him I asked him where he liked to go for lunch and he named his favorite place. I asked when he liked to go and if it was crowded because I liked to avoid the rush and he told me when his lunch break was. So guess what. I left and returned when he was at lunch. When I walked up to security I said “Hey you aren’t Joe…oh yea it’s his lunch time”. The point is I sounded like I belonged there!  I told the security guard that I was there to meet with Fred Smith and they told me to take the elevator to the 6th floor and he was the hallway on the right. Earlier I had found out his assistant’s name so when I got up to his office and she was there I told her I was there to meet with Fred.  It was a good idea and I almost made it all the way but unfortunately at the last minute they realized what had happened and I was excorted out by security.

Ok so I didn’t actually get the meeting but what surprised me was how far I could get with a little tenacity and creativity.  My question for you is have you ever pushed the limit and been thrown out of an office building?  I am willing to bet the most of the time you are “playing safe”. I say go for it…shoot for the moon and see just how far you can get. You may be surprised.

Good Luck!

The Key To Reaching Decision Makers

How badly do you want to reach your prospects? When salespeople tell me they can’t reach someone I ask, “How badly do they want to reach them?” If their loved ones were being held hostage and all it took to earn their freedom was to reach that person within one business day, do you think they would find a way? Of course they would. I could tell you story after story of salespeople who were not hungry enough reach their prospect and many stories of those who were. I can think of one man in particular who tried to get into an account for months but got nowhere. The account was reassigned to another rep and he had a meeting scheduled by the end of the first day. What was the difference? Desire! The new rep used email and phone calls to the main number, direct number, dialing the direct number +/- on the last digit and asking if the person he needed to get a hold of had an assistant. Pretty simple but work and determination paid off.

I once had a client who wanted to reach the CEOs of the Fortune 50. They tried everything but without success. I said give me 10 names and let me try for a day. I had 4 appointments scheduled by the end of the day. What was my secret? I found their letter to the shareholders on their website and identified an issue that was important to them that I knew my client could solve. Then I picked up the phone asked for their assistant and said, “Your CEO said this was an important issue in the letter to the Shareholders…is it really or was that just marketing fluff” (in a light hearted way). When they said it was important (always) then I asked if it was important enough to schedule a five minute phone appointment and did. It was very simple but the difference was that my self-talk was “I can reach anyone” and I was hungry to make it happen.   

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Best,

Need a little help getting company information?

I got a call from a sales rep asking how he could find out information on a private company that had no web presence. He tried the usual information gathering resources: official company website, Dunn & Bradstreet, Google search and talking with friends. He even called the company looking for information but they would not give him a contact name or forward him to anyone. Ok he was not calling the CIA or any other security agency yet it is not uncommon to have companies block callers.

Some sales trainers suggest a variety of ways to deal with being blocked. They suggest sounding like an angry customer, an executive calling to talk with another executive or a potential business partner. If this is a legitimate approach and you are comfortable with it then quit reading and go make your calls. However if you feel uncomfortable because from your perspective this approach involves some form of lying or deception then I have an easy idea for you. It is so easy that when I mention it you will say to yourself…”that is so obvious why didn’t I think of that”!

Ok here is the big idea. When you call a company ask for a salesperson. Every company has a person responsible for sales whether they are called sales, business development, order department, customer service, or something else. The point is salespeople help salespeople. Now some of you may say this is too simple or they will block you but think about it. Who in their right mind calls in and ask for a salesperson? I have used this approach for years and it has always been very successful. If you get their voice mail write their name down so you know who to ask for next time. Depending on your philosophy you may or may not leave a voice mail but I won’t go into that in this post. Anyway when you do reach the salesperson tell them you are a salesperson and want their help. No matter how secretive the company is I have always received a few minutes of help from the salesperson and usually that is enough to get me what I need.

Have any other concerns or ideas? Please feel free to leave a comment or feel free to contact me.