CLOSING SALES WITH NEW TESTIMONIAL
CLOSING SALES WITH NEW TESTIMONIAL DVD 6Take IPA Client Patrick Finn’s Advice: Show the DVD!!!New Volume 6 Highlights Tell the Story of IPA as a Company For Al Business Owners to See What We Can Do For Them:ITA Saved Client Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Taxes; IPA Saved From Failure 500 Year Old Business Passed from Father to Son for 10 Generations Beginning in Europe; IPA Made Client Wealthy Beyond His Wildest Dreams by Taking Client from a $250,000 Investment to the Sale of the Business for $45 Million in Just 6 Years!!! Tom Ryan, Director, Marketing Let’s just take a look at three of the clients who appear on the “Highlights” section of Volume 6 who tell the story of who we are as a company.
Tom Ryan, Director, Marketing Let’s just take a look at three of the clients who appear on the “Highlights” section of Volume 6 who tell the story of who we are as a company..Mesa Wireline: Started company with 4 partners and $250,000 investment. Owner was working from 3 in the morning to 11 PM at night—everyday!!! We organized his business so he could manage it by working 8 hours a day, made it profitable, and then he sold it for $45 million. He did this in just 6 short years andsaid he could not have done it without IPA which put the systems in place to grow the business profitably and make it marketable so he could cash out for millions.Isn’t this the dream of every business owner—to take a small business, make it profitable, grow it, and then sell it for millions? We helped him achieve the true American dream of every entrepreneur. And he says it right on the video: I could not have done this without IPA!!!
Aggressive Hydraulics: Owner was successful and went to CPA to help him legitimately reduce his taxes. He said the CPA just kept talking about the “grey areas” but he just didn’t have the expertise to do what was needed. ITA put together a plan which removed the grey and made the tax savings all “black and white.” He went from paying (annually) hundreds of thousands in taxes to paying just tens of thousands of dollars in taxes. And after ITA presented the plan to his CPA, the CPA “embraced” it. In addition, client did an asset protection strategy to protect him against a catastrophic event,which allows him to “sleep a lot better at night.”His only regret, “I wish I would have done this sooner.”Sommer Builders: Kevin Sommer is a bricklayer and builder whose bricklaying trade had been passed from father to son for 500 years (ten generations from when the family was in Europe) and he was the one who was going to run the business in the ground. He let a manager run the business and manage the books without any financial controls and found himself upside down by $4 million. IPA turned the business around, put together a plan with his creditors, including the IRS, and has kept the family legacy alive. He is now passing a successful business to his son—the 11th generation.Isn’t that the dream of every entrepreneur—to pass a successful business to his children?These 3 clients tell the entire story of IPA—of who we are as a company: 1)Helping business owners build a profitable business, 2) showing them howto legally reduce their tax burden and protect their hard earned assets, 3) helping families build a legacy by passing a successful and profitable business to the next generation, or 4) selling it for millions!!!The videos tell the story: This is who we are as a company! And these testimonial highlights need to be shown to every business owner you meet! It made Patrick Finn a believer!
And, it’s incredibly simple: just a “one button” play feature for the client testimonials. All you have to do is hit the “Play Highlights” button and sit back while your client is sold on the benefits of IPA from former clients. I don’t think I can make this any simpler!!! But there is one catch! You don’t get the benefits, if you fail to bring your DVD player in to make your presentation! You don’t get the benefits, if you fail to push the button! I’ve done the editing; all you have to do is push the button.To be effective, you need to take control by getting the DVD player out on the table at the beginning so that the business owner feels comfortable about your using it. By waiting until you feel you need the DVD to “close” the sale means you have already lost control. When you wait to take it out when you think you need it, you create a barrier for yourself to overcome when you want to use it. You are now pushing the client farther away from the sale. Sara Marshall says that when she brings out the DVD player at the beginning of her meeting, business owners often remark about the DVD player she has propped on their desk. This act alone helps condition the client for your use of DVD in the presentation and to close the sale. By having it there, he expects you to use it!! And, it’s incredibly simple: just a “one button” play feature for the client testimonials. All you have to do is hit the “Play Highlights” button and sit back while your client is sold on the benefits of IPA from former clients. I don’t think I can make this any simpler!!! But there is one catch! You don’t get the benefits, if you fail to bring your DVD player in to make your presentation! You don’t get the benefits, if you fail to push the button! I’ve done the editing; all you have to do is push the button.To be effective, you need to take control by getting the DVD player out on the table at the beginning so that the business owner feels comfortable about your using it. By waiting until you feel you need the DVD to “close” the sale means you have already lost control. When you wait to take it out when you think you need it, you create a barrier for yourself to overcome when you want to use it. You are now pushing the client farther away from the sale. Sara Marshall says that when she brings out the DVD player at the beginning of her meeting, business owners often remark about the DVD player she has propped on their desk. This act alone helps condition the client for your use of DVD in the presentation and to close the sale. By having it there, he expects you to use it!!
Some Sales Reps have decided to show the testimonials on our web site rather than carrying the DVD. This is a mistake. This short-cut is less effective for several reasons: First, we have produced 49 testimonials while only a few are placed on the web. You lose control when you have to ask the client permission to use his computer to access our website. Moreover, you lose control in your video presentation when you can’t select what you want to show the client. The DVD, not the web, has chapter menus you can use. In addition, we have a “highlights” button which shows clips from all 8 on each volume which is unavailable on the Web. Keep this in mind: the clients who agree to tell their story of our success on a DVD for our employees to show, don’t necessarily want the uncontrolled exposure which comes with having a video on the Web, and the calls which will follow. Taking short-cuts is not the way to maximize your sales. One of the first things you need to do when you meet a business owner is establish our credibility as a company. This is true whether you are going to show the business owner some literature or the IPA corporate DVD.Look at it this way. It’s going to take you 6 minutes or more to establish our credibility as a company no matter what method you choose. By using the DVD you gain a great advantage in getting the sale. You have made the client comfortable in using the technology by showing him you can use it without wasting his time. This now conditions him to accept your use of the DVD for when you want to play the client testimonials to help close the sale. If you bring out the DVD later in the presentation for the very first time when you want to close the sale, there will be a built-in resistance from the client who now thinks you are going to gobble more time than he wants to give you.
And when it comes to client testimonials, who do you think has more credibility with a business owner, a sales representative who he knows is trying to “sell something” or a business owner just like him who had the same doubts, questions, and concerns about bringing in someone from the outside to help him with his business problems and challenges? It’s a no-brainer. The IPA Client Testimonial DVDs, Volume 1&2, Volume 3&4 and now Volumes 5 and 6, are one of the most powerful closing tools you can use to overcome the hidden objections which you can’t answer because you don’t see them during your presentation. There is an added measure of credibility when the business owner you are talking with sees someone just like him who has found the answers to his problems through IPA. It’s a measure of credibility for which there is no substitute. In addition, just seeing another business owner will often resolve “partner” or “CPA” objections or other doubts which lead to “I want to think about it” callbacks which never close.Patrick Finn, owner of Patrick A. Finn, Ltd, who spoke at the National Sales Meeting in Las Vegas in June 2008, said that it was the client testimonials which “sold” him. He said it was not the rep who sold him, but watching the other clients on the DVD. Patrick said seeing another business owner on the DVD gave him the confidence to go forward and convinced him that IPA could help him. He said if it were not for the client testimonials, he would not have gone forward with the analysis. He not only became a client, but a DVD client testimonial as well.
One of the most powerful testimonials on the client DVD is Joe Percario who talks about how his Dad, who was the founder of the company, was against bringing in IPA (“You can’t trust a guy in a suit,” Joe related.) But after IPA re-organized the company to make it more profitable, better managed, and put it on a path for profitable, controlled growth, Joe’s Dad says on the DVD, “Best decision we ever made.” Joe is on Volume 1-2 and also on the corporate DVD.Are you still unconvinced on the power of the DVD to close more sales?On Volume 3 one of our clients, Accu-Tronics, talked about how he was ready to close his business and file for bankruptcy because he had been turned down 3 times for a loan to purchase equipment he needed to stay competitive. We came in, reorganized his business and his finances, developed a bank presentation, and secured a million dollar loan. He used $750,000 to purchase the equipment, and as a result, was awarded two separate million dollars contracts which will allow him to not only stay in business, but to double his business. Accu-Tronics was one of Gentry Stanley’s clients. This is another powerful story, just like Joe Percario and his dad, which can only be told effectively by the client testimonial. Sure, you can tryto tell the story about how we took a business on the verge of bankruptcy and secured a million dollar loan to not only keep it alive but to double its business, but it won’t have the same impact on your prospective client that we have something special to offer as when he hears it directly from the client on the testimonial DVD. There is no substitute for the actual business owner. Moreover, the DVD testimonials are an effective way to turn the intangible serviceyou are selling into a tangible benefit for the business owner who is considering it. DVD testimonials make the benefits more believable, and, therefore, add to YOUR credibility, which is fundamental to your ability to close.
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