During today’s episode, host Keri Shull speaks with Ruth Krishnan at the HyperFast Digital Deep Dive event about how to land large corporate accounts. Ruth shares how she started her journey to increasing her price point. You’ll be inspired to make connections outside of your sphere as you hear how Ruth got creative about capturing large corporate accounts.
Episode Highlights:
- Last year Ruth's San Francisco based team did 130 million dollars in sales. Her average price point is 2.6 million.
- Ruth tells the story of the first ask she made to land a huge financial planning firm as a key account.
- She had a loose connection in a high-end financial planning firm. She called him and brought some coffee to his office. This was a big step out of her comfort zone.
- You don't have to start small.
- She began by asking what it would take to be the realtor for his company.
- After their conversation, she called a realtor who fit his criteria and asked if she would want to do the account with them.
- They made a beautiful marketing book together, printed them, presented the book with gifts and had them delivered to his office.
- They go to that office every six months and have closed big deals as a result.
- Figure out how to have access to those people. It may not be through your friends.
- Provide tools for your clients so they have talking points so they look like they know a lot about real estate. She provides free advice on a regular basis.
- Ruth publishes a monthly newsletter and they love that data.
- One of Ruth's signature gifts is branded Yeti bottles that clients love.
- Ruth also approached mastermind groups because she wanted to work with a room full of billionaires.
- Show up, do an amazing job, and it will lead to other opportunities.
- In the San Francisco Bay Area, many families have personal assistants. Ruth infiltrated that group.
- Ruth created a BNI group early in her career. Keri recommends either vetting the group or creating the group and hand-selecting members.
- Personal assistants manage all vendors for the families they work for. Ruth found out that the assistants meet regularly to discuss vendors.
- Sometimes Ruth brings a person she knows they need to hear from as a way of providing value to them. These groups think of Ruth as a connector and as a resource.
- Consider forming a relationship with a private school consultant in your area that serves high-income families.
- Once you get into relationships with these people, it's not that hard.
- When you present to a large tech corporation like SalesForce, you can educate them on demystifying the buying process. You can provide a market update and that will be fascinating to them.
- People are really interested in hearing what's happening with the market at this moment.
- The most referrals are done from real estate agents. Attorneys are also huge referrers. Get as many attorneys as you can in your BNI groups.
- Think of the events in life that trigger people to buy or sell. Bring vendors connected to those events into your BNI groups.
3 Key Points:
1. You don’t have to start small. Figure out how to get access to the people you want to be doing business with.
2. There are many different groups you can approach when you’re looking to connect with high-earners. Consider contacting personal assistants, mastermind groups, private school consultants, hospitals, and more.
3. When you’re giving a presentation to a corporate account, recognize that you can demystify the buying process for them and provide them with a valuable market update.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “If you convince yourself that you're worthy of it, then you'll get it. Or you'll be on the path to getting it.” – Keri Shull
- “At that time through my own personal contacts I didn't have a friend that was a billionaire.” – Ruth Krishnan
- “A lot of people try to build the relationship and then they don't ask the closing question.” – Keri Shull
- “Having that social proof out there, it does lead to other things.” – Ruth Krishnan
- “You guys have so much power because the more you give the more you receive.” – Ruth Krishnan
Resources Mentioned:
