WEEK 22

LAUNCH YOUR WEEKLY HOUR OF POWER—100 CALLS IN 60 MINUTES

Every weekday, I spend one hour making 100 phone calls. I call it my Hour of Power. I select a group of people I want to contact. The group may consist of the people I work with on the Macomb County Voice (a community blog we created). It might be the top-selling real estate agents I know through Star Power. It might be talking with Power Team Leaders across the country, Macomb County Habitat for Humanity Board Members, community leaders, or coaching clients. It might be people I sold houses for or those I sold houses to. I tell everyone in the office that my Hour of Power is about to commence, and they know not to disturb me. Then, I shut myself in my office and start dialing.

If someone answers, I deliver my energetic greeting, ask them how they’re doing, and perhaps mention one of the details I’ve recorded in my contact-management program; maybe it’s their anniversary or one of their children’s birthdays. If nobody answers, I move on to my next call. If I get the answering machine, I leave a message. I may even sing “Happy Birthday,” wish the person a happy St. Patrick’s Day, or say something goofy right off the top of my head that I think will make them smile.

(I learned the Happy Birthday Call from Stanley Mills of Crye-Leike Real Estate in Memphis, Tennessee. When I shadowed Stanley, he would print off a sheet of everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries for the month. He would keep the list above his visor in his car, making the calls and never once mentioning real estate.)

HARVESTING PEARLS CALLED REFERRALS

The goal of the Hour of Power is to increase your referral business—gathering the pearls called referrals. It’s about leveraging the power of the Rule of 250. According to this rule, each person knows at least 250 other people they can tell about you. No matter what you are selling, the Hour of Power is a proven method for increasing your return and referral business.

Far too many salespeople fail to leverage the power of satisfied customers. They spend a great deal of time and energy satisfying the customer, and then they toss away that huge investment by losing contact with the person. As a result, they spend time and energy in a constant pursuit of new customers.

Keep in mind that you already earned the respect of every customer you have satisfied. Your customers may not know how to thank you, so give them the best way possible to thank you: by sending referrals your way.

Unfortunately, customers and clients often forget even the best purchase experiences they’ve had. With the Hour of Power, you deliver a subtle reminder. You keep the experience alive in their minds. When that customer is talking with someone who is in the market for whatever you sell, he or she will recommend you without hesitation. You become synonymous with what you sell.

NO SELLING!

What you say during your Hour of Power phone calls isn’t that important, but it should never be about selling—no selling. The Hour of Power is about connecting on a personal level and keeping your name and face and what you sell fresh in the minds of all the people you know.

When you connect with people (or their answering machines), let them know that you’ve been thinking about them. If a holiday is near, wish them a happy holiday or ask whether they have any plans for the holiday. If they are married, ask how their wife or husband is doing. If their anniversary is approaching, wish the person a happy anniversary. The key is to remind the people you call that you still exist and that you are thinking about them.

Remember that your other marketing efforts are no replacement for the personal touch. You may be doing all the right high-tech marketing with web sites, blogs, drip e-mail campaigns, and print marketing, but all of that cannot possibly match the power of your own voice.

NO INTERRUPTIONS!

When you are doing your Hour of Power, you must not be interrupted. Make sure anyone who may be tempted to interrupt you knows not to. If you work in an office, tell the receptionist and everyone else within earshot that you will be incommunicado for one solid hour. If you sell from home, tell your partner (and any children you may have) that you are not to be disturbed.

If someone returns a call in response to a message you left on his or her answering machine during your Hour of Power, the call counts as an interruption. Don’t answer it. Someone else in your office should answer the call and take a message. There must be no interruptions.

You can call the person back later, after the hour is up. Your goal is to make it through your list of 100 people, and you have only 60 minutes to do it.

KEEP A TALLY SHEET

As business starts to pick up—and it will, assuming you put your Hour of Power into practice—you will naturally start attending to other things and set your Hour of Power to the side. Some salespeople don’t even make it to that point. They run out of steam after the first couple of days, long before they can reap the benefits of the Hour of Power.

For any technique to work, however, you need to do it and keep doing it. Create an Hour of Power tally sheet, and track the number of calls you make each day. Total the calls for a weekly and monthly count. This will help you stay on track.

 

Ralph’s Rule: 100 phone calls in 60 minutes may sound overly ambitious, and perhaps it is a little beyond reach, but that’s part of why it works. By compressing the time you allow yourself to complete the task, you force yourself into “the zone,” and can be incredibly productive. When you begin, you may be making only 25 phone calls in 60 minutes, but keep at it. Soon, you will see that number rise and, along with it, your number of return and referral transactions will soar.