Five Part Consulting Case Study Going From 19 Year Old Scuba Diving Instructor To First Client As A HMA Marketing Consultant

The Kevin Fort Project Part Three

In this part three of my interview with new HMA Consultant, Kevin Fort, Richard joins us on the call to discuss Kevin’s progress and some of the challenges that he’s experienced since starting his business.

Kevin has been experiencing very negative attitudes from prospects. Most often, Kevin feels that he gets shot down once he begins to discuss what his fees would be.

You’ll hear Richard explain how you, the HMA Consultant, must qualify the prospect up front so as not to waste your time or the prospect’s time if there’s not a good match. Richard also suggests some great wording and phrases that will help HMA Consultants determine if the person is indeed a qualified prospect and how to flush out objections before the prospect brings them up.

Richard explains some methods that can be used to build credibility and trust with the prospect. It’s very important to ask questions about the prospect’s business and then to listen to the prospect’s own frustrations about his or her business – let them unload! This not only builds trust, but it will better equip you to hit objections head on and then to present the best solution for the prospect.

We spend some time explaining the most valuable aspect of marketing yourself – How to explain your own USP to the prospect. Show what makes you different than other marketing consultants who are most likely using a method that is based on traditional sales and marketing. You’ll hear the way that Richard himself explains his own USP to prospects.

There are tons of other suggestions and methods in this recording that I know you will find helpful and will benefit your own marketing experience. When you hear and understand Richard’s own techniques, I know that you will be anxious to incorporate some of them into your own unique way of marketing the HMA system that will make life easier and more fun for you. Enjoy!

Hi, this is Michael Senoff with HardtoFindSeminars.com and Consulting Secrets. Here’s a fantastic training that hopefully will benefit you, the new HMA consultant. It’s with one of our new HMA consultants, Kevin Fort. Kevin Fort is out of Arizona, and has been out working the system, putting on seminars and putting on opportunity analysis presentations. Like anything new, he’s got some challenges and some frustrations and that’s what this call is about is to address all of those. I called Richard, and Richard, myself and Kevin were on a three-way call, and we went through his entire process in identifying some of the challenges that he was having, and we provided some simple solutions that I know you’ll find beneficial. Enjoy!

Music

Michael: I just talked to Richard a little bit ago, and I was telling him about you. How about if I get him on a three-way call, and you can express also any concerns to him too? Would that be all right?

Kevin: Yeah, that would be fine.

Michael: Okay, great. Hang tight, let me get him on the line, okay.

Hey Richard, how are you?

Richard: Good.

Michael: Good, I’ve got Kevin Fort on the other line. Kevin, can you hear Richard?

Kevin: It’s coming in clear.

Michael: I just talked to Richard. I was telling him a little bit about your story – some of the challenges I thought you may be having. I told him about your success with your seminar that you put on. You had six people there. You had four opportunity analysis scheduled. We went through two of them, and one of them that may result in a sale. The first one, the guy probably doesn’t have the money or it was a little too much for him.

Do you just want to continue on with the remaining two and Richard can sit and listen and will address as concerns come up? Richard, you can butt in at anytime and ask Kevin questions, and maybe we can create a good learning experience both for you and for the other consultants who may be out there doing the opportunity analysis.

Richard: Kevin, you handed out some fliers. Is that right?

Kevin: That is correct.

Richard: And, you handed out about how many? Do you know?

Kevin: I ran off 200, and I think I only had about 75 left, but I also emailed and fax blasted probably another hundred.

Richard: And, you got six to come out to the workshop?

Kevin: That is correct.

Richard: How long was the workshop? Did you do a short one, or did you do the several hour one?

Kevin: I only ran it for about an hour and a half, about 55 minutes of PowerPoint presentation, forty or so just as question and answer.

Richard: Tell me what types of businesses were these six.

Kevin: I had a podiatrist, two chiropractors, a financial planner, and a gentleman who’s in photography. He specializes in photographing Harley Davidsons with their owners.

Richard: Okay, and they all came, and you got four opportunity analyses. Is that right?

Kevin: That is correct.

Richard: And, which were those four?

Kevin: The financial planner, both chiropractors and the photography gentleman.

Richard: Okay, how do you feel the presentation went?

Kevin: I felt the presentation went well for my first one. I spent the two days prior to the seminar studying, rehearsing, staring at myself in the mirror going over what I wanted to say, and following along with the slides, but I definitely would like to get more time in the seminars and be more comfortable running the presentation.

I think the other thing that my feedback brought me when I followed up with the six that attended, I did it like I would usually run a military briefing because that’s my background. I told them what I was going to teach them. I taught them, and then I told them what I taught them. And, some of them had said that it was just starting to get to the point where it was a little bit too redundant.

Richard: I see. Well, that’s good. That’s all right. You got to practice a little bit. Tell me then how the opportunity analysis went as you talked with these six folks.

Kevin: I’m finding it really difficult to keep them on track with the opportunity analysis. It seems like once I bring up one subject, they want to go off and tell them their entire life history on what they’ve done with that one thing.

Richard: Right.

Kevin: I’ve struggled with that. I was trying to keep them focused on getting through and trying to keep the opportunity analysis no longer than an hour and a half. A lot of times, I find it difficult to get all the way through and show them where their return on investment is going to be. Out of the four, I was only able to get to that point with the two.

Richard: Okay, as far as a qualified prospect, in your mind, did these four people need more business?

Kevin: Yes.

Richard: And, they could handle more business without a lot of expense.

Kevin: A small portion, probably no more than ten to fifteen percent.

Richard: More business?

Kevin: Correct. They don’t have the manpower. A lot of them are trying to do everything on their own.

Richard: Exactly. What was their attitude? As you go through the opportunity analysis, were some of them like, “Well, I’ve tried that” Or “I’ve done that” or “I know how to do that”? What was their attitude?

Kevin: Fifty percent of the people I was dealing with, fifty percent of the time, that was their attitude, “Oh, I’ve done it. It doesn’t work.” “I’ve tried to use the information in my database, and I’m not getting any response out of it.” So, I’m definitely dealing with a negative attitude towards marketing.

Richard: What do you think it was that they were wanting?

Kevin: Well, the one chiropractor that I’m thinking I am actually going to be able to sign with when he gets back from vacation, he wants $20,000. He wants to buy his wife a new car, and is not willing to finance it. So, that was his goal was, “I need $20,000 by Christmas time.”

Richard: And, where did the opportunity analysis show you and him that you’d find that twenty grand?

Kevin: 23-28 hundred inactive clients in his database.

Richard: Cool, and he’s not done much with that?

Kevin: He’s not done anything with it.

Richard: Great. So, you think you can go in and charge him for step one, which is the USP, right?

Kevin: Correct.

Richard: Were you trying to close on all seven steps? How were you trying to close?

Kevin: During the opportunity analysis, I haven’t been trying to close. The way I’ve been ending with the opportunity analysis is letting them know that I will be writing up a written – I’m calling it a proposal, but I’m also explaining to them that it’s not a contract. It’s basically letting them know what my obligations are and what their obligations are, and the reimbursement expense.

So, I’ve been saving it for that, and that’s where I’m getting shot down. I’m getting through the opportunity analysis with these people, and I get them all excited and then as soon as I hand them a bill of sale, it stops right there for me.

Richard: Well, here’s some important ideas, and Michael, you can throw into as well, but I think, number one, when I go in and I do an opportunity analysis, I’ll talk about step number one, the first part of the analysis, and the USP, and then I’m always closing on that, okay?

Before that, when you go in and sit down with someone, you could look at them and just say, “Listen, I appreciate the chance to meet with you. I’m assuming that you’re wanting to increase business and you’re ready to do some things that would do that. Is that right? And, I just want to reaffirm that you have somebody that needs you, okay?”

If they don’t, you want to get them started talking negative as quick as possible. So, you get out of there. You just don’t want to waste your time. Do you see my point?

Kevin: I see that.

Richard: I know you’ve gone now through maybe twelve hours of opportunity analysis, and you might get on deal, and so you lose ten hours and it may be because these people aren’t really ready for you. Does that make sense?

Kevin: That’s exactly what it sounds like I’m dealing with.

Richard: Yeah, so the first thing I do is cover three areas before I even get into the opportunity analysis. One is, “Now, Tom, listen, I meeting with you because I don’t want to waste your time, and I don’t want to waste mine, but I assume you’re ready to really grow this business. Is that right?” “Yes, I am.” “Okay, great.”

Well, number two is, “I know that the system I work with can do that, but I don’t want to hurt your business cash flow wise or anything, and to get this accomplished, we might be looking at anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 a month for the next four or five months. Is that something that you can handle? Now, that’s assuming Tom that we want to do it. I know I’ve got to sell you on it, and we’ve got to find the money. That’s my job is to find the money, but I don’t want to take time and find all the money if you don’t have any cash to invest. Does that make sense?”

See, you’re just hitting them before these objections come up. And, then the third thing I say is, “Well, great, listen, if that’s not a problem, then I’m going to go through this opportunity analysis with you because we’ve got to find the money. We’ve got to find out where you can get your twenty grand or your 500 grand, or whatever it is, and I’m going to go through this with you. Then, at the end, we’re going to find some marketing steps that we feel like we could implement with you. It may be all seven. It may be just two or three. We want to just find the ones that will work most importantly for you. Does that make sense, Tom?” “Yeah, I got it. I understand.”

“Then, at the end, I’m going to go ahead and if things are looking good, and it’s looking like we found some money, I’ll go ahead and put this in a little outline”, that’s what I call mine an outline, not a proposal or bill of sale, it’s an outline, “I’ll go ahead and put some time in it, but I don’t want to do that if we’re not ready to move forward. Does that make sense, Tom?”

So, see, you’re covering all of the three killers before you even begin. Does that make sense?

Kevin: Yes, it does.

Richard: And, I think you’ll have more fun that way, because what you need to do is go through that opportunity analysis and one of those three things is in the back of their mind, and you haven’t flushed it out yet. So, they just bring it up later. Right?

Kevin: That makes sense. That’s what’s happening to me.

Richard: And, it gets you mad because you say, “Well, we should’ve talked about this earlier. I wish you would’ve told me that earlier.” And, the prospect will appreciate it if you come a little more from a position of strength rather than-

Kevin: For their money.

Richard: Even though you are when you’re beginning. And, then the other thing I might recommend is as you do the opportunity analysis, it might be that you only do a couple of steps. Don’t try to close on all seven because you might need to build trust a little bit. You might need to build some performance and credibility before they sign on to some more steps. Does that make sense?

Kevin: Yes, it does.

Richard: So, it make it easy for them to do business with you. Don’t package it too hard, don’t make it too rigorous. Don’t make it too binding on them. Just say, “Hey, we’ll go through this opportunity analysis. It may be there’s a couple of steps we can do. It may be that we can do all of them, maybe we just do one, but let’s find the ones that will help you the most. Does that make sense, Tom?”

Kevin: That’s where I would have to interject and say, when I go through and ask them, “Does this make sense on how your USP should be integrated and how we should be expressing this to your customers and your employees?” – because of my lack of experience with the system, how do I confidently know with this guy’s scenario, I only need to implement three projects to get the results he’s looking for.

Richard: That’s going to be a lot depending on what he’s answered as far as cash available to invest. Okay? So, you’ve got to kind of correlate to. If he’s answering, “Yes, I’ve got the cash. I’m ready to invest. Let’s move forward”, then, get as many steps as you can. But, if he starts balking and says, “Geez, I don’t think I’ve got that much. I don’t know if I’m ready to do that much.” Then, you could say, “Maybe we just start with one or two. Does that make sense?” He goes, “Oh, okay, that makes it easier. I understand.”

Kevin: So, don’t worry so much about the system performance, worry about just getting in the door.

Richard: Yeah, the system’s going to perform.

Michael: Can I interject? Kevin, are you feeling that the reason that you wanted to sell seven steps is to give you enough time to perform based on your guarantee so the guy’s not disappointed?

Kevin: Exactly. To me, it seems like project three is an extremely strong project. That’s where a company would really realize the growth if they’re not using their database appropriately.

Richard: That’s right. I’ll tell you what Kevin. I think I’ve had more impact from one and two.

Kevin: Really?

Richard: Yes, because most do not have a USP, most are not articulating a USP, and most are not integrating the USP throughout all of their sales process. And, I’ve probably had as much impact from getting a good USP and getting it into their system that are already in place as I’ve had three and four.

Kevin: I believe in the USP. The USP is printed right on the logo for my shirt, and Michael, if he’s looked at and still has it, you can see that in my logo the USP sign is right there. But, because I haven’t had the opportunity to see how well it performs, I’m having a hard time grasping how well customers grasp that.

Richard: Well, your database project won’t be very good without a good USP. So, you’ve got to get these people jazzed about a USP. You’ve got to get excited about the USP. You really could have an entire consulting career alone on USP. It’s so bad out there. It’s so weak out there.

See, what usually will make you hesitate is they’ll say, “Oh yeah, I know what it is. I know what sets me apart. I know what makes me different.” So, you go, “Geez, maybe we don’t need a USP if he’s already got it.” That’s where you have to say, “Well, what you think might be a USP, Tom, maybe the case, but it may not. That’s why you want to hire me to survey your customers, and to look at the competition because you’ve got to take those two things into account before you conclude that you’ve got a USP.”

Or, it may be that he thinks he has a USP, and then you can say, “Well, it’s obviously not making enough money for you. Is that right?”

Kevin: And, they’re probably going to agree.

Richard: That’s right. It’s not. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in front of them. So, it may be that we need to repackage this USP. It may be that we have to rearticulate it. It may be that it’s outdated. It may be that your customers don’t care what you think it is. They have something else in mind.

So, you really want to get good, Kevin, at selling USPs. I refuse to do any other steps until they pay me first to do a USP because I’ve got to make sure I know what we’re selling is the right thing.

Kevin: Did you find a lot when you were starting out? I mean, I’m getting it from clients. I’m getting it from directors of the Chamber of Commerce. I’m an ambassador for the Chamber of Commerce. I’m getting it from people who are involved in SCORE, and they’re all telling me that business owners do not want to invest that type of an expense into their marketing programs anymore. Your name has been ruined as a consultant. It’s been proven that what you have doesn’t work, and if I can scream at them until I’m blue in the face, but have you dealt with those challenges?

Richard: Why do you think they’re saying that, because they have bad experiences with a consultant?

Kevin: That’s what I’m getting from a lot of people. I’ve had bad consultants. I try to picture you in Utah doing what you do, and I try and compare it to the differences down here in the Phoenix area. It’s a beast down here. I mean, people are just ruthless. They’re cut-throat and flat out mean a lot of the time.

I’ve got some people that I deal with that are pleasant to deal with when things go well, but it always comes down to, “I don’t have the money to spend on this program.”

Richard: If you’re getting that kind of objection that often, you need to start dealing with it upfront. You need to hit it head on. You need to go to a Chamber and say, “Now, listen, I guess you maybe have had marketing consultants or salesmen in the past. Is that right?” “Yeah, we have.” “And, it hasn’t been good. Is that right?” “No, it hasn’t.” “Can I show you how I’m different, and how the approach that I use probably hasn’t been used before?”

Because most of the dissatisfaction that I have found is from traditional advertising approaches.

Kevin: I definitely know that people have not seen this system trying to be implemented in the valley. It’s a brand new thing here.

Richard: I’ve been here in Utah fifteen years, and I still don’t have any competitors.

Michael: Kevin, can you bring up a specific situation where this occurred and explain how it occurred where you got some real negative feedback from someone? Where did it come from specifically – some you talked to? And, how did that interaction happen?

Kevin: I wasn’t in an opportunity analysis, but I was in one of the 15-30 minute appointments I set up to try to get them excited about the opportunity analysis.

Michael: Tell me about what this was. It was a meeting to get them excited about the opportunity analysis?

Kevin: I think I had actually made contact with this guy through telemarketing, and I was able to talk him into sitting down with me for about 15-30 minutes to let me explain what it is that I was talking about because he wasn’t getting it on the phone. I cut it there and I said, “Let’s just sit down and meet for 15-30 minutes, and if you don’t like what I have to say at anytime, just call it, and I’m out.”

And, we’d gotten into it, and I started explaining the projects, and he says, “Oh, I’ve done all this before. I had another guy come in and try to sell me something similar to this and he was a quack. And it just wasn’t happening. So, I’ve decided that I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m just going to go back to my old methods of doing it.”

I said, “Well, are you generating results out of that?” He said, “No, I’m not getting the results I’m looking for.” And, I said, “Well, then why don’t we just go ahead and sit down for an opportunity analysis and let me show you where we can generate those profit centers in your business.”

Michael: You’re real eager to get them through this opportunity analysis and have a chance to convince them that this thing is going to work where all of that could really be avoided by prequalifying them upfront a little bit harder because the thing that’s going to burn you out in this business is talking to negative people. You’ve gotten a lot of negative feedback already. It’s frustrating to you. It’s probably dampened your excitement about everything, but all of that can be avoided if you’re talking to the right people, if you decide to meet face to face with a ten – someone who’s qualified, who wants to grow, who has the ability to grow, and who has the financial capability to invest in consulting.

Richard: You hit two of the three Michael. They want to grow, they have the finances, and then third is their attitude is, “I’m ready to learn from you, Kevin. I’m ready to listen. I know what I’ve tried hasn’t worked. So, I’m open.” If you don’t have those three things, Kevin, you don’t have a qualified prospect.

Kevin: That definitely makes sense because I definitely have not found anybody that has that.

Michael: Other than the experience and the practice to be able to do that opportunity analysis, that’s all important, being able to sit in front and get comfortable with it, and that’s really valuable.

So, Richard, can you offer some advice on how to qualify a prospect whether if Kevin’s calling cold or his telemarketer is calling cold on the phone. I know we’ve gone over some of this in the recordings or about the phone call. You call back before you actually meet with the person with those qualifying questions, Richard, that you’ve talked about.

Give him some processes that will give them the ability to qualify that person before he encounters the pain of a negative prospect.

Richard: The telemarketing, the whole reason that that is useful is to find the people that have the right attitude. You can’t expect your telemarketer to determine if they’ve got money, and you can’t expect your telemarketer to really determine if they’re ready to grow and how much they’re ready to grow, but there’s just enough time for a telemarketer to sift through all the negative people and find the ones who are ready right now to talk, who are open.

Michael: But, that doesn’t mean they’re qualified to buy.

Richard: That’s right.

Kevin: It’s part of the qualifying process.

Richard: But, you’ve now started the qualifying process. So, when my telemarketers are on the phone, that’s really all I’m expecting them to do. It’s really frankly all I want to do because that’s a very key part of the qualifying process is that I’ve got somebody who wants to meet with and wants to talk marketing, wants to grow his business.

So, now I go and I do call them the day before the appointment and I say, “Tom, listen, I understand we’re scheduled for tomorrow at about nine o’clock. Is that right?” And, he says, “Yes.” I say, “Great, how’s your business? Tell me a little bit about what you do.” And, then he’ll tell me a little bit. I’ll say, “Okay, so you’re ready to grow. Are you ready to start making some more money?” “Yes, yes I am.”

Kevin, I would do it now, but I wouldn’t do it at your stage, and that is I qualify on the money over the phone. So, I wouldn’t do that now. I would just do the second qualifier, “Are you ready to grow? How much could you grow? What would you like to grow? Listen, I just wanted to confirm the appointment. I’ll see you tomorrow at nine.”

So, now you’ve got number two qualified, the second qualifier. So, now you go in and you’ve got printed out and say, “Listen, Tom, I appreciate the chance to meet with you. Tell me a little bit about your marketing experience. Tell me what’s happened.” And, Kevin, just let him unload. People need to unload.

It may be that you’re trying to be understood before you understand. Does that make sense?

Kevin: Yes, it does.

Richard: So, let these folks unload, and they want to. Let them share with you what their goals are. “What would you like to do, Tom? What would you like to see your business do? Tell me why you got in the business.” And, let him unload some more. Let him share some goals with you.

Say, “Well, listen, I know that I could help. That’s why I contacted you is I know I can help you. I have a unique approach to marketing. It’s very different. I think we can maybe create the growth you want with the marketing assets you already have. So, you don’t have to spend more money on some of these things that haven’t worked in the past. That would be good, wouldn’t it?”

Do you see how you have to really differentiate yourself, Kevin? You have to help these people see how you’re different because if you don’t, you’re going to really fight a battle because they’re going to lump you in with everybody else that they’ve had a bad experience with, and you can’t let them do that because it’s not true. It’s not happened. It’s not the case.

So, you’ve got to get good at describing your USP, and then you have to decide whether you want to qualify for the money before you do your opportunity analysis or not. Early on, I certainly didn’t, but you’ve got two of the three key qualifiers in place.

So, if you want to qualify for the money, go ahead. Say, “Listen, I’m going to go through some areas where I think we might be able to find you some money. If we can find you some growth, it might mean an investment between $1,500 and a couple thousand dollars a month for a few months. Would you have the cash flow that you could invest that? Or would that hurt your business? Because I don’t want to waste our time.”

So, you have to decide if you want to do that before you go through the opportunity analysis or not.

The other way to do it is at the end of each part of the opportunity analysis, make sure he sees the money, okay? Make sure he sees, “Ah, yeah, I see how that could make me more money.” If you don’t have him saying yes to that, then you’re not going to get any money from him. He’s got to see that he’s going to make more money from this or he won’t release anything to you.

Anyway, that’s the process of qualifying that I think you need to go through.

Michael: Kevin, I want to ask you. You said you were able to get with two of the prospects through to the mathematical formula. How did you find that process worked for you, and how did you find the response from your potential prospects? Were they receptive to it? Do you think they were confused by it? Any feedback on that?

Kevin: I think one thing I have to teach myself and I walked out of both of those I knew what I had done wrong, but because of my strong financial background, I think sometimes I run through numbers a little bit too quickly for most people, and I think that’s what I’ve done with these two.

They were agreeing with me. I don’t know if it was completely understood or they just didn’t want to look stupid. I was getting the nods and the shakes, and “Do you understand that?” “Yes, I understand.” “I’m not going to fast?” “No.”

I still think that with the formulas and with my strength in that area, I think that might be one thing that’s holding me back as well. I’m not slowing down and taking enough time to make sure that they understand it first.

Michael: Are you clear on what makes you unique as a consultant compared to everyone else out there?

Kevin: I am, but I’ve got to tell you, when I’m running around through all these meetings, I’m starting to get a little concerned that people are starting to pick up on it, and I have encountered four from the last two months that they’re not saying they’re using the HMA system. They’re not talking about USPs and leveraging assets, but they’re using language that’s similar and talking about trying to do something similar. I’m trying to figure out what type of an image these people are putting out there. If they’ve got something similar and it’s really not working for them, then customers or potential clients of mine are going to be looking at what I have and saying, “Ah, I’ve seen this before.”

Michael: Kevin has a strong financial accounting background, and he feels like he probably lost some of the people explaining the mathematical formula.

Richard: Yeah, and Kevin, the answer there is people buy things differently. Some people buy things from emotion. Other people buy things from logic. Usually, it’s a combination of the both, and if you can get the emotion up without the numbers, then don’t go to the numbers.

Kevin: Okay.

Richard: If you feel like you’re not getting the emotion, but you’ve got the guy behind the desk that’s more of a numbers guy, show him the numbers. So, use those as you need them to impress the type of prospect that you have.

Kevin: Don’t impress some guy that doesn’t care about the numbers.

Richard: Yeah, you’ll find out you’re getting him with the emotion. You’ll find out that, “Oh, he sees the money.” If he sees the money, not the numbers, you don’t have to do the numbers.

Kevin: Right.

Michael: But, I’m going to ask you if he was clear about what his USP is, since he’s encountered people who have had visits or experiences with other so-called marketing consultants, and they’re familiar with the lingo and some of the language, and he said that he’s not absolutely positive that he knows how to articulate specifically what his USP is as a consultant. I had addressed you, Richard, how would you describe to a business owner what makes you different, to separate yourself in a succinct USP that separates you from all these other guys that a business owner may have already heard of.

Richard: Well, Kevin, why don’t you give it a shot to me? Let me hear it from you.

Kevin: Okay, “How are you doing Mr. Business Owner? My name is Kevin Fort with Kevin Fort Consulting. I just recently moved in the valley and I am introducing a new marketing system that you’ve likely not heard before. Let me tell you a little bit about what it is.”

“Basically, we come in and implement a seven project system that’s designed to leverage and find new hidden asset income levels or ventures that you have in your business, and we’re going to show you how we can turn those into new profit centers, ways that you never thought of before. This is going to take about a seven month time period, and then after that seven month time period, we’re going into a management system for about five months following that just to make sure that there’s no fine tuning or anything that needs to be done after that.”

Richard: You’re scaring me and making me tired. You’re scaring me because you’re talking seven months and five months follow-up. All I’m beginning to conjure up in my mind is dollar signs, and I’m going to have to pay for this. You’ve already got me scared.

Kevin: Okay.

Richard: So, drop all of that. I don’t care, Kevin, how long it’s going to take me. I don’t care how long you’re going to follow-up. I don’t care if there’s one step, three steps or seven or fifty. None of that matters to me.

Michael: I don’t even care who you are or what you do.

Richard: Yeah, I don’t even care who you are. All I know is I’ve got a problem. I don’t have enough money in my business, and I have tried and tried and tried various marketing ideas in the past and they haven’t worked. I’m pissed off. I’m upset. I’ve wasted a lot of money. You’re telling me that you’re different. Tell me what you mean.

So, now I’m going to give you the USP that you need to be communicating to these folks. First of all, I really don’t communicate the USP until I’ve listened to them, and I understand their situation a little bit better. Don’t go in and start firing off your USP from the start. They’re just going to get turned off.

Go in and just say, “Tell me about your marketing in the past. Tell me how it’s worked. Tell me what’s frustrated you. Tell me what’s got you upset. Tell me what you’ve done that hasn’t worked.” Kind of let them unload first because that will tell you how you frame the USP. All right?

Kevin: Yes.

Richard: Here’s what it is in a nutshell, “Tom, I can grow your business, sales and profit, 25 percent or more without asking you to spend an extra dime on advertising. Does that interest you? Would you like to know more?” “Well, yeah, tell me how.” “It’s because I’m going to find new money from marketing assets you already have in your business that’s not making you enough money now. So, we can get them to make you enough money.”

So, in other words, no more money on additional advertising, we’re going to find it from what you already have in your business. Does that sound different? Does that sound like a new approach? And, the way I’m going to do it is there’s three ways to grow your business. There’s getting more prospects, increasing conversion rate, and increasing value of each customer.

Every other marketing out there only does number one. My system does all three. Can you see then how you’ll make more money, more likely to make more money by working on all three? Great, then let’s get started.

That’s the USP, Kevin. It’s the 25-100 percent without more advertising. It’s growing the business three ways instead of one, and it’s doing it from existing assets instead of finding more assets. There it is. That’s what he has to see as different.

Michael: Richard, I just want to ask a question to make it clear. The pitch that you gave Kevin, tell me the situation in which you would give that pitch, the one you did. Would that be once you have had someone on the phone on a cold call? In what situation would you give your pitch that you just did.

Kevin: Usually on a cold basis.

Michael: On a cold call. So, if you’re doing cold calls you have someone on the phone, that’s how you would present yourself right there?

Kevin: Usually, yes. I’ve experimented with a couple of different things. You and I have talked in the past on this, and I have still no that my message is too complicated.

Michael: On the HMA University, there’s four new recordings. One is with a cold calling expert, and it’s absolutely out of this world. It’s incredible. And, I’ve got a couple notes. What he does, Richard, this is really interesting. It’s a guy out of Australia, but he’s an American guy. He used to live in Atlanta and also San Diego. He worked with UPS. He worked with Qualcomm designing and engineering their sales training programs.

He broke down the first sixty seconds of a cold call into a four hour presentation, and I interviewed him for about an hour. I just did a couple of notes of another way you can approach someone or how a telemarketer could approach someone, and it would be something like this – let’s say Kevin you pick up the phone. I would say, “Kevin, maybe you can help me out for a moment.” And, they go, “Okay. What can I help you out with.”

And, I’d say, “I’m just giving you a call to see if you would be open to some different ideas on how we can bring more sales into your business”, or you would fill in how we could solve their problem, whatever their specific problem may be. And, they go, “Well, what do you mean? Or “Who is this?” and, if they say, “What do you mean?” You say, “Well, what I mean specifically is looking at a marketing strategy that could increase your sales without spending additional money on advertising.”

It may sound real easy just the way I read it, but this guy’s got an entire four hour course on how and why this work. He has had dramatic results from it, and there’s an hour interview where I have him take me through as if I’m an HMA consultant on how to do this. I would definitely listen to this. This may be very helpful for you.

Kevin: Okay, I will do that.

Michael: Yeah, that’s new.

Richard: Michael and I were a bunch of features, and then what I came back with were three benefits, and that’s what you need to hit people with. “I’m going to grow 25-100 percent without spending more money on advertising.” “Oh, geez, that sounds good. That is a benefit.” “Number two, I’m going to do it by working three ways to grow instead of one.” “Oh, I can see that.” And, then three is guarantee – “I’m going to perform and the system’s going to perform, and it’s going to be guaranteed performance for you.

Those are the three parts of the USP that communicate a strong benefit.

Michael: But, Richard, this USP and the way we’re presenting it is used to set up an opportunity analysis.

Richard: Yeah, that’s great. The way you did it is fine, and you can just insert various parts of the USP as you need to.

Michael: Kevin, you took me through specifically two – the chiropractor and the financial planner. What was the third opportunity analysis you had set? You had another chiropractor and who else?

Kevin: The photography guy.

Michael: Let’s talk about the photography guy. You set that up. How did that go? And, what was his feedback?

Kevin: Let me give you a little background on him. Actually, I did ribbon cutting ceremony for Kevin Fort Consulting at the Chamber of Commerce, and he was actually the guy who took the pictures of that ceremony. After they did the ribbon cutting, they gave me the chance to talk about my business and he had generated some interest from that through the speech I gave.

He told me right off the bat, “I don’t have the money to invest in this.” And, he had asked how much my fees usually are. So, right away, he already told me that he wasn’t qualified on the financial prospect.

He had told me he had started the business about a year and a half ago, and it was just not going anywhere for him.

Michael: You can look at that more as of a practice. He wasn’t qualified and he was a start-up.

Kevin: And, that’s the only reason I even consider taking him was just a chance for me to practice with him.

Michael: All right. There’s nothing wrong with that. How about the other chiropractor?

Kevin: The chiropractor – this one kind of upset me. I almost lost my cool with this one. He laughs in my face actually once I came back. We went through the opportunity analysis. I thought things were going really well. He seemed interested. He seemed to be following what I was saying, and then towards the end. He asked me what he was looking at expense wise, and I told him, “Why don’t you let me go back and set up the proposal, see what we need to do, and I’ll get back with you on the fee?” He was hell bent on me getting that proposal to him before I even left the office.

So, I turned around and said, “Well, most clients are looking anywhere from a thousand to $3,500 to project.” And, he basically laughed in my face and said, “There’s nobody in their right mind who will ever pay that.” I wasn’t in the mood to argue with the guy and say, “You know what? Take a look around. There’s lots of businesses that are succeeding all over the rest of the country that are utilizing this system.” But, I just said, “If you don’t want the help, then I’m not going to help you.”

Michael: Now that we’ve talked, you can see how qualifying upfront can eliminate this pain.

Kevin: Yes, this morning before we talked, I thought it was all my clients, my prospects, these people just don’t want it in this city, but now I realize it’s one hundred percent me. I’m not saying the right thing. I’m not going through the qualification process like I should be.

Michael: Richard, we’ve talked about qualifying on the telemarketing call, and on the call back to confirm the appointment. How do you handle the end of your opportunity analysis in your closing? Is it a strategy that you use that you try and close the projects right there? Do you offer to go back and do a proposal then come back with a price?

Kevin: I’ll start calling them an outline from her on out.

Richard: It’s a little less intimidating because an outline kind of assumes a close, and I’m talking now that we’re just going to outline what we’ve talked about that’s going to move us forward. This isn’t a proposal anymore. This isn’t a sale or invoice. This is just an outline that’s saying what we’re going to do.

I go ahead and get to the end of the opportunity analysis, and I’ll say something like, “Does this sound like something that will work for you?” And, they say, “Yeah, this is exciting. I think we can do this.” I say, “Well, listen, just one last thing. We’re going to generally run between $1,500 and $2,500 per step for a few months. Is that something that your cash flow can handle?” “Yeah, I think we can handle that.” “Well, great, then let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to go back and I’m going to put together an outline that will just put out into print in a little more detail of what we’ve talked about.” “Oh, that would be good.” “It will give us a starting date. Does that sound good?”

“Then, I’ll come back, in fact, let’s schedule that two days from now. So, today’s Tuesday. I’ll come back on Thursday with this outline, and we’ll go through it and you can let me know at the end of that if we’re ready to move forward. Does that sound good?”

Michael: Okay, that’s good. You say you can let me know at the end of that two day appointment. Have there been occasions where the guy’s so hot and ready to sign on where you just do the deal right then?

Richard: I don’t need the outline unless I need the outline. If I’ve got the guy sold, I move right in, “Well, let’s go ahead and schedule then the session with you and your staff which gets us started on the first step, the USP. When do we want to do that?” So, boom, I go right into scheduling. Then, after I’ve got it scheduled and I’m ready to leave, I say, “Now, I’ll just need a check for $1,500 at that session. Will that be okay?”

So, yeah, again use the outline like the mathematics part, only if I need it.

Michael: I heard an interesting fact that most buyers are buying while they’re talking. They come to a buying decision at the point of when they’re talking rather than when the salesman is talking.

Richard: That’s right.

Michael: Kevin, you’ve got all this information. It’s extremely powerful. You want to share it, and you’re excited about it.

Kevin: I’ve got to learn how to sell it.

Michael: You’ve got to listen.

Richard: You want to learn how to let them sell themselves.

Michael: Yeah, you don’t have to learn how to sell because you’re just a guy, they will sell themselves if you take them through that process. No one likes to be sold, but they want to buy, and you need to just listen to their problems, and they will sell themselves. Just let them talk about their problems – get it all out, and then you’re going to show them the solutions.

You’re like a little detective. As they’re talking and talking, you’re making mental notes, and then when it’s your turn to talk, you’re going to show them how to solve those problems that you’ve been so gracious to listen to.

Kevin: That makes a hundred percent cents.

Michael: So, I hope this has been helpful. Is there anything else that’s frustrating you, any little thing that you want to talk about?

Kevin: I just have one question for the both of you, and I think we’ve talked about this before, but Richard I’m 25 years old. I’m the youngest guy there at the Chamber meetings. I’m the youngest guy that I’ve seen on the bill trying to do these things. Do you think that that might be a reason that some of these middle-aged, 30-40 something are looking at me saying, “There’s no possible way that you have the answers”? I have to be able to put that at ease just from talking and listening with them. Is that an immediate turnoff when they look at me and say, “This guy’s too young. There’s not way.”?

Richard: There’s a couple of reasons why you might be fearing that. One is that again you’re talking too much, and the focus is too much on you, and you need to just get better at putting all the focus on them and their problems. Then, use the 15 year old system used nationwide and even throughout the world as the solution, not Kevin Fort.

If they see how the system will solve the problem, they don’t care how old you are. If you haven’t done a good job of showing how the system will solve the problem, then they’ll think you’re too young.

Michael: An idea if that’s on your mind, and if you think you’re getting that feedback, you can preempt before it even occurs. You can say, “You know, you may be looking at me right now, and I’m 25, but I’ll tell you my system that I’ve been extensively trained in has done this, this and this.” We have outlined, there’s a PDF you can print out which has the testimonials from over all the years. You can put that in front of them.

“So, as we talk today, I don’t want you to be thinking about my age, because I’m just the messenger of a system that’s already proven internationally for over 15 years. Is that all right with you?” Preempt it.

Richard: That’s right.

Michael: And, then that’s not a problem.

Kevin: And, you’ve told me that before in the past because I asked you before I got into purchasing the HMA system. Is there anyway anybody will take me serious? And, you said, “No way. You’re not the one they’re buying. They’re buying the system.” And, I guess I’ve always just had the concept, and I haven’t been able to shift that.

Michael: Bring it up, and any objection that you have, you bring it up and craft it into your presentation. I’ll send you a recording of all this, and you can relisten to it and take notes and build that into your presentation.

Kevin: I definitely see the errors in a lot of what I’m doing, and I’ll be able to fix a lot of that to turn this around.

Michael: I’ve told you this before. You are going to do it. I have complete faith in you because you are doing the things that are necessary, and you’re willing to fail. You’re failing somewhat, but you’re succeeding at the same time. I know it’s hard because your back’s against the wall, and you need money for rent, and it’s a terrible way to sell. Richard, you’ve been there, too. There’s nothing worse than having to sell when you absolutely need money, and hopefully it will be a thing of the past and once you get some clients or you get some money and you’re selling from a point of confidence, you’ll really excel. But, you’re doing what’s necessary, and I think if you implement some of these changes, you’re going to eliminate that negativity; you’re going to save more time. You’re going to be talking to more of the right people. You’re going to be qualifying them more. You’re going to be closing all the way through the presentation, and you’re going to sign up more people.

Richard: Kevin, you just said that you might get this chiropractor when he gets back?

Kevin: Correct.

Richard: Well, listen if you close one out of your six presentations or how many four?

Kevin: Four.

Richard: That’s great.

Michael: That’s what you say on the video, one out of four when you’re starting.

Richard: Yes.

Michael: Kevin, whatever happened with the bookkeeper who had all those potential clients and you were going to meet with her.

Kevin: We still keep in touch on a regular basis. She has not provided me with anything yet, and she’s waiting on me to provide her something. I don’t have any clients to provide her yet.

Richard: You should offer to do a workshop to her clients. She’s not open to that?

Kevin: I wish she would be open to that.

Richard: Tell her, it’s regularly $49 a person, but because she’s sponsoring it, she’ll be able to get it for $10. So, it’s a $39 gift from her to her clients.

Michael: Or, like I said, you can take that articulate presentation Richard and I did, and I can send you a master of that presentation on a CD that automatically opens up and you can burn CDs. I know there’s an expense, but you can maybe negotiate if she’s willing to pay for the duplication cost on the CD which would be probably about a $1.25 each. Maybe you’d be willing to pay to mail it out to her people, or she’d be willing to even mail it out as well as a gift for her clients, and let that articulate presentation do the selling for you. When you give me your stuff, I’ll customize it for you.

That’s an idea so you can leverage yourself and use that articulate presentation because that is a slick presentation, and they can watch it all on their time. Or, if she has the email addresses of these clients, you can sponsor the workshop and she can send out an email that directs them to your website or my website with the generic presentation that says, “If you’re interested in learning more about these concepts, contact Kevin Fort.” Or, have them contact her office, and she’ll put the interested party in contact with you.

Kevin: I think that needs to be my next step.

Michael: That’s leverage right there.

Richard: Well, good luck Kevin.

Kevin: Richard, I really appreciate your time on this.

Richard: Hey, you bet man.

Michael: Richard, thank you. I appreciate your time. Have a good night. Kevin, call me if you need anything else.

That’s the end of this consult with Kevin, Richard and myself about setting up and doing opportunity analysis. If you have a particular problem that you would like to discuss with Richard and I, we will do the same thing for you. Just give me a call at 858-274-7851, and I hope this has been helpful.