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Some things just obviously go together.

Cream and coffee.

Summer and the beach.

Kids and puppies.

Wouldn’t it be great if wine and food were that simple?

It’s a good thing that we’ve got Michael Bryan on the scene.

Michael is the Founder & Executive Director of the Atlanta Wine School (AWS).

The eight year-old AWS is the only private wine-centric institution in the Southeast for consumers and the trade, providing a continuous learning experience with renowned international speakers.

Michael speaks on wine-related subject matter for approximately 150 private, public, and trade events per year. He has attained five (5) credentials from industry-recognized wine qualification organizations: The Society of Wine Educators, The Court of Master Sommeliers, The Wine Spirit Education Trust of London, The Spanish Wine Academy, and L’ecole du Vin Bordeaux. Michael has appeared in numerous regional and national publications, along with radio & television spots, including guest “wine guy” on Alton Brown’s Good Eats, The Wall Street Journal, and The Home Shopping Network.

Here’s a taste (pun intended) of Michael – he’ll pour a bigger serving in the Summer issue of I Carry The Bag.

I Carry The Bag is celebrating it’s second anniversary – are you subscribed yet? If not, look at what you’ve missed.

flickr credit

Similar Posts:

• Conducting Wildly Successful Wholesaler Sponsored Wine Events – Michael Bryan
• How Do Wholesalers Build Loyalty With Advisors? – Shep Hyken
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• 3 Tips For Wholesalers to Craft Compelling Stories
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• Dear Wholesalers, It’s Not About You – Bob Burg
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NOTE: Wholesalers – when you are done reading this send it to your boss and your marketing department.

Yesterday I was hosting a Rekon Intelligence event.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Rekon, you will be familiar with the set-up.

50 advisors in the room, 7 wholesalers presenting, 30 minutes to present each.

Midway through the third presentation an attendee waived me out of the meeting room.

He then proceeded to blast me with F Bombs. I mean his face was red with anger and he was visibly PISSED OFF.

His issue?

Each presenter’s slides had data that was presented in 12 point (or smaller?) type.

And he, along with more than half of the attendees in the room, was over 50 years of age.

Sure, 12 point type is fine for reading a document in front of your face. But it is unintelligible from 2/3 of the way back in a large meeting room projected onto a screen.

And as the meeting went on he got more and more disengaged.

He tuned the wholesalers out.

Which means the 7 wholesalers that presented likely didn’t connect with him at all.

Which means they wasted their money and their time being at the meeting.

The winner yesterday was the wholesaler that projected a Form 5500 on the screen and cited specific sections – not one of which was readable.

Look, I know it’s not your fault.

You get the presentation from Marketing with strict orders from Compliance to not change it or they’ll string you up from the rafters.

And, just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean you are not guilty.

Talk to your boss or the marketeers and let them know that the advisor population – especially the most successful advisors – are not 25 years old.

They are 50, 60 and even 70 years old and (as you younger folks will soon find out) their eyesight just ain’t what it used to be.

Alternately, instead of relying on 12 point type, 10 bullet point slides, what about if you told more stories and relied on PowerPoint less?

You could also point them to:

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Nancy Duarte

Presentation Zen

8 Ways Wholesalers Can Improve Their Presentation Skills

Question: What’s the difference between I Carry The Bag magazine and Wholesaler Masterminds?

Answer: I Carry The Bag is written by some of the greatest thought leaders in business, across a host of topics. Wholesalers Masterminds is written by one guy in a cold damp basement (o.k., I exaggerate).

Suggestion: You really should read both.

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• Wholesalers: What’s Your Schmooze Quotient? – Susan RoAne
• 8 Ways Wholesalers Can Improve Their Presentation Skills
• 10 Great Wholesaling Ideas in 20 Short Minutes – Call Replay

Come on admit it.

We’ve all done it.

You have every intention of staying on track during that meeting with an advisor and before you know it 30 minutes has gone by in the blink of an eye.

And you were still happily chatting like it was a 2 for 1 happy hour.

You’ve covered the weather, the playoffs, the family, the dog – and not a word was mentioned about business.

Or worse, your meetings look like this:

So how can you be better positioned to cover the topics you need to cover, demonstrate your brilliance, and establish your value, all in the time allotted?

#1 – Time block your meeting agenda.

Example for a 30 minute meeting (new prospect):

0:00 to 0:05 – Random/obligatory b.s. and chit chat

0:06 to 0:15 – Meaningful fact finding using your favorite questions from 76 Great Questions Wholesalers Should Ask Advisors

0:16 to 0:20 – Clear and concise statement of your PVP – Peerless Value Proposition (if you don’t have one you need to get one) and how it can be applied to the advisors business.

0:21 to 0:27 – Product pitch

0:28 to 0:30 – Next steps, forward schedule, wrap up.

Use this as a guideline to formulate your own time block based on your relationship with the advisor, how much time you have been allotted, etc.

#2 – Have your agenda (as outlined above) visible to you as you speak to the advisor.

This serves a couple of purposes:

It allows you a better shot at staying on course for the meeting.

Also, the agenda can have reminders on it that only you can see such as Ask For Referrals Dummy!

#3 – Send agendas in advance of the meeting

One of our favorites.

Along with your confirmation email of the appointment, you send a quick and dirty agenda that points out the high level items you’ll be discussing with the advisor during your meeting.

And then you add the most important line:

Please email me back to let me know of any specific agenda items you’d like for me to address when we meet.

You have now allowed yourself to diffuse any issues in advance (product or service concerns as examples) and be prepared to meet the advisors expectations for the meeting – assuming they have any.

Our Wholesaler Masterminds clients are some of the brightest and best in the business – and they invest in coaching to stay on top of their game. Shouldn’t you?

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Pulling off a successful client event is no easy task.

And we’ve been getting a lot of inquiries lately about suggestions for great client events.

In this post we define ‘client’ as the public customer and/or the advisor.

As an example, we have wholesaler coaching clients using some of these ideas to enhance the normally mundane and poorly attended wirehouse lunch meeting.

These ideas have varying degrees of relevance depending on your channel, geography, demographics, time of year, etc.

That said, the plain truth is that your ability to successfully implement a terrific event can have long tail benefits that go on for years.

1. Wine Tasting: Have you listened to the Wholesaler Masterminds Radio show Conducting Wildly Successful Wholesaler Sponsored Wine Events with Michael Bryan from the Atlanta Wine School?

2. Cooking Classes: Either onsite with a private chef or offsite at a location such as Sur La Table.

3. Pumpkin Patch: Bring the farm to the advisors office…

4. Pumpkin Carving: …and teach folks how to make their own Jack-O-Lanterns.

5. Gift Wrapping Classes: Contact a local department store’s manager and ask if they can send a gift wrapper.

6. Botany Lessons: There isn’t a plant in my house that has ever lasted more than a week. A professional botanist can address that as well as outdoor gardens. Call a Home Depot, Armstrong’s or your local gardening center. Also, your local college may have experts to call upon.

7. Quilting Lessons: Not my thing, and maybe not yours, but quilting is huge.

8. Paper Shredding: This one event ranks as a tremendous way for advisors to get clients to come out – even those that often don’t show for anything else. Hire a professional shredding service that brings one of their trucks to your advisor’s locations and let the confetti fly.

9. Identity Theft Clinic: Check with your local police department or FBI office and have an expert come out and give 45 minute session on how to avoid identity theft.

10. Golf Lessons: Rather than doing it at a range, arrange for a pro to come to the office and do a clinic. Sand traps, short game, putting - rent a virtual simulator to jazz up the event further.

11. Poker Lessons: There are a ton of amateur poker enthusiasts everywhere. What about having a local poker pro come out and give lessons/tips?

12. Fashion Update: Skinny ties and no pleated slacks? Or is it rounded shoes versus pointy ones? Have a local personal shopper come out, from Nordstrom as an example, and educate the audience on what’s in and what’s out.

13. Jewelry or Watch Show: Contract with a local high end watch shop or jeweler and have a swanky event for clients. Serve a bit of bubbly and higher end canapes.

14. Car Show: You call your local Mercedes or BMW dealer and tell them that you’d like a fleet manager to come out with a couple of the latest and greatest models – they are not going to say no.

15. Great Food Truck Event: Have you seen the show on Food Network called Great Food Truck Race? In many cities food trucks are all the rage and the food is great! Why not sponsor a food truck event?

16. iPad/iPhone Tips and Tricks: There’s a reason Apple had blow out earnings numbers – there products are amazing. Why not contact a local Apple Store and see if a Genius is available to come out and do a tips and tricks clinic.

17. Social Media Clinic: My Dad is 83 and on Facebook. Your clients are trying to decipher how to use social media for either their personal or business use. Find a local “expert” (because there are about a million self proclaimed social media experts) that can address your questions.

18. E-Waste Collection: The local YMCA had one of these lately and it was busy. Clients are invited to bring all their old TVs, computers, monitors, etc. and know that they will be properly disposed of by a professional recycling company.

19. Final Days Symposium: Kind of morbid I know, but we are all going to die. This session would bring in mortuary spokesmen, estate attorneys, and long term care specialists.

20. Life Coach/Life Balance: Most folks are running as fast as they can to have the career they want, the family they want and the down time they have earned. Naturally some level of stress ensues. Hire a life coach to address living in balance.

21. Career Transition Clinic: More and more folks are redefining their idea of retirement- and sitting on white sand beaches for 24/7/365 is not apart of it. Many wish to continue to work but want to shift the ‘how’. Corporate expatiates move to entrepreneurship, full time women move to part time to accommodate a family, seniors working part-time. And they all need advise along the way.

22. Social Security Administration Update: For as long as we have been affiliated with wholesaling this has been a topic that draws a crowd. The good news is that the SSA has this form to fill out to request a speaker. The bad news is that it’s a form on government website – who knows where it goes…..

23. Medicare Update: See #22 as it’s the same concept, the same draw for clients and the same form – you simply change the drop down re subject you are looking for a speaker to cover.

Contact Wholesaler Masterminds Coaching for a relationship that provides an endless stream of creative ideas, solid business planning strategies and tactics, and accountability to make it all come together.

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• 17 Tools Wholesalers Can Use To Get Geeky With Advisors
• Tell Me Where It Hurts: 10 Questions For Business Planning With Financial Advisors
• UPDATED: Now It’s 76 Great Questions Wholesalers Should Ask Advisors
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How do great actors collect Academy Awards?

How do legendary comics fill 25,000 seat arenas?

How do great wholesalers become great?

Geoff Colvin has a few things to share about this topic and the concept of Deliberate Practice.

Geoff is an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on today’s most significant trends in business.

As a longtime editor and columnist for FORTUNE, he has become one of America’s sharpest and most respected commentators on leadership, globalization, wealth creation, the infotech revolution, and related issues.

As anchor of Wall Street Week with FORTUNE on PBS, he spoke each week to the largest audience reached by any business television program in America.

He wrote the groundbreaking bestseller Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else.

His insights are worth serious consideration for any wholesaler wishing to improve their craft.

Through our coaching at Wholesaler Masterminds we help wholesalers become great – whether it’s live events, private coaching, or group coaching sessions.

Contact us today.Similar Posts:

• 7 Ways To Get A New Internal Wholesaler Off To A Fast Start
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We’ve received some great questions via email, as well as in our live events lately, so we thought we’d address some of them here for all to see.

At a recent meeting, while working with a team of seasoned wholesalers, I received the question:

“When I build my rotations, how strict should I be in adhering to my loops?

There are times when a big prospect/producer wants to see me and it’s ‘out of cycle’.”

My answer was simple – while the great wholesaler has a rotation and sticks to it as one of the fundamentals of their business, stuff happens.

That means that your rotations are subject to events that allow for a diversion off course.

And, as long as the rest of your territory schedule is managed by you, versus managed for you, don’t stress about it.

__________________

“Rob, what do think about using my photo in the signature of my email communications?”

I’m not a fan.

I prefer to use Wise Stamp to create an email signature that will include a link to your LinkedIn profile, and other links as appropriate.

In that way your reader, who wants to know more about you, can get your full profile in one click versus just your bio pic.

__________________

“Is it o.k. for my scheduler to write my thank you notes?”

Maybe we are too old school, but in our opinion that’s like asking your ‘secretary’ to buy your spouses birthday gift.

__________________

“Rob, are 16 Zones too many to have in your rotation?”

Yes.

And, yes.

Either you are cutting the data incorrectly or your territory is way too large and you’re not managing it effectively.

__________________

“How many times should I see an advisor before I ‘cut bait’ and fish in another pond?”

That’s such a tough question.

There are plenty of advisors that are hard to crack and take multiple visits to establish rapport with in order to build a trusting relationship that results in meaningful business.

And there are seven figure wholesalers that have ‘rules’ that establish the maximum number of times a rep will be seen before being removed from their schedule.

The key is, what are you doing with the advisor to advance the sale?

If you’re not moving the sales cycle forward then you have to move on.

That said, this one falls under the category of ‘art’, not science, in our opinion.

What questions do you have?

Leave them in the comments section below and we’ll take a stab at answering them for you.

Better still, get information about one of our coaching programs and really accelerate your career.

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• Wholesaler Survey 2011 – The Results: Part One
• Tell Me Where It Hurts: 10 Questions For Business Planning With Financial Advisors
• How Much Love Should Wholesalers Give To Top Producers?

Wholesalers are a dime a dozen.

Preferred wholesalers are damn hard to find.

Do you know Matt Oechsli?

He is one of the leading authorities regarding marketing, selling, servicing and developing loyalty with affluent clients.

Matt is one of the most sought after speakers in the financial services industry, delivering over 200 speeches per year.

Plus, his firm conducts ongoing research projects on the affluent and has been able to determine (with statistical significance) how the affluent make major purchase decisions, the criteria they use in selecting a “go-to” financial advisor, what they look for in a personal banking relationship, and more.

Matt knows what is required to become a “rainmaker” within the world of the affluent.

He also, as a byproduct of his work with advisors, knows what they want from wholesalers.

And that’s why we have him here for you.

Matt has authored nine books, one of which, The Art of Selling to the Affluent, has been adopted by Sotheby’s as part of the core curriculum for their graduate training program.

His latest book on client acquisition, Becoming a Rainmaker, is quickly becoming an industry best seller.

Enjoy our discussion with Matt and read his article coming this Spring in I Carry The Bag…the official magazine of wholesaling.

If you can’t see the audio player and you are on an iPhone or iPad, no problem. Follow these simple steps:

1. Tap on this link from your iPhone or iPad - it will open Wholesaler Masterminds Radio in iTunes from your device.

2. You’ll see the full menu of available episodes displayed in iTunes.

3. Tap on the NAME OF THE EPISODE TITLE

4.  A new screen will open and start streaming the show (note: this may take a minute depending on your connection speed)

photo  creditSimilar Posts:

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• How Can Wholesalers Sell To Crazy Busy Advisors? – Jill Konrath
• What Financial Advisors Want From Wholesalers – Ross Marino
• Trends That Will Affect Wholesalers and Their Leaders – Lee Kowarski
• 3 Reasons Why Wholesalers Stray From The Basics – Don Connelly
• Wholesalers: What’s Your Schmooze Quotient? – Susan RoAne
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The reality is I was both fortunate and lucky.

Fortunate because out of the 5 internal wholesalers I had in my career, 3 of them were heaven sent.

Lucky because it doesn’t happen frequently enough that both internal and external click on all cylinders.

So why do externals love their internals…or not?

The Reasons They Were Loved

• They took ownership – The best partners I had were aggressive self starters that you simply needed to give instructions to, wind up, and let them run.

More times that not they exceeded expectations.

For me the secret was not to micro manage the process AND to inspect what you expect.

• Infinitely coachable - By nature of the beast, internals have to have fairly hard shells – after all you are getting the snot kicked out of you on the phone with advisors.

I wanted to work with folks that were hungry for input and craved constructive feedback.

The best went out of there way to ask , “What can I do better?”

• Over achiever – One internal got his MBA at night after killing it for me during the day.

Another developed his own system to work advisors most effectively.

Still another was the Team Leader of his peer group.

These folks had one over-arching motto: Bring It On.

• Takes ownership – One of the best ‘spouse like’ fights I ever had with an internal was over who’s territory it was.

Mine, and he worked in it…or OURS.

It was a bloody screaming match.

Moral of the story: he cared enough to WANT to own it – I should have never argued with that!

• Naturally curious – Go ahead, ask.

And then ask some more.

Internals that have a keen curiosity are at the top of my list.

They want (and need) to understand the details and subtle nuances of the business.

• Doesn’t need to be reminded – One and done.

My best partners needed no pushing, prodding, cajoling or poking.

Tell them what were doing/where we are headed and I’ll consider it done.

…Or Not

• They were a ‘minimum required person’ (MRP) – You know the type.

It’s the person that you ask to make 20 calls and they make 20 – not 21, or 25, simply 20.

MRP’s are checking in at 9:00 and they are out the door at 5:00.

MRP’s will not move us up the sales rankings.

MRP’s will not endear themselves to advisors.

MRP’s will have a short career – at least with/for me.

• Lacked passion – Yes, many internals are younger and just starting their careers.

I understand if they are not 100% clear about where their career path is supposed to lead.

And that doesn’t mean I have patience for a lack of passion.

If I’m all in, I expect my internal to be all in.

It’s the only way to win this game.

• Never turned over NEW rocks – Great internals have the ability to form meaningful relationships with my Top 50 and prospect for new advisors with equal impact.

I get giddy when I think about advisors that wrote top producer like business in one of the far reaches of our terrioty and I never saw them.

Their introduction to the firm, and their production for it, was attributed to my internal – period.

• Organizational train wreck - The notion that sales people are paid to sell and not be organized is bullshit.

I expect my internal to uphold his end of the deal and be the organizational home office hub of the regions activities.

After all, if you are letting things slip through the cracks with me, what are doing to our clients?

What’s on your list? Leave a comment down below - anonymously of you wish.

Having a great partnership with your internal is one of the keys to having a Career Year. If you need assistance with making that happen you should explore our Coaching Programs and find out how we can assist.

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Many years ago when I started in management and needed to conduct my first wholesaler interview, I was at a loss for meaningful questions that would help me get more solid insights into the candidates that I was about to see.

After some homework I made a list of 10 questions and I made a habit of asking the exact same question to every candidate that I saw – regardless of the position they were applying for.

What I found was:

1. Most job candidates were thrown way off because too many interviewers ask terrible/meaningless questions. As a result they were put a bit out of their interview comfort zone – which was a good thing.
2. These questions, when used over the years, allowed me to get better folks in the jobs.
3. If folks blow question #1, the rest of the interview generally goes downhill fast.

Download a copy of the 10 Great Interview Questions here.

All of these questions were excerpted from The Manager’s Book of Questions: 1001 Great Interview Questions for Hiring the Best Person.

So, did that mean I never made a hiring mistake?

Oh hell no.

Like all managers I have hired my share of duds – even after they answered these questions well.

And I know I would have made more hiring mistakes if I didn’t start with them.

Similar Posts:

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• 10 Ways to Ignite the Fuse With a Producer
• 6 Ways Wholesalers Become Franchise Players
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