"How To Get Clients" by Jeff Slutsky is a "survival manual for executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs."
Written mainly for those selling services, the book promises to teach you:
- How to target profitable clients – and avoid the time-wasters
- How to discover your unique market niche – your key to higher fees
- How and when to advertise – and do it for less
And more.
As Slutsky himself puts it:
"Most professionals are highly trained and expert in their field, yet have
little marketing expertise in the complex and confusing area of selling
services to new prospective buyers."
He continues:
"If you need paying clients to pay the bills, you need this book."
The advice in Slutsky’s section on making an effective first contact is invaluable. He explains that in order to reach the decision maker in an organization, it’s often necessary to go through their assistant, sometimes referred to as ‘the gatekeeper.’
Slutsky uses a football analogy to describe 7 techniques for getting past the gatekeeper without lying about yourself or your company. I’ve presented these 7 techniques below:
1/ The Run Up The Middle:
This is the most direct approach. Here, Slutsky shows how to respond to
a question with a minimum of information and then to follow up with a
command.
2/ The End Run:
Slutsky outlines two techniques for working around the gatekeeper when
you can’t get through.
3/ The Reversal:
Here is a way to reach the decision maker by first calling someone higher
up in the organization.
4/ The Quarterback Sneak:
Slutsky reveals how to call at off-peak hours (like at lunchtime or 7:00
AM) when the gatekeeper is not at his desk and the decision maker is
more likely to answer her own phone.
5/ The Bomb:
As a last-ditch effort, when all else has failed, try selling the gatekeeper.
6/ The Punt:
As Slutsky says, "There is a time to be persistent and then there is a time
to say ‘forget it’ and go on to the next prospect."
7/ The Screen Pass:
This final tip will show you how to deal with the "Decision Influencer" who
is a different type of gatekeeper.
To find out more about getting past the gatekeeper, get Jeff Slutsky’s book "How To Get Clients" by going here:
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=wwwrandyruggl-20&path=tg/detail/-/0446393150/qid=1038546377/sr=1-1">slutsky:getclients</A>
