sales
Are Your Sales Methods Wimpy?
August 24, 2015Do you remember Wimpy? Some of you probably don’t but those who do remember Wimpy, remember him as being a silent scam artist who promised the famous phrase, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today.” He never adhered to that promise. I never ascribed cartoons to real life but we can learn a few things from Wimpy and how we understand business relationships.
Back in the day, there was something called Trust. It was a little thing that was swapped like currency with the people that you interacted with on a daily basis. Today, trust has been traded for the Internet and now we have nothing to stand on. We must work harder to build relationships in any capacity and at the end of the day, you might still question if a developing level of trust is reciprocal.
Take trust and mix it with a sales position in 2015 and you have disaster. The countless nos you must endure to get to the few yeses and the pressure to close those yeses is exacerbated by the fear that a Wimpy or the Internet will come and take them away.
While reading Personal Touch Makes Big Difference in Small-Business Loans on the WSJ this morning, I immediately got a little upset. This is such a “Duh Article.” A “Duh Article” is one of those articles that are true, but so true in the fact that you end up saying, “Duh, I know that!” and wonder why such basic teachings become important when they are finally backed up by a case study. Did anyone really not think that personal relationships help? Or that Wimpy, the borrower you didn’t know, would not really pay you on Tuesday when you relied on just his word? It goes both ways.
Below are a few ways to avoid the Wimpy traits of sales when building a relationship between you and a business owner:
#1 Rule of Sales Relationships: What are you even selling?
You are selling money so it shouldn’t be that hard right? WRONG. Even though everyone could use an influx of capital, you have two factors that impact your sales in the MCA Industry. PRICE and PROMINENCE.
- Price: We are already slandered for putting a hefty price tag on advances and even if you say, “We offer factor rates as low as a 1.08!”, How many 1.08 deals do you really close?
- Prominence: Names, Logos, and Promises. Characterization plays a big part in what you represent. With so many MCA Entities popping up, how do you set yourself apart?
You have to offset the two factors by building the relationship and creating an understanding.
Example: Imagine you are selling a line of ketchup to every hamburger shop in the U.S.
Do they already have ketchup? They will eventually need to reorder. So where do they get it now? Are they content with this outlet or have they never thought to seek out an alternative? This is the same “question scenario” you have to answer when selling. Note: Replace Ketchup with Capital.
- Do they need capital now?
- Will they need more capital soon?
- How do they get capital when they need it?
- How can I deliver all of the above and be their new preferred choice?
If the answer to the first question is no, that’s okay, move on to the next question. You are more likely to close double the sales when you answer the second and third one. Either way, one of those will have an answer.
#2 Rule of Sales Relationships: Understand the Market you are Targeting
Who is your target market and do you understand them? This is one of those situations where I feel offering a factor to a manufacturing company that is based on invoices is just plain dumb. There are many alternative financing options that are more mainstream than you think and it all boils down to the top 3 things:
- Industry: Do you understand the industry you are selling to? You will connect better with your merchant if you understand the inner workings, schedule, and the ways they obtain their receivables. Their Industry is their passion. If you don’t connect with their passion (unless there is a dire need for emergency capital) you will not be taken seriously or remembered. Ask yourself, “how can I demonstrate an understanding of the way the business makes money or works with different vendors to get paid?”
- Credit: Don’t promise a low rate to a business that you know has a credit score below 600. Research the different tier programs PROVIDED to you by most Direct Funders. Categorize your tier sales structure and request examples of similar past funded industries from the Funders you work with.
- NEED:If they do need capital now, what is it for? This is a great conversation starter. Whether it’s a seasonal need, equipment-related, or plain ol’ working capital, probe the conversation by finding out their goals so you can better represent the merchant and fit them to a better funding program.
#3 Rule of Sales Relationships: The Follow up
This may go far beyond the basic sales guidelines, but categorize your prospects!
Example: Say you have a book of restaurants that you have connected with before and you know they are going to start gearing up for the holidays. Let them know you UNDERSTAND this time of year and how you can assist! Personalize the need of capital with something they base their business on. This is where direct marketing comes into play. If you remind them of who you are and that you are to assist them to manage the most stressful money making times of the year, they will think of you as their go-to when they NEED it.
The Myth of the Exclusive Lead
May 14, 2015The Small Business financing space is getting crowded. There’s no disputing that. With new ISOs and Direct Funders appearing each day, this space is getting tighter and tighter. With a finite number of small businesses that are receptive to a certain type of loan instrument, competition can be fierce. Both existing and new funders are looking for ways to gain new business to ensure a stream of income. Many turn to lead providers like myself, but many ask the same question “Do you do exclusive leads?”
When theLendster was first starting out and getting its sea legs, a meeting was held with the management team and the idea of selling exclusivity to our clients was raised. This idea was warmly received all around the table. After all, the price would be higher. However, this became more troublesome than it was worth as we soon found out exclusivity was a myth and made us look not forthcoming with our clients.
The number of small businesses is finite but measurable. There are 319 million people in the United States today. Broadly speaking, small businesses are about 10% of this number. Therefore, we are looking at more or less 32 million businesses across the nation. Now, how many are looking for what we’re offering? 10%? 25%? 50%? Using these percentages, the “goldilocks” businesses (not able to get a bank loan but at the same time able to pay back an MCA or small business loan) number anywhere from 3 million to 16 million.
While this is a wide margin, it demonstrates something regardless: the number isn’t that large. So when adding in lead generators and funders/ISOs who do their own direct marketing, the competition to get a lead’s attention is fierce. The problem is everyone is reaching out to the same businesses. These prospective customers are being bombarded from all angles: telemarketing, email and direct mail. Each of these all sound like there could be some exclusivity and while a salesperson may have a small window of opportunity to grab the attention of the decision maker, it doesn’t last forever.
So when a business is identified, the whole industry zeroes in on them. Let’s give a hypothetical example: A salesperson is connected directly to the business’s decision maker via a live transfer telemarketing campaign and is able to talk to them about the product. This can lead to an application sent out. However the second the business owner hangs up the phone, they’ll go to their mailbox and get a letter from another funder or ISO. Now their attention is shifted to the letter. Then while reading the letter, in between serving customers, the phone rings again. It’s another funder. They listen and perhaps send an application. And then, When going to read their email, they are part of drip marketing campaigns from still other funders or lead generators. So right then and there, the attention that the original salesperson was fortunate enough to grasp has quickly faded away.
So how can a lead generator guarantee exclusivity? The answer is this: beyond promising not to sell the lead multiple times, there’s not much they can do. Going back to when theLendster was in the middle the exclusivity experiment, our clients would come back day after day saying that we were misleading them. Business owners would answer their phone and say, “I’ve been contacted by you dozens of times.” While this was true, it wasn’t an entirely accurate statement though. The leads that were sent were only delivered to one client. However, anything that was occurring outside the confines of theLendster was beyond our control. So clients believed that multiple competitors were contacting the leads from theLendster’s list, which was not the case.
In the end, theLendster decided to move to a shared lead model to ensure that clients who signed on were aware that not only would they be competing against others for the lead that was delivered, but also against others who reached that lead through other lead generators or marketing initiatives. Since then, clients have been satisfied and were able to adjust their sales tactics to make sure that they have a fighting chance on closing the business. In fact, many of the clients we have expressed that they are more successful using this approach.
But why are funders drawn to the exclusive lead? It’s simple. They believe that they are the only ones that will touch this potential customer. This gives their sales team a competitive edge. However, with the funding space as crowded as ever, it would be a success if the day the lead comes in that it was only touched by 3 or 4 other companies. This is why the exclusive lead is a myth. With hundreds of marketers dipping their hand in this well, nothing like exclusivity can be guaranteed.
All is not lost though, as leads themselves provide an invaluable service to ISOs and Direct Funders. Without this necessary marketing tool in the hands of sales teams, there would be no selling. Simply put: leads are the lifeblood of this industry. It’s what powers the sales engine and connects funder and funded.
From a funder and ISO viewpoint, exclusive leads should not, and from now on cannot be viewed as a siloed item. Business owners are not sitting by the phone, the mailbox, or the computer waiting for a funding opportunity to arise. They are out there running their businesses and trying to make their living. However, in between the day-to-day running of their business, they are being exposed to multiple solicitations from a wide range of funders. These prospective customers live in a world where they are constantly being exposed to your competition. Exclusivity is not the “golden gun” that can change a funder’s narrative. Because it was never existed in the first place.
Why Your Deal Got Stolen
September 16, 2014Back in April, I presented the idea of trigger leads coming to the alternative lending industry. In subsequent discussions about that blog post, many folks particularly in merchant cash advance questioned whether such a concept could possibly exist or would even be legal.
For those not familiar, this is the methodology behind trigger leads using a hypothetical scenario:
- OnDeck runs the personal credit of a merchant using Experian.
- Experian sells the contact information of that merchant to OnDeck’s competitors immediately after credit is pulled.
- Competitors solicit that merchant and convince them to go with them instead.
Again, the reaction I get to the above scenario by most people is, “yeah, right. I don’t believe that could happen.” But if you look at the raw amount of ISOs complaining their deals got stolen, it’s evident that perhaps there is something else brewing than just the usual assortment of rogue underwriters and shady funders.
Most ISOs are convinced that if their client is working with them and only them, that a shady business dealing has taken place if that client is randomly called out of the blue with the knowledge that they’re pursuing funding. To them, the only conclusion is that their deal got backdoored.
And while backdooring does seem to happen out there from time to time, another culprit may very well be trigger leads. Credit bureaus and big data aggregators are selling credit pull data in real time. UCC-1 leads are leads after the funding has taken place. Trigger leads are leads before the funding has taken place. But do they really exist?
Elsewhere in alternative lending, trigger leads are the backbone for how companies tailor their direct mail campaigns. If a consumer’s credit was pulled today by a mortgage lender, companies like Lending Club and Prosper will make sure that consumer receives a mail ad for a home improvement loan tomorrow.
Today at the Apex Lending Exchange conference in New York City, Ron Suber, the president of Prosper, referred to this trigger methodology as “getting to the right borrowers at the right cost.” In their sector, trigger leads are marketing 101. In merchant cash advance, it’s perceived as a pipe dream. Odds are that whoever is taking advantage of trigger leads in this industry would want to keep all the other players in the dark about it.
As much as you might hate to believe it, all of the backdooring paranoia that’s been rampant lately might actually be caused by the credit bureaus, not the funders. The lesson here is that as soon as your merchant’s credit is pulled, the clock is ticking until your competitors find out even if that merchant talks to nobody else.
I know ISOs want to believe that their merchant is only theirs, but in the age of advanced technology and big data, your merchant belongs to the cloud. As soon as your relationship with the merchant interacts with technology, somebody else will find out about it. And that’s why your deal got stolen.