SuddesGroup

Create an Action Forcing Event

Posted by: Nick Fellers December 11, 2007

I’ve never worked for the State Department but I know someone who has. Last week I was on the road and spent an afternoon with a campaign champion in California. He introduced a piece of State Department lexicon: ‘The Action Forcing Event’.

The organization I’m working with has a number of pending commitments. We’re using the executive director’s scheduled retirement (March 2008) as a reason for investors to finalize their commitments. This reason, he explained to me, is called an Action Forcing Event (AFE).

He went on to explain that in the government you sometimes have to make up an AFE just to get stuff done.

We can all be using AFE’s as part of our case/rationale for support around WHY we need the commitment NOW. Applied, this could be:

• A ground breaking event
• Campaign timeline
• A symbolic date

Without an AFE you are at the ‘complete’ mercy of the prospect’s timeline. Without an AFE the pending process can (and often does) drag on indefinitely.

I would encourage you to create an Action Forcing Event as part of your strategy for every visit. It’s not often that a visit results in a check on-the-spot so think about ‘timing’ as part of your presentation.

Attitude of Gratitude

Posted by: Tom Suddes November 21, 2007

There’s no better time of the year to GIVE THANKS for all that we have.

Almost every book I’ve read on success, happiness, personal development, etc. talks about how important it is to be GRATEFUL for what we have… and what a huge impact this has on our daily lives.

If “WEALTH IS AN ASSURANCE OF THINGS THAT WE VALUE…” and everything we really value doesn’t actually ‘cost’ anything… then, we should be truly grateful for our families and friends, our communities and country and our freedom.

I just read that over 3,100 have died in Bangladesh as a result of the latest cyclone. Having visited the country and see the living conditions, that was just another reminder to give THANKS for all we have.

Nick and I wish all of you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING - and we are grateful and appreciative of what you do every day to change the world and make an impact.

The Need to See Prospects

Posted by: Tom Suddes November 16, 2007

I love the magazine Selling Power (mostly just because I love the idea of sales). Gerhard Gschwandtner is the founder and publisher of Selling Power and has had a tremendous influence on my thinking. The subtitle of the magazine is “Solutions for Sales Management”, and they provide a lot of solutions!

I was skimming an old issue (May 2005) looking for more stuff on PROSPECTS and I came across this article called

GET OVER IT!
Post-9/11 Everything Changed EXCEPT THE NEED TO SEE PROSPECTS!

(Those are my caps and my exclamation point.)

The article was by Geoffrey James.

Here are the guts of the article:

1. “It’s never been more difficult to get through to an executive to make a FORMAL APPOINTMENT.” In our For Impact World, we deal with that in a number of ways. Most importantly, we don’t look for a “FORMAL APPOINTMENT”…
   but rather a VISIT!!!’APPOINTMENT’ (especially a ‘FORMAL’ one) immediately triggers your synapses to think ‘DOCTOR’! Or, worse, ‘DENTIST’!
2. “You have to do a better job of making prospects want to see you.” The way we do that is making a big, big deal of PREDISPOSITION!!!
3. The absolute best PREDISPOSITION for all of us in the For Impact World is to actually bring the ‘prospect’ to where you deliver your service. Let them SEE, TOUCH, HEAR, SMELL WHAT you do. Make it palpable. Make it memorable. Make it an experience.
4. “Once you do get in, however, you’d better be prepared to build a LASTING RELATIONSHIP.” WOW! As most of you know, our GOAL with all of our PROSPECTS is to create a RELATIONSHIP… ideally a LIFETIME RELATIONSHIP… and, thenMAXIMIZE THAT RELATIONSHIP…
   AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT!
   

The article goes on to talk about working to get a ‘VISIT’.

I love their “warning”:

“Working this system requires PREPARATION and PERSISTENCE.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

BOTTOM LINE: Your goal should be to get a VISIT (with a QUALIFIED PROSPECT… to MAXIMIZE THE RELATIONSHIP… at THIS GIVEN MOMENT.) Doing so requires PREPARATION AND PERSISTENCE.

Showing Napkin Messages and Nuggets

Posted by: Nick Fellers November 16, 2007

This notebook entry continues a theme on visual presentation tools. Just as Walt Disney did, it’s important for you to create visuals to illustrate your story (whether it be about a cartoon mouse or your operational budget).

I’ve pulled nine visuals from various presentation tools that were developed at or following training camps. These are intended to be used to create dialogue on a visit. They are not intended to be ’stand alone’ marketing pictures. YOU add the context.

Special note: I could write three pages about each visual. Put differently, each visual summarizes three pages… that’s the point. Use these visuals for inspiration and don’t worry about complete comprehension.

 

Napkin and Visual Elements
114 kb - PDF

 

“Our Service Model”
Help me understand WHAT your organization does: simply. This (national) organization connects enterprise with education.

 

“Impact of This Program”
12 Families. 12 Women. 19 Children. (Illustrated)

 

“Our Funding Model”
Only three pieces:

1. Priority initiatives (think: major gifts)
2. Our legacy society (think: planned giving)
3. Cornerstone Society (think: annual giving club/membership @ $1000)

 

“Annual Fund Impact”

• Expand existing programs
• Take to new areas
• Connect service locations

 

“A For Impact Mantra”
Your ability to communicate your impact determines your income.

 

“Our Focus”
We are the only organization focused exclusively on cancer prevention for kids.

 

“Where Does the Money Go?”
School: Three funding priorities

 

“Our Model”
“We make connections”

 

“Our Operating Model”
Complex budget explained with three pieces.

Bankers Do Not Have Any Imagination, None At All

Posted by: Nick Fellers November 15, 2007

Walt Disney was sending his brother Roy to meet with bankers in New York. He was going to pitch a new concept: Disneyland. At the time, Disney had cartoons but no theme parks.

As the story is told, he called in a young imaginer. To him he said,
“You know bankers don’t have any imagination, none at all. You have to show them what you’re going to do.” He then asked the imagineer to help him create a mock-up of Disneyland on a large storyboard. It was a splendid painting that even included black light paint so that you could see what Disneyland would look like at night.

This story comes from Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind-the-Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real. The book includes pictures of the storyboard (pretty cool).

Always look for ways to SHOW what you’re going to do. Use Presentation Tools. Banker or not, there is a big difference between talking your way through something and showing your way through something. A presentation tool worked for Walt Disney… maybe it will work for you.

Talking Time: You v. Them

Posted by: Nick Fellers November 1, 2007

It’s a sales mantra: Selling is not telling.

We all talk too much on sales calls/visits/presentations.

Do whatever you need to in order to get the other person talking. The more time he/she is talking, the better.

In fact, often I will say, “I’m talking too much. Tell me what you think about…” [Then I shut up and listen - it’s harder than it appears.]

Note: Watch what happens to the other person’s body language when you be quiet and engage her in the presentation by letting her talk. Watch as it changes from ‘lost fog’ to ‘enthusiastic engagement’.

What You Say is Driven by Your Goal

Posted by: Nick Fellers November 1, 2007

Change say to ask.

You have to know what you want (clearly) as an outcome of the visit to know what questions to ask.

Example goals for a visit:

Goal: To leave [discovery] visit with clear understanding of whether or not this is a fit for prospect.
Q: What are your top giving priorities?

Q: (After outlining project) Is this something you would want to support?

Goal: Clear idea of project’s rating around capacity and relationship.

Q: Assuming we got you to the site and you loved the project, could we have a conversation around a lead commitment ? (Question asked after addressing what a lead commitment would mean)
Goal: Get a commitment from strong relationship (eg. board member)

Q: What do we need to do to help you come to a decision?

My questions are direct (but authentic) and driven by the goal. I will not leave a visit until I have what we need re: the goal. This could be a commitment/decline, interest/not interest or a clear road map for action. One of my goals for every visit is always tied to building and/or maximizing the relationship at that given moment and for the long term.

If you identify the goal of the visit you will ask the right questions.

See also: We’ve outlined 50 power questions and transition questions. These are available as part of the $1Million Dollar Ask - shared free with WOW Email Membership. If already a member, resubmit your info for link.

Just Visit

Posted by: Tom Suddes October 31, 2007

Nick and I have been doing some pretty intense training, teleseminars and coaching in the last few weeks. Plus, I just finished up the GUIDE/WORKBOOK called PROSPECTS. Subtitle: How to identify major gift prospects.

I said in the Intro that if you’re not going to go out and make VISITS… you’re wasting a lot of time and energy “worrying” about finding new prospects, rating prospects, figuring how much to ask for, etc.

Familiar followers and fellow evangelists of the For Impact Movement know that our 3^rd Insight, battle cry and sales mantra is JUST ASK!!!

Before you can JUST ASK… BE AUTHENTIC… DO DISCOVERY… SHARE THE STORY… PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY… you must

JUST VISIT!!!

A CHALLENGE:

If it were me, I would schedule VISITS with 3 of my absolute best CHAMPIONS (and current investors) as soon as possible.

On that VISIT, I would

1. Say THANK YOU.
2. SHARE THE VISION (THE PURPOSE, PRIORITY & PLAN) …
   and get their FEEDBACK and COUNSEL.
3. PRESENT an OPPORTUNITY for them to HELP.

I’m willing to guarantee that ‘GOOD STUFF’ will result!!!

100 Visits in 18 Days

Posted by: Tom Suddes October 31, 2007

Jim Yoder is one of my closest friends (since our days together at Notre Dame) and a former partner of The Suddes Group. Jim has been running/managing large campaigns for over 20 years. He is currently working on a $1.5M Campaign for Economic Development (over 5 years) in a small community in North Carolina.

He has spent 3 DAYS…

EVERY OTHER WEEK…

FOR THE LAST 3 MONTHS

working on this Funding Initiative.

He has made:

100 VISITS!!!

100 VISITS… 100 SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER, FACE-TO-FACE, EYEBALL-TO-EYEBALL PRESENTATIONS… IN JUST THOSE 18 DAYS!!!

Oh, and by the way, Jim has never met any of those prospects/potential investors personally before he made that visit… AND he Presented the Opportunity for them to make an investment (JUST ASK) in almost every single instance!

I told Jim that 100 visits in those 18 days was more than most Development Officers and Major Gift Officers Make in a year.

HOW MANY VISITS ARE YOU/YOUR ORG MAKING THIS WEEK???

“Green” is everywhere… water is not

Posted by: Nick Fellers October 29, 2007

More than a year ago I stood in an airport bookstore and noticed that just about every major magazine had a global warming/energy/green headline. I thought that much coverage surely spelled media fad (instead of cause that would be lasting over time).

Perhaps I was wrong. Every magazine and newspaper I picked up this week had “green coverage” (Even Sports Illustrated - albeit the new Boston basketball team).

I’m someone that is aware of what’s happening with the environment but I would not be considered an activist in any way.

What strikes me is how much we’re reading about the environment - many aspects and how little we’re reading about ‘water’ - specifically.

In August, Tom and I rafted down the Grand Canyon. It was a two week adventure… amazing in too many ways to describe. That trip opened my eyes to the pending water crisis that we are facing here in the US. Lake Powell and Lake Meade were both down 50%.

[Pictured] Lake Meade - White ring shows lake down 100′. Lake at 49% of capacity.

We’ve also had more and more water-related causes joining our website and attending trainings. A few years ago we met Ryan’s Well and more recently (last week) The New York Watershed Agricultural Council attended training camp.

I predict ‘water’ will catapult to the forefront of the environmental discussion in the new 2-4 years. It’s impending and visible to everyone.

This week, The New York Times magazine: Is the Future Drying Up?

In July, Fast Company did an ‘expose’ on the bottled water industry.

and San Francisco has banned bottled water for city workers.

• Recent Posts

  • Make Everything A DRAFT
  • What Would It Mean To Maximize This Relationship?
  • We Learn By Going Where We Have To Go
  • Message To Garcia
  • Res Ipsa Loquitur

• Just Added

  Tom Suddes Video sharing the For Impact Point of View
  
  

• Ideas to help you...

  • Apply Other For Impact Ideas
  • Build A Funding Model And Funding Plan
  • Change The Way You Think, Operate And Fund
  • Communicate Your Case
  • Engage Your Board And Volunteer Leaders
  • Raise Money (Execute On The Sales Process)
  • Relate To Your Investors
  • Set Goals And Measure Progress
  • Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
  • Start, Run Or Jumpstart A Campaign
  • Think Bigger About Your Impact, Vision And Funding
  • With Organizational And Personal Productivity