Avoid the end-of-game "Hail Mary" pass
The other day I spoke with a Financial Planner who manages a good sized portfolio for wealthy clients. Through a referral he was given an opportunity to meet with a group of doctors who have put
together a charitable foundation. The assets of the foundation had grown in size and are now too big for the members to manage themselves. They need professional help.
This planner did his best to get all of the information from his contact and put together a very nice presentation. He met with the members at a "cattle call" meeting where he was one of three
people presenting to the group (via conference call). He felt good about the presentation and was sure he would hear back from them sometime soon. A few weeks went by and there was no
word. He contacted his point person and asked what was going on. "You did really well" he was told. The group had narrowed it down to just him and another company. "It will probably just come
down to fees" he was told.
It was at this point that the Financial Planner came to me and asked "what can I do to close this business?" I told him about the coach who managed a youth football league. It was the fourth
quarter with one minute left to play and his team was down by 14 points. The coach asked "what can I do to win the game?" The answer for both scenarios is, there is a lot you can do, but you have to
go back and do it in the first, second and third quarters.
Don't wait until the fourth quarter to start worrying about how you'll close a piece of business. Have a system in place that starts from the very first introduction. Make sure that system is
learnable, repeatable and proven. You'll avoid the end-of-game "Hail Marry" pass every time.