Asking for advice

I have always been fascinated by people who buy businesses.

I don't know why.

Before age 23 I had zero interest in business.  I was always, however, very interested in not having a job.

Having a business seemed like a way out. A way out of working for a living  (What an absurd idea). Still I thought business was boring.  Then I was given the Warren Buffet letters.  Everything changed. I was OBSESSED.

It was a new spiritual calling.  Before, I wanted to be some sort of musician.  After I read Mr. Buffet I could care less about music.

'Value Investing'...seemed like the neatest thing in the world.

I called my high school and asked for an alumni directory.  I phoned everyone who ever went to my high school and worked on Wall Street.  I called them all. I told them I was OBSESSED with value investing.  They thought I was weird.

(Hold on, I am going somewhere with this)

Someone arranged for me to have lunch with a man who worked for a value fund.  We met at a fancy pants coffee place on Wall Street.  I used to cut school and walk around the financial district all the time.  Everyone there seemed boring.  Now they were all part of a secret world I desperately wanted to be a part of.  I was intimidated.

I only remember two things from the meeting:

1. This guy couldn't understand how I wasn't drinking coffee in the middle of the day.  He told me any financial person would fall asleep instantly if not drinking caffeine. 


2.  Value/fundamental investing  (This was right before the '08 crash) was over because the market was never going to go down.

I think of this 'asking for advice' experiment often as an early sales prospecting experience.  I made cold calls in high school, when I worked as a Communist, but this was the first time I ever called strangers and actually cared about what they said.

It was also the first time I uttered this horrible question,

"So tell me about your business?"

 (!!!!)

The person on the other end of the phone became extremely annoyed (of course).  For some reason, of all the cold calls I've ever made, this is the one I think about every day -- without fail.

Is there a point to this?

Yes, I was an idiot. I said stupid things.

But still strangers tried to help me.

People were happy to talk to me and try to help me get a job. Even though I had no skills what so ever.

Then I tried to get my CFA but I could never pass any of the tests.

I lost interest in people who invest in public securities.  Small private businesses is were the action is. There is something about the process of finding secret treasure.  Treasure no one else can see, no one else knows about.  That is what I find exciting.

That is probably why I got involved in buying distressed real estate in New Mexico (which went broke) and got so into selling liquidated equipment and closeout inventory (those also went broke).

Stupidly I never tried to acquire a tiny business.  I did similar acquisition things in real estate (quite hilariously and catastrophically) --- but never tried to acquire a small business.  I never thought I had enough money to get involved.

I like to buy these old 1 cent books on Amazon.

This one was a good find:

How To Buy A Good Business With Little or None of Your Own Money by Lionel Haines
From 1985.

Here is what I found interesting:

His sales process.

He gets leads by asking people for advice.

Especially:

      1.) People who write, edit, own or manage the advertising for trade journals

      2.) Insurance Salesman

      3.) The owners of the actual businesses he wants to buy

Yes, that's right.  Even the companies he wants to acquire - he starts by asking them for advice.  He would never ever, directly ask them, "Can I buy your business?"

"I know this may sound like a game, but you may well scare off a good prospect by saying something too direct such as, “Is your business for sale?” Because he has not confronted the issue of selling, his truthful answer will be “No.” But if you let him project his own business into the picture you create with your acquisition criteria and you give him some time to think it over, he may call you back; then you suggest a meeting." (page 30)

I find this fascinating.  (Do you?) 

Here are his magic words: 

By phone:

“Hello, Mr. _______.  This is Lionel Haines.  I am looking for a business to buy in your industry as a personal investment.  Several local suppliers have referred me to you as one of the most knowledgeable and reputable men in the industry.  If you could spare me a couple of minutes of your time, I would appreciate your help.” (p. 31)

By letter:

SAMPLE PROSPECT LETTER
Mr. Sam F. Sulik, President
Samco, Inc.
Industrial Parkway
Cleveland, Ohio

Dear Mr. Sulik:

                You have been mentioned to me by several leading suppliers in the industry as one of the most knowledgeable company presidents in the area.

                I am looking for a good, solid business in the industry to acquire for my own investment. The firm I am looking for should have annual sales in the $2 to $5 million range.  It should be profitable and well managed.  I prefer a firm with clear, well-defined market niches and a strong reputation for quality and customer service.

                If you know of a local business that meets my criteria, would you please contact me by phone or letter at the above address.

                Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,
Lionel Haines

That reminds me of this amazing story in Business Insider about the founder of Datanyze.  He started the wonderful Datanyze company by running an 'asking for advice' campaign.

"Hey Ben,

I'm a first time entrepreneur and I just started to build my product.  I'm looking for experts in this space and several of my friends pointed in your direction.  So I was hoping you could give me your feedback before I spent too much time building something that nobody wants :)

Here's my idea: I have a crawler that crawls millions of websites daily and can see who started a free trial with Mixpanel almost instantly.  Do you think information like that would be valuable for somebody like KISSmetrics or I'm just wasting my time here?

Thanks in advance!- ilya"

That dude ended up landing Mark Cuban as an investor, all from a cold email.  I like Datanyze a lot myself but never ended up subscribing.


Here is one from HubSpot - I know nothing about the track record of this email:

"[Prospect],

From your LinkedIn profile, it looks like you've been working in aerospace for 20 years. I'm guessing you've been involved in many engineering advancements over the years.

I'm only two years into the aerospace industry. So, I lack some of the historical context I imagine you have.

I'm working on a new product for creep-feed grinding of titanium aerospace blades. If I confidentially shared some of my findings, would you be willing to give me feedback?

Regards,
[Your name]"

The best business book I have read this year is "Focus Framework" by Justin Wilcox   go here : https://thefocusframework.com/  


(BUY IT!)

The book is a guide to interviewing people to see if they actually have the problems you are trying to solve.

It's mainly aimed at tech startups. But these techniques are even more essential for old boring industries.  It's the best step by step guide for doing 'customer development' I ever did read.

(By the by, why the hell is startup synonymous with 'high-tech' start up. ) 

A problem folks who start high-tech startups have is they are nerds (like me).  People (meaning me) would rather spend years coding alone in their mom's basement --  instead of talking to terrifying strangers.  

Here is how Mr. Wilcox reaches out to people to ask for their advice:

"Hi Sam,

I read your article on volunteering your professional skills in Guatemala -- it was really inspiring.  I'm looking to travel more and you've got me thinking about incorporating volunteering when I do!

I have a software company trying to improve remote medical record coding.  I'm not looking to sell anything, but since you have so much expertise with remote coding.

I'd love to get your advice on our product so we don't build the wrong thing.
If you're available, I'd love to chat for just 20 minutes - Thurs or Fri morning?

Thanks for any help, Justin"

Or he does it by Twitter:

"@Drphoebes 1rst: dig your tat. 2nd: have some ?'s about helping kids on thespectrum. Looking for advice so I can get it right. Up to chat?"

There are only two things that freak me out about his email:

1.) The alternative choice close at the end (Thurs or Fri)... yikes... I like Kreuzberger's "If it makes sense to talk, how does your calendar look?. 

 Lately I have been playing with, "If it makes sense to talk (___ --- ____ mins max) how does your calendar look?   I then just stick in whatever precise minutes I think I need. 

"If it makes sense to talk (4 - 7 mins max) how does your calendar look? 
"If it makes sense to talk (10-15 mins max) how does your calendar look?

Just an experiment.

2.) I'm not looking to sell anything  (ah!!! forbidden words!!!! what!!!!!). 

 "I'm not looking to sell anything..." means YOU ARE looking to sell something.

I love this line:

"I'd love to get your advice on our product so we don't build the wrong thing.

If you're available,"

Jill Konrath would say never ever use the word love in sales...but let's give "love" a pass here.

To be fair I haven't tested this email.  At all.  This, of course, doesn't stop me from having an opinion. A strong opinion.

Part of the reason Bryan Kruezberger's 'appropriate person' email still works so well for me -- is it includes the "can you help me out?" psychology.  

Simply asking someone to point you to the "appropriate person", is a form of asking for advice.  The trick is, you also give value in the email.

No value in the message is why the 'Aaron Ross email' no longer works.

You know, this one:

"Subject: Aaron, Quick Question

Hello Aaron, Sorry to trouble you, but can you please let me know who handles (something that is relevant to your product or service) at ABC Company?

Thank you, Kevin"

This no longer works....

There is no actual value or benefit - mentioned in the email.  It seems like a trick.

Now that I think about it.... Ari Galper's whole 'UnLock The Game' (which I have some problems with) rests on asking the gatekeeper 'Can you help me?'. 

It works.  

I'm told Mr. Galper would sell his training program on stage using a simple "asking for advice" trick. Ask an audience member who is there #1 most impossible to reach prospect.  Call the gatekeeper of that prospect -- from the stage -- and ask, "Can you help me? I'm a little bit stuck."

It would work so well people were on the floor rolling around in disbelief. 

Mass hysteria. 


By the way, you should NEVER say, "Can You Help Me?" to to the decision maker (I forget Mr. Galper's stance on this.  Art Sobczak talks about this at length in the excellent book, "Smart Calling".  The undisputed single best telephone sales book ever written.)


Here is another one:

I heard this guy,  Jonathan Stark, (cool name!) on the excellent "Side Hustle Nation" podcast:

Subject: Powderhill Ski Rentals
Hi Bob,

 Your love of the ski life is infectious! You really have a passion for what you do and you share that passion with your customers. I love skiing myself (although I haven’t done much since my 5yo was born - yikes, time flies!) Your passion for the sport immediately got me dreaming of my last visit to the back bowls at Vail :)

I’m a software engineer in Providence, RI researching ski rental companies for a business I plan to start. I’d love to schedule a short 20-minute call with you to ask you a few specific questions.

Just to be clear: I’m not selling anything. This is research for a business I’m considering starting. Your company is exactly the sort that I would like to serve and my hope in speaking with you is to make sure that my business will actually solve real problems, and not problems I imagine companies like yours have.
And, after our call, I’d be more than happy to share any info you might find interesting from my area of expertise, which is mobile software consulting - e.g., iPhone apps, responsive web sites, mobile marketing, and so on.

Shoot me back a yes/thumbs-up and I’ll send across a few potential times for a call.
Regards,

[MY FULL NAME]
P.S. Feel free to give me a call anytime at (401) 952-8899.

How brilliant is this guy? :

"This is research for a business I’m considering starting. Your company is exactly the sort that I would like to serve and my hope in speaking with you is to make sure that my business will actually solve real problems, and not problems I imagine companies like yours have."

So good.

Ok last email.  I promise:

This one is not quite looking for advice -- 

"SUBJECT: I want to work for you, for free

Hi [name], I’m a huge fan of your [work / company], and I really believe in your mission to [prove you understand why they do what they do].

Your work is important, and I’d love to help you reach the next level. The reason I’m emailing is to offer you my [professional skill that you have] services.

Specifically, I would love to [some project that you can handle remotely], which will ultimately help you [increase sales / reduce costs / make customers happier]. The reason I think this will help is because I noticed you’ve been [allude to the extensive research you’ve done on them, and the potential problems they’ll face if you don’t help them].

I'd like to work on this project for the next two weeks. I can send you a brief email every other day with an update on my progress. I don’t normally discount my rates, but for this project, I’m willing to do it for free. Here is a sample of the quality you can expect from me: [Link to your portfolio, or previous work you’ve done] 

If you don't like my work at the end of these two weeks, you can scrap it and move on. No money lost for you, and no hard feelings from me.

But if you do like my work, I'd love to discuss setting up some more work for me to do. Would you be interested in this?

  Please let me know. As soon as I have the green light, I’ll get started. I can be reached at [phone number]."

That's from Charlie Hoehn's excellent recession proof graduate guide.

Here is my hypothesis: 

The key to making 'asking for advice' campaigns work is: you actually ask for advice.  

Everyone else tries to sneak in a sales pitch -- to sell something even though they promised they wouldn't.  This hurts us all.  

Do not pitch under any circumstances.  For a new campaign the advice they give you is way more valuable than any sale.   

I am perpetually surprised by what people respond to and want.  Sales is always a humbling experience.  

--Luke

PS I am working on an uber huge sales swipe file in SuperMemo:

Star Trek and sales scripts

All I ever wanted in life was to be the captain of the star ship Enterprise.

Here is a painting my friend Emily made for me when I got married:

Business is.....a distant, distant second.  I crash a lot more than Picard did.

I never watched Babylon 5.  Apparently this guy was in Babylon 5 and 'Lost In Space'.   Who cares.  What's important: he was in one of the greatest Star Trek episodes of all time.

The Siege of AR-558!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out how insane the Star Trek people were:

(https://youtu.be/nB22jSda0WA?t=4m7s)

He got in a lot of trouble for changing:

"That out to do it"

To:

"Well, that out to do it".

The Star Trek crew were all delirious from exhaustion.  Yet, still they exercised extreme vigilance over the tiniest word choice.

It's because desperate losers like myself freak out over the slightest inconsistency in techno-babble.

I am this guy:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYrRqMHQY7o)

Once as a child, I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation.  They shot a photon torpedo out of a shuttle bay.  What....the....f#$%.  Childhood ruined.

I am trying an experiment with Oren Klaff's 'Pitch Anything' method.

His basic thesis is that most sales training is way to loosey goosy.

The main reason he promotes 'Pitch Anything' is as a way to generate leads for all sorts of different businesses that Mr. Klaff might want to raise money for. (smart!)  There is a tendency in Pitch Anything to claim it is the perfect method for all industries...but I think you probably still need to combine it with Sandler (more loose) and something focused on prospecting.  Regardless....you do need a pitch.

Here is an example:

I have a friend who was a long time Sandler trainer.  He had a project recently where he got an executive from the perfect-for-him-huge-major-company on a meeting.  This was the ideal prospect for his project.  The dude just said, "Pitch me".

My friend hadn't prepared a perfect 6 minute pitch.  He assumed he would just do his usual consultative sales/casual chat approach.  The call was a disaster.  All those years of Sandler for naught.  In a 'consultative' conversation my friend is the best I've ever seen.  But one can't just memorize the Sandler moves...

Sales people want to have a casual conversation because it's easy.  Look at the success of SPIN selling (which I'm pretty sure is a scam..haven't looked into it enough yet -- will report back).

It's always shocking how much people really do want to listen to a pitch.  They want you to talk at them while they go to the bathroom and put you on speaker phone.  My theory: you are going to have to pitch them on the phone these days much more often before they will let you come into their office and have a chat.

                                  You need to be able to both talk at people AND talk with people.

Sandler is probably still the closest best all around system for what is required to sell most things.  However, Sandler tends to be awful at prospecting and awful at presenting.

One of the classic "Sandler Rules" is "don't spill your candy in the lobby", another: "Don't Show Up and Throw Up".  Always get permission to pitch -- never just go into a pitch as soon as you get on the phone or show up in their office.   Launching into a long pitch without permission is the worst possible thing you can do.  Much worse than not having a pitch at all.

Still a pitch must be memorized.  Especially for prospecting.  The cold call script must be memorized (not read), word for word.

What you say to the assistant, the questions you ask, objection responses, etc. These things must all be memorized.

I'm going back and forth about memorizing a presentation word for word.

But All the steps in prospecting must be memorized word for word.

"We might have a few options worth taking a look at."

Vs.

"We have options worth taking a look at."

Is huge.


These words have to be seared so deep into the brain they become a part of you.  There can not be any hesitation in saying the right words.  In real life, I never know what to say...but on a sales call it's a controlled environment.  I practice the things to say so many times it (hopefully) sounds natural.

For example take the critical topic of softening statements.

Look how different this statement is without softening statements:

“We might have a few options that could possibly be a fit for you as well.

Awesome:

But:

"We have a few options that would be a fit for you as well"

Yikes.

If you memorized an outline you would miss that.  If you only memorized the general idea -- you would miss that. The words which don't seem critical are often the most critical.  Especially words that lower pressure.

This video is one of the best I've seen on memorizing lines.  The idea being a big part of sucking is from not burning the lines into your skull deep enough.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGWebuIRMNA)

But if you are a rambling idiot left to your own devices like me.  You need to figure out the best way to say something and then know it cold word for word.


You can't just learn a general concept and wing it from there.

--Luke

P.S.  When I YouTubed "How to memorize lines" one of the first videos was from someone I went to college with.  Weird.  It's a small world after all.

Reveal a flaw

I couldn't pass the math test to use the cash register.  Addition only.

(Ok, that's a lie....subtraction, some multiplication and one long division problem.)

I called...begged...and then got to retake it.  Then I got the job.

My first sales job was working in one of the gift kiosks at the Met museum in New York City.

It was summer and I was 15.  I absolutely hated every minute of it.

I didn't care at all.

At first -- I tried to do the minimum.  Then I gave up.
When people would ask for a piece of jewelry, I would say:

"Look, are you sure you want to buy this?"

"You DO realize this is not really a pearl...it's just a plastic ball covered in shiny paper?"

"The metal they use to make this cross is terrible...not solid...look how easily it bends"

My only plan was to get fired.  Then I would be free.

To my horror the opposite happened, sales went up!


I found something about this recently in Jay Abraham's my life in marketing.
(It's here and free: http://www.abraham.com/my-life-in-marketing/)

(See: Part 3 at 1h18m)

Jay Abraham talks about the most important copy writing trick is to always reveal a flaw in the product.  He learned this apparently from Joe Karbo of  'The Lazy Man's Way To Riches' fame.  Who is thought of for selling hype...but his actual trick:

Reveal a flaw.

As I am a recovering direct marketing addict -- here is something else from that world:

Gary Halbert would always say the 3 reasons people don't buy are:

1.) They don't want it
2.) They don't trust you
3.) They can't afford it

(I may have 2 and 3 in the wrong order--I'm too lazy to look it up).

People want to do business with people they trust.  Even if they themselves are not trustworthy.

When you reveal a flaw people trust you.

Duh....

Marcus Lemonis did an excellent talk on this here:
http://www.inc.com/marcus-lemonis/why-vulnerability-is-key-in-business.html

When I try to figure out how to sell something I spend hours trying to put it in the best possible light.
Most of this effort is a wasted.

As someone who obsessively studied direct marketing as an attempt to hide from actual sales (always a fatal error) for years and years -- I have a particular problem with this.  I think being a wannabe copywriter may just rot your brain.

You get obsessed with choosing that one magic word to make the thing look as good as possible.  If I say, "great" instead of "good" everyone will love it and all my problems will be over.

But this is almost all bullshit.

It's better to spend some of that energy figuring out how to reveal a flaw.

Be ultra specific -- but reveal why they might not want to buy it.

"This widget does X it doesn't do Y So good.....it's terrible at Z."

Where as every other insecure human will say, "Yes, it does that too! it's awesome!"

What's interesting is not that this is true -- since it obviously is -- but how come so few people will do this.  It shows the level of insecurity humans feel.  Fallen, Pathetic creatures that we are.