Those who stand between you and success (or failure) are the people you need to take through all four steps of the PRAM Model.  These are the people you need to have standing in line just waiting for the chance to do you a favor.  Although the need for this activity might seem obvious, my consulting experience has shown me that most people do not do it very well.

For example, I have consulted for one of the Big Six national accounting firms.  On one occasion, I was dealing with the division that provided accounting services to growing businesses that were, for the most part, managed by the entrepreneur who founded the business.  The management of this division was very proud of a study they had completed that contained a detailed profile of their target customers (i.e., entrepreneurs).  They knew what these entrepreneurs had for breakfast, what kind of cars they were likely to drive, the type of spouse they were likely to marry, and so forth.  As one of this division’s top executives put it, “We know our target customers inside out and now we’re going after them.”

At this point, I was shown the marketing plan this division’s management had developed to go after their target customers.  I must admit that it was an impressive document.  It looked well researched, read logically, and contained some fascinating bells and whistles.  For a few moments, I was somewhat dazzled.

Then I asked the division manager where most of his new business was currently coming from.  He informed me that much of it came as the result of referrals from bankers and attorneys.  The reason was that an entrepreneur starting a business usually needed the services of a banker and an attorney long before he needed the services of a full-service  accounting firm.  Most entrepreneurs obtain their accounting services from local bookkeeping firms or independent accountants when their business is first starting out.  However, as these businesses grow, they eventually reach a point where a local bookkeeping firm or independent accountant can no longer adequately supply the required accounting services.  At this point, the entrepreneur realizes he or she needs to utilize the services of a public accounting firm, and asks his or her banker or attorney (people whom he or she has come to trust) to recommend one of the Big Six accounting firms.  “Fortunately,” the manager said, “some of these bankers and attorneys just happened to recommend our firm.” The conversation that followed between the division manager and me went something like this:

I asked the division manager, “What percentage of your new business comes to your firm as the result of such referrals?”

“At least 70 percent,” he replied.

“Then why don’t I find bankers and attorneys in your marketing plan?” I inquired.

“Oh, they wouldn’t be in our marketing plan,” replied the division manager, “because they’re not customers.” I asked, “Why don’t you consider bankers and attorneys customers?”

“Because they don’t spend any money with our firm,” was the division manager’s response.

I was flabbergasted and with great vigor I asked, “Are you saying that a group of people that is responsible for more than 70 percent of your growth shouldn’t be in your marketing plan?” I went on, “These people may not be customers in the traditional sense, but they definitely stand between you and success or failure.  These are the people you need to take through the PRAM Model, because these are the people you need to have standing in line just waiting for a chance to do you a favor!”

The division manager was shocked at what he had just learned and immediately made the decision to include bankers and attorneys in his division’s marketing plan.

Another of my clients had a similar problem identifying those people who stood between the company and failure.  This particular company had education centers all over North America in which they taught various types of technical courses to high school graduates.

This company had a fair number of salespeople whose job it was to sell these technical courses, which sold for about $9,000 each at the time, to people who had graduated from high school or who were about to graduate from high school.  Each year, the top 5 percent of their sales force (those who generated the most dollars) were rewarded with a week-long trip to Maui for them and their spouses.  My job was to go to Maui and pump up these “5 percenters” and show them what they needed to do in order to be a 5 percenter the following year.

About a month before the program, I was paid a visit by the vice-president of sales for this company.  Several days prior to our meeting, he had watched a videotape of me making a similar type of presentation to another group.  This vice-president kicked off the meeting by saying, “Ross, I watched your presentation and I have some real problems with it.”  Needless to say, I was stunned as well as crushed by his comment.

He went on, “In your presentation, you say that if salespersons do their job right, over time, 80 percent of their sales should come from repeat and referral business.”

“Absolutely!”  I said, “But only if they do their job right.”

“Well, I beg to differ with you,” he said, “because our situation is unique.”

“In what way?” I asked.  The vice-president went on to say, “First of all, we have no repeat business.  The reason is that once someone takes our course, he or she is certainly not going to take it again.  In other words, all of our sales are one-time sales and we get very few referrals from our students.  So keep that in mind when you make your presentation.”  He also told me the major problem he wanted me to address was that very few of the salespeople who made their way into this elite top 5 percent group attained this achievement from year to year.  He speculated that most of these people were so burned out as the result of the effort it took to achieve this lofty goal that it took them a good part of the next year to recover.  Consequently, their performance dropped off dramatically.  He said that any tools I could give these people to help alleviate this problem would be greatly appreciated.

After we parted company, I was still in somewhat of a state of shock.  When he said his salespeople experienced no repeat business and very little in the way of referrals, he had struck a heavy blow at the core of everything I stood for.  I sat in the Phoenix airport for quite a while after he left, trying to figure out where my thinking had gone wrong.  Then all of a sudden the light went on.

“Ahah!” I thought to myself.  “If the only people this vice-president considers to be his company’s customers are the high school graduates who are qualified to take the technical courses his company offers, I’ll just bet that his company’s real customers are people like high school guidance counselors, principals, and other school officials who are in a position to refer these high school graduates to his salespeople.  This is where the repeat and referral business comes from, not from the high school graduates themselves.”

At this point, I remember smiling victoriously and thinking, “This guy has no clue which side his bread is buttered on and I can’t wait to get to Maui.”  A month later, when the time for the program finally arrived, I was ready.  There were about seventy to eighty people assembled.  After some discussion about the PRAM Model and how it works, I finally got to the point in the program where I asked the question, “Who are the people who stand between you salespeople and success or failure?”  In other words, I asked them to tell me specifically who their customers were.

Immediately several hands went up and the unanimous answer was, “High school seniors and graduates.” I then asked the salespeople to redefine the question from meaning only those people who were qualified to take their courses.  I asked them to expand it to also include those people who were in a position to refer qualified high school seniors and graduates to them.  Then I asked the group, “Now tell me who your customers are?”

At first the room fell silent and then the hands slowly started to go up.  The first answer was, “High school guidance counselors and other school officials.” The next person said that he got a number of referrals from people at the Veteran’s Administration office.  Another person said that he had gotten to know several people at the Employment Security Commission and that this had been a good source of referrals.  Someone else related a similar story regarding his experience in dealing with the Salvation Army.  And so it went until we had listed more than twenty sources that could refer high school seniors and graduates to these salespeople.

At this point, one of the several people who made this top 5 percent group every year said that referrals from sources like this were the primary reason for her success.  She went on to say, “If I had to sell all these courses by myself, I’d burn out long before I got to Maui.  But by building and maintaining relationships with people who are in a position to refer my customers to me, I start out the year with 80 percent of my quota already in the bag.” She went on to say, “Once someone comes in with a strong referral from a high school or Veteran’s Administration counselor, they’re already sold.  All I have to do is fill out the paperwork.”

The vice-president of sales, who had visited me a month earlier in Phoenix, was sitting in the back of the room listening veryattentively as this woman made her comments.  When she finished, the vice-president looked up at me, smiled, and gave me a very appreciative “thumbs up.”

The lesson to be learned here is that when you try to identify those people who stand between you and success or failure, don’t just look at the people who spend the money.  Rather, take some time trying to find out who actually influences the decision.  Often, these people are more important to your success than those you would consider your customers from a traditional standpoint.  If you find this to be the case, it’s critical to your success that these people be taken through the PRAM process also.