Photo: Parentsindonesia.com
Jika saat ini Anda memiliki anak yang berusia 1 tahun, jangan kaget bahwa total biaya pendidikannya hingga 18 tahun mendatang, dari SD sampai Perguruan Tinggi, bisa mencapai Rp 1 miliar. Sungguh, kami tidak bergurau!
Menurut Ligwina Hananto MBA, konsultan keuangan Quantum Magna Financial, biaya pendidikan rata-rata naik sekitar 20% per tahun. Belum lagi laju inflasi di Indonesia. “Inflasi untuk sekolah swasta di Indonesia sekitar 20% per tahun, dan 15% per tahun untuk universitas di Indonesia,” tambah Ligwina.
Sebagai gambaran, bila inflasi diestimasikan sekitar 6% per tahun, maka dalam 9 tahun saja, total inflasi menjadi sebesar 54%. Jika saat ini biaya kuliah per semester di universitas negeri Rp 5 juta dengan uang pangkal sekitar Rp 20 juta, maka biaya kuliah yang harus Anda persiapkan untuk tahun 2017 menjadi sekitar Rp 107,8 juta (dengan perhitungan future value). Jika biaya buku perkuliahan dan alat tulis sekitar Rp 5 juta per semester, maka tambahkan lagi angka Rp 77 juta untuk biaya buku selama 10 semester. Belum lagi ongkos transportasi, uang makan, dan biaya hidup jika anak bersekolah di kota lain atau tinggal sendiri, anggap saja sekitar Rp 3,5 juta per bulan dan Anda mendapatkan perkiraan biaya hidup Rp 210 juta. Maka, total biaya untuk menyekolahkan si kecil di tahun 2017 menjadi Rp 400 juta. Itu berarti Anda perlu menyisihkan uang Rp 3,7 juta per bulan hingga 9 tahun ke depan! Dan, perhitungan ini hanya berlaku jika si kecil diterima di Perguruan Tinggi Negeri.
Jika Anda berencana menyekolahkannya di Perguruan Tinggi Swasta, angkanya bisa menjadi dua kali lipat. Membayangkan angka yang demikian fantastis, Anda mungkin merasa pesimis bagaimana bisa membiayai kuliah si kecil kelak, bila saat ini saja tagihan kartu kredit Anda sudah menumpuk di meja. Untuk mendapatkan solusinya, kami bertanya kepada perencana keuangan keluarga untuk membantu Anda. Ini yang perlu Anda ketahui. Menghitung biaya pendidikan.
Menurut Rina N. Sandy, RFA dari Sarosa Consulting Group, ada tiga langkah utama yang perlu Anda ketahui secara pasti. “Langkah pertama adalah menentukan pilihan,” ujar Rina. Pilihan di sini haruslah spesifik, Anda harus menentukan apakah si kecil kelak akan disekolahkan ke sekolah negeri atau swasta, di dalam atau di luar negeri, dengan standar mutu internasional atau nasional. “Menentukan secara persis pilihan sekolah bagi anak, bertujuan untuk mencari tahu berapa besar biaya sekolah dan uang pangkal saat ini.” Lanjut Rina.
Jangan lupakan juga biaya buku sekolah, seragam dan biaya hidup, apalagi jika sekolah yang dipilih berada di luar kota. Setelah Anda tahu persis pilihan sekolah dan total biaya yang dibutuhkan, maka langkah kedua adalah menentukan jangka waktu dan target biaya di masa depan. Jika saat ini si kecil berusia 3 tahun, maka Anda harus mulai berhitung kapan si kecil masuk TK, SD, SMP, SMU, dan Universitas. Kemudian sesuaikan dengan dana yang harus dialokasikan setiap bulan agar jumlahnya cukup ketika si kecil memasuki jenjang pendidikan tersebut.
Rina mengingatkan agar saat menghitung biaya, Anda tidak melupakan laju inflasi, normalnya sekitar 10% sampai 20%. Untuk menghitung biayanya, ada rumus sederhana yang bisa Anda terapkan dengan menggunakan rumus:
future value: FV= PV. (1+r)n .
FV atau future value adalah besarnya biaya di masa depan
PV adalah nominal biaya sekolah saat ini
r adalah besarnya bunga
n adalah jangka waktu yang Anda butuhkan
Bingung menghitungnya? Klik saja http://1040tools.com untuk kalkulator future value online. Setelah Anda mendapatkan nominal perkiraan, misalnya Rp 400 juta, maka dalam jangka waktu sampai si kecil masuk kuliah, Anda sudah harus bisa menyiapkan sejumlah besar dana yang dibutuhkan tersebut. Untuk itu, maka langkah ketiga –langkah yang paling penting– adalah menentukan penempatan dana sesuai dengan harapan hasil investasi yang bisa diterima di kemudian hari.
Ada banyak pilihan yang bisa Anda lakukan, mulai dari tabungan pendidikan, asuransi, hingga investasi. Semuanya disesuaikan dengan jangka waktu dan kebutuhan Anda. Jika Anda berani menanggung risiko, Anda bisa mencoba memilih investasi di bursa saham yang akan memberikan hasil yang jauh lebih tinggi daripada deposito atau tabungan pendidikan. Menyimpan biaya kuliah Meski semua penasihat keuangan akan menyarankan Anda untuk mulai menabung biaya pendidikan di rekening tersendiri bagi setiap anak sedini mungkin, jangan khawatir jika setelah melakukan perhitungan, Anda merasa tidak akan bisa menabung dengan jumlah yang dibutuhkan tersebut sampai si kecil berusia 18 tahun.
Sebagai gambaran, bila Anda mulai berinvestasi menggunakan reksadana pendapatan tetap setidaknya sekitar Rp 4 juta per tahun dengan bunga 10% per tahun sejak anak berusia setahun, maka saat si kecil masuk kuliah, Anda akan mendapatkan dana pendidikan sebesar Rp 182 juta. Meski nominal ini masih di bawah (misalnya) angka Rp 400 juta yang Anda butuhkan, dana ini tetap akan sangat membantu dibandingkan Anda tidak menyisihkan uang sama sekali.
Lalu, bagaimana mendapatkan sisanya? Jika usia si kecil masih di bawah lima tahun, maka Anda masih memiliki banyak waktu untuk menyiapkan dana tersebut. Rina menyarankan Anda memilih instrumen investasi jangka panjang seperti reksadana saham. Meski investasi ini memiliki risiko moderat hingga risiko tinggi, tapi hasil investasinya akan cukup tinggi dibandingkan menyimpan di tabungan atau deposito. Yang perlu Anda ingat jika memilih investasi jenis ini adalah Anda menyimpan untuk jangka waktu yang lama, bukan jangka pendek.
Jika Anda ragu-ragu memilih berbagai jenis investasi, maka Rina juga menyarankan agar Anda mencari pekerjaan tambahan. “Ada banyak jenis pekerjaan tambahan yang bisa Anda lakukan, apalagi jika itu menjadi bagian dari hobi Anda,” jelas Rina. Misalnya, Anda pandai membuat kue kering dan kue ulang tahun, Anda bisa menawarkannya kepada rekan kerja atau ibu-ibu di taman bermain si kecil. Atau, jika Anda hobi menulis, Anda bisa menjadi kontributor media cetak. Selain itu, masih ada pilihan lain yang bisa membuat Anda menarik napas lega, universitas besar biasanya akan memberikan beasiswa bagi murid-murid yang berprestasi di sekolahnya. Dan, ini bukan hanya di bidang akademis. Universitas Pelita Harapan di Tangerang misalnya, memberikan beasiswa bagi anak-anak yang menonjol di bidang olahraga bola basket.
Perguruan Tinggi Negeri juga menyediakan beasiswa bagi mahasiwanya yang memiliki nilai akademik tinggi. Bahkan perusahaan besar seperti Sampoerna Foundation, atau Yayasan Chevron Texaco dari Caltex, dan beberapa kedutaan besar di Indonesia, membuka bantuan beasiswa setiap tahunnya. Ketika Anda merasa kewalahan mengatur keuangan dengan berbagai kebutuhan si kecil mulai dari popok, susu, babysitter, hingga uang pangkal si kecil di kelompok bermain, memang berat membayangkan bagaimana Anda masih bisa menyisihkan sedikit uang ekstra dari gaji bulanan Anda untuk biaya pendidikan si kecil.
Yang perlu Anda ingat bahwa saat anak-anak masih kecil, Anda belum berada pada posisi puncak karir dan pendapatan. Lima belas tahun dari sekarang, kemungkinan besar gaji Anda akan meningkat, dan biaya pengeluaran untuk kebutuhan bulanan anak juga semakin berkurang, dan Anda akan punya sisa gaji bulanan yang lebih besar untuk membantu membiayai kuliah anak. Melihat besarnya biaya dengan perspektif nyata
Yang terakhir, Rina menyarankan Anda untuk bersikap realistis. Jika memang kondisi keuangan keluarga belum bisa mencukupi kebutuhan tersier, maka Anda disarankan untuk menurunkan pilihan. “Menyekolahkan anak di perguruan tinggi ternama di Amerika mungkin menjadi cita-cita sebagian besar orang tua, tapi jika kondisi keuangan memang tidak mencukupi, daripada Anda terjebak utang, lebih baik Anda menyekolahkannya di negeri sendiri”, jelas Rina.
Anda memang tidak disarankan untuk meminjam uang ke bank untuk biaya kuliah anak. Mengapa? Karena akan sangat membebani secara finansial jika Anda harus membayar cicilan ditambah bunga. Satu hal yang juga perlu Anda ingat saat mengetahui betapa tingginya biaya kuliah: Besarnya biaya kuliah tersebut adalah proyeksi perkiraan biaya masa depan berdasarkan apa yang terjadi saat ini. Tapi, para ahli beranggapan bahwa biaya pendidikan tinggi semakin lama semakin menggila sehingga kemungkinan besar masih akan dikaji ulang sebelum si kecil yang kini berusia 2 tahun lulus dari SMU.
Saat ini memang tidak ada cara pasti untuk memerkirakan seperti apa gambaran biaya kuliah lima belas tahun lagi. Namun Anda bisa membangun awal yang baik dengan merencanakannya secara bijak dan menyisihkan uang sebanyak yang Anda bisa, serta berusaha untuk tidak terlalu panik memikirkan tingginya angka untuk biaya kuliah si kecil kelak.
Sumber: Parents Indonesia
http://www.infoasuransi.net/asuransi-pendidikan/95-menyiapkan-biaya-kuliah-si-kecil.html
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Sales Pitch That Works Every Time: Tell a Great Story
The Sales Pitch That Works Every Time: Tell a Great Story
By Jeff Gomez | June 23, 2010
Jeff Gomez doesn’t seem like a salesman in thetraditional sense. As CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, his job is to turna movie plot (or a toy or any product with narrative potential) into a bigger,more lucrative franchise that will pay off long after the blockbuster has lefttheaters. He’ll turn the story into mobile phone games, comic books,toys – sometimes all of the above – and in the process,turn audience members into brand super fans. In short, Gomez knows how to sella story — something that every good salesman must do. And he hasbecome the go-to person for big brands like Disney, Hasbro, Microsoft, andCoca-Cola. Most recently, he helped James Cameron and 20th Century Fox extend “Avatar”into games, Websites, books, and more. Here’s how he gets peoplehooked.
Name: Jeff Gomez
Location: NY, NY
What I sell: Blockbuster story franchises
Biggest win: Commissioned to turn "Avatar" storyline into games, Websites, and books.
2009 Sales: $10 million
Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment
How I found my market niche
I’ve always been a gamer and a science fiction geek. It started in my childhood with Japanese pop culture, anime, and Godzilla movies and then I was introduced to J.R.R. Tolkien in the mid-70s. What astonished me was how language could convey an absolutely convincing fantasy world. Starlight was formed to extend those story worlds across multiple media platforms.
I used to teach elementary school, and I still devote at least one day a month to teaching. I started noticing that young people move from one platform to the next with astonishing speed and simplicity; they have become used to absorbing information in many different ways. They jump from TV screen to laptop to mobile phone. But I also noticed that the entertainment and advertising industries were not designing information to be absorbed this way. There’s a huge opportunity there — and that’s where we come in.
Know the story
We do two kinds of research: First, we go to the marketing division of a client or studio and get our hands on as much information as they have gathered in terms of audience research, and for some companies that is a lot of information. We pore through this, but at the same time we go to where the fan base is most active, which is usually on the Internet, and we send a small team of researchers into the fan community to start participating and learning.
Before I even start to think about how to translate “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Avatar” into sellable franchises, my first step is to get to know every possible detail about the fictional universe — not just what the audience is going to see. We create what I call mythologies — illustrated books containing hundreds of pages of narrative details and descriptions. For “Pirates,” the mythology has every conceivable piece of information: profiles of characters, anatomies of creatures, descriptions of how the magic works, a chronology of events. It’s a central resource for us and for Disney to understand what the pirates are about, the essence of the brand, and how to tell stories that are true to that brand.
Find the right message
In the process, we’re looking for something like, ‘What is the connection between this fictional world and the audience?’ It’s the hook that will make people engage. Without understanding that message, we won’t be able to extend the story into other media. Take the pirate, Jack Sparrow. Someone who had not dug so deeply into the story’s narrative world would treat Jack Sparrow as if he was truly and genuinely a pirate, and if you do that, you are in danger of making that character do awful things and limiting him and what the brand can sell. Jack Sparrow is really just a man who embraces freedom above all things and understands you can have freedom by doing things like dressing like a pirate. He is not really a pirate in the traditional sense. He’s not a murdering thug. He makes the impossible possible. That makes “Pirates” a Disney product, and allows them to sell related products.
To make stories work across different media, you have to understand where the audience member becomes a participant and how to leverage interactivity within the story. With a video game, you try to get the audience member to fully engage physically. Whereas when you’re working with the small screen of a mobile phone, it’s all about intimacy and reaching the consumer on a far more personal level. We guide the client to making these decisions.
You can sell a story to lots of people as long as what is in the story is resonant and “aspirational.” With really good stories, you’ll find intense fans around the world — the people who want to be a part of and live within the story. And when you can help create this connection, you can sell them anything.
http://www.bnet.com/article/the-sales-pitch-that-works-every-time-tell-a-great-story/437931
By Jeff Gomez | June 23, 2010
Jeff Gomez doesn’t seem like a salesman in thetraditional sense. As CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, his job is to turna movie plot (or a toy or any product with narrative potential) into a bigger,more lucrative franchise that will pay off long after the blockbuster has lefttheaters. He’ll turn the story into mobile phone games, comic books,toys – sometimes all of the above – and in the process,turn audience members into brand super fans. In short, Gomez knows how to sella story — something that every good salesman must do. And he hasbecome the go-to person for big brands like Disney, Hasbro, Microsoft, andCoca-Cola. Most recently, he helped James Cameron and 20th Century Fox extend “Avatar”into games, Websites, books, and more. Here’s how he gets peoplehooked.
Name: Jeff Gomez
Location: NY, NY
What I sell: Blockbuster story franchises
Biggest win: Commissioned to turn "Avatar" storyline into games, Websites, and books.
2009 Sales: $10 million
Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment
How I found my market niche
I’ve always been a gamer and a science fiction geek. It started in my childhood with Japanese pop culture, anime, and Godzilla movies and then I was introduced to J.R.R. Tolkien in the mid-70s. What astonished me was how language could convey an absolutely convincing fantasy world. Starlight was formed to extend those story worlds across multiple media platforms.
I used to teach elementary school, and I still devote at least one day a month to teaching. I started noticing that young people move from one platform to the next with astonishing speed and simplicity; they have become used to absorbing information in many different ways. They jump from TV screen to laptop to mobile phone. But I also noticed that the entertainment and advertising industries were not designing information to be absorbed this way. There’s a huge opportunity there — and that’s where we come in.
Know the story
We do two kinds of research: First, we go to the marketing division of a client or studio and get our hands on as much information as they have gathered in terms of audience research, and for some companies that is a lot of information. We pore through this, but at the same time we go to where the fan base is most active, which is usually on the Internet, and we send a small team of researchers into the fan community to start participating and learning.
Before I even start to think about how to translate “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Avatar” into sellable franchises, my first step is to get to know every possible detail about the fictional universe — not just what the audience is going to see. We create what I call mythologies — illustrated books containing hundreds of pages of narrative details and descriptions. For “Pirates,” the mythology has every conceivable piece of information: profiles of characters, anatomies of creatures, descriptions of how the magic works, a chronology of events. It’s a central resource for us and for Disney to understand what the pirates are about, the essence of the brand, and how to tell stories that are true to that brand.
Find the right message
In the process, we’re looking for something like, ‘What is the connection between this fictional world and the audience?’ It’s the hook that will make people engage. Without understanding that message, we won’t be able to extend the story into other media. Take the pirate, Jack Sparrow. Someone who had not dug so deeply into the story’s narrative world would treat Jack Sparrow as if he was truly and genuinely a pirate, and if you do that, you are in danger of making that character do awful things and limiting him and what the brand can sell. Jack Sparrow is really just a man who embraces freedom above all things and understands you can have freedom by doing things like dressing like a pirate. He is not really a pirate in the traditional sense. He’s not a murdering thug. He makes the impossible possible. That makes “Pirates” a Disney product, and allows them to sell related products.
To make stories work across different media, you have to understand where the audience member becomes a participant and how to leverage interactivity within the story. With a video game, you try to get the audience member to fully engage physically. Whereas when you’re working with the small screen of a mobile phone, it’s all about intimacy and reaching the consumer on a far more personal level. We guide the client to making these decisions.
You can sell a story to lots of people as long as what is in the story is resonant and “aspirational.” With really good stories, you’ll find intense fans around the world — the people who want to be a part of and live within the story. And when you can help create this connection, you can sell them anything.
http://www.bnet.com/article/the-sales-pitch-that-works-every-time-tell-a-great-story/437931
The Sales Cycle: How to Close Deals That Take Years to Make
By Walter Koellner | June 23, 2010
To say that Walter Koellner sells big-ticket items is anunderstatement. As part of Siemens's Industry Solutions division, Koellner'sjob is to convince large mining companies to spend up to $15 million on largeexcavation machines that contain Siemens's electric drive technology — everything from gear units to motors and engineering software. Koellner, anAustrian native who has been at Siemens for 30 years, calculates his salescycles in years, not months.
Despite these innate challenges and the fact that miningcompanies halted much of their capital spending when the U.S. economy soured,Koellner has excelled. His team generates the second highest sales volume for his division.
Name: Walter Koellner
Location: Alpharetta, GA
What I sell: The drive systems for massive machines that areused at mining sites
Biggest win: Selling the world's first gearless draglinemachine to a mining company in China
Most common objection I hear: "This can't be done."
Walter Koellner of Siemens's Industry Solutions division
Sales is all about patience and persistence, especially in my job. I sell these huge machines that work for 30 years and nobody buys one of these things overnight. I recently came back from South Africa for a sales pitch to Anglo-American on a drag line, a 5-story excavator used in open-pit mining that costs between $150 million and $200 million. For something like that, you have teams of people evaluating and making reports to the company's board. They do all sorts of calculations and look at what the lifecycle cost is, and then there are third parties that have to look at it. And since Siemens has only been in the business of supplying the drive systems for these dragline excavators since 2006, the customer is even more concerned and wants to get all kinds of technical and support details. All this will take more than a year, so we won't know whether we landed this deal until 2011. There's still a long road and I'll probably have to go back to South Africa several more times.
Put in the time
My customers need to know the benefits of Siemens's solution, but they also need to really trust me and the sales team, especially in terms of my ability to provide support for a machine after the deal is closed. This is what takes the most time, especially in the Asian countries like China. You can't build trust over a three-hour meeting. You have to go there again and again. You go with them to dinner and talk about your families. It's a long process of relationship development.
There are few things that can kill a deal faster than not being prepared and not knowing as much about what the customer wants as you possibly can. Sometimes you rush into a meeting without all the proper homework and it shows. This happened many years ago when I met with a manufacturer of trucks that haul mining waste. Our product was too big and it did not meet their shock and vibration requirements. We weren't going to be able to deliver what they needed at the right price as soon as they wanted it. I should have known more about their needs — and our limitations — beforehand. But here's where persistence comes into play — I kept in constant touch and updated them every time there were developments bringing us closer to their ideal machine. Then, 11 years after that first sales call, I received an order.
Read between the lines
Even if you are prepared, it's sometimes necessary to switch gears quickly during a meeting when a certain preference or concern emerges. It's important to stay flexible and listen to what the customer wants. This is where you find the real insights, and you often have to read between the lines to know what it really is a customer wants.
When I tried to sell the world's first gearless dragline together with the manufacturer Bucyrus to a customer in Inner Mongolia, China, they asked, "How will you provide technical support for the machine since we're all the way out here in Inner Mongolia?" I talked about warranties and the reliability of our system, but that wasn't enough. So we told them we had a machine working on a mining site in Canada that was hooked up to a remote diagnostic system. We were able to call it up in real time and show the customer that it's possible to see how the machine is operating half a world away. This helped them overcome their fear of having to deal with difficult issues all by themselves and it was a big part of closing the deal.
-As told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/the-sales-cycle-how-to-close-deals-that-take-years-to-make/437926
By Walter Koellner | June 23, 2010
To say that Walter Koellner sells big-ticket items is anunderstatement. As part of Siemens's Industry Solutions division, Koellner'sjob is to convince large mining companies to spend up to $15 million on largeexcavation machines that contain Siemens's electric drive technology — everything from gear units to motors and engineering software. Koellner, anAustrian native who has been at Siemens for 30 years, calculates his salescycles in years, not months.
Despite these innate challenges and the fact that miningcompanies halted much of their capital spending when the U.S. economy soured,Koellner has excelled. His team generates the second highest sales volume for his division.
Name: Walter Koellner
Location: Alpharetta, GA
What I sell: The drive systems for massive machines that areused at mining sites
Biggest win: Selling the world's first gearless draglinemachine to a mining company in China
Most common objection I hear: "This can't be done."
Walter Koellner of Siemens's Industry Solutions division
Sales is all about patience and persistence, especially in my job. I sell these huge machines that work for 30 years and nobody buys one of these things overnight. I recently came back from South Africa for a sales pitch to Anglo-American on a drag line, a 5-story excavator used in open-pit mining that costs between $150 million and $200 million. For something like that, you have teams of people evaluating and making reports to the company's board. They do all sorts of calculations and look at what the lifecycle cost is, and then there are third parties that have to look at it. And since Siemens has only been in the business of supplying the drive systems for these dragline excavators since 2006, the customer is even more concerned and wants to get all kinds of technical and support details. All this will take more than a year, so we won't know whether we landed this deal until 2011. There's still a long road and I'll probably have to go back to South Africa several more times.
Put in the time
My customers need to know the benefits of Siemens's solution, but they also need to really trust me and the sales team, especially in terms of my ability to provide support for a machine after the deal is closed. This is what takes the most time, especially in the Asian countries like China. You can't build trust over a three-hour meeting. You have to go there again and again. You go with them to dinner and talk about your families. It's a long process of relationship development.
There are few things that can kill a deal faster than not being prepared and not knowing as much about what the customer wants as you possibly can. Sometimes you rush into a meeting without all the proper homework and it shows. This happened many years ago when I met with a manufacturer of trucks that haul mining waste. Our product was too big and it did not meet their shock and vibration requirements. We weren't going to be able to deliver what they needed at the right price as soon as they wanted it. I should have known more about their needs — and our limitations — beforehand. But here's where persistence comes into play — I kept in constant touch and updated them every time there were developments bringing us closer to their ideal machine. Then, 11 years after that first sales call, I received an order.
Read between the lines
Even if you are prepared, it's sometimes necessary to switch gears quickly during a meeting when a certain preference or concern emerges. It's important to stay flexible and listen to what the customer wants. This is where you find the real insights, and you often have to read between the lines to know what it really is a customer wants.
When I tried to sell the world's first gearless dragline together with the manufacturer Bucyrus to a customer in Inner Mongolia, China, they asked, "How will you provide technical support for the machine since we're all the way out here in Inner Mongolia?" I talked about warranties and the reliability of our system, but that wasn't enough. So we told them we had a machine working on a mining site in Canada that was hooked up to a remote diagnostic system. We were able to call it up in real time and show the customer that it's possible to see how the machine is operating half a world away. This helped them overcome their fear of having to deal with difficult issues all by themselves and it was a big part of closing the deal.
-As told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/the-sales-cycle-how-to-close-deals-that-take-years-to-make/437926
How to Build Rapport with Any Customer
How to Build Rapport with Any Customer
By Orvin Kimbrough | June 23, 2010
Orvin Kimbrough joined United Way of Greater St. Louis inJanuary 2007 — just in time to battle the effects of the loomingeconomic crisis. Kimbrough, 35, is the senior vice president of major andplanned gifts, handling relationship management for United Way’s200,000 donors in his region. While 2008 charitable giving across organizationsdeclined by 2.4 percent, according to a study byGiving USA Foundation, Kimbrough’s numbers rose, from the $22.44million he helped raise in 2007 (up from $20.98 million in 2006) to $22.92million in 2008. Last year’s numbers are not yet final. But Kimbroughis responsible for bringing in roughly one-third of the $67 million that UnitedWay of Greater St. Louis has recorded so far. Here’s how he does it.
Name: Orvin Kimbrough
Location: St. Louis
What I sell: United Way's mission
Amount raised in 2009: About $22 million
What doesn't work in my field: A lack of authenticity
Orvin Kimbrough, senior VP of major and planned gifts for United Way
I believe in what I’m selling. I just need to tell the story, which is that we help people. I personally connect with the services we support because I grew up in the foster care system and benefited from United Way funds. It gives me a different perspective. When I stand before donors and prospective donors, I speak from a position of strength.
Where it makes sense to do so, I’ll disclose my story. You have to be relatable. One thing we all have in common as human beings is that we were once kids. We learn through stories and love hearing about people who struggled and made it through.
Meet people where they are
The economic climate was tough this year. I was at my desk when I got a call from a family member who wanted to know if he could use my house for storage. I asked why he wanted to do that when he had his own. Turns out he was about to lose his house. Later that day, I was speaking to a group of African American executives — donors and potential donors. Research suggests that African Americans have been disproportionately affected by unemployment. Community and extended family are important to them. When I walked into the room to speak, I heard someone describing an experience similar to the one I’d had with my relative. I decided to tell the group about the phone call I’d just gotten. Your message depends on the audience and the vibe you’re getting. Meet people where they are. Go in with the mindset that no matter what the client’s need is, you’re going to meet it. You want to identify with your audience. Keep your antennae up.
People are entitled to their opinions. If someone isn’t interested in what you’re offering, you can’t expect to change a set belief. But you can ensure that that belief is based on fact. For example, I often hear, “So few resources actually get to the people.” But the United Way of Greater St. Louis has the lowest overhead cost in the U.S. When I demonstrate that we spend just 10 cents of every dollar on overhead, as opposed to the national average of 20 to 40 cents on the dollar, that information is transformative.
It’s about the relationship, not the transaction
Sometimes salespeople don’t seem natural, and people pick up on that lack of authenticity. You’ve got to be guided by the best interests of the people you’re selling to. I’ve had situations where potential donors want to specify a particular charity to receive their donation. I explain that we don’t do that. United Way covers all the bases, funding organizations that people know about and those they don’t. Just because you support one cause, doesn’t make the others less important. I’ve gone on to say that if they are truly that passionate about a single cause, then they should support it instead. And often I’ve had people who appreciate the honesty so much that they’ll choose to donate to United Way in the end. What looks like a missed opportunity turns into a lifelong relationship.
It’s about building rapport. It’s not about the transaction. That’s what gets most of us in trouble.
-As told to Adriana Gardell
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-build-rapport-with-any-customer/437943
By Orvin Kimbrough | June 23, 2010
Orvin Kimbrough joined United Way of Greater St. Louis inJanuary 2007 — just in time to battle the effects of the loomingeconomic crisis. Kimbrough, 35, is the senior vice president of major andplanned gifts, handling relationship management for United Way’s200,000 donors in his region. While 2008 charitable giving across organizationsdeclined by 2.4 percent, according to a study byGiving USA Foundation, Kimbrough’s numbers rose, from the $22.44million he helped raise in 2007 (up from $20.98 million in 2006) to $22.92million in 2008. Last year’s numbers are not yet final. But Kimbroughis responsible for bringing in roughly one-third of the $67 million that UnitedWay of Greater St. Louis has recorded so far. Here’s how he does it.
Name: Orvin Kimbrough
Location: St. Louis
What I sell: United Way's mission
Amount raised in 2009: About $22 million
What doesn't work in my field: A lack of authenticity
Orvin Kimbrough, senior VP of major and planned gifts for United Way
I believe in what I’m selling. I just need to tell the story, which is that we help people. I personally connect with the services we support because I grew up in the foster care system and benefited from United Way funds. It gives me a different perspective. When I stand before donors and prospective donors, I speak from a position of strength.
Where it makes sense to do so, I’ll disclose my story. You have to be relatable. One thing we all have in common as human beings is that we were once kids. We learn through stories and love hearing about people who struggled and made it through.
Meet people where they are
The economic climate was tough this year. I was at my desk when I got a call from a family member who wanted to know if he could use my house for storage. I asked why he wanted to do that when he had his own. Turns out he was about to lose his house. Later that day, I was speaking to a group of African American executives — donors and potential donors. Research suggests that African Americans have been disproportionately affected by unemployment. Community and extended family are important to them. When I walked into the room to speak, I heard someone describing an experience similar to the one I’d had with my relative. I decided to tell the group about the phone call I’d just gotten. Your message depends on the audience and the vibe you’re getting. Meet people where they are. Go in with the mindset that no matter what the client’s need is, you’re going to meet it. You want to identify with your audience. Keep your antennae up.
People are entitled to their opinions. If someone isn’t interested in what you’re offering, you can’t expect to change a set belief. But you can ensure that that belief is based on fact. For example, I often hear, “So few resources actually get to the people.” But the United Way of Greater St. Louis has the lowest overhead cost in the U.S. When I demonstrate that we spend just 10 cents of every dollar on overhead, as opposed to the national average of 20 to 40 cents on the dollar, that information is transformative.
It’s about the relationship, not the transaction
Sometimes salespeople don’t seem natural, and people pick up on that lack of authenticity. You’ve got to be guided by the best interests of the people you’re selling to. I’ve had situations where potential donors want to specify a particular charity to receive their donation. I explain that we don’t do that. United Way covers all the bases, funding organizations that people know about and those they don’t. Just because you support one cause, doesn’t make the others less important. I’ve gone on to say that if they are truly that passionate about a single cause, then they should support it instead. And often I’ve had people who appreciate the honesty so much that they’ll choose to donate to United Way in the end. What looks like a missed opportunity turns into a lifelong relationship.
It’s about building rapport. It’s not about the transaction. That’s what gets most of us in trouble.
-As told to Adriana Gardell
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-build-rapport-with-any-customer/437943
How to Build Trust to Boost Your Sales
How to Build Trust to Boost Your Sales
By Melanie Warner | June 23, 2010
When disgraced auto executives boarded their multi-milliondollar jets and flew to Washington to plead for more government bailout moneyin the fall of 2008, the image of private aircraft took a severe hit. Worriedabout appearing extravagant and equally out of touch, companies scrambled tosell their jets. Despite the industry’s tarnished image, Andrew Mearns,a sales rep for Flexjet, managed to not only sell a few aircraft, but he turnedaround an underperforming region to become Flexjet’s top grossingsales person for 2009. He did it by persuading both companies and wealthyindividuals that owning private aircraft is smart business. “This isnot people having caviar and champagne at 40,000 feet,” says Mearns,who covers the New England and eastern Canada territories for Flexjet. “It’sa way for busy people to maximize their time.”
Name: Andrew Mearns
Location: Boston, MA
What I sell: Whole and fractional private aircraft ownership for Flexjet
Biggest win: Running the flight department of a Fortune 500 manufacturing company
Days of the week spent traveling: 3-4
Andrew Mearns, sales rep for Flexjet
BNET interviewed Andrew about his strategy:
I approach sales like it’s a long-term partnership. I don’t want to be just selling something to somebody — what I want to be is their adviser, their confidant, somebody who’s looking out for their needs in a very real way. It’s really a whole different conversation.
I had an experience in my mid-20’s that was an epiphany in terms of my attitude about sales. This was before I joined Flexjet, when I was an aircraft broker, focused on selling whole corporate jets and helicopters. I was actively marketing a corporate jet and had located a buyer who was ready, willing, and able to move forward with the purchase of the aircraft. But it became clear that the aircraft was more than they needed. Instead of pushing my position, I was honest about the situation and they bought a different, better-suited aircraft.
The lesson came almost two years later when that client decided to upgrade to a bigger, newer aircraft. They remembered what had transpired and asked me to accept the exclusive listing to sell the original aircraft and to simultaneously represent them in the search and acquisition of their next purchase. Two years earlier, I had lost out on a $1 million deal, but I ended up winning two transactions totaling over $7 million. Integrity won in a very big way and I never forgot this lesson.
I’ve actually had clients say things like, “You’re a salesman, aren’t you supposed to be trying to sell me more?” You have to start with honesty to build trust. I’m not trying to gain a one-time win for myself; the goal is a long-term mutually beneficial partnership. On Tuesday, one of my clients wrote me a note that ended with: "And I LOVE Flexjet!!!" This is what I live for.
One of the other things I’ve learned from many years of sales is that face-to-face interaction is critical. On the phone people tend to be in a bit of a hurry.
I can usually get a meeting with prospective clients once I’ve explained how Flexjet can help them be more productive. I try to paint a mental picture of what life can be like after they join our program, so I ask them to: "Imagine if you and your team could conduct three presentations in three different states in one day and still make it home for dinner with your families."
And sometimes we go the extra mile with face-to-face meetings. Last year when we were trying to win the business of a flight department of a large manufacturing company, we invited the whole team to fly down in one of our aircraft to our main operations center in Richardson, TX for the day. We wanted them to meet and talk to all our key operations people so they could collect the data they needed. And they were able to see firsthand what it was like to be a Flexjet customer. After six months of work, we got a several million dollar deal and it’s now one of the largest I support.
Most of our prospective clients do a demonstration flight on one of our aircraft. I always make a point of going to meet them on the outbound leg, so I can personally introduce them to the pilots, show them around the aircraft and encourage them to ask myself and the crew any questions that they can think of.
And yes, I usually fly commercial and coach. I recently came back from meeting a new client for a demonstration flight in Montreal and my flight back to Boston was delayed three hours and it took two hours to get through immigration. It’s a good reminder of the selling points of private aircraft.
— as told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-build-trust-to-boost-your-sales/437938
By Melanie Warner | June 23, 2010
When disgraced auto executives boarded their multi-milliondollar jets and flew to Washington to plead for more government bailout moneyin the fall of 2008, the image of private aircraft took a severe hit. Worriedabout appearing extravagant and equally out of touch, companies scrambled tosell their jets. Despite the industry’s tarnished image, Andrew Mearns,a sales rep for Flexjet, managed to not only sell a few aircraft, but he turnedaround an underperforming region to become Flexjet’s top grossingsales person for 2009. He did it by persuading both companies and wealthyindividuals that owning private aircraft is smart business. “This isnot people having caviar and champagne at 40,000 feet,” says Mearns,who covers the New England and eastern Canada territories for Flexjet. “It’sa way for busy people to maximize their time.”
Name: Andrew Mearns
Location: Boston, MA
What I sell: Whole and fractional private aircraft ownership for Flexjet
Biggest win: Running the flight department of a Fortune 500 manufacturing company
Days of the week spent traveling: 3-4
Andrew Mearns, sales rep for Flexjet
BNET interviewed Andrew about his strategy:
I approach sales like it’s a long-term partnership. I don’t want to be just selling something to somebody — what I want to be is their adviser, their confidant, somebody who’s looking out for their needs in a very real way. It’s really a whole different conversation.
I had an experience in my mid-20’s that was an epiphany in terms of my attitude about sales. This was before I joined Flexjet, when I was an aircraft broker, focused on selling whole corporate jets and helicopters. I was actively marketing a corporate jet and had located a buyer who was ready, willing, and able to move forward with the purchase of the aircraft. But it became clear that the aircraft was more than they needed. Instead of pushing my position, I was honest about the situation and they bought a different, better-suited aircraft.
The lesson came almost two years later when that client decided to upgrade to a bigger, newer aircraft. They remembered what had transpired and asked me to accept the exclusive listing to sell the original aircraft and to simultaneously represent them in the search and acquisition of their next purchase. Two years earlier, I had lost out on a $1 million deal, but I ended up winning two transactions totaling over $7 million. Integrity won in a very big way and I never forgot this lesson.
I’ve actually had clients say things like, “You’re a salesman, aren’t you supposed to be trying to sell me more?” You have to start with honesty to build trust. I’m not trying to gain a one-time win for myself; the goal is a long-term mutually beneficial partnership. On Tuesday, one of my clients wrote me a note that ended with: "And I LOVE Flexjet!!!" This is what I live for.
One of the other things I’ve learned from many years of sales is that face-to-face interaction is critical. On the phone people tend to be in a bit of a hurry.
I can usually get a meeting with prospective clients once I’ve explained how Flexjet can help them be more productive. I try to paint a mental picture of what life can be like after they join our program, so I ask them to: "Imagine if you and your team could conduct three presentations in three different states in one day and still make it home for dinner with your families."
And sometimes we go the extra mile with face-to-face meetings. Last year when we were trying to win the business of a flight department of a large manufacturing company, we invited the whole team to fly down in one of our aircraft to our main operations center in Richardson, TX for the day. We wanted them to meet and talk to all our key operations people so they could collect the data they needed. And they were able to see firsthand what it was like to be a Flexjet customer. After six months of work, we got a several million dollar deal and it’s now one of the largest I support.
Most of our prospective clients do a demonstration flight on one of our aircraft. I always make a point of going to meet them on the outbound leg, so I can personally introduce them to the pilots, show them around the aircraft and encourage them to ask myself and the crew any questions that they can think of.
And yes, I usually fly commercial and coach. I recently came back from meeting a new client for a demonstration flight in Montreal and my flight back to Boston was delayed three hours and it took two hours to get through immigration. It’s a good reminder of the selling points of private aircraft.
— as told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-build-trust-to-boost-your-sales/437938
How to Get Sales Referrals to Do the Work for You
How to Get Sales Referrals to Do the Work for You
By Steve Kaneski | June 23, 2010
When people are worried about job security and next month’smortgage payment, it’s not easy getting them to think about whatmight happen 10 or 20 years down the road. But that’s Steve Kaneski’sjob. As an agent for New York Life for over 20 years, he sells life insurance,annuities, and other long-term investments to clients, mostly doctors, in theSacramento area. And despite a 15 percent drop in the individual life insurancemarket in 2009, Kaneski’s business is booming. For2008, Kaneski, who works with six assistants and three associate brokers, soldmore insurance and financial products than any of New York Life’s11,000 brokers, racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in insuranceproducts and tens of millions of dollars in securities.
Name: Steve Kaneski
Location: Roseville, CA
What I sell: Life insurance and financial products forNY Life
Toughest thing about my job: Getting people to focus onlife and death issues — something no one likes to talk about.
Number of prospects I see in myoffice every week: 15-20
Steve Kaneski of New York Life
There’s no doubt that this is a difficult environment. While all of my physician clients are still employed, people are uncertain and they are all very nervous about the healthcare bill and how all of the cost containment measures might affect them. So I’m working more hours and answering a lot more questions. And this resulted in a great 2009 for my firm, as I was able to do over 300 cases, while the industry average is around 30. And for the first quarter of 2010, we were up 40 percent over last year.
A system for everything
I see clients face to face two to four times a year for meaningful reviews. I also send out newsletters six times a year and do targeted seasonal cards. And I make myself available, working three evenings a week and every other Saturday.
Many financial advisers say that they meet with their clients frequently, but most don’t have the systems and processes in place to make it happen. We do 4 or 5 appointments a day.
To make sure I’m spending enough time with clients, I’ve systematized everything I do. In our first meeting I invest a lot of time in fact-finding to determine what their goals and priorities are, since life insurance is one of the most personal decisions a person can make. I do an analysis of everything they’ve shared with us, then have a second appointment where we discuss strategies and options. Then we do a finishing appointment, where we answer questions and review what we have accomplished. Each one of these meetings often lasts two hours. This is significantly more time than clients are going to get with most financial services reps.
Referrals are the key to any business, so you want to have a lot of interactions with your clients so that you’re the guy always on the tip of their tongue, the person they go to with any insurance or financial issues. This not only helps retain clients, but they are more likely to refer me to their friends and family. Great salespeople get referrals without asking for them.
Weed out the wrong clients
To me, one of the most overlooked secrets for being successful in sales is having the right clients. Early in my career I started working with doctors because they are smart and, having gone through years of schooling, understand delayed gratification, which is what retirement planning is all about. To find these clients, we do a series of educational seminars about goal setting, retirement and tax-favored investments, estate planning, and proper allocation. I don’t mention or sell any products. Instead it’s about giving people time-tested information, and it’s a weeding out process to attract people who are motivated to act.
If people don’t have what I call “character,” then I don’t work with them. I have a silly, but effective way of finding this out. I ask them, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very important, how much do you want your partner’s hopes and dreams to be protected if something were to happen suddenly?” If their answer is less than a 6, then they don’t have the motivation I’m looking for. I can try to get them to see the benefits of life insurance, but if they truly don’t care what happens to their family after they’re gone, then that’s not a person I want as aclient.
When you work with people of character, you can have honest and sometimes difficult conversations with them about what’s important. I had a trauma surgeon in the office for a first appointment recently. He makes $450,000 a year, and for years he’d been carrying $500,000 of life insurance through another rep. This means that if he should pass, his wife would have just one year’s worth of life insurance to cover the mortgage, the student loan debt and to care for their young children. I had to tell him that he was clearly underinsured, which is hard because it implies he is either operating under a misconception or purposefully avoiding this issue. Since he identified himself as an 8, we were able to move forward and now he has $5 million of insurance coverage.
-As told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-get-sales-referrals-to-do-the-work-for-you/437940
By Steve Kaneski | June 23, 2010
When people are worried about job security and next month’smortgage payment, it’s not easy getting them to think about whatmight happen 10 or 20 years down the road. But that’s Steve Kaneski’sjob. As an agent for New York Life for over 20 years, he sells life insurance,annuities, and other long-term investments to clients, mostly doctors, in theSacramento area. And despite a 15 percent drop in the individual life insurancemarket in 2009, Kaneski’s business is booming. For2008, Kaneski, who works with six assistants and three associate brokers, soldmore insurance and financial products than any of New York Life’s11,000 brokers, racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in insuranceproducts and tens of millions of dollars in securities.
Name: Steve Kaneski
Location: Roseville, CA
What I sell: Life insurance and financial products forNY Life
Toughest thing about my job: Getting people to focus onlife and death issues — something no one likes to talk about.
Number of prospects I see in myoffice every week: 15-20
Steve Kaneski of New York Life
There’s no doubt that this is a difficult environment. While all of my physician clients are still employed, people are uncertain and they are all very nervous about the healthcare bill and how all of the cost containment measures might affect them. So I’m working more hours and answering a lot more questions. And this resulted in a great 2009 for my firm, as I was able to do over 300 cases, while the industry average is around 30. And for the first quarter of 2010, we were up 40 percent over last year.
A system for everything
I see clients face to face two to four times a year for meaningful reviews. I also send out newsletters six times a year and do targeted seasonal cards. And I make myself available, working three evenings a week and every other Saturday.
Many financial advisers say that they meet with their clients frequently, but most don’t have the systems and processes in place to make it happen. We do 4 or 5 appointments a day.
To make sure I’m spending enough time with clients, I’ve systematized everything I do. In our first meeting I invest a lot of time in fact-finding to determine what their goals and priorities are, since life insurance is one of the most personal decisions a person can make. I do an analysis of everything they’ve shared with us, then have a second appointment where we discuss strategies and options. Then we do a finishing appointment, where we answer questions and review what we have accomplished. Each one of these meetings often lasts two hours. This is significantly more time than clients are going to get with most financial services reps.
Referrals are the key to any business, so you want to have a lot of interactions with your clients so that you’re the guy always on the tip of their tongue, the person they go to with any insurance or financial issues. This not only helps retain clients, but they are more likely to refer me to their friends and family. Great salespeople get referrals without asking for them.
Weed out the wrong clients
To me, one of the most overlooked secrets for being successful in sales is having the right clients. Early in my career I started working with doctors because they are smart and, having gone through years of schooling, understand delayed gratification, which is what retirement planning is all about. To find these clients, we do a series of educational seminars about goal setting, retirement and tax-favored investments, estate planning, and proper allocation. I don’t mention or sell any products. Instead it’s about giving people time-tested information, and it’s a weeding out process to attract people who are motivated to act.
If people don’t have what I call “character,” then I don’t work with them. I have a silly, but effective way of finding this out. I ask them, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very important, how much do you want your partner’s hopes and dreams to be protected if something were to happen suddenly?” If their answer is less than a 6, then they don’t have the motivation I’m looking for. I can try to get them to see the benefits of life insurance, but if they truly don’t care what happens to their family after they’re gone, then that’s not a person I want as aclient.
When you work with people of character, you can have honest and sometimes difficult conversations with them about what’s important. I had a trauma surgeon in the office for a first appointment recently. He makes $450,000 a year, and for years he’d been carrying $500,000 of life insurance through another rep. This means that if he should pass, his wife would have just one year’s worth of life insurance to cover the mortgage, the student loan debt and to care for their young children. I had to tell him that he was clearly underinsured, which is hard because it implies he is either operating under a misconception or purposefully avoiding this issue. Since he identified himself as an 8, we were able to move forward and now he has $5 million of insurance coverage.
-As told to Melanie Warner
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-get-sales-referrals-to-do-the-work-for-you/437940
How to Persuade the Reluctant Buyer
How to Persuade the Reluctant Buyer
By Faith Hope Consolo | June 23, 2010
Known as the "Queen of Retail," broker FaithHope Consolo discovered a niche — finding the perfect store locationsfor national and international luxury retailers — and built it toregal proportions. In 2005, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate established its retail leasing and salesdivision exclusively for her. She has been the company’s top brokerfor the past two years in a row, despite precipitous declines of 50 percent ormore in the commercial and retail leasing and sales industry.
Name: Faith Hope Consolo
Location: Based in New York
What I sell: Commercial real estate space to luxury retailers
2009 sales: $222 million (aggregate)
Prudential broker Faith Hope Consolo
I am not driven by the dollar. It’s the deal for me — making the transactions and bringing the right retailer to the right street, whether that is New York or Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles or Palm Beach. It’s like putting the right piece into a puzzle.
When I was first starting out in the late 80s, my mentor Lloyd Putter taught me how to canvass in the streets and how to look at space. He said, “You will call all the stores you have ever shopped in and ask them about expanding,” and that is exactly what I did — no computer, no research. My first client was Godiva. I called the chairman and said, “Don’t you think you should expand in New York?” He said, “That’s ironic. We are just thinking of this now.” Three months later I found a 1,000 square foot space across the street from the Waldorf Astoria. Godiva is still there today.
Keeping the Pulse
One advantage I have is that I have been through three downturns before. With each one, it is all about knowing the trends. You have to figure out which retailers are pulling back and which ones are expanding.
When we had a dip in the late 1990s, there was a real focus on affordable fashion. So we had to go to Europe to look for clients, and we brought Benetton to Manhattan and then came H&M and Zara. During the recent downturn, we aggressively went out and put smaller retailers, like Variazione, and local mom and pops in spaces that made sense, for example on Madison Avenue, where they had been shut out before by the nationals and internationals, who are being very cautious now.
Last year, I did double the transactions of the year before to keep up with the dollar volume. It is work, work, and hard work. I am constantly looking for changes. Especially in New York, you have to go to a neighborhood every week, to keep the pulse, or you can’t do this job. I’m looking for street life, for new people moving in, and the types of people that make up a neighborhood — young families, young singles, established families, etc. That way I’ll know what they need. We’ve all seen how demographics can change rapidly.
“No” Is Never Really “No”
Listening is one of those key things that brokers don’t do enough of in sales: They don’t listen to their customers and they don’t listen to the market, and that is frightening. You have to be able to identify everybody’s interests. I have very good listening skills, which helps me tremendously — that, and I don’t believe in “no.” There’s always a way to change a “no” into a “yes.”
You get past the biggest objections with persistence. In 1996, I received a call from the chairman of Cartier, who said he had a very confidential assignment for me: Contrary to what most people thought, the company didn’t own the Cartier Mansion on 52nd and Fifth — it leased the building. The problem was, the lease was expiring in three years and Cartier had an adversarial relationship with the owner, the Onassis Foundation.
After several spirited meetings at the Foundation’s office (one of the principals even jumped up on a table to scream at me), I went back to Cartier and told them the deal wouldn’t get done in New York. We had to go to Greece and meet with the board of the Onassis Foundation personally. When we got there, we spent only about two hours a day on business and the rest on social breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. After two days of this, I took one of the foundation heads aside and said, “This is a long-term relationship; it’s not just about money. Let’s make this work, Cartier is a good fit for you.” It was a huge deal, not only because I kept Cartier’s image intact, but then the Onassis Foundation retained me to be their adviser for all of its lease renewals on rest of the block.
I am very lucky to love what I do. This is my passion.
-As told to Jeremy Quittner
More Gods of Sales:
The King of Referrals
The Trusted Adviser
The Rapport Builder
The Patient Pitchman
The Master Storyteller
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-persuade-the-reluctant-buyer/438002?tag=content;drawer-container
By Faith Hope Consolo | June 23, 2010
Known as the "Queen of Retail," broker FaithHope Consolo discovered a niche — finding the perfect store locationsfor national and international luxury retailers — and built it toregal proportions. In 2005, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate established its retail leasing and salesdivision exclusively for her. She has been the company’s top brokerfor the past two years in a row, despite precipitous declines of 50 percent ormore in the commercial and retail leasing and sales industry.
Name: Faith Hope Consolo
Location: Based in New York
What I sell: Commercial real estate space to luxury retailers
2009 sales: $222 million (aggregate)
Prudential broker Faith Hope Consolo
I am not driven by the dollar. It’s the deal for me — making the transactions and bringing the right retailer to the right street, whether that is New York or Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles or Palm Beach. It’s like putting the right piece into a puzzle.
When I was first starting out in the late 80s, my mentor Lloyd Putter taught me how to canvass in the streets and how to look at space. He said, “You will call all the stores you have ever shopped in and ask them about expanding,” and that is exactly what I did — no computer, no research. My first client was Godiva. I called the chairman and said, “Don’t you think you should expand in New York?” He said, “That’s ironic. We are just thinking of this now.” Three months later I found a 1,000 square foot space across the street from the Waldorf Astoria. Godiva is still there today.
Keeping the Pulse
One advantage I have is that I have been through three downturns before. With each one, it is all about knowing the trends. You have to figure out which retailers are pulling back and which ones are expanding.
When we had a dip in the late 1990s, there was a real focus on affordable fashion. So we had to go to Europe to look for clients, and we brought Benetton to Manhattan and then came H&M and Zara. During the recent downturn, we aggressively went out and put smaller retailers, like Variazione, and local mom and pops in spaces that made sense, for example on Madison Avenue, where they had been shut out before by the nationals and internationals, who are being very cautious now.
Last year, I did double the transactions of the year before to keep up with the dollar volume. It is work, work, and hard work. I am constantly looking for changes. Especially in New York, you have to go to a neighborhood every week, to keep the pulse, or you can’t do this job. I’m looking for street life, for new people moving in, and the types of people that make up a neighborhood — young families, young singles, established families, etc. That way I’ll know what they need. We’ve all seen how demographics can change rapidly.
“No” Is Never Really “No”
Listening is one of those key things that brokers don’t do enough of in sales: They don’t listen to their customers and they don’t listen to the market, and that is frightening. You have to be able to identify everybody’s interests. I have very good listening skills, which helps me tremendously — that, and I don’t believe in “no.” There’s always a way to change a “no” into a “yes.”
You get past the biggest objections with persistence. In 1996, I received a call from the chairman of Cartier, who said he had a very confidential assignment for me: Contrary to what most people thought, the company didn’t own the Cartier Mansion on 52nd and Fifth — it leased the building. The problem was, the lease was expiring in three years and Cartier had an adversarial relationship with the owner, the Onassis Foundation.
After several spirited meetings at the Foundation’s office (one of the principals even jumped up on a table to scream at me), I went back to Cartier and told them the deal wouldn’t get done in New York. We had to go to Greece and meet with the board of the Onassis Foundation personally. When we got there, we spent only about two hours a day on business and the rest on social breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. After two days of this, I took one of the foundation heads aside and said, “This is a long-term relationship; it’s not just about money. Let’s make this work, Cartier is a good fit for you.” It was a huge deal, not only because I kept Cartier’s image intact, but then the Onassis Foundation retained me to be their adviser for all of its lease renewals on rest of the block.
I am very lucky to love what I do. This is my passion.
-As told to Jeremy Quittner
More Gods of Sales:
The King of Referrals
The Trusted Adviser
The Rapport Builder
The Patient Pitchman
The Master Storyteller
http://www.bnet.com/article/how-to-persuade-the-reluctant-buyer/438002?tag=content;drawer-container
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