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Goose My People
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Puzzle
Managing Partner: "We hold an annual retreat where about 150 of our 200 people assemble at a country club for drinks, lunch and a discussion of where our firm is headed.
"We hold the business meeting after lunch, and unless I have someone give them a reason to listen, we'll see a bunch of droopy eyelids during the important part of the meeting.
"I've also been noticing that many of our associates don't take business development seriously, so I want to be sure to give them a wake-up call, both literally and figuratively.
"I'll know you've been successful when I see them awake as I speak, and when they tell me I made a wise choice afterwards. I'd also like to hear some of them discussing your advice in the weeks that follow."
Diagnosis
This is one of those "duh" moments Homer Simpson experiences quite frequently:
You should never serve the booze and food before the meeting – always after.
Despite the "duh" moment, the prospect wasn't willing to change the structure of the meeting, so we had to solve the puzzle within his original constraints.
During the engagement, we interviewed a half dozen associates, and as many executives, and determined that three simple problems were common among most of them:
- They weren't getting any referrals from satisfied clients.
- Most were uncomfortable and unsuccessful in networking situations.
- Almost none were comfortable contacting old clients for new business.
Solution
Because this was a keynote presentation, this project was handled by Gill Wagner.
Gill prepared 2" x 3" laminated cards for all 150 attendees. The cards had three bullet-point tips covering items 1-3 above.
Immediately after lunch, Gill literally woke them up with one of his signature stories – a 14-minute reenactment of the time he was shot while working at a gas station when he was 19 years old.
Gill then tied that story into the three bullet-points about business development, and turned the meeting back over to the managing partner at the firm.
His keynote took 30 minutes.
Results
As he spoke to his team, the managing partner noticed no droopy eyes, and after the meeting he received praise for having selected me to present to the group.
As for the after-meeting conversations about business development, members of his team were buzzing for a few weeks, one started attending the Honest Selling Breakfast Club workshops, and, over time, several reported success implementing the business development ideas they learned.
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