CHAPTER 4

CONNECT

MAKING AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO SECURE THAT MEETING

Another aspect of developing business that many people hate is getting in touch with the people they really should meet, connecting with them. They hate it because they worry about being too pushy, but also because they approach the entire exercise with a mentality that says: ‘Why would anybody want to buy what I’ve got, there are so many other people doing miles better stuff than I/we do and anyway ours isn’t the best.’ All too often they just send out either a paper or email ‘flyer’, in the vain hope that if they send enough someone is bound to reply. Or they imagine that if they attend enough networking events (more of this later) the same effect will occur. Well, it won’t.

Let me make something really clear. This book is about sales and developing business face to face. There are other books that deal with online and mail-order businesses. This isn’t one of them, principally because I have no experience of either.

Selling face to face means that once you’ve decided on your target – the person you need to meet – every action you take is with one purpose in mind: securing a meeting with that person.

That is why this chapter is about how you go about doing that in the most effective way. How do you connect with the person in order to maximize your chances of getting between 30 and 60 minutes of one-to-one time with them, chatting over a tea or coffee?

I don’t mean meeting them at a networking event, which is why I regard networking as simply one of the ways to ‘connect’ with people. Sure, there will be occasions when you hook up with someone at an event and the encounter goes beyond small talk and into business and how you might be able to help them. However, I would suggest that even on those rare occasions, you’ll still need to arrange to meet them again in a calmer environment (in other words, ‘follow up’) where you won’t be interrupted by others and there isn’t the pressure to move on and get chatting to other attendees.

I deal with that sort of meeting in the next chapter, cunningly – and rather cleverly I feel – called ‘MEET’.

Back to CONNECT. If you want to make it easy for people to set aside time to meet you and, hopefully, ultimately buy from you, you’re going to have to contact them in a manner that makes an emotional connection. Making such a connection is the absolute key to successful business development and yet it is something far too many people fail to do.

There are several methods you can use, but by far the most popular are:

It’s my intention to talk about each one here except networking, to which I have devoted a separate chapter. It’s a training course all on its own and it’s a big subject about which people have umpteen questions.

Let’s kick off with the trickiest but perhaps most effective and definitely the quickest way to connect with people – the phone call.

The Cold Call

Cold calling is the most feared type of call.

Talking about cold calling may seem a bit odd, since you’ve just read a chapter that advises you to avoid it like the plague. However, I’m covering this topic here for four reasons.

First, you are not allowed to use a calculator at school until you have been taught and have mastered mental arithmetic, because it forms the basis of so much of what you do as an adult in navigating your way through life. So it is with selling. Understanding the process and thinking behind cold calling ensures that you have a better understanding of all other parts of connecting with people; it’s the foundation on which so much of business development is built.

Secondly, unless you are dead lucky, you are bound to have to do some cold calling when you start developing business. And if you are ever unlucky enough to have the backside fall out of your business (the equivalent of your calculator going AWOL), you’ll have no option but to pick up the phone and call people you don’t know.

My dad ran a marketing business in the 1980s. It was doing well, but then the business dried up and the bank wanted to shut him down. He sat on the bed, opened the Yellow Pages and made phone calls – cold. He landed his biggest ever client by doing that, a client that saw his business thrive. He made a small fortune. When the crap hits the fan and the fan is switched on (real messy), the ability to make cold calls can make it all smell nice again, so you need to know how to do it, properly.

Thirdly, whenever I’m asked to teach people how to develop business, whether that’s one-to-one coaching, with a room full of delegates in a regular training session or to hundreds of people attending a conference, people always want to know how to cold call well.

And finally, I’ve devoted a lot of page space to all aspects of telephoning because there are so many variables involved in connecting directly with another person. Even if the person you want to get to meet is not in, you’ll always end up speaking to a receptionist or, if you get further, a PA, secretary or work colleague.

So, I am going to take you through a step-by-step process of how to cold call, as well as explaining why you should do it the way I’m suggesting.

Getting the Name of the Right Person to Meet – The M.A.N.

I was first introduced to this ‘person’ when I was taught selling back in 1987. It was drummed into us by a great guy called John Mifflin, who said that we should always be looking to get in front of the person with the Money, Authority and Need. In other words, we should get to meet the person in the position that possesses all three.

While referring to this individual as the M.A.N. is probably politically incorrect and in contravention of heaven knows how many EU directives, the point is made.

Step One: Have Your Target List in Front of You

You don’t need your whole target list, what I’m talking about here is roughly ten names. Don’t fret if circumstances dictate that you can only call two or three, it’s just that if you have a decent number you’ll be able to establish a kind of momentum or rhythm, which makes it so much easier – the first call is always and will always be the hardest.

Have a pen or pencil and some paper handy because you’ll want to write stuff down. Then …

Ask yourself what you want from the call. That’s easy. There is only one reason you are making this call: in order to arrange to MEET the other person. But you are going to do that in two separate calls. So your ultimate aim is to MEET them, but your first goal is simply to find out who it is you need to meet.

Step Two: Go Somewhere Private

Making a telephone call to someone you don’t know is not a spectator sport. It’s something to be done in private, away from others, and while standing up and quite possibly pacing about the room.

Most sales people have worked in offices with rows of desks populated by their colleagues, and taken part in the ‘who can get the most appointments’ competition. I can tell you, that’s not for everyone and can make you feel awkward, embarrassed and exceptionally self-conscious, so please, do your cold calling away from others. That way, if you mess it up – and chances are you will the first couple of calls you make – it’ll be your secret.

In addition, standing up will make you feel more confident and speak more clearly.

Step Three: Get Their Name and Title

You might be worried that the first call is really hard, but worry not: it’s dead easy.

All you want to get from the first call is the name and title of the person who is responsible for buying what it is you’re selling.

In my case, when I started my business I wanted to find out who was responsible for training and development, along with a few simple but really important details:

In practice the call sounds like this:

YOU: Good morning. I wonder if you could help me. I’m trying to find out the name of the person who is responsible for training and development within the firm. I don’t need to speak to them, I just need their name.
THEM: Yes, can I ask what it’s regarding?
YOU: Sure, I need to send them something in the post.

It has to be said that it’s rare anyone will ask me what it’s regarding. Most of the time they’ll give me the name of the person and then it’s just left for me to check the details I’ve listed above.

It really doesn’t matter what business you are in, the sequence and patter are pretty much the same:

YOU: I wonder if you can help* me; I’m trying to find out the name of the catering manager/procurement manager/fleet manager/head of marketing/facilities manager etc.

*There’s that word again!

You do not want to talk to the person at this point – even if the receptionist or secretary has asked you if you’d like to be put through. You are going to call them when you are good and ready and in the correct state of mind; being put through when you have not prepared is never a good idea.

One of the roles of receptionists and secretaries is to act as a kind of ‘gatekeeper’ to their colleagues within the office. Every organization receives countless calls a day from sales reps and if every one was put through, the fear is that no work would get done, so those at the front line, taking the calls, are there to filter out the rubbish.

If I call and ask for the name of the training and development manager, then it’s pretty obvious that I don’t know them and that I’m cold calling!

So wait a day – if you phone too soon after your initial ‘fact-finding’ call, there’s a good chance they will recognize your voice and realize you are selling something.

By the way, if, when you call, the person you talk to offers more information than you were after, do take it! So if they ask if you’d like the training and development manager’s direct dial number or email address, say ‘Yes please’ and thank them for their help.

If the organization has more than one office, then do check at which one your ‘contact’ is located.

Step Four: Call the Person You Want to Meet

There are times when it’s better to call than others. All I’d say is this: think about the times of day when you really could do without a phone call and assume that other people are just the same, because they are.

So never call first thing in the morning, especially on a Monday. It takes us all an hour or so to settle in to the working day. We need a tea or a coffee, to open the mail, take a look at our inbox and maybe catch up on stuff with immediate colleagues.

I call people between about 10.30 and 11.30 am or 2.30 and 4.30 pm.

I must confess that I have to be in the mood to make the initial call to the person I want to see, but one thing’s for sure, no matter how many times I’ve done it I always feel a bit nervous. So don’t worry if you do too: it’s normal.

What I will tell you, though, is that once you have made a call that results in you getting through to the person and securing a date to meet up, you’ll be elated. It’s then easy to whizz through the rest of the people on your list. That’s one of the reasons I advise you to list the names of all the people you want to speak to, so that you can go through them really quickly and establish a rhythm and momentum.

Furthermore, once you have one meeting arranged, you can mention that on subsequent calls. Remember what I said earlier about social proof? If the person you are calling knows that their opposite number at a firm in the same sector in the same area is seeing you, they feel far more inclined to meet you too, not wanting to ‘miss out’.

Increasing Your Chances of Getting through to the Right Person

Let’s say that the guy you want to meet is called Roger Moore. You make the call, it is answered by the receptionist and you ask to be put through to ‘Roger’.

If there is more than one person with that name working there, the receptionist will ask: ‘Which one?’ To which you say: ‘Roger, Roger Moore.’

The point is that when you ask for Roger, you should say it in a way that gives the impression you’ve known him for years; if you had, you’d probably just ask for ‘Roger’.

I reckon I get put straight through to the person I want 50% of the time, simply by sounding authoritative and matter-of-fact – as though I speak to my ‘contact’ every day of the week.

The other 50% of the time you’ll get asked: ‘What is it regarding?’ In that case you must reply honestly and say: ‘I want to arrange to pop in and see him.’

It’s vital that you are up front about your motives here and that you focus on what you want to achieve: namely, an appointment to see the person.

In many cases, the receptionist will put you through to the PA rather than the person you asked for.

Step Five: Talking to the PA

Personal assistants and secretaries are great people to strike up a relationship with because if they like you, they’ll go out of their way to get you in front of their boss.

A few years ago I spent three months trying to secure a meeting with the head of learning and development of a leading national law firm, only to have every request ignored, whether via email, telephone or letter. Each time I called I ended up talking to his PA, who I got to know quite well over those 12 weeks. It got to a point where not only did she feel sorry for me, she thought her boss was being rude for not having acknowledged me, so she sent him an email (and copied me in!) in an amusing but quite forthright style, telling him that she thought he’d been impolite and that he should contact me immediately to set up a meeting – which he promptly did.

The thing to bear in mind is not to give them a load of bullshit or, far worse, take an authoritative and dismissive tone. Not only is it ignorant, but it’s commercially stupid: PAs know more about their boss’s diary than the boss does. And what is more, if the PA doesn’t like you, you don’t stand a chance of ever getting to see the boss.

If you get put through to a PA or secretary, this is the how the conversation normally goes:

PA: Hello, Roger Moore’s office. How can I help you?
You: Hi, is Roger in the office this morning?
PA: Can I ask what it’s regarding?
You: Yes, I’m trying to fix up a time to meet up with him for a coffee.
PA: Will he know what it’s regarding?
YOU: No, he’ll have no idea, we’ve never met before, which is why I want to pop in and see him. I’m a former lawyer, but I now spend my time teaching lawyers from the very junior to senior level in a range of communication skills. I wanted to find out how Roger goes about coordinating and organizing training within the firm and to see whether what I do might be of help. I’m seeing BLP on the 3rd and A&O on the 4th and wondered if he was free on either the 5th or 6th?

It’s been my experience that secretaries and PAs will appreciate your candour and therefore be quite helpful in suggesting how best to go about securing a meeting.

The PA may suggest that you send information:

PA: Do you have a brochure?
YOU: Yes, would you like me to send him a copy?
PA: Yes, that would be useful and then I can pass it on to him.
YOU: Great. Shall I mark it for your attention or his?

Or you may be put straight through.

Step Six: When You Get Through

You need to keep what you say short, sweet and to the point. Sure, it may turn out that there is opportunity for small talk, in which case be prepared to indulge in a little, but whatever you do, do not waste your prospect’s time.

Getting to the Point

Once you’ve done this a few times you will develop a ‘script’ of sorts, but whatever form of words you opt for, make sure you keep it relaxed and light. (You’ll have noticed how this is a bit of a theme in successful sales.)

What you say might go like this:

YOU: Hi Roger, I understand that you’re the person responsible for learning and development for the firm. Is that right?
ROGER: Yes, I am.
YOU: Thank goodness for that! Well, my name’s Nick, Nick Davies, and I used to be a lawyer but turned away from the dark side some years ago and now spend my time travelling up and down the country teaching lawyers in a range of communication skills. The reason I’m calling is that I’d really like to pop in and see you, find out more about the firm, how you go about training your lawyers in those kinds of skills and to see whether what I do might be of help. I’m in London on the 4th and 5th and since you’re the first person I’ve called, you can choose which one’s best for you.

Then shut up and wait for him to answer. Do not keep talking.

If the prospect asks you questions, then answer them, but do not go in to lots of detail and don’t even think about ‘selling’ over the phone.

It takes 32 seconds to have that conversation – I’ve just timed it. Even though it’s very quick, I want you to notice what I’m trying to get across in such a short time. Let’s look at it point by point:

This ‘script’ works for me and although not every call I make is the same, I pretty much stick to it. You need to develop your own script, in the same way you develop your own style when writing a letter.

The point is to get a bit of your personality across in addition to telling the prospect why you want to meet up. It will take you a good few calls before you settle on a form of words you feel comfortable with, but it will happen – trust me.

Getting the Commitment to a Meeting

Before making the call, you must have three dates to offer: two close together and the third a few weeks later, in case the person is away on holiday or something. For the purposes of this example, we’ll go for the 4th or 5th or the 23rd.

Do not ask: ‘So, when would it be most convenient?’ There are two reasons you should never do this:

By offering Roger two alternatives, I am making it easy for him to choose. All he has to do is look at two adjacent pages on his diary, rather than trawl through umpteen of them.

This method of getting people to commit is known as the ‘alternative close’ in the sales world and is highly effective when you want to secure dates for meetings and appointments.

Of course, if Roger says he is out of the office on the 4th and 5th, then you can offer him the 23rd. Don’t be too available. Don’t ever say: ‘Well, I’m free for the next three weeks’ or ‘I’m free pretty much any time that suits you.’ Such phrases tell your caller that you aren’t busy and may leave them thinking: ‘He can’t be that good, or he’d be busy.’

One of the things that makes people or objects desirable is scarcity. A few months after Ferrari launches a new model, secondhand Ferraris (sorry, ‘previously enjoyed’) are quite often more expensive than a new one. People don’t want to wait six months to have a new car built and will pay over the odds to get one ‘now’.

Let’s say Roger picks the 5th. You then offer him another alternative:

YOU: Morning or afternoon best for you?
ROGER: Morning would be better.

You then move it on to pinning down a time, although you continue offering alternatives: ‘10.15 or 11.15?’

If someone suggests 10 am for a meeting, how long will the meeting last? An hour? 10.30 – half an hour? 10.15 – 15 minutes or 45 minutes?

We tend to block time into hours, so when I contact someone and suggest 10 am for a meeting, they will automatically block out until 11 in their diary. Why can’t this meeting last until 10.25 or 10.40? It might well do, but that won’t stop the person blocking out a full hour. If it does finish after 40 minutes, they will regard the meeting as having finished ‘early’.

I like to set up meetings for 15 minutes past the hour because people will assume that it’ll be over within 45 minutes, which it normally is; although you’d be amazed at how many do run on until quarter past the hour.

I know this seems silly, but it works and sends a strong, almost subliminal message to the person you want to see that you aren’t going to waste their time (and, from their point of view, even if you did, you’d only have wasted 45 minutes of it rather than a whole hour).

The other benefit I get from this is that I tend to make sure I arrive outside the person’s office or in the coffee shop on the hour, which gives me 15 minutes to wander about nearby in the case of the former, or to get myself a drink and get settled in the case of the latter.

If You Have One or Two Appointments Already

Remember when you are setting the meeting up to mention other firms and organizations you are in contact with: ‘Mmm, let’s see, I could do the 23rd because I’m in your neck of the woods on the 22nd seeing Felix at Stromberg and Emilio at Palmyra.’ You get the picture.

This is for two reasons:

I mention the names of individuals because there is a good chance that in a particular sector, in a particular city, people occupying the role of Head of Learning and Development will know each other and may have some kind of formal or informal network.

What if the Prospect Asks Questions?

Once you have got through to your prospect, the chances are that he or she will ask questions. While you should answer these honestly and efficiently, you should not go into detail, because you’ll end up selling over the phone and that’s difficult and best avoided.

Here are some of the questions you may get asked and how you handle them.

QUESTION: Could you tell me what other services you offer?
ANSWER: We offer a range of commercial legal services to clients, including mergers and acquisitions, financing, construction and employment. I’ll be able to explain in more detail when we meet up. Is Tuesday or Wednesday better for you?
QUESTION: Do you have experience of asset finance work in the shipping sector?
ANSWER: We have a great deal of experience in many areas, including some shipping-related work. When we meet next week I’ll be able to tell you more about what we do.
QUESTION: Could you tell me what you charge?
ANSWER: It depends on what type of work we are undertaking and what level of service you require. That’s the sort of thing we can have a natter about when we meet up. Is Monday morning or afternoon better for you?

As you can see, you are acknowledging their question, while simultaneously avoiding going into detail and closing – the alternative close in your replies to the first and third questions, and the assumptive close in the second (more about closing later in the book).

Experience tells me that questions regarding price are those that people fear most. This needn’t be the case. In fact, they should be cherished, because any enquiry regarding price is what is referred to as a ‘buying sign’.

Someone with no interest whatsoever in purchasing your product doesn’t care less what you charge. Whenever I’ve answered one of those calls offering me replacement windows, I have never asked how much they were charging – it’s of no interest to me because I’m not in the market for new windows.

Questions about price – especially direct ones like ‘How much do you charge?’ – throw an awful lot of people off balance, whether they’re asked over the phone or face to face. Indeed, us Brits can feel so awkward about cost that often even the person asking is a bit embarrassed to raise the matter.

Only today, I was in conversation with someone over the phone, talking about the possibility of me coming in to do some training for members of her team, when she said: ‘Of course, we’ll need to determine what your fee structure is to see whether it accords with our forthcoming budget projections for the coming year.’

We were getting on well, so I just said: ‘You mean, how much do I charge?’ She hesitated, before replying ‘Yes’.

I want to highlight questions regarding how much you charge because you do not want to enter into discussions surrounding price over the phone or via email during the initial ‘connecting’ phase of the process, especially when selling a service. It’s fine once you’ve got a bit of a relationship going or have done some work for one division of an organization and are now talking to someone in a different one.

Talking about price is a little less dangerous when you’re selling a product, although not much – how do they know that your apple-based shampoo is the same as their current provider’s, for example?

If you sell a service, then, as I have already mentioned, what you are really selling is you and a prospective customer or client has no idea what value they would put on ‘you’ until they’ve met you.

Be proud of your price. Don’t apologise for what you charge. You wouldn’t walk in to a Ferrari dealership, and hear a sales guy apologize for charging £150,000 for one of their cars, would you? Or saying: ‘It’s expensive isn’t it and to be honest it’s only got the two doors and is a bit tricky to get in and out of as well. A weekly shop’s out of the question. Still, what with Tesco delivering nowadays …’

No, he’d get you to sit in it and start asking you questions, but mainly he’d just let you really savour the touch, smell and feel of the car.

Issues surrounding price should preferably be discussed face to face – as with all negotiation.

Here’s a price enquiry I received and my reply, which may give you an idea how to deal with such questions.

Good morning Nick. Thanks for your introductory information – it’s a real pleasure to read someone’s ‘blurb’ and find yourself smiling!

You’ve given me a very clear picture of who you are and what you’re about – my immediate question is: ‘If I were to engage your services how much would it cost me?’

Given that you’re based in Scotland but are in Bristol on Monday, if I feel your fees are within reach (I try and get everything I can for next to nothing as any good buyer does, whilst expecting the best quality!) I’d be happy to make time on Monday 11th to see you if that’s OK with you?

I look forward to hearing from you. Sorry I haven’t got time to call you instead of sending this email – I’m a victim of my diary this week I’m afraid.

Regards

Sue

My reply, via email:

Glad you like the blurb, Sue.

Talking about money via email is so horrid, isn’t it? And if you think I can help you make your fee earners better at winning business and I think it would be lovely to work with you, then I don’t think we would allow price to get in the way: it never has with any other client.

Let’s meet up and have a natter about it.

However, you can rest assured that I am, as they say in the L’Oréal ads, ‘worth it’.

Nick

Getting into a discussion about price over the phone with someone you have never met and who has never seen what you do is a waste of time, but doing it via email is even worse (there’s no pitch, tone, pace, volume, intonation or emotion in an email).

If I’d given Sue a price via email she would have no way of knowing whether what I was selling was worth it. If I sell a product I can send her an example of it in the post, but I’m selling a service. While she can get an idea of what I cover by looking at my brochure or website, there’s no substance to it: no flesh on the bones.

What if You Detect Reluctance?

Sometimes when you phone people out of the blue and try to arrange to see them, you detect hesitancy or reluctance in their voice during the conversation. You get the impression that they are asking you questions as a way of being polite because they really don’t want to see you.

Should this be the case, then be sensitive to it. Don’t roll over straight away – keep coming back to the dates when you can see them, as I’ve detailed above. However, if you sense that you have pushed it enough, take the initiative and therefore the pressure off the other person and say something along these lines:

YOU: Look, would be easier just to send you something in the post so you can get a better feel for what I do?

What’s amazing is that as soon as you say this they immediately relax, because you’ve articulated what they were thinking. Normally I get this kind of response:

ROGER: Oh, do you mind? That would be really helpful.
YOU: Sure, that’s no problem. I’ll get that out to you today/tomorrow.

Once You Secure the Meeting

If, after a brief chat to Roger, he agrees to meet you for a coffee, then thank him and let him know that you’ll confirm by email. Something along these lines is nice:

Hi Roger, good to chat to you a moment ago and just to confirm that we are meeting up at 10.15 on Monday 5 August at Caffè Nero on Holborn, just by Chancery Lane tube. I look forward to seeing you then.

Nick

You should also send him some more information about what you do in the post in anticipation of your get-together, which you may or may not tell him you’re going to send.

Sending information ahead of the meeting is always a wise move, because then the other person has a far better impression of what you do, and it gives them the opportunity to think of some questions.

If you wait until you meet to furnish your prospect with material, then at the end of the appointment she can fall back on: ‘Well, I’ll think about it once I’ve taken a look through your literature.’

Connecting by Email

Let me lay my cards on the table with regard to email. I don’t rate it as a way of connecting with people with whom I want to secure a meeting, mainly because it doesn’t often succeed.

How many emails fill your inbox every day? 50? 100? 200? How long does it take for one of those emails to be pushed so far down the list that the ones above drown it? How many emails that you know are sales emails do you open?

I get emails from organizations of which I am a very regular customer: British Airways, Flybe, Amex, Mercedes, Tesco, Bannatyne’s Gym. These aren’t from companies about which I know nothing or of which I’ve have never heard, never mind those trying to flog me stuff, or attempting to get to visit me and chat over a coffee… I don’t open any of them because I’m too busy. And guess what? So are all the people you’ve been sending ‘let me introduce myself’ emails.

Email is too easy. It tells the prospective customer that you’re just like everyone else out there attempting to win her custom: you can’t be bothered.

If I really can’t talk you out of using email, then either write your email like you would a letter (see below) or really pull the stops out and try something like this:

Good afternoon Geoff

I was happily minding my own business doing a load of training for all the partners at ABC a couple of months ago, when a bloke called John Smith comes up to me, tells some story about flogging his house to a Paul Scholes and then says, ‘Next time you’re in town I’ll take you for a spot of lunch.’

So a few weeks later we do lunch and he says – as I have a mouthful of what he assures me is ‘the most expensive sandwich in London’ – that I should meet up with you because, and I quote, ‘John at XYZ would love the kind of stuff that you’ve done for us and you’d get on like a house on fire.’ He then proceeds to write your email address on my napkin and as he hands it to me, adds, ‘Oh, and mention Sarah because she’d be interested in what you do as well.’

So that’s why I’ve got in touch, Geoff. And while John suns himself on a boat off the coast of Majorca with his wife, the kids, the best client and the best client’s mistress (you just could not make it up), I wonder if, when you are next in London, I might buy you a coffee and see if what he says is true.

Cheers

Nick

Nick Davies LLB. Hons. Barrister

LETG Trainer of the Year ‘07/08

That’s a copy of an email I sent to the managing partner of one of Europe’s largest professional services firms – cold (the names have been changed to protect the innocent).

Now, I don’t know how many emails the managing partner of one of the world’s largest professional services firms receives in a day, but I bet it’s a lot. And I bet he’s never got one like that.

What happened? His HR director contacted me (he’d forwarded the email to her), we met and I was asked to tender for a load of work.

I wasn’t awarded the contract, but I got a hell of a lot further than the countless other people who sent emails like this:

Dear Sir

I work for a global human resource strategic skills enhancement company that is accredited with ISO 4386 by …

That’s quite enough about email. Let’s talk about letters.

Connecting by Letter

I love sending letters because they are a superb way to CONNECT with people and they are so very rarely sent in the age of electronic communication. They can really make an impact.

Letters are a major plank of my business development activity. I write them at every possible opportunity, because apart from standing up and speaking, they are the single most effective way of CONNECTING with people emotionally.

If you want to stand out and have a chance of winning business, then you must stop doing what all your competitors are doing and do something different.

Some wise person once said: ‘They don’t erect statues to critics.’ Doing things differently is scary. Going out on a limb and taking a chance is potentially disastrous, but if you continue attempting to connect with potential clients in the same way that everyone else is, whether you win business becomes nothing more than a lottery.

You can write letters to people at any point in the business development process: when following up after networking, in response to the ‘Will you send something in the post?’ request, or prior to making a cold call if you’ve not been able to get through to anyone in the organization.

A letter is a superb way of getting across your personality; of providing an insight into your character and your attitude; in other words, of making an emotional connection.

Here is a typical letter I send. Read it and then I’ll go through it in detail, because, while it’s representative of what I’m like as a person, it does contain stuff that you should be putting in your letters, irrespective of your own style.

Hello Alison

My name’s Nick and I run the Really Great Training Company.

I used to be a lawyer but I turned away from the ‘dark side’ some years ago and now, rather ironically but nevertheless appropriately, spend my time training and coaching lawyers at all levels, from countries across the globe, how to network, present, pitch, influence and develop business.

Although I live in Edinburgh most of my work is with firms in London – in fact, I suspect that I may be the only person in Scotland with an Oyster Card on automatic top-up! – doing work for firms such as Zorin, Auric, SpellBound & Dazed, TCR, HDT and a whole bunch of others.

I last spoke about training on a visit to your offices at 45 High Street, where I met Sally Brown, but that was 18 months ago and you were with a different firm and so was I. So what I’d dearly like to do now is pop in and see you, find out how you go about training and whether what I do might be of help.

I shall give you a bell in a week’s time and see if we can put a date in the diary.

Regards

Nick

Let’s pull this letter apart.

One rule to start off: one page of A4 only. Two pages are too fiddly and reading them is too much like hard work. If you can’t fit it all on one side, then reduce your font to 10 (no smaller); if it still doesn’t fit take some words out.

The paragraphs break down as follows:

1. A quick and friendly introduction.

2. Credibility – I was a lawyer, I work with lawyers all the time from all over the world and I’m busy.

3. Credibility – These are major players in your sector. If they use me, I’m probably worth meeting.

4. The background and the reason for contacting you.

5. What I’m going to do next and when.

The last point about letting them know what I’m going to do next and when is an important one. Remember, keeping control of the business development process is something you should be doing at all times.

Compliment Slips and Brochures

I don’t have compliment slips. I have postcards with my details and logo on, with a nice blank section on which I can write a few lines. Compliment slips are boring, dull, a waste of print and paper, no one ever looks at them and the term ‘With compliments’ is antediluvian. If you have to have them, then substitute ‘Thank you’ for ‘With compliments’.

And never, ever email out a brochure. Why? When was the last time you were sent a brochure via email and actually read it, all the way through? Put simply, people can’t be bothered opening up brochures in Adobe Acrobat, particularly since it seems to be in constant need of updating.

Let me tell you how adamant I am about this: if someone asks me to email a copy of my brochure (some firms have strong environmental policies and are attempting to ‘go paperless’ and prefer electronic stuff), I send a real one as well. Us human beings do like having our senses stimulated – touch, sight, smell, sound, taste – and you only get one of those with an email but four with the real thing (I am assuming no one eats my printed matter).

I want people literally to get a ‘feel’ for what I do. My designer Simon and I spent hours and hours developing those few pages. I wrote the copy and he did the artwork. We sweated over layout, colours and even the type and quality of the paper we should use, because I wanted people to want to handle the brochure, open it and see what was inside.

If you don’t have that kind of brochure in your organization, get marketing to sort it out. As far as I’m concerned, if your company information isn’t engaging as well as informative, save yourself the cash and stop producing it. The person you send it to will just bin it anyway.

Speaking in Public

The sharp-eyed among you will have noted this little fella sitting unassumingly at the foot of the ‘ways to connect with people’ list at the start of this chapter, underneath ‘Networking (at an event)’.

I’m not devoting more than a few lines to the huge subject of public speaking because that’s what my next book is about, but I do want to tell you why it I believe it to be one of the best ways to make an emotional connection with your target market:

On one occasion I had reached firm 16 on my top 20 list. I contacted the guy who headed up the training and development team and got an appointment to see him for a coffee. Although he was 16th on the list, I think he was possibly the 5th person I saw.

During our conversation he asked me if I had heard of the L.E.T.G. (Legal Education and Training Group). I said that I hadn’t.

He went on to explain that it was an association made up of the heads of training and development at the principal law firms in the country. “Oh, that’s interesting,” I replied.

The conversation then continued thus:

ME: Do you have an annual conference?
HIM: Yes, we do. It’s in November.
ME: I’d really like to speak at that. How can I go about making that happen?
HIM: Mmm, that might be a possibility. Leave it with me and I’ll have a word with a few people.

I did speak at that conference. I wasn’t one of the main speakers, I just ran one of four ‘break-out’ sessions that delegates could opt to hear and was persuaded to deliver an impromptu after-dinner speech for the delegates.

I can’t begin to tell you how much business I got as a direct result of speaking at that conference. Here, yet again, is an example of sales people being lazy and working smarter rather than harder.

If you are not a confident speaker, go and get some coaching, then start speaking and get good at it. It’s a very quick and effective way of connecting with people in your target market and it’ll set you apart from your competitors, ensuring that you are remembered by your target audience.

Following Up

As part of covering how to connect with your targets, I have devoted a lot of pages to cold calling to ensure that I’ve covered all the bases and that you get a detailed idea of how to handle most situations.

Some of you will never need to cold call and you should be grateful for that, because going in cold is certainly the trickiest way of generating sales. It’s just so much easier to sell more stuff to existing clients or to tackle those who can be introduced to you by someone else.

Still, there will be some of you who do have to do it and some of you who are just plain odd such as me – who cold call just for the thrill of it and to keep themselves sharp.

I confess to doing one or two cold calls a month, just to make sure that I can still do it. I also find it the biggest thrill in sales: contacting someone cold, getting them to agree to see you, meeting them and then a few months later they become a client. Something from absolutely nothing: it’s a real buzz! I reckon the day I can no longer do this is the day I’ll jack in selling.

We’ve also had a good look at the not-so-humble letter as well as the ubiquitous and so easily deleted email. I hope you can see what a really powerful emotional connection it’s possible to make through a letter. Not only does it allow you to let your character and personality flood out, but the mere fact you’ve been bothered to type it, print it, put it in an envelope and address it, and (unless you work in a large organization) put a stamp on it and take it to a post box, shows that you have gone to some effort. You haven’t run a marathon, but you might as well have compared to everyone else who’s attempted to win that person’s business.

While most organizations proudly proclaim on their website that they ‘offer a personal service and are different to all their competitors’, you demonstrate it. You aren’t caring by saying you care, you do it by showing that you do.

Whether you opt to connect with someone over the phone – and you speak to them or leave a message on their voicemail – or send a letter or an email, you must also FOLLOW UP after each one. Sure, there will be exceptions, like that s**t-or-bust cold email to the managing partner of a professional services firm, but they should be just that – exceptions.

Following up is all about keeping in control and you do this by ending your emails, phone calls/voicemails and letters by telling the person what you’re going to do next and when you’re going to do it.

Never end any kind of contact with: ‘So, if there is anything else I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to call.’