1. business and industrial

How to Mine Your Natural Market
Never make another cold call again
Get more referrals than you ever thought possible
David W. Dassow
How to Mine Your Natural Market
Copyright © 2007 by David W. Dassow
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means without written
permission of the author.
Introduction
This book contains powerful principles and steps to generating
sales through mining your natural market (your base of contacts).
Take the steps and develop your own referral generating machine. Make cold calling a thing of the past and door-knocking a
distant memory. Working your referral base will lead to more
leads than you can keep up with. You will never have to prospect outside of your natural market again and ultimately generate
more business.
Remember, I’m not you, and you’re not me. No one can speak
like you, think like you, and sell like you. You are unique! Take
the steps and principles I’ve outlined and make them unique to
you.
The key that separates really great sales folks with average sales
folks is one thing. When you have completed this book you will
have that one thing necessary to make 6 figures income selling.
What is that one thing? Leads. He who generates the most leads
wins. The Sales folks that can generate leads make the most
money and are the top achievers.
You still need to strive for excellence and need to be very good
at making presentations, establishing rapport, closing, and
working smarter. But, the only ingredient that you truly need to
out-sell everyone you know and be the top achiever in your
office is LEADS.
The sales folks that generate the most leads make the most
money. Period. It can be very expensive generating leads
especially through ad publications, radio, and television. It is
very time consuming going door-to-door and cold calling; and
frustrating when you constantly hear “NO” and have the door
slammed, and phone hung up.
It is the warm and hot leads generated through referrals that
offer the least amount of resistance. In fact, when you combine
prospecting and presenting at the same time you have achieved
the ultimate in efficiency. Once you have this referral program
in place you’ll easily find yourself on auto-pilot.
As you see yourself cruising on auto-pilot selling more than you
ever thought possible you’ll easily and effortlessly find that 6th
figure selling (see my book: How to Get Rich Selling and Stay
That Way).
You can do it all through this book. Please feel free to sign up
for a free 14 email internet extension course to this book delivered to your email. Sign up for the course on my website for the
latest updates to this book: www.HowToSellPreneed.com
To your success!
David
Table of Contents
Mine Your Natural Market ............................................................1
The Golden 50.................................................................................3
Contact Your Golden 50 ...............................................................5
Understanding Your Market..........................................................7
Follow-UP........................................................................................9
Attitude of "Referrals"..................................................................11
Define Your Niche .......................................................................13
Profile Your Market......................................................................15
Know When to Hold 'em, Know When to Fold 'em ..............16
Purge Your Files Every Now and Than ....................................17
Cancellations ..................................................................................19
You Are An Expert ......................................................................21
Network Inside Your Industry....................................................23
Be Really Good at Getting Referrals..........................................25
Always be Asking for Referrals...................................................27
Organize .........................................................................................29
How to Start...................................................................................31
Always be Cultivating ...................................................................33
Do You Know Anyone That Might be Interested...?..............35
Where is Your Base Haning Out? ..............................................37
Position Yourself as an Expert ...................................................39
Under Promise and Over-Deliver ..............................................41
What is Your Goal?...................................................................... 43
Just How Many Referrals are Out There?................................. 45
Get Referrals even if You Don't Get the Sale.......................... 47
More Referrals doesn't mean you can skip the key part ......... 49
Past Customers is not the way to get referrals ......................... 51
Measure the results of your referral program........................... 53
Your referrals are different.......................................................... 55
Follow-up with your natural market .......................................... 57
Plan of Action ............................................................................... 59
Some Concluding Thoughts ....................................................... 61
Recommended readings............................................................... 65
Other books, Products, and Services......................................... 67
Contact me .................................................................................... 69
Free Issues of Newsletter ....... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Mine Your Natural Market
The first step in mining your natural market is identifying who
your natural market is. Joe Girard, a new-car salesman, was
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s
greatest salesman. He wrote a book entitled; “How to Sell
Anything to Anybody”, and in his book he wrote about the idea
of 250.
Joe initially got the idea that everyone knows at least 250 people
that would attend their wedding or funeral after he attended a
funeral. He asked the funeral director how he knew how many
cards to print. He was told, that based on past experience, the
average number of people who pay their respects is about 250.
Shortly there after, he attended a wedding and asked the same
question about attendance. The answer was the same.
Joe then reasoned that this was very important information. If
he had a bad day and turned off just one person, he could
potentially damage 250 future sales. That’s a scary thought, but I
believe it is true.
So, how do you mine your natural market? The first step is to
brainstorm names of individuals that you know. The individuals
that you know are your “base of contacts”, your “backyard of
referrals”, you’re “sphere of influence”. You begin through a
brain storm session. Start on a blank sheet of paper and write
name after name as it comes to you. After you have exhausted
the names that are on the tip or your tongue go to your telephone directory. From there it’s time to tap directory of organizations you belong to such as church, rotary, network, civic, and
chamber of commerce.
Once all the lists have been exhausted it’s time to call in help; a
spouse or significant other, friends, relatives, and acquaintances.
Not to 250 yet? There’s a game you can play to get the remaining names out of your head and onto paper. The exercise works
like this. Imagine you are at a party. As you mingle among the
guests think about who you are observing in the room:
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How are the people grouped?
What are the characteristics of each group?
Which group would you be more comfortable with?
Are there bankers, CPA’s, financial analysts?
People who are engineers, teachers, economists?
People who are blue collar, work with computers,
neighbors?
Finally, imagine that you were going into business for yourself.
Who would you want on your board of directors? Who would
you council with for advice? Who would be your partners? If
you were searching for business contacts, who would they be? If
you needed an attorney, banker, and accountant; who would they
be?
Step one is to get that list of 200 (couples only count as one
name).
Sign up for a free supplement course to this book. Sign up
information on page 69.
By the way, if you have not lived in your present area at least five
years, check out my book: “How to Develop a Natural Referral
Market in 6 Months or Less”.
2
The Golden 50
It is absolutely critical that you get that list of 250 names. The
next step is to whittle the 200 names down to your GOLDEN
50. I repeat, do not cheat. Start with your list of 250 names
before you begin to whittle down to your top 50 names. These
are the names of the people you will start contacting to generate
referrals.
Everyone has influence over friends and family. Some of us
have more influence than others. For example, you might have
an enormous amount of influence over your children. That is, if
they are younger than teens. But, I digress, as that’s another
story all together. The people you are close to tend to be the
people you have more influence over.
Another example would be a recent purchase you had. If it was
a terrific purchase and the product/service was all that you
expected and more who you would share that information with,
the people close to you? This goes both ways. If you were
dissatisfied with a purchase who would you share that information with as well?
It is really important to stay in touch with your spheres of
influence and I suggest doing that at least once a quarter. I’ve
heard of some that will stay in contact monthly. Developing
your referral base has a few side benefits including getting your
name known as a “Cemeterian” or pre-need funeral, whatever it
is you call. The more well known you are the more likely you
will be the first one contacted when your base of contacts needs
your product/service.
When whittling down the 250 the goal is to get the top 50 that
you know well, have influence over, feel comfortable meeting
with, and can practice your presentation on. The golden 50 are
the key people you will contact to launch your referral based
marketing program.
4
Contact Your Golden 50
This should be one of the easiest things for you to do. Contact
the Golden 50 via mail, phone, email, or in person. If you are
just starting out in the business or relatively new in the business I
recommend a letter to your Golden 50, outlining your new
career and a request to meet.
When you meet with your Golden 50 remember it is for the sole
purpose of making a presentation. Be sure and leave your
couple with something of value; a personal planning guide or
something else as a “thank you” for meeting.
There are several areas during your presentation where you can
and will get referrals. It is imperative that you approach your
presentation from the standpoint of getting referrals, not selling.
Make it a rule of thumb as you meet your “natural market” to
generate referrals, not sales. Further, practice your presentation
with the additional goal of finding those areas where you can get
more referrals during your presentation.
I would shoot for a minimum of 5 referrals from each presentation. Some will net you more, but 5 is your minimum. Those 5
referrals are the individuals/couples you will meet with to
present and sell. By the way, you should continue to get at least
5 referrals every time you make a new presentation. That way if
you do not sell your couple you will still have had a very productive meeting.
Never wait until the end of the presentation to seek out referrals.
Always get referrals before and during your presentation. The
presentation has numerous opportunities to get referrals. For
more information on making a great presentation go to
www.HowToSellPreNeed.com and sign up for my Gold
Coaching Program and get more info on How to Make a Quality
Presentation Every Time.
6
Understanding Your Market
The Golden 50 is only the beginning of understanding your
market. It is time to start to analyze the commonality inside that
50. First and foremost, the referrals you generate off your
Golden 50 will be individuals that have many of the same
characteristics.
What you will begin to discover is that even though you are
meeting with 50 individuals that you have something in common
with they will refer you additional individuals that probably have
more in common with themselves than you.
The more you narrow and focus on the unique characteristics of
the Golden 50, and who they are referring to you, the better you
will communicate with them, understand them, and persuade
them to purchase from you.
Follow-Up
Not only are you following up with your Golden 50 you are also
following up with the referrals they are referring. You have two
weeks or less to contact these folks. Anymore time than that
creates problems for you. It is necessary to have a system in
place to follow-up.
When I first got into the business I used a 3 x 5 card system. I
called it the $5 dollar system to manage my 6 figure income. I
no longer use the system even though I still use 3 x 5 cards for
different things to this day.
I use a computer program now to manage my referrals and leads.
I also have delegated the job of managing those dates and times I
need to contact my referrals.
For simplicity purposes I’ll describe the 3 x 5 card system if you
are still in the stone-age (not using a PDA or computer).
All you need is a box to house your 3 x 5 cards, a set of tabs
from 1 – 31, and a set of tabs with all 12 months.
Note the information about your contact onto your 3 x 5 card
and place it behind the number and month you will be contacting your referral. After you make contact note what the outcome was and place it in your box under the future time you will
be contacting them.
This system is great and served me well for years. It is not as
functional as it used to be. I can put pages and pages of notes
under my contact in the computer. The computer can also sort
referrals in different ways including who referred them originally,
all the contact info, dates, updates, and anything else pertinent.
This is a powerful system as long as you follow-up.
Sign up for the follow-up extension course to this book at
www.HowToMineYourNaturalMarket.com
10
Attitude of "Referrals"
Years ago I worked for a company that did not do any advertising what-so-ever. All of the new business was generated through
referrals. There were no commercials on television, no print
advertising in the newspaper, no magazine advertising, radio
advertising, no nothing but referrals.
Many of the techniques in this book are based on the principles I
lived by while working at that company. It was, to say the least,
an “attitude” of referrals. I lived it, breathed it, and worked it. I
never considered any other way of doing business except
through referrals.
An “attitude” of referrals is what you incorporate into what you
are doing. It is absolutely the best way to go. It’s word of
mouth advertising. Working from couple to couple, referred to
referred, one couple at a time.
It forces you to drop all other forms of marketing and focus on
one thing. It’s also a lot cheaper than advertising. It’s more
personal. It’s the way people do business. And in this age of
internet, blogs, and other forms of media, it is becoming the
most cost effective way to do business.
Define Your Niche
Word of mouth marketing requires you to niche yourself. What
is your niche? I work at a Jewish Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona.
My niche is a small segment of the population. My niche market
requires me to understand the culture and nuances of my market.
I have advantages to my niche market I also have disadvantages.
Understanding you market helps you define your market. The
more you write down characteristics of your market the more
you understand it. The more you understand your niche market
the better you will communicate with your niche market. The
better you communicate with your niche market the easier it is to
persuade them to purchase your product/service
Profile Your Market
In my book; “How to make a Quality Presentation Every Time”,
I talk about the profile section of the presentation and why it’s
important. The profile section is the perfect starting point to
generating your first referral during your presentation.
Go through your presentation looking for opportunities to get
referrals.
The goal is to meet with your initial Golden 50 practice your
presentation, collect referrals that you can meet with later. The
MARKET PROFILE will help you to identify characteristics
about your niche market and also is a perfect place to get
referrals.
Below are a few areas to cover when profiling your market:
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Age group
Children (living at home, in college, out of college)
Planning they have done (will, trust, attorney)
Area of town they live (do they own or rent)
Relatives in the area
Experience pre-planning
Experience making arrangements
Cultural attitudes about pre-planning
Does family use credit cards, cash, checks
Lower income, middle income, upper income
Husband and wife work (or one spouse)
Income
Retired/working
Know when to hold 'em, know when to
fold 'em
If your prospect does not want to see you, it’s probably a bust.
It’s your call. Sometimes I’ll mention that things have a way of
changing and ask if I can contact them in 6 months. If the
answer is yes, ok, I’ll keep the prospect in my system.
As you continue through these steps you will discover that it is
not worth saving or coveting leads. The more leads you generate
the more quickly you’ll want to “present to” and or “toast” the
leads that are not interested.
There is a point in time when you tear the card up (or hit the
delete button) and move on. I had a former sales manager once
tell me; a lead’s a lead until they buy or they die.
Well, as Kenny Rogers sang; know when to walk away, know
when to run.
16
Purge Your Files Every Now and Than
There are only so many leads you can massage, manage and
otherwise keep up with. The life a referral is short. Two weeks
tops unless you’ve been in contact and still negotiating a date and
time to meet.
I wouldn’t keep much more than 250 active leads in your system.
That’s a little better than four weeks in duration assuming you
are phoning 15 a day. When you first launch your referral
program you might want to dial 25 times a day to set appointments but you’ll soon realize that there are only so many hours
in a day and many of these referrals will want to meet with you at
the same times.
Another consideration is what your goal for sales is. If it is a sale
a day you’ll figure out soon enough how many appointments you
need a day to get a sale. And how many calls it takes you to
generate those appointments will determine how many leads a
day you want to work.
When you are up and running you should be contacting 25
referrals a day. Of those 25 referrals you’ll get in touch with 8
and get 5 appointments (plus carry-over appointments). Your
numbers will vary some what. Better than half of my appointments kept. The rule of thumb is half of your appointments will
cancel for a variety of reasons. The shorter you book out your
appointments the more likely they will keep.
If you schedule 6 appointments a day and half cancel you’ll make
three presentations a day and sell one with a 35% close rate.
If you have the worst closing rate in the world you’ll sell one in
three presentations. My closing rate was 60% if the presentation
was in their home, 85% if it was at the cemetery
18
Cancellations
I’ve worked with a lot of sales associates over the years and one
of the biggest problems was “depression” when appointments
canceled. Admittedly, it took me a long time to get over cancellations. But, I have gotten over it and you should too. It just
doesn’t bother me anymore when people “no show”, or “call in”
and say they can’t make it.
I can tell you that I have had as many as 8 appointments scheduled in one day (I don’t do that anymore!) and had every one of
them cancel or no show. I’ve also had 7 appointments scheduled on more than one occasion and every one of them held (I
will never do that again!).
Seven is my record. I have no intention of ever breaking or
matching it again.
People have things going on in their life. Some times they have
to cancel appointments. Some times they are habitual at canceling appointments. When you have plenty of people to meet with
one appointment won’t break you or bother you.
I’ve been stiffed on appointments, stood-up on appointments,
lied to on appointments, hem-hawed on appointments, told to
get lost on appointments, and had people who had no intention
of ever showing up play games with me on appointments.
Get over it and move on. You wouldn’t want to meet with
people that are jerks anyway. They’re doing you a favor by not
showing up. I give them one excuse and that’s it. If they aren’t
apologetic for not showing I don’t re-book the appointment and
move on. You should move on as well. There are plenty of
people that are willing and grateful to meet with you.
Keep asking for referrals and you will have more people to meet
with than you can keep up with and don’t worry about the
cancellations whether they warn you or not.
20
You Are an Expert
You are an expert! You know more about your product/service
than the common man on the street. Most people have a vague
notion about selling your product/service or worse yet, an
opinion based on a comment their Uncle Bob made one day.
If you want advice on how to do something go to an expert. If
you want to know how to sell cemetery property go to an expert.
Who is the expert? The person in your office that outsells (by
miles) everyone else day in and day out is the expert. It might be
your supervisor it might not be your supervisor.
If you want to be an expert on anything mentor with an expert,
read books on the subject, go to seminars, conferences, watch
DVDs, listen to CDs, join your industry association both local
and national, and talk to the folks that are doing it day in and day
out.
In the mean time you are the expert when it comes to your
prospects no matter how long you’ve been in the business.
Having said that never guess the answer to a question asked.
Tell your prospect that you’ll find out the answer. Never ever
tell somebody something you are not absolutely certain is true.
An expert either knows the answer or how to get the answer.
You are that expert.
Network inside Your Industry
By now you’ve probably noticed I haven’t mentioned anything
about “networking”. The only time you should network is if you
do not have a “natural base” of referrals.
You should develop a name for yourself inside your industry. It
helps to get published, write articles for your industry magazine
or newsletter. The more people that have heard of you, or know
your name inside your industry, the better off you’ll be in the
long run.
It adds a lot of credibility even if your prospects do not know it.
You may never be a celebrity but it is an honor to be mentioned
in your industry or even win an award. Local newspapers are
always looking for industry experts to comment on different
news items.
Build your contact base inside your industry. You never know
when you might need that contact. And, by the way, that means
you need to be willing to help your industry contact. It goes
both ways.
Be Really Good at Getting Referrals
Make it a point to get really good at generating referrals. Have a
systematic system of getting referrals at different points of your
presentation. One of the worst slumps I was ever in was a two
week period when I did 9 presentations (not including numerous
cancellations of appointments) and did not make a sale.
I still got referrals from all of those “NO’s”. Many of those
presentations lasted 10 minutes tops. In my book, “how to
make a quality presentation ever time”, I talk about the four
commitments necessary to get the sale. The first commitment is
the “cemetery” commitment.
That is, asking the prospect if they would use ABC cemetery.
During my two week slump some of those prospects had
relatives buried in another cemetery in town. If you don’t get
the cemetery commitment (funeral home commitment) it’s time
to go home. But when you go home go home with referrals.
When I left the presentation, I took my referrals with me. Most
sales associates work referrals backwards. They somehow think
that they have to get the sale before they can get referrals.
Usually, after they get the check they ask: “do you know anyone
that would be interested in buying from me?”
I usually have at least one referral within one minute of sitting
down with my couple. You get it right after you establish
rapport and as you roll into the profile section. The process
goes like this:
¾ Establish rapport
¾ Profile section
¾ Presentation
¾ 4 Commitments
¾ Close
There are opportunities for referrals in each step of the process.
I recommend practicing your presentation with your “natural
market” to find those areas to gain referrals and always go after
those referrals early in your presentation.
Prospecting and presenting at the same time is very efficient and
kills two birds with one stone. It’s a beautiful thing!
26
Always be Asking for Referrals
As you stay in contact with your referral base, be sure to continually ask or remind them about referrals. Make it a part of
you just like it is to tell everyone what it is you do for a living.
I get calls from people I know through out the year that have a
relative, friend, co-worker, that either had a death, or it’s close,
or they expressed an interest in pre-planning. The only reason I
get the calls is because my base of contacts knows what I do.
Just by staying in touch with your natural market is an easy way
to ask for referrals without asking. Eventually, when people see
you they will immediately think and associate your profession
with you at the same time.
There is an attitude about asking for referrals and getting them.
It’s a lot easier to ask without directly asking. During the
presentation I talk about banking. Do you know your banker?
If they do, you got a name and a referral. It’s that easy.
There are plenty of opportunities to ask for referrals throughout
your presentation. Go through your presentation and identify
those areas to ask and practice your presentation with your
natural market.
Organize
It is imperative that you be organized in your following up.
Maintain your referred referrals in a systematic way. I used a 3x5
card system for years. I maintained all the information about my
referral including where I got it and stored it in a 3x5 box with
monthly tabs and days of the month.
I would place the 3x5 card behind the appropriate month and
day. Each time I spoke or attempted to contact that referral I
would note it and re-file the card in the appropriate place.
Now I recommend a software program to do the same thing.
These data base software programs allow you to message and
manage your leads with lots of information and categorized just
about anyway you could dream of.
It is beyond important that you be organized and follow-up with
your leads and your referrers. I send lots of notes. You should
also. Get organized.
How to Start
Referrals need to be apart of you. Later, I’ll talk about a “referral
attitude” to help you integrate what you’re learning. First, you
need a place to start. For the purpose and effectiveness of this
book I’m assuming a few things. You’ve lived in your area for 5
or more years (if not, look for my book, “How to develop a
natural market in 6 months or less”).
If you are just starting out, that’s ok, and if you have been in the
business a long time that’s ok as well. The advantage to just
starting out is you do not have to eliminate any bad habits. You
don’t have any habits yet. Operating off referrals will be even
easier because it’s the only way you’ve ever operated.
Finally, once you have developed your referral base, contacted
them, and met with them I want you to practice your presentation on your natural market. You may sell to your referral base,
but there are two main reasons for meeting your natural market.
One; generate referrals, and two; practice your presentation (and
especially the different places during your presentation to get
those referrals). If you have been in the business a while it is
even more important to practice generating referrals during your
presentation.
Once you have done your presentation many times it can be
difficult to make changes. Make sure you practice your presentation with the sole goal of generating referrals. Don’t worry so
much about selling your initial natural market (your referral
base). Focus on selling the folks your natural market refers you
to.
Always be Cultivating
Always be increasing your base of contacts. Everywhere you go,
whether purposefully hunting for new Contacts or just out and
about, there are New Contacts waiting to be met.
The goal is to get the other person’s business card (not necessarily give your business card). It is critical to establish a connection
with your New Contact.
Ask your contact two questions and always allow time for them
to answer. If you must talk about your business give a soundbyte of what you do and focus on your contact’s business.
“What made you (or how did you) get into that business?” “Do
you enjoy it?”
After you have met your new contact send out a short note and
mention something that was said during the conversation. Make
sure it is something your contact said, not you.
From that point on include them in all of your mailings (including a hand written note from you). You will need to meet with
your contact several more times. Once again, it is always to learn
more about what it is that they do.
Always be cultivating your contacts, new and old. Stay in touch
with your contacts.
Do You Know Anyone That Might be
Interested...?
Here are a few things never to do when working your referral
base. Never ever ask: Do you know anyone who might be
interested….? Always assume your referrals will refer other
individuals to you. It should be a part of your thinking. It is the
way you do business. It is the way you should expect to do
business.
How many times have you ever awkwardly asked, “do you know
anyone that might be interested in…?
If you’ve done this, and we all probably have, you naturally got
the response, “um, I can’t think of anyone off the top of my
head.”
First and foremost understand that you never want to use the
word kNOw in a sentence. Whenever the brain here’s a negative it will automatically here the negative and do exactly what
you say.
Here’s the example:
“Do you NO anyone that might be interested in pre-planning?”
The person on the receiving end will automatically think “NO”
one. That is no one will come to mind. It’s similar to making a
statement encouraging someone NOT to forget something.
“Don’t forget your coffee.” The brain has a tough time with
negatives and typically will forget. Your brain actually hears:
“don’t FORGET YOUR COFFEE”.
I’ve asked it this way, “If something happened to you today,
God forbid you died, who would be the first person in your
empty home that would begin the process of taking care of these
arrangements?”
Answers can range from a close relative, friend, co-worker, and
neighbor. You’ve just picked up a referral no matter what the
answer.
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Where is Your Base Hanging Out?
There are similarities between groups of your natural market.
One similarity that seems to always get overlooked is where they
hang out. As you segment your 250 Program into groups there
will be similarities inside of these groups.
One is where they hang out. For example, maybe they are all
CPA’s. If that is the case there must be a CPA industry organization that they are attached too. That is the group to join to
network within a segment of your natural market.
The more you break down your 250 contacts the more likely that
you will find some commonalities. These commonalities could
be chamber of commerce membership, Rotary clubs, and
industry groups.
Whatever the commonalities note them. There will be future
areas you could network inside different organizations.
Position Yourself as an Expert
First, you are an expert at what you do. You may think you have
a long way to go to truly being an expert and that is probably
true. But, to the general public you are an expert. Always
present yourself as an expert.
People need to make an association in their mind about you and
your product. You must be known as the “grim reaper”. Just
kidding! But, you get the point. People need to see you and
immediately think: cemetery, funeral home, and solving their
problem.
I had a guy once say to his friend, “here comes’ the grim reaper.”
The guy was referring to me. My instant reply was, “you look
good I’m not rushing you.” They both laughed and I continued.
“You might want to see me now and have fun solving your
problem. Because, certainly, the next time you see me you won’t
be having near as much fun. Let’s face it, this will be the most
fun you’ll ever have meeting with me now.”
My point? These folks know what I do for a living. I now make
it fun to pre-plan funeral/cemetery arrangements. It’s the best
possible memory to take care of this as a couple as opposed to
alone wondering what he/she would have wanted.
Find opportunities to become even more known in your industry.
Look for opportunities to publish a weekly article in your local
newspaper, industry magazine, and or other local publication in
your neighborhood.
All of this ties into your niche’, marketing yourself as an expert,
always be learning, and having one or two one-liners or comebacks when people joke with you. You are an expert!
40
Under Promise and Over-Deliver
When people refer business to you they actually expect you to
perform even better than the experience the referrer had with
you. Every time an individual refers a friend, relative, or
neighbor to you it is their integrity that is on the line.
You have got to over-deliver what ever you are promising. It’s
critical! I don’t care if you lose money on the transaction, spend
more time than normal, are busy, it doesn’t matter. Go above
and beyond and don’t tell anyone what you had to do to deliver.
Don’t brag about over-delivering! Just do it.
What is Your Goal?
This question relates to numbers. Once you’ve sat down to list
your 250 names, narrowed those to the Golden 50 (the Golden
50 are the individuals you know the best, have the most in
common with and usually have other connections), identified
unique characteristics of your market, contacted your referral
base, met with your referral base, garnered leads from your
referral base, now what?
I had a former sales manager who used to say that if you contact
15 people a day you’ll get into see at least 3 and make no less
than one sale.
Now it’s time to quantify what you are going to do with your
referral base and how you are going to go about managing your
data base of names.
The reason I settled on the Golden 50 (top sphere of influence
you have) is from personal experience. There are only so many
phone calls, meetings, and presentations you can do in a day. 50
was the perfect amount to contact 15 a day. My experience was
that I would get hold of one in three people. That meant I
would talk to 5 out of 15 attempts. With appointment reschedules six appointments a day is the maximum I would make.
I would schedule appointments throughout the day, in between
appointments, during no-shows, and reschedules. Scheduling 6
appointments a day with a 50% no-show will give you a maximum of 3 kept appointments. A one in three close rate gives
you one sale a day.
I’ve had days that every single appointment cancelled and I’ve
had days where they’ve all kept. My experience is that the
shorter the time you schedule an appointment the higher the
likelihood of it keeping. If you schedule appointments a month
out, expect it to cancel. If you schedule appointments for the
same or next day expect it to keep.
Your daily routine:
9
9
9
9
Contact _____ amount of referrals
Schedule ______ amount of appointments
Assume 50% no-show on appointments
Do more phoning between appointments or during noshows
9 Make at least 3 presentations a day
9 Make at least 1 sale a day
44
Just How Many Referrals are Out
There?
Earlier I spoke about everyone knowing about 250 people to
invite to a funeral or wedding. I also mentioned that as you
whittle down your 250 to the Golden 50, your starting point, you
will have more than enough referrers to get you started.
Obviously, if you blow it with your Golden 50 you’ve still got
200 names left. The reality is that you use your Golden 50 to
both present and generate referrals. The reason I say to practice
your presentation is because you must re-learn your presentation
from the stand-point of getting referrals. Also, you aren’t as
much interested in selling your natural market as you are generating referrals from your referral base.
After you have worked on your referral base you need to tweak
your presentation to find those areas where you can ask for
referrals without asking. I gave an earlier example about asking
who would be the first person in their empty home to help in
arrangements. There are other spots where you can get referrals.
Do they have a banker? Do they have an Accountant, Lawyer,
Doctor, or other professionals that they know? Is there a
neighbor nearby that they call on for help or socialize with?
There are numerous ways and places during your presentation to
ask without asking for referrals. Get those names!
To answer the question about how many referrals are available,
12,500 possible on the Golden 50 number. It would be very
difficult to meet with 12,500 people in one year. Probably
impossible! In addition, there are the referrals from all the
referred folks off your 12, 500 number.
Realistically you will not get 250 referrals from every couple you
meet. You will, however, get 3 – 12 from every couple. If you
make 3 presentations a day you will find that you can barely keep
up with all those people.
The key is to think of it in terms of 3 presentations. 3 – 12 new
referrals from each presentation, equals 9 – 36 referrals every
day. In a very short amount of time you will have a difficult time
keeping up with all of those leads. That’s why I encourage you
to be willing to toast leads that are not interested, give you a hard
time, or stand you up with appointments.
The secret to getting more referrals than you could ever meet
with is to ask without asking. It’s all in getting the names of
these folks out of your prospects. That’s why you must go
through your presentation looking for opportunities to get a
name here and a name there. It adds up quickly.
46
Get Referrals even if you don't get the
Sale
The mindset is that each and every presentation will result in
referrals whether there is a sale or not. It must be an attitude of
“Referrals”. That is the only way you develop your business.
People that meet you through referrals will automatically think
that that is the way you do business. That is why it is critical that
you practice your presentation on your natural market. Use your
Golden 50 to practice your presentation with the express goal of
garnering referrals. It’s the referrals you generate off your
Golden 50 that you will go after the sale (as well as more referrals).
It is the number one goal for meeting with your prospects.
Number one is to generate referrals number two is to acquire
business. Any time you prospect and present at the same time
will save hours and hours of time. It is very efficient.
Always prospect and present at the same time. Get referrals
even if you don’t get the sale. It will be the most efficient time
you will ever spend prospecting and selling.
More Referrals doesn't mean you can
skip the key part
I’ve had people ask me about past customers. I tell them the
same thing. Don’t short circuit a simple system. Generate
referrals off your “Natural Market” (your base of contacts),
practice your presentation on your natural market with the goal
of generating referrals.
You’ve still got to do a quality presentation each time every time
you meet with your referred prospect. If you can’t make a
quality presentation you will not make money and not help
people with their problem.
You must be very good at presenting. Period. If you were
wondering why I keep saying to practice on your natural market
now you know; they know you, they are forgiving, they don’t
know the script you are using, you are the expert, and no one
will know you made a mistake in the presentation unless you tell
them.
And, it gives you so many opportunities to ask for referrals.
Past Customers is not the way to get
referrals
I’ve had people ask me about past customers. I tell them the
same thing. Don’t short circuit a simple system. Generate
referrals off your “Natural Market” (your base of contacts),
practice your presentation on your natural market with the goal
of generating referrals.
In the cemetery/funeral pre-need business it is a myth to think
that you can all-of-a-sudden ask for referrals from past customers. I’ll tell you why. First and foremost most (if not all) of your
business probably came from other forms of marketing, walk-intraffic, and at-need arrangements, it’s safe to bet that hardly any
of them came from referrals. In other words, most people get a
referral here and a referral there but don’t have a program of
getting referrals.
How you got your past customers is how they assume you get all
of your customers. Your customers have a mind-set. Usually, it
is in relation to how they heard about you and or your business.
Once you have a customer it is difficult to get referrals from
them. They’ll wonder why you all-of-a-sudden are calling them
for referrals. This goes for prospects that you are currently
working on for an appointment or presented too with a no-buy
result.
The easiest and fastest way to more business than you can
possibly keep up with is to have a program of generating referrals. And, the best way to get those referrals is through your
natural market. Take the referrals your natural market gives you
and present and prospect to those referrals at the same time. It
kills two birds with one stone. Prospect and make your presen-
tation all at the same time to individuals you were referred too.
Your referrals will assume that that is the way you get your
business (through referrals).
People assume that the way they met you is the way you do
business. They will expect to provide you with names just like
the individual that provided their name. Ask for referrals
throughout your presentation without asking and never use the
word “know” when asking.
52
Measure the results of your referral
program
Keep up with the program. The first measurement is writing
down 250 names. Second, narrow down to the top 50 (Golden
50) and arrange to meet with your base of referrals (Your
Natural Market) always noting the similarities in your market. As
you meet with your Golden 50 you will find your average
amount of referrals gathered from each meeting.
Measure your average number of referrals off your referrals; 3 –
12 referrals per each presentation. Some can do better. You’ll
find as you measure and note your results you will develop
averages for everything; leads, conversions, and new sales.
Keep track of your referral program. As you track the program
it will become obvious where you need improvement. Seek out
the improvement through mentors, books, CD’s, DVD’s,
seminars, conferences.
Your referrals are different
A former sales manager of mine used to say; “the masses are
predictable, individuals are not.”
The more you niche your referrals the easier it is to communicate. You have to be adaptable, firmly flexible. You have to
communicate to your prospect in away they want to be communicated with.
Earlier I talked about how you need to niche your market as
much as possible. Understanding your natural market and
further understanding your natural market’s referrals will go a
long way toward helping you sell that group.
Hopefully now you understand why I suggest your Golden 50 to
go after. Those 50 will have a lot in common. They will refer
like-minded people to you. As you continue to operate off
referred referrals you will find that your niche becomes tighter
helping you develop better penetration tactics to capture that
niche.
Referrals are individuals and individuals are unique. Referrals
like to be spoken to the way they are comfortable. Listen very
carefully to the language your referral is using. That language is
within their comfort zone. That language is the language you
will need to use. A good rule of thumb is to talk 20% of the
time while your prospect/referral is talking 80% of the time.
Be a facilitator, a guide, and realize that your referrals are different. Treat those referrals like they are gold. Treat your referrals
like they are your whole business. Referrals are your whole
business. The better you appreciate your referrals, the better you
treat your referrals the better your business will operate and the
more sales you will make.
56
Follow-up with your natural market
Anytime you meet with a referral always send a note to the
referrer. Thank the referrer. Maybe even do something nice for
the referrer. Your referrers can continue to refer prospects to
you. Everyone knows 250 people. When you sit down with
your Natural Market they are not going to give you 250 names of
individuals to meet with in one setting.
Thank your referrer for the referral. It’s a great way to stay in
touch with your Golden 50 and keep the referral opportunities
going.
Your ability to handle referrals from your natural market is a
reflection on you and the referrer. Take good care of your
referrals. Treat them like your mom. Promise little and deliver a
lot. Each time you are referred a prospect that individual wants
to know that you are treating that prospect well.
Never assume anything with your referred prospects. Treat
everyone the same. Don’t assume that the individual that
referred somehow sold your prospect before you met with them.
Assume nothing and treat everyone the same.
Don’t assume you have weeks and weeks to follow-up with
either your natural market or your referral. Deal with it in a
week or less. That’s why it’s important to work through your
leads and toast the one’s that are not interested while working
the ones that are in a relatively short amount of time.
I give it a week, maybe two. If you cannot get in touch by the
end of the second week let your referrer know you tried. Move
on to the next one. The shelf-life is short for follow-up. Keep
up with your leads.
Follow-up with your referrals it is critical to your success.
58
Plan of Action
Take all the above steps and put them into action now. Don’t
wait for another second to pass you by. Begin now to change
your whole approach to generating leads because that is what
will separate you from the rest. That is how you generate 6
figures a year in income.
There is an accompanying publication to this book. It’s called:
“The Natural Market Workbook.” If you need an extra boost
and some pre-printed forms of all the steps than order the book
on line at: www.HowToSellPreNeed.com
I talked about time-lines earlier; phoning 25 referrals a day, for
example. I also gave you some general numbers of 3 – 12
referrals from each presentation. And, I gave you a target of 6
appointments a day with the recommendation of setting appointments sooner rather than later.
I also gave an example of a 33% close rate and the fact that you
would have to make 3 presentations a day to get 1 sale. I further
suggested phoning in between appointments or during no-show
appointments to be efficient with your time.
Take all of the steps I’ve outlined in this book and put them to
work in a Plan of Action that will focus you on where to go next.
I can’t make you do it. I can tell you that I’ve done it and it has
worked for me. You have to dig deep inside and find what
motivates you to get up and get going in the morning. If it’s “I
owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go” than find a bumper sticker, and
stick it to your mirror.
What ever makes you go, go, and do your Action Plan now. It
starts and ends with you. There are no excuses. You are the
responsible one. You are the one that has to answer for not
doing it. You know your reward. It is the money you make for
helping satisfy the customers that you meet.
Begin your Plan of Action now.
60
Some Concluding Thoughts
Selling is a life long profession of always learning and always
improving. Marketing your Natural Market is a big aspect of
selling. If you want success take a look at the top producers in
your industry. They all have one thing in common. Sales folks
that generate the most leads make the most money.
Sales folks that are the best at making quality presentations do
very, very well. Sales folks that can close do very, very well.
Sales folks that have developed a lead generation program are
the most successful. Sales folks that can generate those referrals
consistently are the top achievers.
But, it is the Sales person that gets the most leads that wins all of
the battles. Sure, when you combine presentations and closes
you will do very well. But it is the Sales person that consistently
brings in more and more leads that is by far the best at what
he/she does.
It’s the Sales people that focus (or should) most of their time
seeking out prospects that do the best. Many of these Sales folks
believe that they should work harder and longer than everyone
else to succeed. Not true. It is the Sales folks that work smarter,
not necessarily harder; it is the Sales folks that are productive
with their time, not the ones that spend all of their time in the
office playing cards.
The Sales folks that are the most efficient, work the smartest,
and have a lead generation program in place (and actually
working the program) that do the best and make the most
money. It’s about the leads. He who gets the most wins!
Use the program I’ve outlined in this book and kill two birds
with one stone by prospecting and presenting at the same time.
It is very efficient, requires less time, and is the smartest way you
can succeed by generating more leads than anyone in your
industry.
It is a great time to be in pre-need sales. Not many people can
hack it. They give up to early thinking that no one can do it. It
is so important to find a mentor, look for a successful pre-need
seller, and be good at getting referrals. Generating lots of leads
will cover-up a multitude of your problems. Any weakness you
have in presenting, closing, what-ever, can be over come by
having lots of people to see. Even if you have the worst closing
rate in the nation you will easily over-come it through a great
lead generation program.
Now, I’m suggesting that you strive to improve in all areas of
selling. But, if there is one thing that you can do that will get you
immediate results it is to prospect. And the easiest way to
prospect is to go after your natural market and work it. Your
natural market is the best asset you have. Work you asset!
It will catapult you to the top. Nothing beats being a top
achiever. There’s nothing holding you back. Go for it and
please send me your success stories. I’d love to hear them fax
me at (602)532-7875.
Finally, to receive a follow-up series on this book fax me at
(602)532-7875 for the complimentary extension to this book.
It’s free and you’ll receive 14 emails over seven weeks that will
answer the most common questions and give you words of
inspiration to push, prod, and keep you going. Encouragement
is always exciting. Combine your encouragement with a mentor
and you will be able to put the ingredients necessary together to
launch your program of referrals.
62
Now, as Nike would say, “Just Do It”.
63
Recommended readings
First and foremost, you must read lots and lots of books on
sales, marketing, and your specific industry. Second, you must
always be learning about your industry. If you think you know it
all you’re in for some big trouble.
Attend seminars, conferences, listen to CD’s, watch DVD’s, and
find a mentor who will take an interest in you. Learn from your
mentor. Counsel with your supervisor and peers (make sure you
council with sales associates that are very successful).
Never ever take advice from people that have not done it! If you
want to be rich, hang out with rich people, if you wan to be poor
hang out with poor people. Attitudes are contagious. If you
hang with negative, victim, woe-is-me folks, it will rub off on
you; garbage in garbage out.
Focus instead on that attitude of gratitude for what you have and
what you are about to have.
No B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy
How to Mine Your Natural Market by David Dassow
Succeeding by John T. Reed
30 Simple Ways to Make and Achieve Goals by David
Dassow
Goals! How to Get Everything You Want-Faster than You
Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy
50 Ways to Get Rich and Stay Rich Selling by David Dassow
Only the Best on Leadership by Larry Winget and others
How to Develop a Natural Referral Market in 6 Months or
Less by David Dassow
Micro Branding by T. Scott Gross
How to Sell Cemetery Property and Pre-Need Funerals by
David Dassow
66
Other books, Products, and Services
The workbook for “Mining Your Natural Markets”
This book is a perfect companion piece to “How Mine Your Natural
Market.” It has the layout of specifics of how to brainstorm the names
of your contacts, categorizing those names, tips on capturing those
market segments and a follow-up system.
How to Develop a Natural Referral Market in 6 Months or
Less
If you haven’t lived in your area for five years or more this book will
get you started on your way to a base of referrals you can use over and
over again. This book is a must before you get, “How to generate
more referrals than you every thought possible.”
30 Simple Ways to Make and Achieve Goals
There have been numerous surveys that have all said the same thing:
If you develop goals you will achieve your goals, but, how to do it?
What is the best way to make and achieve your goals? This book will
explain how to do it easily and effortlessly.
Coming soon: Home Study Course on How to Sell Cemetery
Property Before the Need. The course covers all the information,
CD’s, and manual to get you started in the business. For more
information check out: www.HowToSellPreNeed.com
How to Sell Cemetery Property and Pre-Need Funerals
Finally, a book that covers the cemetery/funeral industry from a sales
perspective that was written in this century and uses today’s techniques. How do you sell cemetery property today, in the 2000s? Why
do some people sell lots and lots while others barely get by? This
“how to” explains it all.
Contact me
To help you get full value from this book,
there is a collection of
FREE EXTRA RESOURCES
waiting for you at:
www.HowToSell PreNeed.com
Free E-Mail Course…extension of this book – enroll today!
Check out FREE articles on Pre-Need Sales:
www.HowToSellPreNeed.com
Contact me via fax at: (602)532-7875 ………………………...
About the Author
David is the General Manager/Sales Manager for Mt. Sinai
Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. He has sold pre-need cemetery
and Pre-need funerals throughout the Valley of the Sun.
He has sold everything from Cremation Garden products, to
family estates, to private estates, mausoleum, ground burial, and
the applicable funeral merchandise/services as well.
“I’ve sold in 80% cremation markets and 80% traditional ground
burial markets, low-end, middle, and high-end sales. To coin a
phrase a former sales manager of mine used to say; “the masses
are predictable, individuals are not.”
It’s not about the money, it never is. It’s not about the competition, it never is. It is about fulfilling a need. Rich or poor, it’s
what’s important to your family that matters. It doesn’t matter
what you think (the sales associate) it only matters what your
couple/individual/group of prospects thinks. Period. Exclamation point!
Focus on your prospects and you will make lots and lots of
money. Focus on what’s important to your prospects and you
will make even more money. Make the presentation totally
about your family/couple/individual and you will make tons of
money.
Your goal should be six figure income year in and year out. You
can and should focus on learning selling skills, practicing, and
working through referrals to generate more leads than you can
possibly keep up with.
And as you find yourself succeeding and achieving your goals
drop me a line, email, note in the mail, with your success stories.
I love to hear success stories.
Go to my website: www.HowToSellPreneed.com often for a
variety of information; books, CD’s, Home Study Courses, and
free articles.