Happy Labor Day everyone!
Ray Ruecker here with Connect 5000!
Hope you all are having a relaxing Monday!
This past Thursday, I hopped on a plane at 12 pm and landed in Oakland around 2:00 pm.
I checked into my hotel, changed and then took a Lyft to downtown San Jose.
I met with a prospect that I had been chatting with since June. They heard about us through our client across the street. We had talked by phone but hadn’t met. So I met with the VP of Marketing and Director of Demand Generation in person and it was great talking face to face on their initiatives.
I then walked across the street and said hello to my current client who’s been with us since November 2017. My initial contact, the Chief Marketing Officer, left the company and I had 2 new contacts that I hadn’t met yet. We chatted a bit, they brought up a couple things, we all shook hands and left.
I then met with a new client that just signed up for September 1. We grabbed sushi, chatted and walked around downtown San Jose a bit. Gorgeous 75-degree weather! Can’t beat that in Kansas City in August.
I then took a Lyft from downtown San Jose to Dublin where I was staying. 40-minute ride at 7 pm at night. KC doesn’t have a traffic problem, comparatively speaking. I went to my hotel, exhausted from meeting and traveling, and went to bed.
Friday morning, I woke up, got ready and met with a company who I happened to connect with back in August who happened to be in the Bay area. We chatted by phone previously and I told him I was going to be in his area and to see if it made sense to meet up.
So I met with the CEO, CFO, and Director of Sales. We had a good chat and he requested a proposal.
Then I returned to my hotel, checked out and went to my 11 am final meeting. I had connected with another technology company in May and they were looking for a fractional VP of Sales for their 4 sales reps. We had a great discussion as well.
I left the office, changed, grabbed In-N-Out Burger and headed to the airport back to KC.
5 meetings in 1.5 days. $799.50 in expenses. It was worth it.
I love technology but there’s no substitute like seeing prospects in person or sharing a meal with a client.
All 5 of these meetings started with an introductory email. They didn’t know me from Adam.
As you gear up for the fall, now that most everyone is back from vacation and kids are back in school, please keep this mind. Get out of your routine and comfort zone. Go see other parts of the country. Plan a whirlwind 1 or 2-day trip. It will be worth it.
2 Good Questions To Ask Inbound Prospects
/in Lead Generation, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy early Easter everyone!
I met Ed Gandia back in 2006 when we worked together for a software company. I was in sales and he wrote copyright for the firm.
He’s been a wonderful friend and mentor from afar the past several years.
His LinkedIn profile is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edgandia/ and is a master at what he does.
He wrote an article recently and here are the highlights:
Sometimes instead of doing proactive outbound prospecting, we get incoming inquiries from prospective clients.
Regardless of how they found you, here are two important questions to ask them:
“How did you find out about me?”
(Usually, you can uncover motive or intention with this question.)
If you get a vague response, follow up with “What made you reach out to me in particular?”
Flush it out, figure out why the heck they decided to stop what they were doing, reach out to you and seek your help and expertise.
1 of these 2 questions should help uncover the real prospect’s reason for reaching out to you.
I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000.
Video In Case You Have A Bout of Insomnia
/in Cold Calls, Lead Generation, Prospecting /by Ray RueckerHappy March Madness everyone!
My team, the Kansas Jayhawks, got knocked out early in the NCAA tournament, which was not exactly a surprise.
This post today will be very short.
I was recently asked by a facilitator at Johnson County Community College to give a presentation to a group of entrepreneurs and small business owners on sales prospecting and lead generation.
The video is long and about 1.5 hours.
Here’s the link so please enjoy!
Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000
Happy Valentine’s Day!
/in General, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000 here.
Does anyone remember the movie “Bed of Roses” back in 1996 starring Christian Slater and Mary Stuart Masterson?
It’s about this guy who delivers flowers to random people, falls in love with a gal, etc. Romance movie.
I connected with a local florist here in town a few years ago.
He said he needed extra help on Valentine’s Day since it’s his busiest day of the year. So I agreed to help him last year and this as well.
It’s fun to get out of your normal routine and element and do something different.
I delivered flowers to people at their work, homes, offices and even the hospital.
As I walked into different locations, everyone smiles and is extra nice to you, while wondering who the lucky recipient will be.
It was perfect weather as well for 50 degrees in February in Kansas City.
The moral here: get out of your daily grind, do something different and go brighten up someone else’s day!
Sometimes while you’re out of your element, you get new ideas and solve problems while it’s not staring you in the face. Cheers!
The life of Zoey Anne Ruecker
/in Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy New Year everyone!
Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000 here.
I survived the holidays and no in-laws or relatives got harmed in the process. (I’m kidding.)
Personal story: My wife and I got married Memorial Day weekend in 2005. We agreed the first year of marriage we wouldn’t start a family or get any pets as we transitioned to being newlyweds.
A year later, my wife said she wanted a baby. I said, “Let’s get a dog.”. So we did. We went to a breeder and picked out a 6 week old Labrador Retriever and brought her home 12 and a half years ago.
Zoey was a wonderful dog and great companion for our household. In April 2018, we noticed she had a malignant mass on her ear and she had surgery in July 2018. In December, her health started deteriorating badly and unfortunately we had to send her to doggie heaven on December 28.
She was a wonderful dog and will be sorely missed in our family.
What’s the sales lesson here?
There’s no obvious lesson but here’s a takeaway if you want one:
When you’re communicating with clients or prospects by phone, email, or in person, you never truly know what’s going on in their personal or professional lives. Us humans can put on a good fake front. I know for me personally as we made plans to take our dog to the vet forend
If they seem down, distracted, or impersonal, there may be things going on in their lives that you may know nothing about.
I’m pretty extroverted and social, but I can keep a good front like the rest of world when I don’t feel like showing my true feelings.
Your prospects and clients can do the same.
Cheers to a successful 2019!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
/in General /by Ray RueckerClients, Prospects, Friends, Readers, and Everyone Else,
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Wishing you success, joy, and prosperity in this December holiday season!
Cheers from the Connect 5000 team,
Ray, Danita, Patti, Anne, Hanna, Eric John, and Linda
So Long November, Hello December!
/in General /by Ray RueckerHello everyone!
Ray Ruecker here with Connect 5000.
Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope your holiday was wonderful!
Busy holiday week last week.
I was in Boston, MA to see a potential client on Monday and Tuesday. Then back to Kansas City to finish working and spend the holiday with my family.
A while back, I reached out to a CEO of a software company in Windham, MA. He happened to be a 2nd degree LinkedIn connection of a current client of mine.
I made 4 attempts over 4 weeks to connect before we finally spoke live.
We had a few conversations by phone and they have a need and business pain that my company can help fix.
I offered to come to visit with the CEO and his executive team and he obliged.
We met in person for a few hours to talk strategy, tactics and grabbed lunch. Productive meeting and they requested a formal proposal.
(I don’t hop on planes without having at least 1 quality conversation.)
The Sales VP contacted me this morning and are moving forward.
Long story short: The marketing department is generating plenty of inbound leads. No one is following up on them in a consistent manner. My team will assist in this area to determine what marketing campaigns are working and which ones aren’t.
I’m not advocating that you hop on a plane to see every prospect who is interested.
But as I said in previous posts, there is no substitute for face to face meetings if it makes sense.
No matter how much technology is out there, it boils down to personal relationships.
And that’s the latest news with Connect 5000.
A Blog Post About Blogs and Blogging
/in Lead Generation, Prospecting, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy Tuesday everyone!
I came across this article yesterday.
Apparently, there are more than 440 million blogs in the world!
For comparison’s sake, there were 325.7 million people living in the USA as of 2017.
That’s more than 1 blog per man, woman, and child in the United States! Yikes!
Is blogging important? Depends on what kind of business you’re in.
I, myself, subscribe to numerous blogs. I consume them but have never bought from several thought leaders who have quality content. Chris Brogan, Michael Hyatt and others come to mind. Top notch thought leaders who provide lots of content marketing, but I’ve yet to invest in their products or services.
I’m not saying that blogs aren’t important and that you shouldn’t have one.
With attention spans at a premium and executives are dealing with severe information overload, how do you stand out?
Unless you have gobs of money to spend like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and other tech giants, how do you compete?
Can you trace a new client or sale directly to a blog post(s) you created?
If not, should you keep blogging? It’s a rhetorical question of course but I hope it makes you think before blogging.
What’s the end game? To get more clients? Look more credible? Be a thought leader?
None of these are bad but with the sheer volume of blogs out there, does it make sense to continue doing so just because everyone else is doing it?
I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000. Thanks for reading my blog.
Happy October!
/in General, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy October everyone!
Fall and football are here! College basketball starts later this month.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
I wish I had something profound to say on this blog post, but I don’t.
One quick update from last month’s post seen here.
One company moved forward.
Another company who was looking for a fractional Sales VP emailed me they were going in a different direction.
The company across from my existing client is still engaged and they have a ton of initiatives going on. They haven’t said yes or no.
The company who moved forward? They graciously sent me over a referral who started October 1 as well. For that, I’m thankful and grateful.
On a completely separate note, I sent a Cutco knife to an old client of mine. I didn’t need anything from him but hadn’t talked to the CEO in several months.
The note simply said: “Thank you for “carving” out time to add me to your team last year”.
That was it and I had his name embroidered on the knife.
Ironically, I ran into him at a restaurant Saturday night while out and about.
Cheers and success to you all as you enter the 4th quarter of the year!
I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000! Go Denver Broncos!
Happy Labor Day!
/in General, Lead Generation, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy Labor Day everyone!
Ray Ruecker here with Connect 5000!
Hope you all are having a relaxing Monday!
This past Thursday, I hopped on a plane at 12 pm and landed in Oakland around 2:00 pm.
I checked into my hotel, changed and then took a Lyft to downtown San Jose.
I met with a prospect that I had been chatting with since June. They heard about us through our client across the street. We had talked by phone but hadn’t met. So I met with the VP of Marketing and Director of Demand Generation in person and it was great talking face to face on their initiatives.
I then walked across the street and said hello to my current client who’s been with us since November 2017. My initial contact, the Chief Marketing Officer, left the company and I had 2 new contacts that I hadn’t met yet. We chatted a bit, they brought up a couple things, we all shook hands and left.
I then met with a new client that just signed up for September 1. We grabbed sushi, chatted and walked around downtown San Jose a bit. Gorgeous 75-degree weather! Can’t beat that in Kansas City in August.
I then took a Lyft from downtown San Jose to Dublin where I was staying. 40-minute ride at 7 pm at night. KC doesn’t have a traffic problem, comparatively speaking. I went to my hotel, exhausted from meeting and traveling, and went to bed.
Friday morning, I woke up, got ready and met with a company who I happened to connect with back in August who happened to be in the Bay area. We chatted by phone previously and I told him I was going to be in his area and to see if it made sense to meet up.
So I met with the CEO, CFO, and Director of Sales. We had a good chat and he requested a proposal.
Then I returned to my hotel, checked out and went to my 11 am final meeting. I had connected with another technology company in May and they were looking for a fractional VP of Sales for their 4 sales reps. We had a great discussion as well.
I left the office, changed, grabbed In-N-Out Burger and headed to the airport back to KC.
5 meetings in 1.5 days. $799.50 in expenses. It was worth it.
I love technology but there’s no substitute like seeing prospects in person or sharing a meal with a client.
All 5 of these meetings started with an introductory email. They didn’t know me from Adam.
As you gear up for the fall, now that most everyone is back from vacation and kids are back in school, please keep this mind. Get out of your routine and comfort zone. Go see other parts of the country. Plan a whirlwind 1 or 2-day trip. It will be worth it.
Article I Read Recently On Content Marketing
/in Lead Generation /by Ray RueckerHappy August everyone!
I came across this article recently: https://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/01/06/content-shock/
Quick summary:
Some expert somewhere said that you should blog. So everyone and their brother started blogging.
Then content marketing became the next hottest trend. So everyone and their sister started developing marketing content.
Key takeaway verbatim from the article:
“Of course the volume of free content is exploding at a ridiculous rate. Depending on what study you read, the amount of available web-based content (the supply) is doubling every 9 to 24 months. Unimaginable, really.
However, our ability to consume that content (the demand) is finite. There are only so many hours in a day and even if we consume content while we eat, work and drive, there is a theoretical and inviolable limit to consumption, which we are now approaching.”
As the article goes on to say, companies with the deepest pockets (Apple, Facebook, etc.) will win in the long run.
I admit it: I don’t blog regularly because attention spans keep getting shorter and time is a valuable currency.
Just because you blog or publish content doesn’t mean it will get read.
Continue to be proactive, make one on one connections and personalize your reaching out. With the sheer amount of marketing content out there, don’t assume that if you publish it, that prospects will read it.