Getting People Interested

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Getting People Interested

• The Art of The Opening Benefits Statement and the
  Elevator Speech

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SPS Content Slide
Common opening situations

• Situations -
• Youre at a social event and youre introduced to
  someone. They ask what you do for a living
• Youre buying a gift for your spouse and you
  casually start a conversation with the store
  owner about his sales
• Youre on an airplane and a conversation develops
  with the person across the aisle
• What do you say about your business?

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SPS Content Slide
How do you handle this opportunity?

• These are all situations where you can
• Be sociable
• Generate interest and excitement about what you
  do
• Develop a lead
• Develop a new agent
• Get a referral
• So, what do you say about your business?

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SPS Content Slide
What do you do?

• Diagnose the situation
• First How much time do you have? How soon will
  the conversation have to be broken off?
• If youre on a rental car bus and you are nearing
  the drop off, you will have to be very brief
• If youre at a trade show, plan on one to two
  minutes
• If youre at a party, plan on two to three
  minutes
• If youre on an airplane and youre not on final
  approach, you can take a little more time 5-10
  minutes

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SPS Content Slide
What do you do?

• Diagnose the situation (continued)
• Second What do you know about the person you are
  speaking with?
• If you know nothing about them, dont assume
  anything. Be open. They may not be a prospect
  but they might be the daughter or cousin of your
  best prospect.
• If you suspect they might be a prospect, make
  sure you at least get contact info phone or
  email
• If you know they are not a prospect, you will go
  for a referral

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SPS Content Slide
What do you do?

• Diagnose the situation (continued)
• Third Figure out how much they know about you
  and how much they know about merchant services
• Ask a couple of open ended questions
• Have you ever managed or owned a retail business?
  What was that experience like?
• You will need to be as clear and concise as
  possible so they dont get the wrong idea about
  what you do
• Have a ready-made description of the merchant
  services world so you can explain it in 2-3
  minutes

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SPS Content Slide
What do you do?

• Diagnose the situation (continued)
• Fourth What is your best outcome or next step?
  Where do you want this contact opportunity to go?
• Follow-up face-to-face appointment
• Telephone contact
• Email contact
• Their name in your contact list
• Referral

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SPS Content Slide
What do you say?

• Constructing a benefit statement
• How do we generate interest and excitement
• Be visual - use picture words and descriptions
• Be creative - dont assume your memorized
  benefits statement cant be improved upon
• Use relevant, important statistics - nothing gets
  dynamic until it gets specific
• Tell a brief story
• Describe the impact of a benefit - My problem
  and how I solved it - And what that meant to
  me!
• The vignette - short, impressionistic scenes
  that focus on one moment or give a particular
  insight

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SPS Content Slide
Constructing a benefit statement

• The Method - Follow these steps
• Describe the challenges most merchants deal with
  and ask if they can relate
• Describe the major benefits the merchant receives
  from working with you
• Qualify them in an indirect way to see if they
  are a prospect
• If they are a prospect, set up the next step
• If they are not a prospect, find out if they know
  someone who is a prospect - Get a referral

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SPS Content Slide
Constructing a benefit statement

• Dos
• Write out and memorize your part
• Merchant challenges
• Your benefits
• Be engaging and courteous
• Let them speak
• Listen carefully to what they say
• Qualify without interrogating them
• Set up the next step in an affirmative way You
  will call them or their referral

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SPS Content Slide
Constructing a benefit statement

• Donts
• Dont just talk about what you do. Ask them what
  he/she does
• Give them a referral if you have one
• Carry a dozen or more business cards in a
  cardholder or small notebook so they are kept
  clean and crisp. Dont give out dog-eared cards!
• Dont be a crashing bore who only talks about
  business, particularly in social situations

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SPS Content Slide
Follow-up to the contact

• How to follow up
• You may want to write a one or two word reminder
  on the back of your card as a way to jog their
  memory later
• Tell them you are a little hard to reach so you
  will call them. Setting up your call-back is
  key.
• Always thank them for taking your follow-up call.
  Remember, other people are really busy, also.
• Always thank them for referrals and let them know
  how it turned out, whether you got a sale or not.

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SPS Content Slide
Example of an opening contact

• Situation In line to board a plane
• Me So are you headed home or out of town?
• Him Im going home.
• Me I grew up in Indy but now I live in
  Milwaukee. I graduated from Warren Central High
  School. What about you?
• Him I graduated from Carmel.
• Me Yeah, Carmel used to kill us in football.
• Him (He nods and smiles.)
• Me What kind of work do you do?

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SPS Content Slide
Example of an opening contact

• Situation In line to board a plane (contd.)
• Him Im in marketing for ATA Airlines. I was in
  Dallas this morning for a meeting and here in
  Chicago for another meeting this afternoon.
• Me Wow, thats a hectic schedule. Is every day
  like that?
• Him No, thank God. Just today.
• Me (I nod but say nothingwaiting.)
• Him Whats your line of work?
• Me Im a consultant in the world of electronic
  payments. I work with clients who face the
  challenge of developing a great merchant services
  business and building real wealth. I guess you
  could say I help them get rich.

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SPS Content Slide
Example of an opening contact

• Situation In line to board a plane (contd.)
• Him Electronic payments? Do you mean like
  electronic funds and wire transfers?
• Me Mostly credit, debit and gift card payments
  to retail merchants and small businesses. My
  clients build a portfolio of merchant customers
  over a period of 5-7 years and then sell it for a
  lot of money. Its the kind of business that
  operates behind the scenes but its very
  lucrative.
• Him (Nods)
• Me Do you know people in the retail business?
• Him Yeah, my brother in law owns a couple of
  Subway franchises (And were off and running on
  a retail conversation)

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SPS Content Slide
Example of merchant services

• Situation At a party
• Her So what do you do?
• Agent I work with merchants and business owners
  who are paying too much for credit card
  processing. I put dollars back in their pocket
  and get them the best payment solutions for their
  business.
• Her How do you do that?
• Agent Most merchants really dont know what they
  should be paying. I analyze their statements and
  show them where they can saveHave you ever
  worked in retail or owned a small business?
• Her I worked at my dads hardware store in high
  school and during summers in college.

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SPS Content Slide
Example of merchant services

• Situation At a party (contd)
• Agent Is your dad still in the hardware
  business?
• Her Yeah, he has four stores in Southeast
  Wisconsin and my brother is about to take over
  the business.
• Agent Heres one of my cards. Id like to talk
  to your brother about what he is paying. Could
  you put me in touch with him?
• Her OK, but I think he is set with his bank for
  credit cards.
• Agent Oh, thats ok. I dont try to move
  peoples banking relationship. I just work to
  get them a competitive bid for the service and
  the right technology for a solution.

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SPS Content Slide
Example of merchant services

• Situation At a party (contd)
• Agent Whats your brothers name?And his
  phone number? Can I tell him we talked?

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Elevator speech

• Situation You have thirty seconds at most to
  make a contact. What do you do?
• Solution You refine and memorize a very short
  version of your benefit statement
• The challenges your customers face
• How you help them
• Example
• I work with merchants and business owners who are
  using older technology and paying too much for
  accepting credit card payments. I upgrade them
  and put dollars back in their pocketCan I get
  your business card? Heres mine.

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SPS Content Slide
Summary

• Refine, write up and memorize your benefit
  statement
• What challenges do your merchants face?
• Whats the real unique value you provide to them?
• Diagnose the situation
• How much time do you have?
• How much do you know about the person?
• How much do they know about merchant services and
  you?
• What is the best outcome/next step?
• Give your business card and get their contact
  info
• Set up the follow up and get back with them
  promptly