Getting to First Base:
The First Step to Scoring More Sales
by Robert Middleton
N
etworking events and social gatherings
pose great opportunities to build business relationships and get the word out about your
company and the services you provide. The scenario is familiar: a room full of people mingling
and discussing business, trying to make connections. When a potential client approaches you and
asks the ultimate question, “What do you do?”
your answer is crucial. This is your chance to put
yourself in position to score a sale, but you must
respond in a way that attracts their attention, or
the opportunity will pass and the person will move
on. You may never get another chance.
The key is to make a good first impression
and appeal to your prospective clients’ needs. But
how do you do this? Is there a reliable way to get
attention with just a few words and avoid the
"glazed-over look" from prospects?
You can get this attention and interest by
knowing exactly what to say. It’s like swinging
at a baseball – you either strike out, go foul, or
make a solid connection. Your response to their
question about what you do, when phrased properly, will get you solidly on first base. Let's look
at how to do that.
First base is where every business needs to
get to before anything else – in a brochure, an
advertisement, a web site, or a simple verbal
introduction. If you don’t get to first base, you’re
out of the game. After you’re on first base, it’s
easier to get around the diamond. Second base is
where a prospect is ready to explore working with
you. Third base is when a client is ready to buy
from you, and home base is when the sale is
actually consummated.
First base is the most crucial and is deceptively simple. Just like in a baseball game, it is
the initial hit of every sale. In networking situations, the hit comes when the person you’re speaking to shows some interest and wants to know
more. You have four different ways to get onto
first base, and some are more effective than others. In fact, the first two hardly ever result in a
hit, but people persist in using them.
1. Label. The majority of business people use
labels to get attention. When asked what they do,
they respond with: “I’m an accountant (or a management consultant, an executive coach, or a widget salesperson).” Those labels may be accurate,
but they sure aren’t very attention-getting.
Play Marketing Ball
Marketing Ball is a model based on a diagram
of a baseball diamond. It takes some of the mystery out of the marketing and sales process.
Start at home plate, go around the bases, and
then back to home. Getting home means you’ve
“scored” by winning a new client. But before you
score, you need to get to first base – where you
have your prospect’s attention.
Robert Middleton
■
Action Plan Marketing
■
www.ActionPlan.com
People develop their own pictures of what
those labels mean. What stereotypes can you
think of for lawyers or used car salespeople? Are
these pictures always accurate? Of course not.
Let’s take accountants, for example. People tend
to think accountants are boring. So when you
reply to the question about what you do with the
label, “I’m an accountant,” in the back of most
people’s minds they think you’re boring. Not
much of an attention-getting marketing impression is it?
So forget labels. Don’t ever lead with your
label. It makes people pigeonhole you and it works
against you almost every single time.
2. Process. When people stop using labels to
introduce themselves, they often start using a process to describe what they do. Again, consider our
intrepid accountant who, rejected every time he
used the accountant label, now tells people that
he prepares taxes and does financial statements.
This is a little better, but not much. A process
doesn’t answer the question on everyone’s mind:
“What’s in it for me? You prepare taxes and do
financial statements. So what? What’s the advantage, the thing that will help my business?” When
you talk about what you do in terms of a process,
you become a commodity. After all, every accountant prepares taxes and does financial statements.
There’s nothing to distinguish you and, once
again, you fail to get attention.
3. Solution. Undeterred, our persistent accountant learns that he must speak in terms that mean
something to the prospect. Now he emerges with
the statement or “Audio Logo”: “I help people in
the restaurant business reduce their taxes and increase their cash flow.”
This is a whole lot better. Mr. Accountant has
targeted his market and clearly expressed a desirable result or solution he can accomplish for his
clients. Using a solution-oriented response will
get the accountant, and you, on first base more
often. To spark interest, say who you work with
and the solution you provide for them.
Here are some examples:
“I work for high tech companies to improve
the communication skills of their technical managers.”
■
“I help writers who want to get their first book
published quickly.”
■
“I offer training for leaders who want to beat
the competition more often.”
■
“I provide equipment for hospitals that gives a
six month return on investment.”
■
If you’re speaking to the right person, all of
these are likely to get you onto first base. And
this is usually as far as most business people go.
H
owever, solution-oriented Audio Logos
don’t always yield maximum interest.
When you tell someone the solution or result you
provide, it often sounds just too good to be true.
The inward response goes something like, “Well,
of course he’s promising that, but can he really
deliver?” People are, by nature, skeptical, and it’s
easy to arouse skepticism with a solution-oriented
Audio Logo. To a writer who’s been trying to get
a book published for years, the promise of
getting it published quickly isn’t even close to
reality. So they can’t hear what you’re saying.
4. Problem. Let’s go back to the accountant
example. He’s been getting some results with his
solution-oriented Audio Logo, but not enough
to satisfy him. So instead he tries a response based
on a problem: “I help people in the restaurant
business who are tired of paying too much taxes
and having terrible cash flow.”
Robert Middleton
■
Action Plan Marketing
■
www.ActionPlan.com
When you use a problem-oriented Audio
Logo you communicate to your prospect that
you understand their suffering. You don’t even
have to tell them yet what you can do for them.
They’ll automatically understand: “Yeah, I’m
paying too much in taxes and my cash flow is
terrible. I wonder what he has that can help me?”
This invariably leads to a “that’s for me” response.
The accountant is immediately on first base. With
a problem-oriented Audio Logo, you hit nerves
that none of the other approaches can touch.
“I provide equipment for hospitals that are
anxious about return on investment.”
■
You may be amazed by the interested reaction you get from a problem-oriented Audio
Logo. People will often respond by telling you
in great detail what their problem is, which then
gives you the opportunity to discuss your solutions and see if there is a fit.
Perfect Your Swing
Create Your Own Problem-Oriented
Audio Logo
W
hat is the big difference between the
solution-oriented and problem-oriented Audio Logo? The solution-oriented response is about what the accountant will do. The
problem-oriented is about how the prospect is
suffering. In the second, one hundred percent of
the attention is on the prospect. The accountant
is actually out of the picture. And what are people
most interested in? Themselves.
To develop a problem-oriented Audio Logo,
start with the problems, issues, and challenges
your clients face, and express them in simple
terms. Don’t talk about how you do what you do
or even how you can help them; talk about the
pain they’re going through. This approach may
seem negative, but people will respond positively
because your words will go to the heart of what’s
not working in their business. They will immediately want to know what you can do to make
things better.
I
dentify the struggle, frustration, discour
agement, or anxiety your prospects experience, put it into an Audio Logo, and test it on
several people to gauge their reaction. Fine-tune
it until it clicks and you’ll get a whole new level
of attention and interest. You’ll be on first base
and ready to move towards second.
Keep practicing, but don't worry about getting a home run. Imagine using an Audio Logo
and getting this response: “Wow, you help people
with that problem? That’s incredible! I’ve been
looking for someone like you for years! We have
a half million-dollar budget to solve this problem. Is that enough? Can you come over right
away?”
Yes, that would be nice, but it’s a fantasy. It's
not going to happen. Instead, be satisfied with
getting prospects onto first base and gradually
working them around the bases until you bring
them home.
Ultimately, you’ll score more sales.
Here are the previous solution-oriented
Audio Logos turned around into problemoriented ones:
“I work for high tech companies whose technical managers are alienating their staffs.”
■
“I help writers who are frustrated that it’s
taking so long to get that first book published.”
■
“I offer training for leaders who are discouraged that they keep getting beat by the competition.”
■
Robert Middleton
■
Action Plan Marketing
■
www.ActionPlan.com
Reprinted from Create the Business Breakthrough
You Want:Secrets and Strategies from the World’s
Greatest Mentors© 2004 Mission Puiblishing.
Used by permission.
About the Author:
Since 1984 Robert Middleton has offered marketing coaching, consulting, and workshops
to thousands of self-employed professionals
who need to attract more clients. Robert is the
author of the InfoGuru Marketing Manual (available on his web site) and his main work today is
Marketing Action Groups conducted virtually by
bridge conference line with clients all over the
world.
You can contact Robert by visiting his website
at www.actionplan.com. There you can subscribe to his free weekly eZine, More Clients, and
get a free Marketing Plan Workbook plus several
other freebies such as a Marketing Scorecard,
audio programs, articles and reports.
Robert Middleton
■
Action Plan Marketing
■
www.ActionPlan.com