The other day I met with a financial representative from Northwestern Mutual. I’d like to share this “case study” with you as part of my ongoing series on how to network.
I’m happy with my financial situation right now. My wife and I have taken great measures with our finances to accomplish what we consider priorities in our lives–part of which includes living on a cash budget since September with a mere $20 personal spending money each month. Needless to say for someone who likes to spend mula, it’s been a big challenge in self control, but it feels good to bend money to my will instead of money bending me. Moving on…
First Move
At the beginning of last month I received an email from a friend saying he’d given my name and contact information to a financial representative and to expect a call. No issues there, really. I respect my friend and know that he wouldn’t do anything without my best interests in mind. I appreciated the gesture and found that I was a lot more willing to meet with the financial representative because of the email.
- Observation #1: Network using your friends. The financial advisor and I shared a mutual friend. He invited our mutual friend to invite his friends (me and probably a few others). Instead of the financial advisor cold calling me, I was invited to meet with the financial advisor from somebody I trust. I wouldn’t have met with the advisor otherwise.
Here’s the email so you can see how that worked (I’ve changed the names to protect the “innocent”):
Chris,
I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine named Darren Deeds. He is a financial agent with Northwestern Mutual. I have no idea if you are currently in any need of his services, but at some time or another all of us need help with life insurance and/or other financial investments. I personally feel that one of the biggest difficulties faced when seeking help of this kind is to find someone who is trustworthy. I’ve known Darren for many years and can say that he has my full trust and confidence. His standard of integrity is as high as anyone’s I have known. I’ve passed your contact information on to him and hope that you will give him a few minutes of your time. He is not a pushy salesman, just a helpful friend. I do this as a favor to him and to you. I hope the conversation will be beneficial to you both. Let me know what you think. :)
Sincerely,
Howie Doohan
See what I mean? This email (though a little formal for friendship, and probably canned) inspires confidence in someone who typically I wouldn’t have given the time of day. If anything I wanted to meet with the guy just to see if there really was such a thing as a non-pushy salesman.
Initial Contact
About two weeks after my friend’s recommendation email I received a call from Darren. I’m a busy guy and I talk with a lot of people, so it took a minute for me to realize who he was. In my opinion, two weeks was too long. I actually went back through while we were on the phone and re-read my friend’s email; I had to decide all over again if I wanted to meet with him. I think most people would have said no at this point, but as a courtesy to my friend, I still said yes to a meeting.
- Observation #2. Follow up sooner than later. In this particular situation, 2-3 days would have been ideal, when I still remembered someone was going to contact me. If you wait too long, you’re forcing your prospect to re-convince himself… and this time they might say no.
Darren and I set an appointment to meet a few days later, on a Thursday at his office. In our phone conversation he had mentioned that he just wanted to touch base and just establish a connection with me. My friend was right. This guy wasn’t pushy; so far so good. When you’re expecting to be pitched to and it doesn’t happen, it lowers your defenses.
Meeting Time
Thursday rolled around and we met at a Northwestern Mutual satellite office, or at least we tried to anyway. It was locked and he didn’t have a key. No biggie, I went around the corner and grabbed some benches that were in the foyer, I’m comfortable talking about most things anywhere, although I think Darren was caught a off guard. Truth is, I wasn’t about to reschedule because of his lack of preparation.
- Observation #3. Be prepared. Although it worked out (sort of) in the end, talking in the hallway on borrowed benches could have been prevented had Darren called ahead to the office and let them know we were going to be there… or brought a key :). In the end, we improvised and all was well. Remember that you want to make a good first impression.
We began talking about education, business, family, and other random things… I think martial arts, horse riding, and mermaids came up in the conversation at some point. (Nah, just kidding about the mermaids.) We shot the breeze for a good 15 minutes… no problem, we both felt relaxed. I was impressed when at the end of our meeting he asked me a few followup questions about some of the random things we’d talked about earlier. I couldn’t believe he’d actually been listening to me because that’s not what salesman do, right? Brownie points for Darren.
- Observation #4. Listen to others. It’s not all about you. Let them know you’ve been listening by asking questions based off what they say. You may find by listening that you offer a solution to an issue they’re facing. Kaching! That’s money in the bank.
He then reached into his sleek black bag and pulled out a folder with pamphlets. My first thought was, “Hey, he said that he wasn’t going to sell me anything during this meeting…” but I figured instead of pointing that out, I’d shut up and see what he had to say. If he tried to sell me something, I’d call him on it later.
He shared a brief explanation of what he does to help his clients obtain financial security. Surprisingly, he didn’t try to sell me anything at the moment, but he did ask if I was interested in what Northwestern Mutual had to offer. Not bad, after all he does need to know if a second meeting is needed. It was an okay tactic to keep from doing a full-blown sales pitch. This accomplished two things: one, it helped him know if I was genuinely interested, and two, it helped his image of not being pushy and being in the business for the customer, not himself.
- Observation #5. Don’t drown your prospect with information at the first meeting. As tempting as it is to give spill it all on your first meeting, even when they look interested, hold back. Schedule a followup meeting for that stuff. The first meeting is to establish a connection and spawn interest. There are times where the first meeting is all you have, but if you’re really interesting in networking for the long term, focus on establishing long-term relationships based off multiple meetings.
Following Up
After our meeting, Darren gave me a call within a couple days and asked if I had any questions for him and possibly schedule a second meeting. Although I declined this time, he remained courteous and asked permission to call me a few months down the road. I figured why not, situations change, right? And then we ended the phone call.
- Observation #6. Don’t burn bridges. It would have been easy for Darren to be offended and desperately try to shove his services down my throat. However, it was more effective, and I was more willing to chat a few months down the road because he was courteous and didn’t come off as desperate. Had he of acted otherwise, there’s he would have ruined his chances and probably all the chances of any other Northwestern Mutual guy to call me.
There are many different networking tactics that Darren could have used to network with me. In his line of work, it’s natural that most people will be skeptical when meeting with him, so it’s ultra important to network wisely. I found the tactics he used in this case to be relatively effective. Sure, it didn’t land me as a paying client, but if I meet someone who needs his services, I would feel comfortable recommending them to him. And that’s what networking is all about. Also, in a few months if I decide to switch something around, I won’t hesitate to call him.
Now it’s your turn. What have found particularly useful or pleasing to you when networking or having others network with you? Or what observations do you glean from this experience?
I like your advice on preparing. On many networking occasions you can prepare prior to the event. Learn about the person or persons you are about to meet or can potentially meet.
For example. I work as a consultant on longer projects, which puts me into the offices of a single customer for several months. Even though I don’t meet the hole staff on my first day in a new firm, I quickly try to collect personal information about all key players. When I finally pump into them in meetings or simply in hallways, I can often connect on the spot based on that information.
That’s good advice Markus, especially if you’re in the consulting industry. Knowing the key players right from the start is a great way to up the productivity and gain trust as well. Thanks for sharing.
I like the inside-out approach of this article. It’s refreshing to have the perspective of the potential client rather than the salesman. In the long run, it’s the client perspective that matters. After working in door-to-door and direct sales (and not liking it), and going through all that training, it’s an amusing experience when someone tries to sell you. More often than not, people are not like Darren; if they do listen, it’s painfully obvious that they are doing so out of an obligation to be courteous, but they can’t wait to get to their sales pitch. And then they spout off their rehearsed lines, as if you weren’t a thinking human being. The worst is when they try and create a false sense of urgency for their product.
Solid observations on networking, whatever your end goal may be.