SuddesGroup

Never Make A Cold Call

March 23, 2007 | Nick Fellers

This little nugget is about predisposition–the goal of which is to set the stage for your visit, call or presentation. Predisposition is an important component of the sales process and it’s done in advance of your visit.

So often I hear about visits where so much work was done to get the visit, there was a lot of strategy around the ask, number, etc. but for some reason or another something just didn’t feel right and so an ‘ask’ was never made. Many times this is because there was zero predisposition beforehand.

To help you understand predisposition, think of it as the sum of actions that will make the visit as far removed from a cold call as possible. This could apply in many ways:

• Predisposition to your cause, case or project: If this person has no real idea about a particular problem, then your solution is not going to be as exciting. Or, perhaps it’s a long time relationship that doesn’t know about a wonderful project or campaign initiative. Get this person excited about the project.The best predisposition in the world would be to have the prospect see how/where/when you deliver your impact!
• Predisposition to the ASK: If an ask is coming out of left field then you did not do a good job of predisposing to the ask BEFORE the visit. If you go a great job predisposing to the ask then numbers are VERY EASY to talk about.
• Predisposition to the presentation team: The prospect might have a great relationship with a board member and even to the organization but not to you as an executive director or development person. Use your champion to set the stage to predispose for the personal relationship so that you don’t get the cold shoulder.
• Predisposition in any other way that prevents your visit from being ‘cold’…

This is a concept. What’s important is that you get the concept and apply it to each presentation strategy so that you’re not met with cold or clueless receptions.

Action: Look at any visits you have setup for the next three weeks. Force yourself to come up with a predisposition strategy for each visit. Perhaps it’s as simple as a support phone call from a champion or sending over some materials via e-mail–in advance of the visit.

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The Perfect Predisposition

December 1, 2006 | Tom Suddes

Short. Sweet. Powerful. Here’s an IDEA that you can use immediately to significantly increase the level of investment from your top prospects. This idea is particularly relevant if you are in a ‘CAMPAIGN’ or trying to involve/engage your top prospects at the leadership gift level.

The absolute best PREDISPOSITION … is to bring your BEST PROSPECTS …
to WHERE YOU DELIVER YOUR SERVICE!!!

This seems so natural and ‘commonsensical’. (That could be a new word.) Yet, to so many people we train and work with … this is a big revelation.

Don’t tell me you can’t get people to come and visit you. I didn’t say it was easy. I said it will significantly increase the magnitude of the commitment! If they’re really and truly a great PROSPECT … then they need to SEE and FEEL and TOUCH what you do.

In essence, it’s simply saying that the ‘HOME COURT ADVANTAGE’ is very powerful.

To me, it’s saying that bringing your prospects/potential investors TO YOU … where you can control the environment, the flow, the tour/agenda … is one hundred times better than their office or home, and 1,000 times better than a restaurant.

IF … “A PICTURE is worth a THOUSAND WORDS.”

THEN … “A LIVE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE is worth a MILLION words.”

P.S. Just finished a great book by Phil Dusenberry, former chairman of huge marketing and advertising agency, BBDO. His title and his message were:

ONE GREAT INSIGHT IS WORTH ONE THOUSAND GOOD IDEAS.

This particular INSIGHT of bringing people to you/perfect predisposition/live memorable experiences IS worth one thousand good ideas …
IF YOU ACT ON IT!

NOTES FROM THE FIELD:

Nick was up coaching with a terrific FOR IMPACT ORGANIZATION yesterday in northeast Ohio. He brought in a Board member and her husband to SEE what went on, FEEL the IMPACT and MEET the PEOPLE they SERVE. They were WOWED!

Twenty-four hours later the couple called with a LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT to help FUND THE VISION. It would not have happened with a visit at home or office.

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No More Special Events

September 20, 2003 | Tom Suddes

With special, special thanks to Tom Peters, the man who WOWs me with almost every thought. Yes, the man is a crazy, contrarian, disruptive exclamation point! Which is why I love his thinking.

This is much longer than most of my WOW Emails … but it’s a pretty big “epiphany”
(both mine and Peters’ word). In fact, this WOW Email is itself meant to be
a “Memorable Experience“. As you read deeper, I’m
even hoping it could be a “Transforming Experience“.

I urge you to share it with your Board, your Development Committee, your “Gala”
Committee, your Golf Outing Committee, your Auction Committee. In fact, share
it with everyone and anyone who has ever had to go to a “nonprofit …
fundraising … function“!

Here goes.

NO MORE “SPECIAL EVENTS”. NONE! NADA! ZIPPO! (Not even “One
Big One”, which I used to recommend.)

WHY?

• Special Events are NOT special!
• Special Events are NOT even events! They are time-consuming, staff-burning, volunteer-abusive activities.

NO MORE SPECIAL EVENTS!!!

I always ask the question, “How many of you want to do MORE Special
Events?” I have yet to see a hand raised from thousands of participants.

Admit it. Your “Special Events” are not! They’re the ’same old, same old’ … for you and for your “customers/constituents/stakeholders/prospects/potential investors/ investors”.

NO MORE SPECIAL EVENTS.

The goal of For-Impact leaders within a World Class Development
Office is to create “Memorable Experiences“!!

I have now gone from a “function” (in the old, old, old days)
to a “Special Event” (that is not really special) … to “MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES“!

For Impact Organizations are all about “MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES“.

I was “there”. I just couldn’t get the right “word” I was looking for. Tom
Peters found it. I added Memorable to ensure you could
distinguish the difference between a Memorable Experience
and a “not so special, not so event”.

We spend 1,000 man/woman volunteer hours to raise $1,400!
Have you ever actually stopped and asked those “volunteers”
if they wouldn’t rather just give you the $1.40 an hour?

Have you ever actually stopped and asked your staff if they
have more productive ways to spend their time than coordinating
all these events?

“But our Special Event (Auction/Gala/Dinner/Newspaper Sale/Golf
Outing) … is DIFFERENT! We ‘raised’ almost $100,000!”

Yeah??? Do you remember your funding GOAL? ???
Again, you spent a huge amount of volunteer time and energy … AND months and
months of staff time … AND you actually “grossed” $100,000.

Simple business principle: You must deduct ALL costs and expenses from your gross dollars! Yes, that includes your staff time! When you do that, you actually “net” $35,000! Or, in other words, it cost you 65¢ to raise $1.00!!!

AND … (this is the worst)! No one who was at your event “experiences”
anything about your For Impact Organization! They leave with their auction paddle,
a few golf balls, miscellaneous “stuff” … but no mention of WHAT you
do, WHY you do it or HOW you do it!!

ACTION: Use the “EXPERIENCE” word
to help:

1. Communicate your STORY! …
2. Share your VISION! …
3. WOW the “audience” with what you do, why you do it and how you do it …

I know you think I’ve “lost it” (again!) “You and Tom Peters are both
whacko crazies who throw ideas at us that sound good (even exciting) but they
can’t be acted upon!” I can hear you now: “We can’t do that
… we’re a nonprofit”! “We have no budget”! “Our volunteers won’t go along with
that”! “We’ve always done it this way!” “The Committee expects it.”
Etc., etc., etc. (Think “Sacred Cows”, “whine with your cheese”, etc.)

Blow it up! Abandon it! Re-imagine it! Turn the “Sacred Cow” into hamburger!

I know many of you (and your organizations) see this move from “Function” to
“Special Event” to MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE as a HUGE
LEAP!

It’s not.

Here is the HUGE LEAP: TRANSFORMATION.

From “Special Event” to “Memorable Experience” to
a “TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE“.

It’s just not “special”. It’s not even just “memorable”. It literally and truly
and actually TRANSFORMS the people through the “experience“.

My first real “experience” with a “Memorable Experience”
was at Notre Dame. Jim Frick and Fr. Hesburgh were so far ahead of the curve
when they began “fly-ins” to Notre Dame. The numbers were staggering: 111 people
brought in. 107 commitments. Over $100 million of commitments (on $130 million
campaign). It was about the “experience” of those who were flown in
for the weekend. Private jets (in 1975!) Mass at the Log Chapel. Dinner on top
of the library with all the lights on campus turned on. Customized tours of
areas of interest, etc., etc., etc.

If any of you have ever been to an American Cancer Society RELAY for Life Experience,
you know what a Memorable Experience is. Twenty-four
hours around a track with luminaries and survivors and families is a MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCE! It’s a moving experience! It adds to the “story”!
They still call it a “Special Event” but that’s because of the size of the bureaucracy.
They’re actually running Relay for Life as a skunk works entrepreneurial venture
separate business unit. Is it working? They raised $275 Million last year; and
hope to raise $1 Billion in the next three years.

Here are some Hewlett Packard WHAT IF’s:

WHAT IF … you are a For Impact Organization?

WHAT IF … you have a social entrepreneur’s mentality?

WHAT IF … you use creativity, not money?

WHAT IF … you bought into this whole “Memorable Experience”
thing?

WHAT IF … you carried it beyond your ‘events’???

WHAT IF … everything you did in your World Class Development
Office was a Memorable Experience?! Your Annual Report?!
Your Mailings?! Your Leadership Society WOW Packets?!
Your Recognition Events?!

WHAT IF … you turn a simple “tour” of your facility or new
building or whatever into a MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE???

This is what the Red Cross is doing in Maine as they move from a simple “event”
in their new building to a truly Memorable Experience
… which shows off the building as the “place” where they provide
training, services, and administer disaster relief. (They’re
not only going to invite Qualified Prospects/Investors but their families,
spouses and children to see the WHAT,
WHY and HOW of the American Red Cross in their community!!!)

WHAT IF … it went beyond your Development Office??? To your
organization?

• Your reception (area or receptionist) was a Memorable Experience?
• Your introduction to your stakeholders was a Memorable Experience?
• Every “Moment of Truth” (from Jan Carlson) was
  a Memorable Experience?

WHAT IF … every Board Meeting was a MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCE? Now you’ll get attendance! Now you’ll get people who
actually enjoy going to Board Meetings vs. the same old boring information
dissemination that exists at most Board Meetings.

(I speak from some personal experience here. I’m on the Board of one of the
finest For Impact Organizations in the world. Its cause is unbelievable. Its
staff is the best! Its founder and key Board members are truly exceptional!
And … its Board Meetings are dull, boring and forgettable. Who wants to drive
45 minutes to a “Board Meeting” to “review the finances” … to “listen to Committee
Reports” … to, occasionally, “hear about our impact???” No
ONE.)

Here’s the tip/idea/lesson: If you could make every one of your Board Meetings
a truly MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE … with PARTICIPATION
… FEEDBACK … ACTUAL CONTACT with those you
serve, those who deliver, those who partner,
etc., wouldn’t that be awesome?

A Special, Special, Special Note!

MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES require Creativity! Innovation! WOWs! Artists! Mavericks! Which means … You cannot create Memorable Experiences with the same group of volunteers who have run your not-so-Special Events for the last ten years! You cannot create Memorable Experiences if they are led by your Accounting Office … your Finance Office … your HR Department!! Think artists! Think theatre! Think young! (Give that new staff person a chance to show off their creativity!)

If you’ve ever been touched by the Suddes Experience, you know I love to change your vocabulary … change the way you think … change how you speak and then act.

Here are some closing thoughts on old words and new words that could help you “get it”.

(But, remember the immortal words of Kevin Kelley, another great thinker/writer: “It’s much easier to KILL an organization than to change it substantially.”)

OLD

• Special Events
• A “Nice” Function (Read Gala, Golf Outing, Fundraising Dinner, etc., etc., etc.)
• A Motorcycle
• Shoes
• A Cup of Coffee
• A Costly Airplane Ride
• A Circus (with 3 Rings and some Animals)

NEW

• Memorable Experiences
• A Knock Your Socks Off … Incredible WOW … Transforming Experiences!
• The Harley Davidson Experience
• The Nike Experience
• The Starbucks Experience
• The Southwest/Jet Blue Experience
• *The Cirque Du Soleil Experience

*If you have not been to a Cirque Du Soleil “Experience” … go to one as soon as you possibly can! They’re in Vegas. Orlando. Multiple road shows around the country. You cannot attend a Cirque Du Soleil performance and not understand the word “Experience“.

I want you to think about these three things:

1. Memorable Experiences as a truly transforming idea. (Change the Way you THINK!)
2. Memorable Experiences as a very big deal in your For-Impact Organization … and within your World Class Development Office! (Change the Way you OPERATE!)
3. Memorable Experiences as an incredible PREDISPOSITION IDEA … and a mantra for PRESENTING THE OPPORTUNITY. (Change the Way you FUND!)

This last is pretty exciting! It turns a Not-So-Special Event into a Memorable Experience … which is then used as PREDISPOSITION to PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY!
(I know you’re tired of WOW! But I truly believe this is a WOW!)

This PREDISPOSITION is a big, big, big deal! Think about your Memorable Experiences as perhaps the BEST way to predispose for the presentation of the opportunity!

*Again, that means your Memorable Experience has to be tied directly to your For-Impact Organization’s reason for existence … (as opposed to an event tied to Golf or Gala or Dinner!)

Here’s the proverbial (SIMPLE) bottom line. Create Memorable Experiences!

Make them a showcase for both your cause and your organization!

Turn them into unbelievable PRESENTATION TOOLS … perfect PREDISPOSITION … and the OPPORTUNITY!!!

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