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Enemy at the Gate
by Norm Trainor
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The following is
based on one of The Covenant Group's clients, Peter Schalken. All of the names and
telling details have been changed to preserve client privacy.
Peter Schalken had developed a powerful business strategy to vault
him to the next level. Unfortunately, he discovered a group of people determined
to ensure he didn't succeed.
A couple of years ago, Peter, a veteran advisor of twelve years,
saw a business opportunity in his region: solving the financial issues of parents
of college-bounds kids. Such parents desperately needed help financing their children's
educations without putting their own retirement plans in jeopardy. Many faced the
serious risk of not being able to send their kids to college at all or, frequently,
not being able to afford the right schools. Peter considered it a shame that poor
planning could cost a child the education they deserved. He threw himself into the
issue of college funding, becoming an expert on the college system of grants and
scholarships. With that knowledge, and his expertise as a financial advisor, he developed
unique solutions to help parents.
Peter began working with high schools to make presentations to
groups of parents. He first approached two schools with which he had connections
and found them supportive. The school guidance counselors helped him organize the
seminars and conduct mailings to the entire school lists. The parents loved his presentation,
which was highly educational, rather than promotional. He also offered a free one-hour
consultation with each parent to explore their situation. A number of the parents
took him up on his offer, and most of those eventually became paying clients.
Peter was thrilled with these initial successes and, casting his
eye toward the dozens of other high schools within his community and the hundreds
more within his region, had visions of a thriving business with almost infinite potential.
Unfortunately the next few schools he approached turned him down cold.
As Peter put it, "The guidance counselors at these schools
don't know who I am. The schools have been hit hard over the years by scammers and
unethical salespeople. They're scared, so they say no to everybody."
Fortunately Peter had came up with the idea of sponsoring a life-skills
presentation to the school body. Peter would pay for the event, a powerful, energetic
presentation put on by a non-profit organization. In exchange, the schools would
help Peter promote his seminar to the parents. Although he approached dozens of schools
with this opportunity, only a couple agreed to work with him.
"My whole business plan depends on being able to get into
as many schools in my region as possible," Peter said, "but it looks like
I'm locked out. These guidance counselors are vicious gatekeepers. They treat me
like I'm a snake trying to prey on their schools."
'Peter," I said, "I agree that you have a 'gatekeeper'
problem. But I don't agree that the gatekeeper is the guidance counselor."
Peter shot me a puzzled look.
"You are the gatekeeper," I said.
"What?" Peter said, incredulous.
"If that's your attitude toward guidance counselors, everything
you do æ consciously or not æ in your interaction with guidance counselors
is going to support the opposition between you and them. Every time you mention the
words 'guidance counselors' your whole body manner and face change; you emanate negativity.
They can see it as easily as I can."
Peter conceded he probably didn't hide his feelings well, but
insisted he focused on how he was there to help the kids. "And that's what's
frustrating. These guidance counselors don't understand that by keeping me out, it's
the students who get hurt."
"I appreciate your passion for what you do, Peter. But you
can't keep hammering an approach that isn't working. You have to think through the
problem. Open your mind. You are in a complex-sale environment and your solution
will have to have a level of complexity suitable to that environment. A simple, blinkered
approach that takes the guidance counselors head-on won't work. Let me give you an
example.
"A few years ago, a client of mine, Shelley, saw teachers
as an overlooked market. But, like you, when she approached the schools, she got
the cold shoulder. I explained to her that schools have multiple stakeholders. Anyone
who has the power to restrict your access to your market is a stakeholder. Furthermore,
anyone who can facilitate your access is also a stakeholder. Your most effective
strategy is to involve all the stakeholders. With schools you have guidance counselors,
principals, board members, parent groups and many others. You're not likely to succeed
approaching only one of the stakeholders. You have to use the influence of multiple
stakeholders and decision makers to gain access. In Shelly's case, she got her breakthrough
when she saw the teacher's pension fund as a key stakeholder. She worked with the
school boards and the pension fund to help influence the other stakeholders. And
when the fund sponsored her planning seminars for teachers - that essentially legitimized
her for everyone. Within a few years, she dominated the market - largely because
all the stakeholders loved what she did and wouldn't let anyone else inside."
Peter seemed encouraged by Shelly's story, but still doubted he'd
ever win the support of the guidance counselors.
"Peter," I said, "who do the guidance counselors
respect and respond to. Is it the school principal? The board members? People at
the colleges?"
"Getting the help of the school principal or people on the
board might help, but the guidance counselors can still put their foot down."
"What about the influence of other guidance counselors?
Do they listen to each other? Is there a bond between them?"
Peter nodded.
"Then you have to look at peer influence. That's a key element
in complex selling. Going above is not always the right answer or the only answer.
Sometimes you can get your most powerful influence from peers, or even from below.
You could use the guidance counselors you've already worked with as influencers."
"That might help get me in the door, but then I still have
to deal with their objections. Frankly I'm intimidated by them. I really don't understand
why they don't respond to my message about how I can help their students."
"Because you are going to them with the wrong message."
Peter shook his head.
"When you insist on how you can help the kids, you draw out
the protective instinct of the guidance counselors; they are there to watch out for
opportunists. Instead, go to them with a message about helping them. How can you
make their jobs easier æ they'll listen to that. As passionate as you are about
helping kids and parents achieve their goals - you have to be as passionate about
helping guidance counselors.
"Remember, we are in a complex-sale environment. You will
have to work harder and smarter to gain their support. One idea would be to develop
a seminar for guidance counselors, one that showcases how you can help make them
more effective."
"Sounds like a lot of work."
"I agree. But without winning over the guidance counselors,
you don't have a business. You can't see the guidance counselor as the enemy to be
conquered. See them as the ally to be won over. It's their support that will open
the doors to hundreds, possibly thousands of parents for you. Once you crack them,
just like Shelly, you will have a lock on the market. You won't regret the effort
then."
Over the next few weeks, Peter found that the more he thought
about how he could help guidance counselor do their jobs better, the more excited
he became about working with them. He developed a seminar for them and brought on
a non-profit organization to sponsor it, adding to his credibility. He also found
one guidance counselor who had developed a presentation on childproofing, but who
needed help getting the word out and organizing the events. He volunteered his time
to help and quickly won her over. Instead of seeing him as salesman, she saw him
as someone who really cared about the kids. She became a champion of his cause, not
only in her school, but also among other guidance counselors in the community with
whom she had influence.
Within a few months, Peter saw the rewards of his new strategy.
He'd broken through into a couple more schools, but knew this was just the beginning.
Lessons learned
Peter learned four important lessons about gatekeepers:
- The only gatekeeper in any sale is you, the advisor. When an
advisor sees someone as a gatekeeper they are projecting their own fears and insecurities
about working in a complex-sale environment.
- So-called gatekeepers are merely stakeholders in a complex sale.
Consider them your allies, because once you win them over they will help protect
you from the competition.
- The trick to winning over any stakeholder is to sell them on
the benefit to them.
- Success in complex sales with multiple decision makers comes
when you become equally passionate about helping each stakeholder, not just one of
them.
Norm Trainor is the author of The 8 Best Practices of High-Performing
Salespeople, a speaker and principal of The Covenant Group, a company that
specializes in helping advisors build their practices. The Covenant group has worked
with many of the world's largest financial institutions, including such firms as
Swiss RE, CGNU in Hungary, Guardian, BMO and Clarica, helping their management and
advisors create and sustain high performance by adopting a systems approach to practice
development. The Covenant Group's proprietary practice development system, The
8 Best Practices of High-Performing Advisors Program, has been adopted by
organizations around the world and is a leader in the industry. For further information,
visit The Covenant Group's Web site at www.covenantgroup.com
or email info@covenantgroup.com
or call The Covenant Group at 416-304-1766.
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