*Starting a conversation

I hope to use my background as a broker, a sales trainer/manager, an owner of a brokerage company, and as a principal to recognize and communicate ideas that may help our broker partners in their business. To help fulfill that purpose, I will send occasional emails with topics and ideas that are intended to help our brokers. Today’s topic:

Perspective on opening the door to an initial conversation with a Principal

A question that I’m asked frequently is: “What calling techniques work to get my attention and open the door to a conversation when a broker is cold calling?” For me, that’s a very simple answer; “Call with something interesting or valuable to your prospect.”

Listed below are a few ideas that may be helpful in starting a conversation:

Call with potential property that may meet your prospect’s acquisition criteria. Since I’m always in the market for specific types of QSRs with a drive-thru, I am receptive to those calls and appreciate it when a broker thinks of me.

Call with information about one of your prospect’s franchisees, tenants, or with information about something relevant to a property they own or the area surrounding it. News about current leasing information, competing construction projects, or proposed roadway changes are examples of items that are valuable, and capture attention.

Call with other targeted news that may be valuable. I recently received a call from a broker telling me of a large QSR operator that was experiencing some financial trouble. He advised me to be on the lookout for specific deals because they may have a lot of motivation involved.

Call about recent acquisitions you notice that your prospect has made to ask what attracted them to that property because you’d like to find other opportunities that may be similar for them.

If you put yourself in your prospect’s shoes, and you’re creative about finding reasons to call that will be valuable to them, you will find them receptive about having a conversation that may transition into business for you both.

Clearly, good calls are better than bad calls so call until you become good. No one starts out their career as a great caller with a perfect strategy. The good news is that if you call a prospect and don’t have a message that grabs them enough to get further in the call, chances are they won’t remember it for long. Don’t be afraid to call again in a couple weeks

In my history as a dealmaker, manager, and owner, one of the things I learned was that brokers that are consistent business generators have the best careers, and those that prospect consistently are the best business generators. Be consistent and active in your cold calling; there is no other proven method that I’ve witnessed that leads to more reliable success.

I hope you’ve found some value in This Principal’s Perspective. Please keep KJF Partners in mind if/when you are selling QSRs with drive-thru’s. If you’d like our acquisition criteria, please feel free to request it or, you can find it on our website:www.kjfpartners.com