Crux Quick Tip #24: Periodically Lunch in Your Office
CQT #24: Invite prospects to have lunch in your office.
A Strategic Alternative to a Restaurant
“Breaking bread” with a prospective client, customer, or donor is a great way to get to know that individual. Using a restaurant as the location for a get-to-know-you meeting is the most appropriate place to do so 99% of the time. However, after establishing a friendly rapport with a prospect in other settings, consider inviting that person into your office to have lunch. An invitation to lunch in your office will break a prospect’s pattern, as he or she has likely become accustomed to restaurant invitations. Such a pattern-interrupt will immediately make you more memorable in your prospect’s mind. As a strategic alternative to a restaurant, your office provides fertile ground to emphasize several sales and marketing points with your prospect, which is impractical to do in any other location.
Setting Up an Office Lunch
An office lunch could be done in one of your office’s conference rooms. You could have the food catered from a local restaurant. Doing so is very easy to do, and if there are only two or three people at the lunch, it becomes a relatively insignificant expense. Order something you know your prospect likes (based on your previous experiences in restaurants), or simply have someone in your office get a preference from your guest prior to the luncheon.
The Benefits
When a prospect is sitting in your office, you have his or her undivided attention. There are no interruptions from the wait staff, other patrons who might stop by because they recognize you or your guest, or loud discussions around you. You substantially increase the likelihood that you are most effectively communicating with your prospect. You also have an opportunity to show off your office, and reinforce your company’s credibility as a stable, trustworthy entity with which to do business. You also convey to your prospect a desire to have a close business relationship, because by welcoming him or her into your office, you are welcoming that person “into your world.” The prospect will feel more connected to you and your company by physically being in your office space.
Take a break from the restaurant circuit once in a while, and entertain closer to home!
J.B.
Read MoreCrux Quick Tip (CQT) #21: Build Rapport
CQT #21: Build maximum rapport with prospects to more effectively communicate and establish trust.
What is Rapport?
Rapport exists when people feel in sync or on the same wavelength because they feel similar in some way. I trust the concept of rapport is not new to anyone, but how much do we really focus on it, especially when pitching a prospect? Moreover, how often do we actively try to achieve rapport during our conversations with people, whether in a business development context or otherwise? Rapport gives us an edge. If people feel similar to us in some way, they are more likely to reward us with their trust and business.
How to Build Rapport
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), an approach that educates people on how to communicate more effectively, provides valuable insight into various ways to build rapport. Here are just two (with very limited explanation–given that this is “quick” tip!):
1. Matching Body Language. When speaking with a prospect, match that person’s body language. If he is sitting straight up, you sit straight up. If he has his legs crossed, you cross your legs. If he uses his hands a lot to make a point, you use your hands to make a point. If he looks you right in the eye when speaking, you do the same when speaking. Of course, there are endless ways to match a person’s body language. One thing to be careful of, however, is that you don’t want to mimic, namely you don’t want to be so obvious in your matching that it is recognized by the other person and deemed insincere. You must remain sincere at all times, and use this tool merely to build rapport. The idea is to match in order to build rapport at a subconscious level. So use this tool carefully and discreetly.
2. Matching Voice Patterns. Listen to how a person is speaking. Match the person’s volume. If he is speaking loudly, then you speak loudly. If he is speaking softly, you speak softly. If the person is talking at a fast pace then you do the same. If his tone is conversational, then match it. If his tone is excited or nervous, then match it. Again, try to match effectively so as to achieve a subconscious rapport.
Mis-Matching
Just think: what kind of rapport would be built if a person was speaking loudly, and you were whispering? Or if the person was using gestures and speaking excitedly, and you were sitting there still, speaking in a low, dull tone? Or if the person was sitting up straight looking you right in the eye, and you were slouched in your chair looking off to the stars when you spoke?
So, pay attention when speaking with people. Match them and get into rapport. By doing so, they will feel more like you, and you like them, thus establishing a means to gain trust more quickly and more effectively communicate with them, especially when pitching what it is you are selling to them!
J.B.
Read MoreFluidity and the Unique Business Relationship
In order to maximize our potential to build and maintain Unique Business Relationships (UBRs), we must possess the social skill of fluidity.
In the context of Crux Rainmaking, fluidity is the ability to move seamlessly between three distinct personas during interactions with people within your network, including prospects, existing clients, and referral sources. The three personas are: (a) serious professional, (b) friend, and (c) leader.
Most professionals have no trouble whatsoever with the persona of “serious professional,” because they are, in fact, serious professionals, competent in their field of expertise. But the major problem for many professionals is moving out of that comfort zone into the personas of friend and leader.
UBRs are based on the concept of truly getting to know what makes a person tick and what moves that individual. This discovery is done best and most efficiently in the context of friendship. It is quite difficult to elicit more personal information about a person without “befriending” that person in some way. We need people to open up to us, and share information that can then be used as a basis for building a UBR.
We must also be sensitive to the fact that nothing happens in a relationship without leadership. Words are cheap and promises are merely words until someone acts and follows through. We must be prepared in our interactions with people to lead the conversation and direct future action in a way that is mutually beneficial. This could be as simple as recommending and insuring a follow-up meeting, or scheduling a dinner, or making a valuable introduction. Without a leader present in the relationship to direct it the way YOU want is directed, then very little may result from your relationship building efforts.
So the idea is to first recognize these three distinct personas and then to practice weaving them into your interactions with others. Be cognizant during conversations with prospects of the presence of yourself as not only serious professional, but also as friend and leader.
In subsequent posts, I will endeavor to dig deeper into this overall idea with more particulars and tips for practicing fluidity.
J.B.
Read MoreLet’s Communicate
I had a completely different idea for a post today, until I attended a presentation this afternoon given by a very good friend of mine, Jennifer Wojan. Jennifer owns Capture Consulting, a full-service communications firm. As you know, there are four underlying assumptions to Crux Rainmaking which are essential to its effectiveness. They are: Competence, Time, Hunger, and Communication. When I heard Jennifer speak today, it reminded me of the importance of Communication in our business development endeavors, and how we can all learn from the experts like Jennifer to improve our communication skills.
As I have mentioned in this Blog, our ability to articulate our thoughts to people is important in life generally, but it is essential to influencing the decision-making process of sophisticated business prospects. To fully achieve our business development goals, we need to be able to verbally express our ideas to people in a face-to-face setting. When selling to others, we are regularly in meetings with people one-on-one, making presentations to small or large groups of individuals, or otherwise communicating our value to the market. We all possess the ability to communicate, but the idea here is to hone our communication skills as much as possible, so as to maximize the potential we have to implement Crux Rainmaking in a highly-effective way.
Observing Jennifer’s presentation, I was blown away by her deft presentation skills, her ability to truly engage an audience, and how she imparts significant value on anyone who aspires to improve his or her communication skills. Whether it is helping people to overcome a fear of speaking, or sensitizing people to the importance of body language, or simply reinforcing the fact that no one wants you to fail in your communication endeavors, Jennifer can provide significant value to existing and upcoming rainmakers. The more we hone our communication skills, the better our chances of enjoying the effectiveness of Crux Rainmaking and the higher likelihood of exponentially increasing our books of business.
If you have never thought about engaging a communications consultant, you might want to consider it now. Get the most out of your rainmaking efforts. And get the most out of Crux Rainmaking. I would highly recommend that you check out Jennifer’s website at http://www.captureconsultingservices.com. Feel free to communicate with her!
J.B.
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