0114: Retaining Customers & Generating Leads with Continuity Programs with Kirk King

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 114. Inspiration, transformation, success stories, and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview. 

Mario Fachini [0:14]

I don’t know about you, but when I started my business I wanted to get new leads. I wanted to get new clients. I’m going to blow this thing up. I wanted to be a millionaire. I’m going to have all these cars. I, literally, was looking at cars to buy to have my sales team drive around Metro Detroit and go sell. And then I got an office and all these different things and then the studio and it was just like I need a business. And to me, it was a big building. And I quickly realized the business is serving people and your clients. And how do you get clients? It’s with leads. And you don’t get clients unless you follow up and nurture those leads. And so many people overlook the simple, tiny, little fact. They don’t have the continuity of getting a lead, nurturing it, and following up. They just kind of treat it like if they don’t buy in the first day, it’s lost. It’s no good. And that is not the case. And that’s why I’m excited to have the CEO of Continuity Programs here, Mr. Kirkt King. I’m going to bring them up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Pipedrive [1:19]

There’s money in the metrics. Do you know yours? Pipedrive is the simplest and easiest CRM to close more deals, deepen your relationships, and increase your business profits. Get your free trial today at EAInterviews.com/Pipedrive. 

Mario Fachini [1:34]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Kirk King. Kirk, how are you feeling today? 

Kirk King [1:37]

I’m feeling great, Mario. How about yourself? 

Mario Fachini [1:40]

I’m excited to learn because I know you have a wildly successful business. You’ve been helping people in the CRM and lead space for quite some time. I mean, we’re going on a decade since we’ve known each other. And I just want to know, why did you get into the business and why CRM and leads and everything? I mean, it’s important to business but you took it to a whole new level. 

Kirk King [2:03]

Yeah. To be honest, the opportunity was there. So I was working in the automotive industry. I had a successful career there. And I found out about this company that had been in business since 1973. And the founder was wanting to retire. He was wanting to sell the company. And I went met with him. And over about six months, we worked out a deal where I bought the company. And then I thought, I’ve made it. I’ve done it. I mean, to become an entrepreneur. And then I started realizing that a whole lot of things had to be improved because we needed to make sure that the leads that our clients were getting were actually being converted. 

Mario Fachini [2:51]

What were you finding as far as the leads not being converted? What were they missing in the process that you were able to deliver to them? 

Kirk King [2:58]

Well, the most basic thing is just keeping in touch. Following up. Following through. So, no matter what the situation is, you know, people often look before they’re ready to buy. So you might look for a new kitchen or you might look for a new furnace or a new house, or maybe you’re even thinking about refinancing, you might check rates. And no matter what it is, you often, unless it’s an urgent matter, you’re checking before you’re actually ready to buy. And that’s an important factor for every salesperson to realize. Is that once somebody raises their hand and they said they’re interested in something, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ready to buy right then. But because it’s on their mind, we know it’s coming in the future. 

Mario Fachini [3:53]

What would you say is the biggest thing most people don’t do after the first initial – you know, the initial follow up? Because I don’t want to give it away just yet. I’ll let you do that. But I’ve seen what you do with your system and it’s beyond impressive. And I know most people just get a card, follow up, they leave an email or phone call, and that’s pretty much it. What are some things they could do to ensure the sale to, actually, be able to help the person even if they’re just starting out or they already have a successful business and they just don’t know what to do next? 

Kirk King [4:30]

You know, one of the craziest things, Mario, is that when somebody gets a contact, a potentia; customer or client, almost every salesperson only does one thing and they leave a voicemail. And that’s about the extent of it. So the most important thing is to keep contacting them until you actually have a conversation with them. And I know that a lot of people are hard to get in touch with. Everybody’s got busy lives, driving their kids around. All this stuff demand on their career, their relationships, things they’ve got going on in their job every day. But the truth is, is that you actually have to keep following up with that person until they actually have a conversation with them. And then once you have a conversation with them, just because they don’t say they’re interested to buy today, doesn’t mean that they’re gone. It just means that you were the first one to the game, which is a good thing, right? You’d rather be the first one to the game, knowing that they’re planning to buy a house in the next six months, so that you can continue to maintain that relationship. But believe it or not, most sales people stop with the first voicemail.

Mario Fachini [5:48]

Why do you think people do stop so early on? Do you think there’s – have you ever heard where people are like, “Well, I don’t want to pester them.” 

Kirk King [5:57]

Sure. Absolutely. And there is definitely that concern in everybody’s mind. But if you follow it professionally multiple times, then the person on the other side is actually feeling a little responsible. Like, “Hey, you know what? I need to call them back. They’ve called me a few times and I need to touch base with them and let them know that I am planning to buy a house but not this week.” So if you just keep following up professionally until you actually have that conversation, that is the biggest paradigm shift in my opinion. 

Mario Fachini [6:36]

So tell me what you do for real estate agents. Because I know there’s people going – I’ve actually heard people say, “I just go door to door so I save money on ads.” And I’ve heard other people say – I’ve had other people tell me what they’re doing and it seems like it’s everything under the sun. And I know there’s this fine balance where you want it to be more than you because I still can’t wrap my head around not spending even $1,000 on ads and then walking around for four days straight. But there’s other people that just kind of throw everything out there and they don’t really know what’s working. How do you improve this process for your customers? 

Kirk King [7:20]

Well, first of all, there are very small percentage of agents that actually walk neighborhoods door to door. And if you did that, in some neighborhoods, that would not be a good thing. What we found to be the most successful is if we send out a mailer throughout the neighborhood, first of all, announcing the agent, maybe they’ve sold a few houses in that neighborhood already, they’re an expert in that neighborhood. And then actually giving the agent the list of addresses where those mailers went. So they can actually walk around and say, “Hopefully you received my mailed last week but I just want to come around and introduce myself.” But that small percentage of agents actually go door to door. It would be better for them to have a list and actually say, “Hopefully you received my mailer. I want to introduce myself personally. Follow up with a mailer.” It’s kind of like telling somebody you’re coming to the house before you knock on the door. 

Mario Fachini [8:23]

Give them a little bit of a warning and stuff just dropping in at [10:30] at night when they’re watching the movie. 

Kirk King [8:28]

Exactly. 

Mario Fachini [8:31]

How many touch points would you say it takes to make the sale or at least get the conversation going? 

Kirk King [8:37]

Yeah. That’s a very good question. It depends on which industry. Mortgage loan officers have it a little bit easier. Those sales usually convert within six months. Real Estate Agents usually take about a year in many cases. And it’s not because they’re not looking during that year. The consumer has to go through a process in their mind where they realize that just because I want $500,000 house, if I’m approved for $175,000 house, that there has to be that realization on the consumer side. And sometimes that takes weeks. Sometimes it takes a few months. And then once they come to the realization that I’m looking for the best house that I can get in that price range, sometimes they’re putting in offers on houses, they’re getting outbid, sometimes they get a purchase agreement. And then something goes out on the inspection. So it usually takes about a year from the initial contact that somebody’s looking at houses to the point where they actually close on a home. 

Mario Fachini [9:55]

I think that’s a great point you’re making because so many people, if it’s not for 14 days to 30 days, maybe I’ll give them the benefit out of 45 days. I mean, you said a year. That’s not a small chunk of time to – you know, houses are a larger sale but still that’s still 12 months. Is there anything you advise your customers as far as just overall patience? Like, “Hey, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be worth it. You know, here’s what you can do in the meantime.” 

Kirk King [10:25]

Yeah. So with a good system in place, they can now aid that process. So, let’s just say that you find out that Mr. and Mrs. Jones are looking for a house. And you make a phone call and you leave a voicemail, you leave another voicemail, you leave another voicemail. And then eventually speak to them and they say, “Yeah. I’m interested in buying a house just not, you know, in the next few months.” And then just putting them into a system where it will automatically keep sending them communications letting you know – reminding that client that I’m here to help you when you’re ready. And it sounds like a simple thing to do. But it’s often a challenge for a lot of agents to actually put just, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Jones’s name into a system with their email address in the system and let the system take over. And I don’t believe in just relying 100 percent on emails. The occasional phone call every other month is a really positive way to differentiate yourself from other agents that might also put them into, like, a drip campaign. 

Mario Fachini [11:39]

And how long do you run the drip campaigns for? 

Kirk King [11:42]

We traditionally run them here until they buy. Or unsubscribe, I guess. 

Mario Fachini [11:50]

Now, let me ask you about that. Because, you know, a year later someone’s might be going, “Wow. That’s a long time, conversely.” In the grand scheme of things, that’s really not that long. It’s only 12 months. But I know you also don’t want to annoy them. So do you keep the frequency higher in the beginning? High throughout the whole thing? Does it fluctuate? Tell me more about what you do as far as the frequency is concerned? 

Kirk King [12:16]

Yeah. So, you know, based on direct consumer industry best practices, we learned that a high frequency in the beginning is best practices. And then it should slowly tail off. So it might start out with a few emails just in the first week. And then it goes to once a week, then it goes to every other week, and then every third week, and then eventually it goes to a monthly touch point. And that monthly touch point will keep going on until they actually convert in a house or they unsubscribe. 

Mario Fachini [12:58]

Well, that’s good because I think there’s too many people that keep the frequency high, like, the entire time, whether it’s three months, six months, 12 months. And it’s just like, “I didn’t open the last 18 emails. You sending me 35 more isn’t going to change anything. But I know you’re still there.” And I’d say, that’s the main thing, it’s just letting them know you’re still there. So when they are ready, like you said, they’ll convert or they’ll buy. 

Kirk King [13:23]

Absolutely, Mario. There’s a fine line there of reminding somebody that you’re available to help them and so much that they unsubscribe. So if you think about like a retailer, my wife, I think, signed up for every retailer there are. Of course, we use a different email address for that. But retailers are ruthless. You know, they’ll send four and five emails in a day, right? And if they will send it to me, the occasional time I buy my wife something online. You know, I’m going to unsubscribe by the second email I get. So you really want to balance that touch point with the process in which you’re selling. So you’re not trying to sell a sweater online or a pair of shoes online. You’re trying to sell them the $200,000 house. So to send them four emails, five emails a day, you’re just going to upset the client to the point where they’ll unsubscribe right away. 

Mario Fachini [14:24]

Yeah. That’s something to be aware of because you have to tailor it to your customer or client. That’s for sure. So I love what you’re sharing with the process and is given some great Expert Authority insights on to play the long game but be aware of what you can do in the short game and don’t annoy them. Let me ask you, what’s your biggest success story from someone who was just doing whatever they were doing before and then they started using your system, and what was the end result of that? 

Kirk King [14:54]

Yeah. So we can talk about that in two aspects. There was a bank with about 12 loan officers that had never had a system in place. And they actually signed up with us. And we put in – I don’t know – about 15,000 rows of data, you know, bank customer data. And then all of a sudden they started realizing that their customers are always putting their house in the market. So people are doing this every day. People are putting their home on the market every day. But without a system tracking those people that are putting their house on the market, the bank was under the illusion that all of their customers were coming back to them. And they weren’t. They were being easily swayed to different lenders. Or they were picked up by some of the large consumer direct lenders. So they were able to actually kind of tighten up the funnel in their own customer base and bring back two or three times more repeat customers. So within just the first six months, generated about 600 leads. And then within the first year, over 1,100 leads. And the SVP of the bank realized, “Oh, my goodness. I need to hire more loan officers. For the first time in our history, we can’t keep up with the number of leads that are coming in.” So that was exciting. And then we see the same thing in real estate too. So it’s usually set up in the enterprise level because we have to do all the data feeds ,have to be set up for the MLS data feeds, and a lot of the data feeds come in with the contact information. So we usually set up a company level. And then lo and behold, the market share of that real estate company starts growing. So here they thought that if my one agent didn’t get the house, another agent in my same office would get the house. And it turns out that wasn’t the case. There’s a lot of real estate agents. A lot of real estate companies. So just by using our program, they were able to retain and grow back market share in their area. Because there’s a lot of homes that are bought, sold, and mortgaged every month, every year. It’s a crazy number. So people are under the illusion that they’re getting their customers, they’re coming back to them. In most cases, it’s less than two out of ten will come back without a system in place. 

Mario Fachini [17:30]

Wow. Yu were reading my mind, I was going to ask you what was the percentage. Because I know when you’re dealing with large companies like that and you’ve got tens of thousands of leads, names, numbers, data points, whatever you want to call it, you can go, “Hey, we grew 10 percent this year.” And what company wouldn’t want to grow 10 percent? But you may have been losing 60 to 80 percent in the process. And you think you’re doing good. So I love hearing – you know, that’s why I put it in the show. I mean, frankly, because I love hearing the success stories that you took them from 600 to lead to 1,100 leads in six to 12 months. I mean, that’s huge. 

Kirk King [18:06]

Yeah. They hired three more loan officers. And they converted 30 percent more loans that year. So, I mean, it’s a really exciting thing. NAR, National Association of Realtors, they do a great study every year. And they identify how many consumers will go back to the same original agent. And then the Mortgage Bankers Association they also do this nationwide study. And for the mortgage guys, they usually end up with right around 20 or 23 percent of their customers will come back to them, which means that 80 percent are not coming back to them. And then the same stat almost exactly in real estate, if it was a buyer agent, it’s a little bit over 20 percent will come back to them. If it’s a listing agent, it’s less than 15 percent. And when you ask these consumers like, “Why didn’t you use your same agent or the same loan officer? ” It’s not because they didn’t do a great job. It’s because I forgot who they were. I forgot their name. And then turnover is a big thing in the industry too, which makes it really hard on the consumers. You know, a real estate agent may leave a company because they’re going to get a couple more percent of the commission. Or a loan officer might leave a company because their feelings got hurt. But they really should think about that before they switch companies because the last four years their consumers knew of them at that company. Does that make sense? So let’s say the consumer remembers that the loan officer was a great guy, and he always had a goatee, and his first name was Brian, and he worked at ABC Bank. Well, Brian left for whatever reason. And he doesn’t have a system in place to keep in touch with those clients after he leaves that company. You know, those clients that do remember his first name was Brian and that he had a goatee and he was a nice guy. They’re calling that bank and the bank saying, “Well, Brian is not here anymore. And now Jim can help you.” So it’s a real easy disconnect. And there’s so much turnover in the industry that you really got to have a system in place to maintain communication with all your clients. Because if you don’t, you just leave a lot of repeat business on the table. 

Mario Fachini [20:44]

I agree 100 percent. When I went full time in business years ago, I mean, when you have five clients, it’s one thing, ten it’s another, 20 it’s another, 50 and 100. Things start changing and I quickly realized that Post-its weren’t going to cut it. So first and foremost, within the first year, I got a CRM. And I’ve been, you know, beating the drum, marching the bandwagon, whatever the phrase is. And it astonishes me even to this day. And this is really pre-social media, pre-everything that everyone goes to. They’re like, “Well, I just add them on LinkedIn. Well, I just add them on Facebook, Instagram, whatever.” And it’s like, that’s not a CRM, that’s a great way to stay in front of them, frankly. But that’s not necessarily the business conversation or tracking what they’re doing with the email opens or did they get the postcard. I love that you incorporate the direct mail aspect of it. I think that’s severely underutilized even nowadays. 

Kirk King [21:40]

Yeah. So social media is very powerful. But let’s just say that you’re connected – you know, I think you and I are connected on LinkedIn. If you don’t go into LinkedIn the day that I post something, then you didn’t see it. So I mean, we’ve met almost ten years ago right around the time I bought Continuity Programs. And you probably only seen a handful of my posts in ten years. And then if you think about it the same thing, let’s say, you decide you’re going to use Facebook. And a lot of real estate agents love Facebook. And I’m not discouraging it. I think it’s a great idea. But even Facebook is running all kinds of algorithms. And if one of your clients didn’t click on a couple of your posts then Facebook is not even going to show what you posted to those clients. So to rely only on social media, it’s definitely not a good business long term tactic. You really need a combination of direct consumer communication, direct touch points, physical, electronics, social media. I mean, you kind of want to be everywhere all the time. And that’s how those top producing agents, those top producing real estate agents, those top producing loan officers, those properties and teams. And you can’t drive them down ice on the fly without seeing a few real estate agents, teams names. You can’t drive down into 59 and not see a couple of loan officer’s names. And I guarantee you, their clients are in our system already. So they’re already getting touch points electronically, printed touch points. They’re being – if they type in that person’s name and the company they work at, their great testimonials are showing up online. They’re seeing them on a billboard. They might actually catch up a funny Facebook post. You really want to be everywhere all the time so that anytime one of their friends or family members or even themselves have a need, that they don’t think of anybody else. 

Mario Fachini [24:00]

Yeah. And I think that’s great because I agree, social has its place. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing videos and posts and whatever you want to do on there. But I love the direct mail. I mean, one of the most successful things I’ve done for lead gen – and I teach it to my author clients – is publish a business book and then send it to them. You can sign it. You can put your private cell number in it.  It’s direct mail but it’s not a stupid letter that they’re probably going to just throw in a pile. I mean, it’s substantial. And you could send ten of those out or 100 of them out and that’s going to be way better than 1,000 to 10,000 on the LinkedIn or whatever and hope that they see the post. Because it’s only going to a very small percentage of that. And like you said, if you’re not there for the day or the week, you know, we’re all successful and we speak and travel and do all these things. It’s like no one’s sitting down there for 15 hours a day just waiting for you to post something if they’re your ideal client. It’s great for humor though. 

Kirk King [25:02]

It is fun for humor. I get a lot of kick out of social media too. Like, I think some of the means are just make me laugh out loud. But I like that idea, you know, the book idea. I get books here. And it shows up as like a box, it’s lumpy mail, it sticks out. And you’d be kind of crazy not to look at it. So people do open those up. I found the books that are sent to me. Sometimes they’ll send books and then they don’t have anything in there. And then they sent another, maybe a second book, they don’t say anything in there. And then they send an email that goes to my junk mail saying, “Hopefully you got my books.” And that’s not really a great concept. I really do like a short sticky note on the front of the book or a letter that’s kind of folded in the cover of the book that says, “You know, I’m sending this book. I think that it’s going to help you. I look forward to speaking to you. I’m going to follow up with you next Tuesday. If that doesn’t work, feel free to call me and let me know when a better time to work.” Just sending a book is cool. But I think you really need to have the messaging in the book, too, how to really understand why did you just mail me this book out of the blue. 

Mario Fachini [26:25]

Yeah, I agree putting the sticky note on the cover or right inside the front cover. I like to sign it. I always add a message because it does come down to the messaging. But that that’s another way that you can say, “Well, this is direct mail. This is online.” The same way you would say, “Well, what’s better Facebook or LinkedIn for a post?” You can send anything in the mail. But if the message doesn’t resonate and you don’t have the call to action or the benefits or, like you said, even why you’re doing it, I mean, you might as well just send a fruit basket and put the word enjoy on it. 

Kirk King [27:00]

It sounds silly, though. I mean, we all have these books. We call it – a lot of people call them the pile of book of shame. So there’s some books that we read all the way through, like, Great by Choice or Good to Great or Crossing the Chasm or these hiring out books. And then we all have these other books where we start reading them and about a third of the way through, we lose interest. And then some we get two thirds away through, we lose interest. And then there’s some books that we don’t even open. So you got, you know, a dozen books in your office that you’ve never even opened and without a message on it. Anyway, if you’re going to send a book, at least put a little note in there, a message why you’re sending it to me and the reason you thought of me and why I might enjoy the book. It might get me to open it and start reading it. You know what I mean? 

Mario Fachini [27:57]

Yeah. That’s another great point. You always not just want to get in front of people but make sure they go through it. And like I tell my author clients, you want the cover good. Because if the cover is bad, they’re not going to open it or read it. And if you’re doing direct mail, the postcards got to be good. So again, they want to flip it over, read it, take action. And if it’s a video, it’s the same thing, you need the headline. No one’s – even with this, no one’s going to listen to it if it’s just like – if the headline is two people talking. 

Kirk King [28:28]

Right. Absolutely. 

Mario Fachini [28:31]

So it’s a great point. Let me ask you just one more thing before we thank our sponsor and go to the Imperfect Action Round. If you could have dinner with any entrepreneur in the world, who would it be? 

Kirk King [28:43]

Probably Mr. Beniof. The CEO of – 

Mario Fachini [28:48]

Who’s that? 

Kirk King [28:49]

The CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff. 

Mario Fachini [28:52]

Oh, yeah. That probably would be the guy I’d like to have dinner with. I look up to him. 

Mario Fachini [28:58]

That would be fantastic. Salesforce is the first CRM, I remember, I said within the first year is, like, I knew I needed the CRM to do business the right way. Salesforce is what I went. 

Kirk King [29:07]

Okay. Cool. Yeah. It’s a great tool. They’re definitely – they’ve got a great platform, especially for business to business. And I look up to him. So a guy like that. 

Mario Fachini [29:21]

What would you ask him? 

Kirk King [29:23]

You know, ask him how – all kinds of things. I’d ask him like, how he found the best programmers and how he kept all the programmers on task so that projects got done more efficient. How he really was able to ask customers what they needed and get the answers. Because sometimes the customers don’t always know what they need. And like Henry Ford said, “If I would have asked the customers, they would have said I wanted faster horses.” So, you know, to build a platform as successful as Salesforce is, he definitely knows a lot more than I do. And I’d love to pick his brain over there. That’s for sure. 

Mario Fachini [30:15]

It’s a great answer. I think you’re the first one who has said that. I would love to also. But that’s a great answer. Thank you. All right. We’re going to thank our sponsor and come back for the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Pipedrive [30:29]

Don’t stay stuck in startup mode. That’s what I tell my audiences and clients and why I advise using Pipedrive for all of your customer relationship marketing needs in your business. You want more leads, you want more deals, and ultimately more clients. Who doesn’t? But when I deliver you a hundred more deals a quarter, can you handle it? A month, a week, a day? Which one of those made you the most nervous? Saying you want it over and over like a record on repeat is one thing. The reality, however, is that your subconscious is stopping you at some point. And it’s because you want A but your business is set up for B. Whether you have a system or you are that system, Pipedrive will upgrade your deal closing experience, increase your profitability, and make your day-to-day more enjoyable. Get your free trial today at EAInterviews.com/Pipedrive. Don’t waste another day being the system or using a subpar system to grow your empire. There’s no need to make it harder than it already is. Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Pipedrive. 

Mario Fachini [31:31]

And we are back with the Imperfect Acton Round. Kirk, are you ready to take imperfect action? 

Kirk King [31:37]

Sure. I do every day. 

Mario Fachini [31:39]

Yes. Love that. All right. Number first question – what? Okay. What is the fastest path to the cash? 

Kirk King [32:00]

Solve the biggest problem. 

Mario Fachini [32:03]

How would you say is the best way to find the biggest problem? 

Kirk King [32:09]

Ask lots of probing questions. 

Mario Fachini [32:11]

Okay. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it? 

Kirk King [32:21]

The biggest problem is just that they can’t successfully keep up in touch with everybody. The world is moving too fast. You can’t keep up with hundreds of prospects. You can’t keep up with hundreds of customers. There’s just really no – you can do it with sticky notes or, you know, Excel or scratchpad when you’ve got five or ten customers. But when you get to hundreds and thousands range, it’s impossible to keep in touch with them. So the best thing they could do would be to implement a system like ours where it’s going to run automatically. And that’s really what differentiates us from any other CRM is ours is really the most self-driving car out there. It pulls in the data automatically. It runs automatically. It solves the problem pretty quick. 

Mario Fachini [33:14]

That’s fantastic. It is impressive. Because you can have a great CRM, you could get Salesforce, but you’re going to have to upload the data, you’re going to have to maintain it, and all of that stuff. And it doesn’t do – it’s not going to be doing the direct mail and all the other stuff for you. It’s a great start. But once you build up the funnels like you do and once you build out all the funnels and touch points like you do, that’s where the real fun is. 

Kirk King [33:45]

Yeah. There’s literally, I mean, 100 different campaigns that are running out of the system every day. It’s crazy. I can’t even keep track of it sometimes. And there’s just no way to do it without all the programming and software and everything like that. 

Mario Fachini [34:05]

Last question, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value? 

Kirk King [34:15]

It’s actually not that complicated. It kind of goes back to the golden rule, you know, treat people the way you’d want to be treated, be honest, professional, caring, show empathy throughout the entire sales process. And that could be when you first talk to them a year before they’re ready to buy a house. And it could be a week after they closed. It’s just having that genuine care about you. I mean, we’ve got – we’re north of 22,000 users in the system right now. And quickly approaching 23,000. And that’s 23,000 commission based sales people that I’m thinking about how we can generate a lead for them every day. So that they can have another closing and get a commission check. And every day it’s weighing on me. And it’s weighing on all my staff. Internally, we say things like, “Hey, we got to get them lead so they can feed their families.” So we take it very seriously. But no matter what sales job you’re in or what consumer facing job you’re in or whoever your prospects are, just having empathy. Having that genuine, I care about you I think is the thing that resonates the most. Because everybody’s moving so fast. They don’t take time to breathe and just talk like human beings. And then once you have that relationship, don’t just forget about it. Put them into some kind of system, reach out and touch base with them every few months, call them on their birthdays, call them on their anniversaries. You know, one of the best books I think was ever written was How To Win Friends And Influence People. And the first few chapters is that simple. You know, send somebody a birthday card, call them every once in a while, say hi. And it kind of hasn’t changed all these years later. 

Mario Fachini [36:09]

It’s the uncommon common sense, huh? 

Kirk King [36:14]

Yeah. Just trying to stay connected with people. You know, you don’t know what people are going through every day. Sometimes they post those memes online that says like, “You don’t know the battle that that person is at war with right now so just be kind with them.” So you know, the first time you call somebody, you don’t know what they’re going through. So at least be courteous enough to call back and say, “You know what? I tried to catch up with you last week. I’m still thinking about you. I just wanted to touch base with you.” It just goes a long way.

Mario Fachini [36:48]

Yeah. I’m glad you said that because I agree. I saw something recently and it was like a crochet, knitting, whatever, and it shows the finished product – it shows the finished product and it looks phenomenal on the front. But the back, it’s all that crazy stitching and everything. And it’s like you never know what’s going on behind the scenes. 

Kirk King [37:13]

No. Indian people often won’t share that until you get to a much deeper level relationship with them. And most of your consumers, most of your prospects, even your professional clients are probably never going to share that level of information with you, or a very small percentage would. So just being kind and understanding. Sometimes we call a bank and we’ll call a bank for six months- a mortgage bank. We know they’ve got a good mortgage division. We call them and call them and call them, and send them communication emails, letters, anything that we do we drink our own Kool-Aid. And then we start getting frustrated like, “Oh, my gosh. Why aren’t they calling us back?” We can help them. And in the last six months, they’ve lost 5 percent of their customer base because they went with somebody else. And we start getting discouraged. And then I have to remind myself, “Well, you don’t know.” They probably had turnover at the bank. Maybe they’re wearing three hats. Maybe they got an FDIC auditor in there. Maybe they’ve got a new president of the bank. Maybe they’re going through an acquisition. Maybe they’re trying to buy somebody. Maybe they’re potentially going to be bought out. You don’t know what people are going through. So just being consistent, following up, and being kind, and treating people with respect, I think it works in the long run. 

Mario Fachini [38:35]

Great advice. Great advice. What is a book you would recommend to Expert Authority World?

Kirk King [38:43]

Well, the first one I recommend to every young person is literally How to Win Friends and Influence People. One of the best books I recommend for new managers is Don’t Take the Monkey One Minute Manager. I love that book. Those people that have that certain personality that resist change, how about read the book about Who Moved My Cheese? It’s a great book. And then a couple of my favorites is – I think I even mentioned it earlier today is, Good to Great, Great by Choice, and then Crossing the Chasm, which is really what we’re trying to do here at Continuity Programs. We’re trying to get enough market share across the chasm and get exponential growth through referrals from our user base. So those are some of my favorites. 

Mario Fachini [39:46]

Great recommendations. 

Kirk King [39:48]

It’s always good to read the Bible too. 

Mario Fachini [39:50]

Absolutely. Absolutely. You have great recommendations in there. I have thoroughly enjoyed this. I want to thank you and want to say where would you like everyone to check you out at? 

Kirk King [40:05]

I guess check us out at ContinuityPrograms.com. It’s our website. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or on Facebook. I’m pretty active on social media, of course, knowing that not everybody gets to see your post. And then if you’re in the Walled Lake area, just stop by our headquarters. Believe it or not, we’re here [8:00] to [5:00], Monday through Friday. I think we’ve got somebody coming in today to use our guests office. And we’ve got coffee here. We love people who make tours. And we’ve got agents, loan officers, covered advisors kind of stop in all the time, managers stop in, graphic designers stop on all the time. So yeah, we have an open door policy. When you walk in the door, it says welcome. And I’d be giving you a cup of coffee and give you a nickel tour. 

Mario Fachini [41:00]

I would encourage anyone to do that too. If you are in the area, it’s a very nice office. And I appreciate you for that invite. 

Kirk King [41:08]

Well, hopefully you’ll show up here, too, Mario. 

Mario Fachini [41:10]

I would love to come back. 

Kirk King [41:12]

Awesome. Thank you, sir. 

Mario Fachini [41:14]

Thanks so much, Kirk. All right. Expert Authority World, we have another great one here today. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. And God bless. 

SPONSOR Pipedrive [41:24]

How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re at? Pipedrive CRM makes your business easier, more enjoyable, and more profitable by allowing you to easily organize your deals and move them through your pipeline whether you’re in the office or on the go. Get your free trial today at EAInterviews.com/Pipedrive. Stop wasting your time continually looking for your information when you can be investing it adding more value to your prospects and clients. Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Pipedrive. 

www.EAInterviews.com [41:53]

Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.