Here’s a quick excerpt from the article I read: (If you’re interested, the rest of the article is here.

In a study conducted by the Washington Post, Joshua Bell, “one of the finest violinists alive” walked into a subway station dressed in jeans and a baseball cap—during rush hour—and played his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin for 43 minutes. The vast majority on the platform that day didn’t notice and he collected approximately $32 for his efforts. Just days before, tickets to one of his performances in Boston went for $100 per seat. Of the 1,097 people who passed him, only a few paid him any attention.

Why? According to the Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post feature, Context: Their perception was not of a concert violinist, but of a street musician.

If people do not stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written, is it possible that overworked executives could hear the best product sales presentation and not care?

Similarly is it possible that our clients and their salespeople could be receiving outstanding sales opportunities and also not care?

In sales situations, as well in leads themselves, context is critical.  A fair portion of how lead generators, cold callers, appointment setters, or (dare I say it) telemarketers, are perceived and/or judged - on an individual or organizational level, relies on how clients’ salespeople perceive the leads, action them, and close business as a result.   How they receive and perceive leads is directly related to how they choose to work the leads, and ultimately how much return clients get out of their investment.

I speak to clients and prospects all the time, preaching the importance of 360-degree visibility, transparency, and buy-in from sales.  If they’re not in it as collaborators, co-conspirators, or at least willing participants - everyone loses.

But what does this have to do with context?

Context can change interpretation. Context can change meaning.  Most importantly for the lead generator, context can change outcomes.

In the terms of a lead, the context surrounding the flagged opportunity can influence the perception of the lead quality, the recipient’s level of engagement, and strategies for pursuit.

For example, a given lead may very well be for a rock-solid date and time to speak with a self-identified decision maker, with a budget of X, interested in obtaining Y-number of servers/switches/ads/licenses/widgets… but as rock-solid and/or qualified as it may be, without context it’s easy for that scenario to lose appeal, or to appear “less qualified” than it could.

Consider;

• Why are they interested?  Why us/you?
• Why do they feel they need it?  What problem does it solve?  What pain does it remove?  What value does it bring?  (Did an old one catch fire? Are there performance issues that they’re hoping to address?)
• How did they come to the decision that they needed it? (Is your contact the one who discovered the need and/or is feeling the pain/need?  Or is it other end-users (other departments, users of a particular, etc) that are feeling the pain, and your contact needs to make them happy?)
• Why do they need it now (or 6 months from now, or 12 months from now)?  (If it’s soon, why? What’s causing the urgency?  Is it spend the budget before it disappears, or is there pressure internally to get it done?  Or is the product/solution or problem/pain that critical that they need it ASAP?  If it’s a lead that’s in the future, why then?  Why is the project/purchase deferred?  Are they waiting to do it when budget’s available?  Are there other projects ahead of this one on the list of priorities? What are those other projects? Are they waiting for management approval to get it done?)

This type of contextual information can offer a lot of insight into what the business drivers in a scenario might be, and can offer the person on the receiving end more options in how they follow-up.  It can even lead to more opportunity to add-on services and/or other product depending on the scenario.

I’ve seen my fair share of “leads” where it amounts to not much more than information from a business card.  In other cases there are leads where’s it’s a simple “Mr. X is interested in purchasing # widgets in <timeframe> because <benefit/driver>.  Please follow-up with Mr. X on <Date/Time> at <Contact Details>. ”  … and while that scenario is more attractive than the “here’s a name, go get ‘em” option, it still leaves me wanting more.

While direct, and to-the-point… and seemingly self-explanatory… Where’s the situational info?  Where’s the context?  Where are the juicy nuggets that help me to better understand the sales scenario I’ve been presented with?

As a lead generator, context is key.  Context can change interpretation. Context can change meaning.

Context can change outcomes.

Food for thought.

6:56am ~ Rain? In February? Seriously?

6:56am ~ …Yes, I round my months too.

Insanity.

It’s our week sans-carpool, so on foot I head down to the bus stop with Braden (10), en route to school.   It was wet, but balmy for January.  Armed with an umbrella, I was content to kick off my week with a stroll, bus and a pile of to-do’s at the office.

About halfway to the bus stop, we’re waiting at a light to cross the road and a stream of vehicles rush by… I suppose a couple of them were hugging the curb, thrashing through puddles and proceeded to project buckets of dirty road water all over us.

Is it really that much to ask for folks to mind their surroundings a bit?  Are the morning commuters so caffeine-deprived that they’re not able to make notice of their periphery?   You don’t think for a moment that the possibility of nearby pedestrians warrants perhaps shifting more to the centre of one’s lane?   Is that too much to ask, or am I being totally unreasonable?

Anyhow, notwithstanding the wetness, I didn’t want to let these potentially-maliscious-maybe-inconsiderate-probably-oblivious motorists rain on my parade the way they so lovingly did on my khakis, so we soldiered on umbrellas in hand, without a care in the world.

…Until a gust of wind rushed at me, mistaking me for Marry Poppins or something. It was pretty fierce…or so it seemed. Well, fierce enouch to turn my impenetrable fortress of dryness into a synthetic bowl on a stick. Umbrella turned inside out, trying to fix it to no avail, I finally pitched it aside.

Now I’m really getting wet.  Wet-with-a-capital-(expletive deleted).

8:01am ~ Walking to the bus stop, splashed by oncoming motorist. Seconds later, gust of wind destroys my umbrella. Now soaked. Monday already, eh?

A day in the life of a pedestrian.

And still through it all, I thoroughly enjoy that life of a pedestrian. Make no mistake there are plenty of moments where I fantasize of being more mobile…but there’s this strange romantic attraction I have to public transportation.

I’ve always been a pedestrian.  Growing up, I was the youngest of my crew having the September birthday.   They all had their liscences and cars… they were my chauffeurs!  Yeah, I’m sure they secretly hated me for it.  But between that, and my house being the most common destination for events and gatherings, I really was in no rush to get driving for myself.   And as an aside - thanks Mom & Dad for that pool table. That single-handedly made me infinitely more “cool” than my personality ever would have let me be, making our place the place to gather

Once upon a time when I fancied myself a writer, I’d look around the bus/train/airplane and invent my own little backstories for randoms.   I’d be jotting down notes feverishly in my little notebook (back in my pre-bberry dark ages) and work on little scenes and dialogues with my little fictionalized transiteers.  I’d enjoy it so much, I found myself leaving the house ridiculously early to take the milk-run bus to work so I’d have more time to kill. Sometimes on quiet evening/weekends I’d hop on a bus with no particular destination… Just ’cause.

Maybe I’ve seen one too many-a-movie with little scenes in subway cars, stations, trolleys and the like… but for some odd reason, I enjoy public transportation.

Some days more than other days, of course.  And generally speaking, I tend to enjoy it more when I’m dry.  Which I certainly wasn’t this morning.

8:53am ~ Haven’t had a soaker this bad since grade school. Adding injury to insult, I slipped in a huge puddle coming out of the school. Going home

While concerns over security and delayed gratification are sure to impact online shopping’s growth, for me an entirely different problem is curbing my adoption.

Tradition.

By no means am I a “shopper”. I tend to loathe malls and big box stores.  As much as retail outlets try optimize their layouts for traffic flow and relative ease-of-spending… I’ll never truly enjoy a shopping experience.  (now my wife on the other hand…)

But even still, I’m not flocking to online stores to bypass the madness.  There is an element of tradition in the retail shopping experience that even I cling to.

“New Music Tuesday” was always a staple for me.  I made a point to venture over to the local music store after class on Tuesdays like clockwork.  Most of the time I didn’t have any

inkling as to what new music and/or movies would be hitting the shelves that day, and it always turned out to be an adventure of sorts.

In today’s world, delivery of music and film is wrought with options.  Services like iTunes are dead-simple, filled with little bonuses and user-experience enhancing options.  Unlike the physical stores, there’s no possiblity of understocking, or selling out before you get your copy.  The selection in iTunes is ridiculously vast, giving users access to product that would never see the light of day on a Future Shop shelf.  And of course, there’s the lovely value-add of being able to pick up your new tunage in the comfort of your favourite pair of boxers, briefs, towel, etc.

But again, the experience is not the same.  I’m emotionally attached to that tradition of being in store, getting my product in hand, and rushing home to enjoy.   It’s not the most convenient.  It certainly isn’t the simplest.  But it’s what I love doing (even if it means running around to 3 different stores to pick up that copy of Muse’s The Resistance on release day as the first two underestimated demand).

The traditional shopping experience can be a very tough habit to break away from.

Especially at this time of year.

There’s something magical about being in the herd of wallets going from store to store picking up gifts for the Mrs. and the little ones, struggling to find parking, waiting in line for charity gift wrapping, and (if I’m lucky) stealing away a moment of indulgenge at the Second Cup or Starbucks.

Xmas shopping is a beautiful chaos. And as much as I might dislike it in the moment, it’s one of those things that makes Xmas for me.  It’s like eggnog, mandarine oranges, and After Eight chocolates.   Its just not xmas without it.

That traditional experience essentially vanishes with shopping online.  And while I can certianly see the attraction to online shopping, for me, there are certain shopping experiences that can’t be duplicated online.

Now, give us a few years, and I’m sure when I put the ideal shopping experience question to my kids, the answer will be entirely different.

Civic Holiday kicked things off, leaving us with a short 4-day week, coupled with a pair of vacation days Wednesday/Thursday, I was already excited to have two 1-day mini-weeks within the week.  Add to that a Tuesday night roadtrip to Kingston to see Tool in concert, followed by a one-man expedition to Toronto on Wednesday for their next show at the Molson Amphitheatre… needless to say, I was stoked.

Sometimes things don’t quite go as planned.

Believe me, I’m as big a fan of the random as anyone.  I tend to delight in most unexpected and strange happenings and occurrences, as they add so much spice to the most ordinary or extraordinary plans alike.

However, when en route to the airport Thursday morning, I reached into my pocket to grab my BlackBerry, when I came up with only pocket lint, delight was the furthest thing from my imagination.

Panic.

Outright panic.

I don’t know if the panic was wrought from the loss of what has become more of an appendage than a cell phone, or the thought of having to face my better half after having essentially “misplaced” $500… after only having splurged on the phone a very short two weeks ago.  I can only imagine how well it would go over having to shell out the $699.95 for the same device without the benefit of a hardware upgrade or 3-year contact rebates.  *groan*

I bolted back to the hotel.  By the time I was done with the room, it looked like crime scene from Law & Order (by no means is this an indictment on the state of the hotel and/or room itself… although it was by far one of the least “elegant”, “posh” or “clean” places I’ve had the fortune of staying).    I turned over everything, checking every last possible spot to no avail.  Called the taxi company frantically, who while being incredibly helpful and supportive, did not have my recently lost device.  Running out of time, I cut my losses and made my way to the airport.

The long walk to the airport seemed to clear my head.  But waiting in an airport lounge without a BlackBerry reminded me of why the smartphone has become an extension of my hand.

As an aside, Telus is doing a fantastic job in their recent campaigns playing to this angle, and branding accordingly.  With recent billboards squeezing words like “internet” and “email” into words like “queue” and “wait”, and the “Get a Jump on Life” campaign really hit home for me, as a huge personal fan of “web-to-go”.  Waiting for anything is a far less enjoyable and/or productive experience without it.  I don’t know how people survive without!

Anyhoo… back to the point, if you can call it that.

I resigned myself to the fact that I had lost my phone.  I wasn’t overly optimistic that the taxi company or Toronto Metro Police would come through in the short term.  I stopped at the Bell World store on my way home to share my tale of woe and to assess my options.

The tween in-store informed me that the extended warrantee that I had subscribed to when I purchased my phone two weeks ago, actually covers loss & theft.

I could’ve kissed him.

I’m usually not an extended-warrantee kind of guy.  For a lot of things I see it as a total cash-grab on the part of the retailers.  However, at the 13-15 month mark with my previous BlackBerry I started experiencing some issues with the trackball and charger that led me to enroll in Bell Mobility’s Smart/Phone Care Plan.  I half-expected it to be a complete wash, but as it turns out, the plan’s coverage for loss & theft turned my bout of carelessness and bad luck into a serious breath of fresh air.

Here are a few details from Bell on their Smart/Phone Care Plan

The Premium plan covers failure due to defects in parts and workmanship, normal wear and tear, accidental damage, power surge and loss or theft for $7 a month

The plan covers one phone or smartphone and allows for up to two out-of-warranty replacements.

A replacement fee of $50 for a mobile phone and $150 for a smartphone applies.  Our goal is to give you the same make and model that you purchased, but colour, features and accessory compatibility are not guaranteed.

These are month-to-month plans that can be cancelled at any time without penalty.

And so, after a very quick and painless call into customer service, my service was suspended and a claim filed to have a replacement device shipped to my office in 1-3 business days, with my account billed the $150 deductible.  Compared to the no-contract, no-loyalty credit $700 cost of replacing my Tour 9630 net-new, I was more than happy.

More to my surprise, the following day, after less than 24 hours, my replacement phone arrived on my desk.

Flabbergasted.

I’ve been so impressed with the quality and speed of service provided by Bell throughout what could have been a dramatically more painful experience.  At a point where the relatively little competition in the Canadian wireless space there’s much chagrin about the Big-Three Telco’s…. but this is one of those rare bright spots.  Thank you Bell.  Thank you thank you.

Now, back to my appendage.

His secret? The Nintendo Wii.

I was floored.

"Wii Fit is simple to use, and simply the most fun way to keep you, your family and friends fit."

Since the Wii’s release I’ve heard and read stories about countless people dropping pounds and improving health by introducing a moderate amount of activity in the form of video games. With the inception of Wii Fit and EA Sports Active, video game workouts are becoming more formal…not to mention hugely popular.

I had always remained skeptic, thinking it more of a fad than anything else.

Seeing and meeting someone I know go through the motions and actually yield results is shifting my perspective a bit.

I suppose that it only makes sense that incrementally more activity could work over the long term. Replacing even a part of traditionally “couch potato” time spent gaming on other consoles can’t be a bad thing in terms of fitness.

It can’t be anywhere near as valuable as a significant shift in diet, routine, and more formal exercise regimes…but I suppose if you’re not willing to go the more tradional route, or have failed repeatedly that way, why not substitute “bad” gaming for some “good” gaming?

So I’m on a Wii kick. The first step is justifying the expense of the console and related accessories…and that’s becoming a challenge.

One of the biggest things holding me back right now from jumping on the WiiFit bandwagon is the aforementioned notion of “good” and “bad” games…but from more standard, non-fitnes-oriented terms.

From all I’ve seen there’s a bit of a shortage of solid Wii titles for a few key demographics I happen to be a part of. Namely I’m not really in the “under 12″ or “Nintendo FanBoy” groups. And while the console has been out for a couple years, the volume of titles isn’t where I’d hope it to be. It makes sense in that developpers need to custom code everything for the Wii and its unique controls…but it certainly limits available options…which may impact the longevity of the system itself — that is once the novelty wears off. This makes justifying the Wii a bit trickier for me - especially at a time when everyone needs to mind their dollars and cents with a bit more caution.

But on the flipside, there are a wealth of simple, child-oriented titles, with a focus on more activity than the standard couch-surfing fare, so it can’t be a bad platform to introduce to the kids to get accustomed to. (Again, ideally we could replace gaming outright - but in the context of making a moderate shift without introducing anarchy in the household, this might make the most sense). And if it actually gets me focused - even in part - on getting myself more fit (I won’t say altogether fit, but more than at present), it can’t be all that bad.

The debate stemmed from the positioning of a value proposition within the call, and the depth to which we need to probe, profile and analyze needs before making a presentation of said new product.

I’m a big proponent of the SPIN Selling methodologies, and firmly beleive in the adage that people value information they ask for more than information they don’t ask for.  Especially in the world of a complex sale.  Conversely, in highly commoditized products or relatively simple sales a more transactional model can work.  And we see this in spades in the B2C space.

In the context of my recent debate, my client clearly had  a better mousetrap.  These mousetraps have existed for years.  The vast majority of customers large and small are generally accustomed to hearing about mousetraps.  A significant portion of my client’s business is in mousetraps, along with mousetrap parts, service, accessories, and a vast variety of cheeses.  I’m taking the mousetrap analogy too far.

Given the mousetrap’s maturity, my client’s prescribed approach was to follow a traditional transactional method, where we focus on highlighting the competitive differentiators and advantages of the new and improved mousetrap.  Essentially, go in, show off the new mousetrap, and point to the bells and whistles.

At first, this approach seemed logical given the relative simplicity of the product and the general level of familiarity with the type of solution.  And in truth, the product/feature approach is all-too-common in other similar product pitches.  But something didn’t sit right with me.  The entire approach seemed based on the maturity of product, rather than of the customers themselves.  The product-focus completely essentially discounts or ignores the potential customer’s perspective.

How does this product-driven approach work for those who’ve never had issues with mice?  If the whole idea of a mousetrap is meaningless to them, what value are we brining in talking about the next best thing in mousetraps?  For net-new mousetrap consumers, a product-driven approach only creates intrusion, nuissance and frustration.

Shouldn’t we be considering the maturity of the individual buyers themselves first, regarless of where the product sits in its grand lifecycle?

In reading the BBGeeks article, I was comforted to learn that I wasn’t the only person on the planet who struggled with auto-attendants, IVRs, and spent long and painful minutes staring at my phone’s keypad trying to figure out how to spell out “BELL” by number when trying to reach good ol’ 310-Bell.

With QWERTY keypads like those on various BlackBerry devices, you’re not limited to 3-4 letters per key, so things like emails, texting, or even typing what I’m typing now become a breeze.  But on the flipside, since we don’t have the letters mapped out to numbers visibly on the keypad, it can be all-too-painful when you’re misdialing the folks at  310-BELL, 866-ROGERS1, 1-866-WOW-DEAL (and get away for less! Just writing the phone number gets the jingle stuck in my head).

It’s equally or even more frustrating when you’re in a dial by name directory or other IVR, trying to enter the name of the person/department you’re hoping to reach, and you’re forced to “guesstimate” what numbers correspond to the appropriate letters.

To avoid the hassle, you simply need to hold the ALT key while typing the letter on your keypad.  This will convert the desired letter to the corresponding number from the standard telephone keypad.

On screen it will display the letters you’ve typed (or combinations of letters and numbers), but the call will behave as if you’ve just entered numbers.

About as simple as it gets.

I just tested it myself… and no, I didn’t call iTravel2000 to book that holiday I’ve been yearning for.  I settled for navigating our own IVR to try to reach myself.  Sure enough, after ALT+typing the first few letters of my last name, my phone at my desk rang, with me on my BlackBerry on the other end.  While the ALT+typing was succcessfull, the conversation it led to was rather one-dimentional, and I’ll probably refrain from going to these extraordinary lengths to talk to myself.

But moving forward, I’ve saved myself a load of time and frustration trying to reach others!

Epic Fail

And so, the Mutual Consolidated Savings Saga continues.

I received a call mid-meeting this afternoon on my cell phone, that had me revisit my less than pleasant initial experience with this questionable organization that supposedly strives to help customers save time and money through their debt reduction products and services.

While I know very little about their service offering and what they actually do for their customers – I have very little desire to find out. I may have a bit more respect for their organization if they conducted themselves in a manner deserving of respect in how they go about attracting and obtaining new business.

Much like my first exchange with Mutual Consolidated Savings, today the same (or an eerily similar) automated message was broadcast to me, claiming to be from the “cardholder services department” with the insinuation of representing my financial institution of choice.  The message presented me the opportunity to lower my interest rates if I were gullible interested enough to push the #1 on my Blackberry’s keypad – the whole while, the message never indicated which company it was that was calling, or that would ultimately speak to me upon pressing the magic button.

As a bit of seemingly divine intervention, when I pressed the ‘1′ my call was subsequently dropped (I assume a misfire between the call center taking calls and the system (or other firm) responsible for the automated broadcast).

While I was spared another opportunity to have another one of my phone numbers placed in the MCS DNC registry, the call reminded me of my previous ordeal, the status of my inquiry with the Better Business Bureau, and eventually led me to further research.

Here’s an excerpt of the response I received to my earlier complaint.

To Whom It May Concern:

Our response to this case is clear and final. The client, Scott Thornton, certainly has the full attention of our corporation. MCS has heard and understands the concerns related in this case.

Mr. Thornton’s phone number has been added to our internal Do Not Call list.

MCS has and will continue to be at the forefront of DNC compliance, and will continue in this compliance with all due diligence. This corporation has also taken further steps to increase the ease and ability by which any consumer can be added to our own internal DNC list. You may find this ability as www.mcsdnc.com.

We follow all National, State, Regional and Local laws regarding these Do Not Lists. Furthermore, it is our enforced corporate policy to “scrub” these lists against both our own, and our subcontractor’s lists, once weekly, although we are required to perform this action only every 30 days. We have and will continue to adhere to this policy in the future without exceptions.

MCS will continue to hold our current associates to nothing but the highest if standards of compliance with both new and existing policies.

[...]

Very Truly Yours
Penny L Fishbec
Administration
Mutual Consolidated Savings

While I don’t disagree with their assessment over being over-compliant on the DNC regulations (over-compliant may be an overstatement, as it was my feeling that they were flagrantly offering the DNC list as a means of avoiding speculation), I don’t quite have the warm and fuzzy feeling I was hoping to receive regarding not announcing the name of the caller’s organization.   In my initial filing, I had suggested it may be in violation of CRTC regulations in Canada.

On the subject of unsolicited telephone calls the CRTC states that:

among other things, the Telemarketing rules require all telemarketers to identify who they are and, upon request, provide customers with a fax or telephone number where they can speak to someone about the telemarketing call.”

They also stipulate that for solicitations driven by automated messaging systems or call announcing mechanisms, lovingly referred to as Automatic Dialing-Announcing Devices (ADADs);

A telemarketer shall not initiate, and a client of a telemarketer shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the telemarketer does not initiate, a telemarketing telecommunication via an ADAD unless express consent has been provided by the consumer to receive a telemarketing telecommunication via an ADAD from that telemarketer or the client of that telemarketer.  For greater certainty [...] this prohibition includes telemarketing telecommunications via an ADAD [...] for the purpose of requesting a consumer to hold until a telemarketer is available.

Additionally,

such telecommunications shall begin with a clear message identifying the person on whose behalf the telecommunication is made. This identification message shall include a mailing address and a local or toll-free telecommunications number at which a representative of the originator of the message can be reached. In the event that the actual message relayed exceeds sixty (60) seconds, the identification message shall be repeated at the end of the telecommunication;

And so, on my limited understanding of legalese, it appears there may be a violation of Canadian telecommunication legislation. To offer a benefit of a doubt, this may have been an oversight, considering that MCS is headquartered out of Tacoma, Washington. After all, they may have simply been unaware of the legislation and standards of business conduct that their Canadian prospective audience might expect.

For curiosity’s sake, let’s compare to the standards set forth by the FCC.

According to the FCC;

• The rules regarding automatically dialed and prerecorded calls apply whether or not you have registered your home phone number(s) on the national Do-Not-Call list.
• Calls using artificial or prerecorded voice messages - including those that do not use autodialers - may not be made to home phone numbers except for:
  - emergency calls needed to ensure the consumer’s health and safety;
  - calls for which you have given prior express consent;
  - non-commercial calls
  - calls that don’t include or introduce any unsolicited advertisements or constitute telephone solicitations
• All artificial or prerecorded calls must state, at the beginning, the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.
• Except for emergency calls made with the prior express consent of the person being called, autodialers and any artificial or prerecorded voice messages may not be used to contact numbers assigned to any other service for which the person being called would be charged for the call.

By the FCC’s standards, today’s call was an Epic Fail on a couple counts.  Again, there’s no identification of the business responsible for initiating the call… and the call was even delivered to a service for which I’m charged for the call, charged by the minute, as well as for long distance charges.

It baffles my mind.

Poor Charlotte, Juliet, Miles and even Sawyer… hemorrhaging more and more with each blistering flash and jump through time.

Once at the Orchid station (or rather, the mysterious well, as Charlotte directed), Locke had his grand master plan to fix things:  to somehow make his way off the island, bring the Oceanic Six and co. back, and get his lonely band of misfits un-unstuck in time… somehow.

As Locke prepared to lower himself down the well to nowhere, Juliet states rather simply;

“If whatever you’re trying to do works… thank you.”

She has no idea what Locke is about to do, or how exactly he’s planning to get it done.  But, here she is going through excruciating head trauma, nosebleeds, and I’m sure all-around weirdness on an increasingly regular basis… all she’s concerned about is a solution to the problem.

While I’m sure there’s all sorts of legal faux-pas’s around inflicting head trauma, nosebleeds and time/space displacement upon our unsuspecting prospects… in the sales context, when prospecting we should be doing everything in our power to help them to understand the depth of their problems, implications, and with a little effort build that same level of anticipation for the proposed solution - the solution you’re equipped to provide.  The solution that solves their problem like none other.

In fostering this anticipation, you build a connection with customers that reaches an almost emotional level that can truly set yourself apart from your competitors.

Not unlike the must-see movie trailers, the rich aroma wafting at you as you set foot in the coffee shop, or that incessant speculation you’re going through between episodes of Lost… anticipation pulls you towards the irresistible end-result.

What can you do with your current customers and prospects to make yourself and your solution irresistible?  What tactics might we employ to move prospects from concerned…to hemorrahaging?

Last week in Sales and Marketing Lessons from LOST – the beginning, I tried to set the stage for a series of sales and marketing tips drawn from themes ideas and concepts in the television series Lost. For me it’s really about bringing together things that are of great interest to me personally, and using that as my muse.

While this week’s episode “This Place is Death” brought me a few wonderful nuggets to work with, I feel compelled to elaborate on what I touched on last week.

Draw Them In

My last post touched briefly on Lost’s incredible ability to hook and draw in new viewers.  When we apply the concept to business, we’re all striving for the same things in a great deal of our prospecting effort.  We too aim to draw them in through some initial form of contact either via our websites, blogs, mailers, billboards events, cold calls, etc.
Across the board, regardless of our ultimate big hairy goal for each of these methods, part of that approach is hoping to hook the audience – either as a means to an end, or as the end itself.

Capture | Captivate | Compel | Cultivate

In the context of business by phone - and specifically B2B prospecting -  a prospector’s opening statement provides the framework in which a cold call grabs your prospect’s attention, and sets the stage for a business conversation.

Within few precious seconds prospects will determine whether or not they’re willing to spend any time at all listening or acknowledging you. Without a strong opening statement, that conversation doesn’t happen. Or what’s worse in many scenarios, the conversation does happen, but since you haven’t truly captured their attention, you’re speaking with a prospect who’s half-participating, half-focused on what they were in the middle of doing when you called… in these scenarios you’re drawing dead anyway, but wasting more of your precious time the process.

If the goal is to go into a meaningful, authentic business conversation, your opening statement needs to more than simply grant you permission to talk. You need to do everything possible to ensure you have an interested and enthusiastic participant in the conversation.

Capture:

• How do we create enough interest so that they will willingly and eagerly participate in discussion?
• You must answer the burning question, “What’s in it for me?” for the listener, or they will immediately begin the getting-rid-of-you process.
• In SPIN Selling, one of the keys to an effective opening statement is providing a “Buyer-centered purpose for the call”.  This means more than just a pretty value proposition about reducing costs, boosting performance or increasing somethingility.  This “buyer-centered purpose” needs to be more intimate.  This needs to be something that relates specifically to this person at this company at this time.  Do your homework, and tell them what’s really in it for THEM.

Captivate:

• When you’re in discussion, how do you keep them “on the hook”? How do you prevent prospects from deflating or getting fatigued as you continue?
• Even if your opening captures their attention and bring them into the conversation, if the context of your discussion doesn’t meet the expectations, you’ll lose them.
• Intrigue is key. In the sales profession, we inherently need to know everything about our product or solution, but your prospect only needs to know what they need to know. Unless you know exactly what they need to know, less is more…
• Breed curiosity with concise value propositions and benefit statements that beg questions from your prospect. Questions they ask will help you to identify what’s troubling them, or where their interests lie.
• Leave them wanting more.

Compel:

• Compel them to take action. What action? Depends on what you’re after. Are you driving for an appointment, demo, attending a webinar, etc.?
• What about Plan B? Despite your best intentions, you can expect some less positive outcomes. How do you make the less positive outcome more positive? Identify an intermediate action or next step or two you may fall back on. In doing so you can maintain momentum, and reduce any evaporation that happens after your first conversation.

Cultivate

• Where do we go from here? Once we’ve experienced success on our first touch, how do we maintain it across the life of the sales cycle and beyond? Are we captivating and compelling at each stage of the game?
• What else can we do to water this so it continues to grow?
• For prospects that evaporate, what tactics do you have lined up to go back and revisit and revive?