Overheard at a local ACFA Chapter meeting:

When Thomas Edison was still working on the electric light someone asked him if he wasn't discouraged because he had failed in 10,000 experiments to find a filament that would work.

Edison replied, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

I am the Thomas Edison of Cash Flow Consultants.

K.B., CCFC

How do I get started?

This is the most frequently asked question I hear from new broker/consultants. And it may well be the most important. You won’t be successful if you never get started.

There are a few things you need to do to get prepared to do business. These are important, but don’t get too involved with them. It’s easy to spend all your time preparing to start business without ever getting started. You feel like you’re doing something, but you are not really making progress. Since in this preparation stage you don’t have to talk to any prospects it is a very comfortable, non-threatening place to stay.

Business cards may be the most important tool that you must have. They don’t have to be expensive full color cards. Simple black ink on white card stock will do. When you get to actually talking to people you must let them know how to contact you at a later time. They will expect a business card. If you don’t have a card you might as well not have talked to them at all. Make sure the card has your name, your company name, your address, telephone and fax number, email address and web site.

Assuming that you are working out of your home, as most of you are, you will need to have a separate telephone line that is used only for the business. You, and perhaps your spouse, should be the only one to answer the phone. The phone should always be answered with the company name. Never let your children answer the business telephone. The phone should be located in a quiet room. The caller to your business shouldn’t hear the television, crying babies, squabbling children or any other non-office sounds.

You will also need a fax machine. You have to be able to collect information from your prospects and send it on to the funding sources. Many times the funding source will reply to you with a quote by fax. You do not need to have a separate telephone line for your fax, but your fax needs to be available 24 hours a day to accept incoming faxes. One way to do this without spending $30 or so per month on a separate fax line is to use a service like Kall8 which will give you a toll free line that will accept fax calls and send you the fax by email. This will only cost you $2 to $5 per month plus long distance charges.

There are other office supplies, equipment, web sites, etc. that you should have to enhance your business, but the above items will do to get you started.

Now it’s time to move out of your comfort zone and actually begin trying to do some business.

Absolutely the most important thing you must do is to tell everybody you know, and everybody you come in contact with, what you do.

That is so important that I’m going to say it again. Tell everybody you know, and everybody you come in contact with, what you do.

Start with your friends and relatives. Continue with everybody you come in contact with. PTA meetings, church, business and social group meetings. Christmas parties, weddings, birthday parties, anniversary celebrations. Anyone, anytime, anywhere is fair game. Make sure you let them know what you do. If they don’t need your services (and even if they do) ask them if they know anyone who might. Give them your card, give them several cards if you think they will pass them along to others.

You’ve heard the American Express commercial, “Don’t leave home without it.” Well the same is true for your business cards. Don’t leave home without them. Don’t come home with as many as you left with. Make it your goal to hand out some number of cards every day.

I know a broker/consultant that told me she leaves cards in the sugar bowls in restaurants. She doesn’t leave them on the table because they will get removed when the table is cleaned. Think about where you could leave cards to be found.

Those of you who met me at the Cash Flow Convention know that unless you had your hands buried in your pockets, and the rest of your pockets sewed shut, you got one of my cards.

Once you run out of friends and relatives, and are no longer invited to any parties, you will need other sources for contacts. Where you go for these additional sources will depend on the cash flow that you are trying to market. There will be articles later on marketing for specific cash flows, but let me give you some general guidelines here.

What does a hungry lion do? Does he try to find one lone gazelle wandering alone? No. He finds a herd of gazelles or a watering hole where there are a lot of animals available to invite home for dinner.

Well, you could try to contact one prospect at a time. Cold calls or bulk mails means that you have to contact 1,000 prospects to let 1,000 people or business know about your services. There is nothing wrong with this and regardless of what other marketing you do should always be part of your marketing plan.

But, maybe it would be better to do what the lion does and find a group of prospects together at one time. So, how does this apply to marketing our cash flow business? Think about who has contact with a large numbers of your prime prospects on a regular basis. This will vary from cash flow to cash flow.

With factoring, my specialty, this would be people like accountants and bankers. Get one banker to understand how factoring can benefit the customer that he has to turn down for a loan and you have created hundreds of prospects for the coming years. Get one accountant to understand and every client he has that needs improved cash flow becomes a prospect.

With mortgage notes talk to real estate agents, real estate attorneys and title companies. Join a real estate investment club. Talk to business brokers if you want to market for business notes and attorneys if you are after structured settlements.

With every cash flow there will be some central source like those above where your efforts will be multiplied. Find them and use them. The key to getting these sources to help you is to get them to understand how referring their client or customer to you will benefit them.

Sometimes that benefit will come in the form of a referral fee that you will pay them. More often the benefit is they will get the credit for solving a problem for their client or customer. This will result in more business and referrals from that client or customer to them. Find the benefit that will motivate them the most and you will have an easy time enlisting their help.

Learn all you can about your chosen cash flow niche. The more knowledgeable you are the easier it will be to make your presentation. More importantly, your presentation will be much more effective.

You will need some written marketing materials. You may want to mail this information to your prospects prior to meeting with them. Always have something to leave behind with your prospect after making your presentation. This can be a brochure or a letter.

You can, of course, write your own marketing material. But if you don’t feel like you are ready for that there are other sources available to you.

Many funding sources will provide broker/consultants with sample marketing materials that you can modify and use in your own business. These may take the form of sample solicitation or promotional letters, ads and/or brochures. Some funding sources provide seminars which teach you more about that cash flow and how to market it.

Check with the funding sources for your niche to see what they have available to assist you in marketing your business.

Remember, this is not a business that will bring you overnight success. You did not learn to walk in three days. You did not learn to ride a bike in three days. You did not learn to drive a car in three days. You certainly did not learn what ever job or profession you currently have in three days. Don’t expect that you can learn everything you need about the cash flow industry in a three day class.

So, keep working and studying. Don't let set backs keep you from reaching your goals.

Bob Frank, Principal Member of Gulf Funding, LLC

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