Newsletter: How to Close Any Deal in Five Meetings 🎯; Lux Brand Barneys Launches #Centiments 👜 ; Six Novels on Philanthropy 📚
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Have you ever heard of the Rule of 5? Last month, in the Wall Street Journal, columnist Andy Kessler asserted that five is the exact number of meetings you need to close any deal. I think this is right (or pretty close) when it comes to closing corporate partnership pacts.
The article was short - and the WSJ has a serious paywall - so here's a summary.
1. First Meeting: Sniff Test. This is the meeting where you get to know one another. Two important points here. First, don't sell. Second, find some point of identification. After all, people eventually buy from people they know, like and trust.
2. Second Meeting: Story Time. Tell stories about your organization, partnership program and what you're up to. Build attention and interest. People love stories so tell them a good one - just make sure it's true!
3. Third Meeting: Prove It. For this meeting, bring the data that shows your story is indeed true. As Kessler explains, "The target will leave thinking about how to get involved with your project."
4. Fourth Meeting: The Ask. Are you ready to partner with us? Make sure you build in another personal touchpoint as people like to make decisions after getting feedback from at least one other person (aka Cover Your Ass)
5. Final Meeting: The Close. Let's get started! The answer will be yes, because if it was a "No" you would have gotten it at meeting two or three.
As Kessler points out, not all these meetings need to be in-person. Some can be done via videoconferencing, a phone call or even via long email. But at least three meetings should be done face-to-face. Resist the urge to cram two, three or five meetings into one. It won't work. If persuasion is anything, it's incremental.
✍️ Partnership Notes
1. Wreaths Across America continues to attract the wrong kind of attention because of its partnership with Worcester Wreath Company. Both the nonprofit and the business are run by the same family. Still, I stand by what I wrote last year.
2. As part of its #Centiments campaign, lux brand Barney's is donating five dollars to Save the Children every time the hashtag is used throughout the holiday season. They also came up with an interesting in-store tie-in. [VIDEO]
3. The submission period for the 2019 Halo Awards is now open! The Halo Awards are North America’s highest honor for corporate social initiatives and cause marketing. I'll be there to congratulate you!
4. Must Read: Companies such as Walgreens can't trumpet their good deeds and then engage in activities that undermine communities and democracy. Period.
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
1. Check out how National Audubon Society has shed its "old-fogy image" by being serious and satirical.
2. This is an area where causes could be doing more. How-to videos are the most popular video type for US adults, and particularly for youth.
3. The hottest advertising trend of 2018? Billboards. 🤯“It’s one of the few channels where you have some assurance you have the audience’s attention.”
4. Sandy Hook Promise's powerful PSA shows the world through the eyes of a school shooter. Sobering, to say the least. [VIDEO]
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause Marketing**
1. Director of Grants and Corporate Giving, The Xerces Society (Portland, OR)
2. Associate Director of Business Development, National Organization for Rare Disorders (Quincy, MA)
3. Assistant Director, Corporate Partnerships, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (NYC)
4. Coordinator, Corporate Partnerships, National Parks Foundation (Washington D. C.)
**Have your cause-related job featured here for FREE. Hit reply to this email and give me the details and a link.
🧠🍌 Brain Food
1. To give a great presentation, distill your message to just 15 words.
2. A professor of philanthropy picks her five favorite novels on philanthropy.🧐My favorite book on philanthropy turns 175 on the 19th.
3. God, forgive me, I love them. America's weird obsession with paper towels.
Have a question, comment or just want to say hi? Leave a comment below. 🙏
