Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Brokerage Goals’

Brokerage Lessons from a day with Coach K

June 6th, 2013 3 comments

This past weekend I had the honor of attending a lecture from one of my coaching icons, Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University and USA Basketball.  Coach K is widely considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.  My most gracious host was Brian Zoubek, current broker at Cushman & Wakefield and starting center from the 2010 Duke National Championship team.

Coach K1I admit I am biased.  In addition to getting my graduate degree from Duke, I also served on their athletic council and was as an assistant lacrosse coach during my two years there.  Now as the head of Massimo’s coaching and consulting practice, I tend to watch more post-game press conferences to see how coaches position their comments to inspire their players and analyze their challenges.

Coach K addressed a group of participants at this year’s K Academy, a major college basketball fantasy camp, regarding how he orchestrated the 2012 USA men’s basketball team to the gold medal.  Imagine working with some of the world’s best athletes and getting them to hit a goal, which several have already achieved four years earlier.

Here are some highlights Coach K outlined regarding  his staff’s orchestrated, concerted, and progressive approach for his team achieving the ultimate goal.

  • Inspiration vs. Motivation- If you want to win you have to be inspired.  Coaches can’t motivate.  Either you are motivated to be the best or you’re not.  Our brokerage coaching clients, who achieve the best, are also the ones who are the most motivated.Biran Zubes
  • Set the Vision Up front.  Months before they headed to the Olympics Coach K asked Lebron James and the boys to vision what  they would be doing on August 14, 2012 – the day of the gold medal game.  Having a vision helps you to commit to a roadmap to get you where you want to go.  Your vision may include being the top producer, the top prospector, or simply to achieve a number of listings or amount of income.  The important point is you need a vision.
  • It’s Time to Recommit – Success only breeds success if you can commit the first time and then recommit every time thereafter.   Top producers are consistently top producers because they recommit to being the best.
  • Follow the Roadmap.  This is the plan of action to achieve your Vision.  Having a vision is great, but it won’t materialize just because you have one.  You need a specific plan of action and then commit to this plan.
  • Have Standards.  This is a way to do things all the time, which of course reinforces the goal.  What are your standards?  Do you hold true to them and consistently apply them during your pursuit to find, win and fulfill business?

Coach K, the winningest coach in college basketball history, is a master of inspiration, preparation, orchestrating and, well, coaching.  If you are motivated, then set a vision and commit to a roadmap.  Your own gold medal of brokerage is within your reach.

 

 

Share

Massimo Group Client – Massey Knakal – Launches CRE News Network

May 24th, 2013 No comments

Massimo Group client, Massey Knakal Realty Services, recently announced a new initiative called the Knakal News Network (KNN). KNN is hosted by Massey Knakal Chairman, Bob Knakal.

 

Ranked by CoStar as the #1 New York Brokerage firm based on the number of investment properties sold for each of the last twelve years, Massey Knakal is presenting to all participants in the commercial real estate market Mr. Knakal’s views, perspectives, and insights via weekly video presentations. These video clips will delve deeply into a new topic each week to convey the most recent news and trends.

 

Mr. Knakal has been the chairman of Massey Knakal since founding the firm with Paul Massey in 1988.

Although these videos are centered around the New York metropolitan area, the strategies and tactics shared by Mr. Knakal are applicable to any investment broker in any market.

 

To view this latest video, please click on the image above.

Share

PGA Golfers are Like CRE Brokers

April 11th, 2013 1 comment

This week we have a special post from Doug Molyneaux.  Doug is a partner in COMVEST Properties and its subsidiary, Net Lease Developers, LLC. He is responsible for acquisitions and investment sales.  Learn more http://COMVEST.net.  In addition, Doug is a CRE coach with us at The Massimo Group.   Doug’s post “Increase your income like a PGA Tour player!” is timely with the golf season now in full swing.

golf

It’s Masters Week and I have golf on the brain.  The analogies between golf and sales are endless.  Except for sponsorships pro golfers are on straight commission.  There is no guarantee of a paycheck at the start of a tournament.  Game planning, goal setting and execution are all part of the golfer’s and broker’s playbook.  In this blog, I am going to focus on statistics.  Every tour player has them and every broker (or any salesperson for that matter) has them.  Do you know your stats?  If you don’t know your stats it becomes much more difficult, and maybe even impossible, to plan, achieve goals, improve your game or even execute.

You can go online and look up virtually any statistic on the top golfers in the world.  To illustrate the importance of tracking and knowing your stats, I have compared just a few statistics of the top 2 golfers on the money list with the average tour player on the chart below.  The numbers in parentheses are their ranking.  What can this chart tell the average tour player?

Player Driving Accuracy Greens in Regulation Putts per hole Scoring Avg. Season Earnings Earnings per Event
Tiger Woods 55.8% (147) 67.01% (81) 1.653 (2) 68.33 (1) $3,787,600 (1) $757,520
Brandt Snedeker 67.7% (18) 72.95% (4) 1.699 (10) 69.63 (4) $2,859,920 (2) $408,560
Tour Average 60.08% (90) 66.05% (90) 1.78 (90) 71.39 (90) $393,171 (90) $56,167

 

Let’s say my income goal is $1,000,000 and I am an average tour player.  What must I do to achieve my income goal?  One way to achieve that goal is to play in 20 tournaments this year.  Another might be to improve my putting by 10 basis points and play in 2 or 3 tournaments.  Has anyone seen Steve Stricker?

Now let’s apply this strategy to your brokerage business.  Below is a simple chart for prospecting statistics.  The first row assumes Average Joe Broker (let’s call him A.J.) is a twenty percent kind of guy across the board.  Can you see A.J. in a listing presentation saying “you should list with me because I am successful 1 out of every 5 times”?  The chart below assumes someone will answer the phone 50% of the time.   Between the first and second row of the chart A.J. read a book or hired a coach and improved his stats from 20% to 25%.  Maybe he read The Barron Blog.

Player Dials Conversations Meetings Assignments Closings Avg. Comm
Average Joe (A.J.) 250 125 25 5 1 $25,000
Improved A.J. 250 125 31 8 2 $25,000

 

How can these numbers help the broker increase his or her income?  One benefit to tracking stats is motivation.  If you look at A.J., who hates to make cold calls, and do the math, he makes $100 per dial whether someone answers the phone or not!  If I were to stand next to your desk and give you a Benjamin every time you dialed the phone, what would you be doing all day?  I can handle rejection all day knowing I make $100 (or even $20 for that matter) every time I dial the phone no matter what.  When someone tells you “NO” just say “Thanks for the hundred bucks” (to yourself).

I also can set realistic goals and achieve them if I know my statistics.  If I am A.J. and need to make $1,000,000 I have to dial the phone 10,000 times during the year, or 200 times per week or 40 times per day.

Finally, knowing your stats can help you make better investments in yourself.  You can look at your numbers and do the math to determine what skill you should focus on that will make the largest impact on your bottom line.  Should A.J. spend his money on a book about closing, a webinar on winning more assignments or a coaching program that considers every aspect of his business?  In the example above, A.J. made very small improvements in a couple of areas and doubled his income for the same number of calls.  In brokerage and golf you will find very minute differences between average performers and those at the top of their game.

Now if I have sold you on the importance of tracking your statistics, here are some key stats you want to keep;

  1. Source – what percentage of your business comes from cold calling, referrals, repeat client, company lead, etc.?
  2. Commission – what is the average commission per deal, and what is the average commission per deal for each source of business?
  3. Calls – as discussed above how times do you have to dial the phone to have a conversation, how many conversations do you have to have to get a meeting, how many meetings do you need to get an exclusive, what percentage of your listings turn into contracts, what percentage of your contracts successfully close and what is the average commission per closing?

For those of you who already track your numbers, I would be very interested in hearing your stats.  How much do you make every time you dial the phone, whether you speak to someone or not?

Share

Keys to the Perfect Listing Pitch

March 22nd, 2013 No comments

In baseball, the time between pitches seems like hours.  In fact, in less than one minute the pitcher and catcher have scanned the field, mentally reviewed their notes on the pitchercurrent hitter, and the potential next hitter, communicated on a strategy to approach all these elements, and had little if any verbal exchange!  That’s quite impressive if you think about it.  Heck that’s more effort than most brokers put into their pitches for listings.

There are two keys to winning listings — convincing the prospect to list their property and then convincing them to list with you.  Both of these processes require different skills and a different set of pitches. But before you start pitching, you have to make a very important decision: whether or not you want to list the property.  Yes, most brokers quickly confirm they do, but several ultimately wish they didn’t.

You win listings by sharing with/convincing the client it is better to list than not to list and that it is better to list with you than with anyone else. While it’s possible to convince prospects of your skillset through rhetoric, it’s a lot easier to do it when you can point to specific listings that you have successfully closed. However, before you rush to list a property, determine if it is one that you can put in your “win” column.  If it is not clear, you should have a strategy as to why you would take an assignment when you feel you very well may fail.  Then determine how your pitch will need to be adjusted.

Some prospects understand the value of giving you a listing, but many do not. If you are dealing with a prospect that doesn’t get it, you will need to share some of the benefits of listing with them. There are the very basic ones:

  • When you list with me, I can execute a full marketing program consisting of….
  • I can tap into a database of ___ buyers sand ___ cooperating brokers.
  • As your representative, I will negotiate on your behalf, rather than on the buyer’s behalf.

There are more articulate ways to express the value of representation, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Once you have shared with the seller the benefits of listing their property, you then need to convince him or her to list with you instead of another competing broker. To win the business, ask yourself this question: What can I offer that the seller needs that no other broker can and how can I demonstrate this? Figuring out your unique value proposition and then articulating it is the key to successfully beating your competition to gain the prospect’s business.

New, quality listings are great for your business. Not only do they lead to paychecks, but they also increase your profile in the market and give you a shot at additional buy-side business both on the listing and by selling other properties to buyers that don’t buy the listed one. With this in mind, it is well worth the effort to both refine and practice your skills at pitching the value of the exclusive and your unique client focused value proposition.  Unlike baseball, striking out when you pitch is not a statistic you should be proud of.

 

Share

Massimo Group Announces “N2B” Coaching Program

March 13th, 2013 No comments

Industry’s revolutionary new-to-business coaching program for commerical real estate agents and associates:N2B

CARY NC (March 11, 2013) – The Massimo Group, North America’s premier commercial real estate coaching and consulting organization has created the industry’s first coaching platform targeted specifically for new to business brokers, announced founder and president Rod Santomassimo, CCIM.

The new to business program, known as “N2B”, is the organization’s first coaching platform created specifically for those with little to no experience in the commercial real estate industry.

“In the past five years, we have created industry leading coaching programs for seasoned veterans, mid-career professionals, organizations and teams, but had stayed away from those first entering the practice of commercial real estate brokerage” says Santomassimo. “Recently we have been asked by our clients to create a program that would greatly enhance the likelihood of success for their new team members.  The market offers several training programs that teach concepts, but no coaching platforms that focus on production.”

The Massimo Group worked with their clients, who include brokers, owners and managers from most international, national and regional firms to formulate a program that would emphasize the three pillars of success for any new to business broker:

  • Prospecting – focus on production to establish a pipeline;
  • Time management – ensuring new to business brokers spend their time on the key activities that will create and grow their business;
  • Accountability – providing a platform for both peer and mentor support.

The program will be led by senior coach and industry expert, Gary Tharp, CCIM.  Mr. Tharp is a nationally known speaker and trainer; he has served as consultant for many of the national real estate companies and franchises. He is a Fellow of the faculty of the CCIM Institute and the author of a series of real estate analysis templates for the popular spreadsheets.

“The N2B program we have created is completely different from basic training,” Tharp says. “Yes, participants will be exposed to several key concepts, but the emphasis will be on building their pipeline right out of the gate, so they cannot only increase their chances of survival in the first six months, but also help them build a book of business drive both them and their broker/owner.”

The N2B program will last six months and consist of twenty-four (24) weekly calls.  The first session will commence during the first week of April and new sessions will commence monthly thereafter.  Each monthly program is limited to twenty (20) participants.

“We listened to our clients.  We know this is an industry where brokerage owners simply hope 1 of 3 new recruits will survive the first six months,” Santomassimo says. “Our vision has never been simply to survive, but for all our clients to maximize their brokerage income.  We have proven this true with mid-career and seasoned-veteran clients, so now we want to do the same for new to business brokers.”

For information about this N2B program, please visit www.massimo-group.com or contact vince@massimo-group.com for additional information.

Share

4 Ways to Make Telephone Prospecting Easy

February 12th, 2013 No comments

I once worked with a brokerage manager who said there were two types of people in the world – those that didn’t like to cold call and those that lie about liking cold calling. He might have overstated his point a bit, but he does have a point.  The odds are you don’t like to prospect by telephone, but it’s equally likely that you would like to grow your commercial real estate brokerage practice.

There is no better way to expand your business than to talk to new prospects. The easiest way to start a conversation with new people is to pick up the phone and call them, and it doesn’t have to be hard or unpleasant. Try to keep these principles in mind, and you’ll find that prospecting by telephone is easier than you expect. You might even have fun doing it!

  1. Call in blocks of time. When you get a good rhythm going, calling gets easier. Set some time aside, close your email program, put your cell phone on vibrate, and make your calls. As you find your groove, you’ll find it gets easier.
  2. Call similar clients together. Instead of just going through your CRM program’s database alphabetically, call thematically. For example, you could call only clients with mortgages that are rolling in the next six months, call everyone with between 20 and 30 percent vacancy, or only call people in a one or two block area. Calling similar clients lets you take what you hear on one call and use it with other prospects.
  3. Call about something exciting or valuable. I believe there is always a reason to call. When you know that you have something valuable, your enthusiasm and confidence will come across and your prospects should respond. This is also a powerful brand building tool, since instead of being an annoyance like most cold calls; your telephone call will be valuable to your client.
  4. Maintain perspective. No matter what you do, some of the people you contact will not react positively. It’s their loss. Move on and find someone else that appreciates the considerable value you can add to them.  Telephone prospecting is a numbers game, and occasional failed calls are part of the process.

One of the great things about prospecting by telephone is it can have an almost immediate impact on your business. If you talk to more people, you will meet with more people and get more opportunities to compete for sales or leasing engagements. Once you have the opportunity, all that you have to do is close for the business. If that isn’t a great reason to shut down your web browser right now and do some prospecting, I don’t know what is!

 

Share

Broker Collaboration – What’s the Point?

February 7th, 2013 No comments

Let’s face it.  Broker collaboration is not the norm in our industry.  Our at least it hasn’t been in the past.  Many brokerage cultures today do everything they can to avoid cooperation with their brokerage peers.  The pursuit for double-ended fees are a company motto and information sharing only occurs as a last ditch effort to get a property sold.

OK, it may not be that bad. There are certainly company cultures with clients we have worked with that base their platform on open sharing; understanding that providing the client the with widest pool of qualified buyers, owners, users will ultimately lead to the most qualified and best price/lease, opportunity.

This is why I was intrigued when my good friend Jerry Anderson, who I profiled in my best-selling book, Brokers Who Dominate, contacted me and shared with me that he was just named the Event Committee Chair for a new event called Auction Point 2013 that is being billed as “an event created by brokers for brokers.

According to their website, Auction Point, which is a LoopNet company, brings together leading commercial brokerages in the U.S and the industry’s top-tier trade associations join together with a single purpose: to auction hundreds of quality commercial properties and notes at a single online event. AuctionPoint2013 was created by brokers, for brokers, to bring together the most motivated sellers and the most qualified buyers of commercial real estate from around the world.

By the way Jerry informs me that this is a limited event, so if you want to submit your properties (at no cost) and keep your full commission you will need to act fast.  Also, if you decide to submit, Jerry asked that you use the referral code TMG AP13 so he will know it came from me and the review committee will give it special consideration when evaluating its position in the auction.

I grouped Jerry’s chapter in my book in the “Game Changer” section, as he is always seeking channels for improving brokerage.  This is just the latest effort for him and an effort worthy of a closer look.   For more information, check out www.auctionpoint.com

 

 

Share

Your 2013 Brokerage Pipeline – Take a Closer Look

January 14th, 2013 2 comments

Your Pipeline Is Your Bloodline.

 

Being a commercial real estate brokerage professional means that you get pulled in many different directions all at once. To be great at your business, you have to not just handle but master all of these things. But, ultimately, there is only one thing that matters in your business.

Your pipeline.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you don’t need to have a good reputation. I’m not denigrating the importance of marketing knowledge. I assure you that you need to have solid relationships with prospects, clients and third-parties. I also recommend that you earn as much money as possible! When you really look at your business, though, none of those things really matter if you lack a healthy pipeline.

 

Pipelines are more complicated than most commercial brokers realize. Your list of under contract deals isn’t your pipeline. It’s your list of deals under contract. It is a part of your pipeline, and it is the part that you may feel most acutely, but it’s not the most important part. After all, once a deal closes, it goes off of your pipeline and, in many cases, that client goes dormant for a while.

 

The key to your pipeline is to keep filling it up with new opportunities. This might sound obvious, but many commercial real estate agents never think about the top part of their pipelines. The meetings, proposals, offers and listings that you take get filtered out and make up the bottom lines of your pipeline. As long as you keep creating opportunities for yourself, your pipeline will continue to stay flush and your business will keep creating paychecks for you and your family.

 

Think of your pipeline the way that you think of your circulatory system. You’re healthy because your heart pumps freshly oxygenated blood throughout your body, nourishing every part of it. Your business is the same. For it to be healthy, you need to always have fresh opportunities coming into it. In other words, your pipeline is your bloodline.

Share

Setting Your Team Up for Success in 2013

November 3rd, 2012 No comments

It is inevitable that when November hits many brokerage firms start looking to next year. Budgeting becomes a top concern for brokerages, while closing deals before year end is the focus for most brokers.

You want your team have a strong finish to the year, but you also want to put them in position for a fast start in 2013. Here are the Top 10 items we help our coaching clients with as the year starts to wind down.

 

  1. Analyzing their marketing campaigns to identify which ones were successful, which weren’t, and why.
  2. Reviewing transactions in the market to find emerging trends so that they can better focus their efforts in the coming year.
  3. Cleaning up their databases to remove inactive clients and add new owners or tenants for prospecting in the New Year.
  4. Building a list of every client they have completed proposals, presentations, or BOVs for so that they can re-touch
    them and hopefully build on their previous efforts.
  5. Setting up a holiday contact strategy that not only maintains relationships and builds good will but can also help to achieve business aims.
  6. Taking the time to build new marketing pieces so that they are ready to deploy them immediately after New Year’s.
  7. Setting up a contact list of the most important clients to touch in the first month of the year, ensuring they get off to a running start.
  8. Devising a strategy for booking meetings with their existing clients for a planning session in the first quarter of the year.
  9. Planning likely referral sources, whether they are existing clients, colleagues or vendors, so they have a strategy to have third parties sending them business, helping to magnify their prospecting efforts.
  10. Reviewing several key aspects of their brokerage business in 2012, as well as setting goals for 2013 so that their business can not only grow but also help them to grow both personally and professionally.

The end of the year can be an exciting time as the clients we work with both rush to close deals and try to enjoy the holidays for themselves and their families.  Our best clients also use the end of the year to prepare for the coming year. With hard work, a coaching-partner and a third party perspective, they will carry their success forward into 2013.

Share

International Author Shares 3 Keys to Sales Success

October 15th, 2012 No comments

Warren GreshesMASSIMO GROUP: Good afternoon this is Rod Santomassimo of the Massimo Group and welcome to this version of the Massimo Minute. This month we have a very, very special guest, Mr. Warren Greshes, who I am fond to say is a friend of mine. Someone that a client had introduced me to and told me, “Rod if you are in the North Carolina area, you have to reach out to Mr. Warren Greshes because he is an international phenomenon”. Of course I was curious to see who this gentleman is, so I reached out and gave him a call and several lunches later I am now proud to call him a friend. Warren is a professional speaker. If you haven’t read it, you should, he is the author of the best selling Best Damn Sales Book Ever, Sixteen Rock Solid Rules for Achieving Sales Success. Certainly Warrens a keynote speaker and speaks on issues such as customer service, sales and leadership. So Warren, welcome to the Massimo Minute and thank you very much for your time.

WARREN GRESHES: Oh, no problem. Glad to be with you Rod.

MASSIMO GROUP: It is certainly a privilege of us and our audience. The few minutes we have, Warren, it really hit home in today’s market place specifically with commercial real estate brokers. It is an extremely challenging market. This is probably true for any sales in particular. But tell me if you can, what are you seeing out there in the market place and certainly I am finding more and more people, I don’t want to say that it is a crutch while using and leveraging other tools such as social media, and certainly other platforms to try to get their message out. I surely think the social media has a place. Let me ask you, where’s this fits into the total prospecting package from the sales perspective?

WARREN GRESHES: I think, like you said, I agree with you. Social media has a place and has a definite place in today’s sales effort and today’s prospecting efforts. It is a great way to reach a lot of people in a very short period of time. It’s a great way to set yourself up as an expert. It’s a great way to find prospects. It’s a great way to focus in on specific niches in the market place.

But what I just said is not selling. See what I just said is marketing. There is a big difference between marketing and selling. I’m not an expert in social media, and I don’t use it as well as I could. I realize it is a real hot topic these days and I really see the benefit in using it; but I’m really scared that a lot of sales people are using social media as a crutch to not sell, to not have to talk to anybody one-on-one, to not have to pick up the phone, to not to have to get in front of somebody. There is a lot of pit falls in social media. Just as there are many pit falls in e-mail, which was another crutch. Sales people love e-mail, sales people love social media; because, they are lead to believe that if you use this you never actually have to go through the hard part of selling which is the picking up of the phone, or getting in front of people. In other words you never actually hear anybody say no via Linkedin Facebook, Twitter, or on e-mail.

MASSIMO GROUP: Very, very true. That is one of the reasons that most sales people utilize those platforms. But I agree too, it is certainly marketing vs. advertising something we use here in the Massimo Group. We say it is presence vs. prospecting. You know selling vs. not selling, creating that market presence. And certainly production goes nowhere just with the marketing side. You need to prospect, you absolutely need to prospect.

WARREN GRESHES Rod, you and I had this discussion and we talked about this. We talked about presence and prospecting. I really like that term you coined, presence and prospecting, I think that’s great. But remember I posed the question to you. If you had to go without one, what would be better off going without presence or prospecting?

MASSIMO GROUP: Well if you had to go without one, if I had to choose I would go without presence. Because you can’t go without prospecting.

WARREN GRESHES: Right. You cannot go without prospecting. I know people who have gotten clients on Linkedin and I know they have gotten clients through social media. But I got to tell you something, nothing takes . . . You know my father-in-law was a salesman and he is 84 years old. He doesn’t work full-time anymore, but he is still out there one day a week, maybe two days a week. And you know what; he is having a terrific year. And I don’t know how the heck he is doing it because he doesn’t have a computer, he doesn’t have a PDA, he doesn’t have a Twitter account, he doesn’t even know how to use a computer, he’s not on Linkedin, and he is not on Facebook. You know what he does? He gets in his car and he goes to see prospective clients, he goes to see clients, he on the phone with them all the time. And somehow this guy manages to do business without a Facebook account. How the heck is he doing that?

MASSIMO GROUP: How the heck is he doing it? At that age kudos to him. Hey Warren a few minutes left so I want you to give away all your 16 golden rules
I think people need to certainly take a look at what you have to say. But I want to ask you a question. If you can

WARREN GRESHES: Sure.

MASSIMO GROUP: Please give me three key ideas as far as if I want to prospect more effectively. What are some ideas you would have?

WARREN GRESHES: Okay. Well first of all know who you want to call before you call. Very simple. If you are going to be making prospecting calls via telephone or in person, your list should be set up the night before. I find a lot of sales people is what they do is that start looking. They make a call then they look up who they are going to call next, and they make a call, and then they look up who they are going to call next, and they make a call. They do this over and over again. And basically all they do is waste time.

You should also focus on who you want to deal with. I have a customer profile put together and know exacting who you want to call, what kind of companies, what kind of people, who are you looking for. I mean, you know in our business, we are looking for VPs of sales. We are looking for sales executives. Why? Because most of my audiences I speak in front of are sales people. I speak at a lot of annual sales meetings, big incentive conferences, and who’s going to make the decision on that. It usually a sales executive so who’s going to make the decision on what it is you are selling on your commercial real estate business, who is going to make the decision to buy it from you. And you want to first of all figure out where those decision makers are. That’s where things like Linkedin can come in. They can help you find those decision makers. Once you find those decision makers then you got to call them and then you got to set the appointments.

Do your calls every single day. I would rather see you do a little bit a lot rather than a lot a little bit. In other words, if you are going to make 50 prospecting calls a week, I rather see you make 10 prospecting calls a day five days a week then 50 calls once a week. Because if you do 50 calls once a week, you are not developing a habit. All that is going to happen is you are going to really dread one day. It is working out. If you work out a little bit every single day you are going to get in shape. If you work out a lot once a week you are just going to say, oh god who the heck wants to do this. The night before you are going to be dreading the next day and eventually you are going to say oh the hell with it. And the only time, as well we all know, the only time you only fail is when you give up. So do a little bit a lot not a lot a little bit. You know when I first started in sales, we didn’t have cell phones, we didn’t have laptops, we didn’t have all this technology.

I know I am sounding old here: but the fact in the matter is when I was on the road, when I was going on appointments I would stop at pay phones to make calls. I always had a list with me, a hand-written list of at least ten people I could call while I was in my car. Now with cell phones and PDAs, I mean I got a blackberry here, boy I could do it while I am driving. I know you are not suppose to. I am not encouraging that, but you can do it while you are driving. There is no excuse not to make the calls. I mean the biggest part of prospecting is you have to do it every day. You know there is an old saying, you are throwing up against the wall something is going to stick. I’m a big believer in that. The single biggest reason that sales people do not do business is because they do not talk to enough people. I’m not telling you don’t do e-mail, I’m not telling you don’t do Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook but they are in addition to. They are not in lieu of.

MASSIMO GROUP: Very strong, very applicable and so, so accurate. Warren Greshes, thank you so much for your time. But one last question before I let you go. I’m sure there are many people out there saying wow how this guy got me motivated. How can we get more? So Warren, is there a website? Is there something we can look for in regards you, your books, and your keynote speeches? Where can we direct them to?

WARREN GRESHES Well, my website is www.greshes.com obviously. And my e-mail address is warren@greshes.com. And so you can either e-mail me, go to my website, contact me through my website. You can find my book on there. There is a link to my Amazon page right from my website. All the information you need about my services and me.

MASSIMO GROUP: So there you go, a man who practices what he preaches. He does utilize social media but he also prospects proactively and aggressively. So Warren Greshes thank you very, very much. And till next time this is Rod Santomassimo with the Massimo Minute. Talk with you soon.

Share