Will This Work B2B?

[briko3]

Here's my plan. Walk in, and say this:
Hi, (I'm) Chris ______. (Handshake) Great to meet you. I’m a local financial advisor (company name) and I work pretty heavily with small business owners and honestly I drive by here pretty often…so I thought I’d stick my neck in and see who’s running the ship around here….so you’re the man….well, it’s great to meet you.

If asked:
In a nutshell, we protect and grow your income…and your assets. Now how we do that really depends on the individual business we’re dealing with…it might be benefits or maybe a business continuation plan. It could just be tweaking what you have a little.

Now, if you have 20-30 minutes on Tuesday or next week I’d be glad to sit down and talk a little about your business and get a little more specific about what we do.

If not asked:
Here…let me give you my business card. Oh, while I’m at it, I’ve got a sheet I usually give potential clients….here you go.
è If you have any questions at all, please feel free to give me a call any time….the 416 number on there is my cell.






Here's the sheet I will be giving them:
Six Critical Questions Business Owners Should Ask

Below are the six most critical questions a business owner should ask themselves. If you have any doubts at all, please contact me or another small business financial advisor to help you develop a plan for your future success.
1. Will your business survive you?
Many business owners I’ve met and worked with are dynamic individuals. They are the driving force that makes the business succeed. But when they leave the business because of death, disability or retirement, the business fails because no one knows what to do, who to follow or where to find anything.
Are you the indispensable person in your company? How will your company function when it loses its indispensable employee?
2. What would happen to your business if you disappeared?
A client told me the story of her friend who was on vacation in Switzerland. The man told his wife he was going to hike a trail and meet her in one hour in the parking lot. He never showed up. Switzerland does not issue death certificates and she was unable to get to the financial assets she needed to support her family.
If you disappeared, who would be in charge of your business? Would your family have access to your assets?
3. In the event of your death or disability, what would happen to your lines of credit?
I asked this question to one of my biggest clients. His response was that he didn’t know. I advised him to check. After checking, he told me nothing would happen because the loans were callable only if there was a substantial change in ownership. My response was, “Do you think the death of a 100 percent shareholder in an S corporation with no succession plan qualifies as a substantial change in ownership?”
4. What does retirement mean to you?
For many business owners, retirement is death, but the answer may be varied. One is, “I plan to die in the saddle.” Another may be, “I will continue to work, but will gradually decrease the time I spend at the office.”
Many business owners have all their wealth tied up in their business. They can’t retire because they use the business as their personal bank account. Thus, the business doesn’t have the cash flow to support the owner and the successor.

Things to consider:

• Retirement age now is 70, and you need to plan on living to 100.
• Will you be able to support yourself considering these time frames?
• Will your business be able to support your lifestyle and the financial needs of the business?

5. Who can hurt you the most?
In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell asks the question of leaders as they survey their organizations, “Who could hurt you the most?” and “Which employees are key to your business success or to your transition strategy?” Many times this is a partner in your business. Do you have a plan if something happens to you or your partner to make sure the business changes hands smoothly?
6. Do you have children who are active in the business as well as children outside of the business?
One of the biggest dilemmas business owners face is how to distribute their estate to their children when the major asset in their estate is the business. The choice they make can promote family values and relationships, or irrevocably split the family forever.





If you have any questions whatsoever please contact an experienced business advisor to help you develop a comprehensive business plan. Of course I would be honored to be the one to help you. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to make an appointment for a free business evaluation.


CONTACT INFO GOES HERE


Of course I will follow up a few days later and ask if they have any questions, etc.

So what do you guys think?

 

[Justin Bilyj]

That is a good flyer! I wish I knew all the survivor type agreements etc. Im not to big on your nutshell comment, it will make you look like the nutshell. The 20-30 minutes mention I think is not accurate either. You can't take something that important and turn it into a half an hour. If your B2Bing then the flyer will take care of itself, dont forget to ask them about their biz, and get a card!!!

 

[briko3]

So what would you say when going in and giving the flyer? That's the part I'm the most worried about.

 

[Guest]

I would take out the adverbs. ("pretty heavily", "pretty often") but if you really do live in South Carolina perhaps this is a local colloquialism that will "work" for you.

The flyer looks good. I sometimes use something like it. Free free to steal it since I stole some of it from John Petrowski about 4 years ago!

Anyway, no one knows if this will "work" because so much depends on how you present yourself, how sincere you are (or sound) and whether you are hitting clients who have a "need" for your services.

When I go B2B I never ask to sit down right now with the prospect. I just give him my card (I think flyers are tacky in my upscale area... the pizza and rug cleaning guys give flyers... lawyers and CPAs give cards... YMMV) and tell him/her to look at my webstie and that I'd like to send them some info about myself and services (and get their card in the process) and invite them to read my home page "to see if I'm the kind of advisor you would feel comfortable working with... I'm different from the others." I walk out.

When I get home I email them some material I have on life or health or DI or whatever I think will capture their interest... and I call them the next day. "I'm the advisor who was in the other day and sent you some material... what about I take you to a light lunch and we can talk?" (assuming I think there is potential with the prospect.... sort of a gut feeling you will get after a few weeks of this.)

Friend, asking if "something" will work is a waste of time here because there are way too many variables. You just have to try it and see. If you are selling anything other than AFLAC, believe me, you are probably the first life/health agent who has walked in to the office or store in the past 3 years... at least in my area.

I don't do much B2B these days because I'm better on the phone... and I don't even do as much of that these days (about 90 mins a day if that) as I do more marketing... press material, speaking, advertising, and calling clients and asking for referrals.

Let us know how it all works out for you. I'm sure most of us here will be happy to help as best we can... but like I say, it's all up to you and what you bring to the sales table.

Al
InsuranceSolutions123 Agency

 

[somarco]

That's a lot of words. You will be tuned out or shown the door before you get to "I drive by here often . . ."

And FWIW, drive by doesn't play well in some neighborhoods.

Remember this. When you call on a business, in person or over the phone, you are trying to grab their attention by telling them something they don't know. Chris Matthews is not one of my fave's, but he always ends his show with "tell me something I don't know".

You have 15 seconds to grab their attention by telling them something they don't know. Even better, as Alex says, put it in the form of a question.

Since you have no way of knowing if this guy/gal has family or not, survivorship questions won't always work. Given the high divorce rate and fractured families, I would say that line will fail more times than it works.

It appears you are going for the life sale, but how about DI or CI? Rather than using it as an "oh by the way", make it your lead question.

Rework #3 and say something like, "will your bank call your loans if you are hurt and can't work?"

Yes, I realize that is a line from AFLAC but so what? It is a common phrase that will ring a bell and that's what you want. You want to establish some commonality for purposes of gaining an opportunity to make your presentation.

Familiarity puts your prospect at ease and opens the door to dialogue.

All of your questions assume the owner has family and wants to pass it on to family. That rarely happens even among families that are intact and get along.

It appears you are targeting a very narrow market which leaves an awful lot of money on the table.

Start broad, then when you have the appointment, use questions to narrow in on their perceived needs.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Since we are stealing things from Petrowski, then briko should make a CD with a multimedia presentation that goes into the main pitch (the flyer), and then at the end tell about who you are, and other areas of insurance you cross sell. And at the end, even if they dont have a need, put your referral policy on there, who knows, maybe you will get some, I get them CCing small biz.
Get a CD or DVD and put your biz card on the case or inside it in front of the case info sheet.
Remember, your mostly selling yourself...

As a side note, i saw someone offer a service, where their biz card WAS a cd, that was in the shape of biz card, and you could put it into a computer. Very cool, also very expensive....

 

[Full Throttle]

I'd shorten it up and get the point. To the first person you see:

"I was wondering if you could help me, do you happen to be the owner?" If no, "is he or she available?"

Get the owner:

"I'm Chris, we haven't met before, I just had a meeting with Ted down the street (or in the area) and wanted to quickly stop by and introduce myself before my next meeting. Would it be okay if I give you my 30 second commercial?"

"I work with business owners to make sure that when they eventually exit their business, that they and their family get out as profitably as possible. I don't know if we even have anything to talk about, but I put together three questions that show the work I do. Would you have 5 minutes to run through them now, or would it be better to stop back Monday morning when I'm back in (town)?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Not only going BtoB but managing two BtoB companies for 8 years it is mainly how you present yourself. It's a combination of confidence without arrogance.

Don't get too cocky. Business owners know if you were really successful you wouldn't be going BtoB.

If you walk in like you own the place you're done. If you walk in looking weak or "begging" you're also done.

Nothing beats walking with with a very short pitch, confidence and good eye contact.

There's too much focus on what to say and not enough on how to say it. You can go in with the best pitch known to man but when there's no eye contact and you're going "umm and errr" it's over.

 

[jmhopkins40]

Here's my plan. Walk in, and say this:
Hi, (I'm) Chris ______. (Handshake) Great to meet you. I’m a local financial advisor (company name) and I work pretty heavily with small business owners and honestly I drive by here pretty often…so I thought I’d stick my neck in and see who’s running the ship around here….so you’re the man….well, it’s great to meet you.

If asked:
In a nutshell, we protect and grow your income…and your assets. Now how we do that really depends on the individual business we’re dealing with…it might be benefits or maybe a business continuation plan. It could just be tweaking what you have a little.

Now, if you have 20-30 minutes on Tuesday or next week I’d be glad to sit down and talk a little about your business and get a little more specific about what we do.

If not asked:
Here…let me give you my business card. Oh, while I’m at it, I’ve got a sheet I usually give potential clients….here you go.
è If you have any questions at all, please feel free to give me a call any time….the 416 number on there is my cell.






Here's the sheet I will be giving them:
Six Critical Questions Business Owners Should Ask

Below are the six most critical questions a business owner should ask themselves. If you have any doubts at all, please contact me or another small business financial advisor to help you develop a plan for your future success.
1. Will your business survive you?
Many business owners I’ve met and worked with are dynamic individuals. They are the driving force that makes the business succeed. But when they leave the business because of death, disability or retirement, the business fails because no one knows what to do, who to follow or where to find anything.
Are you the indispensable person in your company? How will your company function when it loses its indispensable employee?
2. What would happen to your business if you disappeared?
A client told me the story of her friend who was on vacation in Switzerland. The man told his wife he was going to hike a trail and meet her in one hour in the parking lot. He never showed up. Switzerland does not issue death certificates and she was unable to get to the financial assets she needed to support her family.
If you disappeared, who would be in charge of your business? Would your family have access to your assets?
3. In the event of your death or disability, what would happen to your lines of credit?
I asked this question to one of my biggest clients. His response was that he didn’t know. I advised him to check. After checking, he told me nothing would happen because the loans were callable only if there was a substantial change in ownership. My response was, “Do you think the death of a 100 percent shareholder in an S corporation with no succession plan qualifies as a substantial change in ownership?”
4. What does retirement mean to you?
For many business owners, retirement is death, but the answer may be varied. One is, “I plan to die in the saddle.” Another may be, “I will continue to work, but will gradually decrease the time I spend at the office.”
Many business owners have all their wealth tied up in their business. They can’t retire because they use the business as their personal bank account. Thus, the business doesn’t have the cash flow to support the owner and the successor.

Things to consider:

• Retirement age now is 70, and you need to plan on living to 100.
• Will you be able to support yourself considering these time frames?
• Will your business be able to support your lifestyle and the financial needs of the business?

5. Who can hurt you the most?
In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell asks the question of leaders as they survey their organizations, “Who could hurt you the most?” and “Which employees are key to your business success or to your transition strategy?” Many times this is a partner in your business. Do you have a plan if something happens to you or your partner to make sure the business changes hands smoothly?
6. Do you have children who are active in the business as well as children outside of the business?
One of the biggest dilemmas business owners face is how to distribute their estate to their children when the major asset in their estate is the business. The choice they make can promote family values and relationships, or irrevocably split the family forever.





If you have any questions whatsoever please contact an experienced business advisor to help you develop a comprehensive business plan. Of course I would be honored to be the one to help you. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to make an appointment for a free business evaluation.


CONTACT INFO GOES HERE


Of course I will follow up a few days later and ask if they have any questions, etc.

So what do you guys think?

I agree with emptyeternity. The flyer seems really good but the intro in the door is weak.

We have good response when supply the owner with a brief questionaire that lists areas of importance they may simply but a checkmark by for them and their employees.

Then we set an appointment the following week where we will return and collect the questionaire. The owner and employees use the same sheet, placing their names by the areas they are interested in.

We use a separate business card that is designed as an appointment reminder.

This gives us a valid reason to return next week and at least 50% of the time someone has checked an area they are concerned with.

Good luck

 

[arnguy]

I would question the use of "financial advisor" inasmuch as that term may come back to bite you.