Becoming an Old Boy in the Network: Rocky Romeo
Passing the Torch Without Being Burned: Steven Friedman
Help ‘Til Johnny Comes Home Again
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring and Bart Jackson were
prepared for the March 19, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All
rights reserved.
For Jobseekers: Telemarketing 101 — Amanda Puppo
d>Amanda Puppo’s answering machine message ends
with a cheery “Have a great day!” She ends live phone
conversations
with the same sentiment. She sounds confident and businesslike, but
also warm. It’s a winning combination. Now if only she could bottle
the tone and the easy assurance for the audience to whom she is
scheduled
to speak.
Puppo, founder of Cranbury-based MarketEntry, addresses a meeting
of Jobseekers, the support and networking group for job hunters, on
Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Church on Mercer Street.
There is no charge. For information call 609-924-2277.
Her topic is “Telemarketing for Job Seekers.” The very thought
of same is enough to send all but the hardiest straight to bed. Maybe
with a drink. Many consultants who give this sort of talk inspire
dark thoughts of “Yeah, if it’s so easy, why don’t you just pick
up a phone and try it?”
In this case, the speaker not only has tried telemarketing, which
she much prefers to call “telephone marketing,” but also
depends
on it to provide her with food and shelter. Puppo’s business is built
on securing sales appointments for others. She is on the phone all
day, every business day, persuading people she doesn’t know to give
their time and attention to a sales pitch. Not only is she good at
it, but, amazingly, she appears to enjoy it.
This sets her apart, and she knows it. “Most people are not good
at selling themselves,” she says. “If you’re an IT director,
you’re as far from sales as possible.” Still, the task is
unavoidable.
Few employers are going door to door looking for a few good employees.
That being that case, Puppo advises, “you have to get over your
ego. You have to realize there’s going to be rejection. Don’t take
it personally.”
Easy for her to say, one might think. The woman is outgoing without
being at all abrasive. She is upbeat. Calling her “bubbly”
would not stretch the truth. Yet, Puppo confides, “the funny thing
is, I was shy growing up.” She changed, and says there is no
reason
why others can’t too. Here is her advice for job seekers who see the
cold call as the equivalent of a nice dip in a glacial lake patrolled
by polar bears.
Warm up. Don’t start with cold calls. Start with warmcalls. “Call your relatives and your friends,” she gives asa kick-off strategy. There are any number of stories about the nephewwhose girlfriend’s stepfather plays golf with the brother of thedirectorof development at Major Pharma. Giving a nephew a ring generally isa lot easier than cold calling Major Pharma.Get out there. Even the heroine of My Big Fat GreekWedding,a woman with countless cousins, could conceivably run out of relativesto call. Job seekers, working at casting their nets as far aspossible,will run out of relatives and friends too. The next best group ismade up of acquaintances. Call old acquaintances, and make newacquaintances.Don’t spend the whole day on Internet job boards. Get out and go toa Chamber meeting, play golf, volunteer at the kids’ school fair.Develop relationships, and placing calls will be much easier.Stand out. When there are no more warm calls to make,start on the cold calls. Before doing so, however, perfect a 30-secondintroduction that sums up the reasons that you — and you alone— are the answer to the decision maker’s dreams. “It’s allabout creating interest,” says Puppo.Ask for direction. “People love to give advice,”says Puppo. Find the name of someone in the department in which youwould like to work. Call and ask if he could spare a few minutes totell you about the company. Then ask if he could suggest a goodcontactwithin the company, a decision maker in his department or inpersonnel,a person with whom you might be able to talk further about thecompany.Follow up on resume mailings. The person in charge ofscreening applicants for the job you want is likely to be sittingwith a pile of 400 resumes — maybe even 4,000. Chances of risingto the top of the pile are not good. Up your odds, Puppo says, byplacing a brief call. Be friendly. Be conversational. If you thinkit is amazing what a perfect match you are for this job, don’thesitateto say so, giving a quick reason why this is the case.Create a job. Learn about small businesses in your area.Chances are there are more than a few where the president is working100 hours a week or where vital tasks, perhaps marketing or strategicplanning, are falling through the cracks. Contact the president andlet him know why you are just the person to cut his workload whileraising his bottom line.”The president does all the work, and then you come along. He’lltalk to you. Who wouldn’t?” declares Puppo. Creating a job foryourself can work. Thoroughly researching the company gives you theconfidence to offer yourself as a godsend to the overworked owner.Respect voicemail. “Be persistent,” says Puppo,”but not annoying. Don’t be voicemail crazy. Don’t leave 900messages.”As someone who makes her living through telephone marketing, shestressesthe importance of walking that line. Trust to fate that your resumewill work its way up the pile, and you risk being turned down fora job that is perfect for you. Call too often to check on your resumeand the hiring agent may use it to blot up his coffee spills.It’s all about proactive job seeking, says Puppo. But it’s 2p.m., her lunch break is over, and she must get back to the phones.Yes, she has been cold calling all morning, and she is going backfor another few hours. Just before she hangs up, she says “Havea great day!”Top Of PageBecoming an Old Boy in the Network: Rocky RomeoAfter 40 years of traditional Irish music, theChieftainssaw the need to reinvent their act. Perhaps a little touch ofAppalachianfolk, country, even the occasional blues song might help maintainthe wild success of the act. They decided to reach out to Nashville,home of a host of varied folk artists and huge record companies. Buteven for this popular, well leveraged group, how to network with whombecame a major problem.The fine art of how to “Connect Right to Compound YourSuccess”is the topic on Tuesday, March 25, at 8 a.m. at the Panerarestaurant’sNassau Park location. Cost: $20. Call 609-989-5232. Sponsored by theSmall Business Development Center (SBDC) at the College of New Jersey,the event is part of a CEO Toolbox series. It features RockyRomeo,a business consultant who has worked with small businesses for nearlytwo decades.The SBDC is best known for mentoring start-ups and for providing ahost of programs for them, but its CEO Toolbox series has beendesignedspecifically to provide refresher skills for existing firms at alllevels of growth on such topics as sales, marketing, and leadership.Several area chambers, including the Mercer Chamber, areco-sponsoring.Raised in Edison, Romeo took his professional training at WestminsterChoir College, gaining a degree in music education. He taught highschool music for two years, got downsized, and went into sales forHale Piano & Organ in the Woodbridge Mall. He watched, learned, andbegan to develop his theory of business. “Product knowledge isbunk,” he remarks. “The key is to solve a customer’sproblems.”By l984, Romeo was ready to launch out on his own as a salesconsultant.Problem: No experience, and no referrals. The Romeo solution: Letthe work speak for itself. Romeo approached two nurses in PeddlersVillage, Pennsylvania. They had just opened a store, In Nature’s Way.”They had the most marvelous merchandise,” he recalls,”setout in the most unmerchandisable way.” Totally uninterested inhis promises and put off by his lack of credentials, the two ownerssuggested politely that Romeo move on. He responded with an offerto work for one week, for no pay in exchange for a letter of referenceif they liked the result. After one week, sales boomed, he trouseredthe letter, and launched Rocky Romeo LLC, a sales consulting firm.”How long does it take to become a good surgeon?” Romeo asksaudiences. His point is that just because you’ve been wielding a steakknife for years, you are not necessarily qualified to remove anappendix.”How long does it take to become a good networker?” is hisnext question. Similarly, your ability to chat with business cohortsdoes not automatically translate into skill in networking. Bothsurgeryand networking are learned skills. There are steps to attainingproficiencyin either. For networking, the steps include:Putting yourself in the path. If you’re hunting aardvarks,you’ve got to go to an ant hill. This obvious step demands a littleresearch. Where do ants — or publishers, or accountants, ortechnologymanagers — gather? Get their trade magazines. Find out when theyare holding trade shows, meetings, or seminars.The trick here is to not only find where they are, but where theywill be most receptive to you. Scores of advertised book fairs inviteauthors to flog their wares to various publishers. However, publishersalso attend library conventions, where they are the sellers, reachingout to passers-by from their own booths. If you were an author,lookingto find a publisher with her defenses down, a ticket to the libraryconvention might be just the thing.If you are seeking small business owners, a meeting like this CEOToolbox series, might be a good place to look. Of what chamber ofcommerce is your target a member? Churches, charities, and socialgatherings also work, particularly when you seek one individual, butyou have to be a bit careful here. Most folks stiffen at the intrusionof business opportunists into their recreational time. In thiscontext,aim merely to make a personal connection, with all business conductedafter a relationship has been well established.Mingling. “I have had computer programmers who spendall their lives in a basement producing brilliant products, and whoadmit they just cannot go out and meet people,” says Romeo.For those who compare networking unfavorably with a trip to thedentist,Romeo offers you two choices: You can watch the process and learnsome techniques, or you can hire someone to do it for you. Onedisadvantageof employing a representative is that most Americans prefer to dealwith the top player. Generally, we want to brush aside the mouthpiece.On the other hand, a practiced professional probably presents a muchmore effective image than you do. Take your choice.Meeting. “Well, Mr. Schmidlapp, it certainly has beennice chatting with you about our mutual interest. Here’s my card.You can call me anytime. We really should get together.” Rightthere, insists Romeo, lies the biggest blunder in networking. Thegoal of the first meeting is future meetings. You are trying toestablisha business relationship here. In the above scenario, our speakerdoesn’teven walk away with a means of re-contacting Schmidlapp. And evenif he did, he would probably call later and find Schmidlapp engrossedin other projects, barely remembering his name. “Always set upa specific date for your next meeting or phone call,” advisesRomeo.Scripting: Pro and Con. Networking is a communicationskill. You are not born with it, nor are you going to learn it inthree days. “If you don’t practice and you wing it every time,you’ll get only wing-it results,” Romeo states. One practicemethodis to gather fellow employees and have them listen and help sharpena dialogue script. Such training can be done for even the most casualconversations.The trick here is that you must always be able to break out of yourprepared phrases and go with the flow. Romeo recalls, “I oncehad a fellow who announced in the middle of our conversation, `GeeRocky, you sound as if you are reading from a script.’” He hadbeen caught. No one wants to feel themselves the victim of a cannedspeech which is probably used on everybody else. But Romeo’s answershows the necessity of the quick shift: “You’re right Jim andI do apologize. So what is it going to take for me to get to knowyou better?” Instantly, Romeo has put the ball in the other courtand re-established an open conversation.Holding versus folding. Frequently, people at businessmeetings dangle polite, not-overly-sincere carrots in front ofcasually-metacquaintances. “Gee Rocky, that sounds interesting, we couldreallyuse a man like you at our plant.” In response, you can labor hardto insinuate yourself into this individual’s firm, or you can replywith a non-committal “Oh, I bet you have sales trainers back atyour plant who are every bit as good as I am.” At this point,you are allowing him to either set the hook or let it go. If herepliesearnestly that he truly would like to have you drop by — you’vegot a potential deal. But if he just laughs and admires yourintegrity,let him swim away.Presentations. All business is personal. Count onconversation,not canned tech props. Romeo advises against the use of PowerPoint.When you bustle into a client’s office clutching pie charts andelectronics,ready to preach and read from a slideshow, the odds are excellentthat you will frighten or numb-out your prey. This goes back to theRomeo credo that teaching product knowledge is a back-burnertechnique.”Your goal here is to convince a man with a flat tire that you’vegot a wheel that can get him back on the road,” he offers as ananalogy. “Not that it’s a double-steel-belted Michelin designedto last him a lifetime.”Maximizing relationships. Every person you meet knowssomeone who knows someone else. So, everyone can, at least eventually,lead you to that big player you seek. Romeo suggests keeping adatabaseof all your contacts and keeping in continual touch. You might callon each in turn for no other reason than pass along a tip or a pieceof industry gossip. Small newsletters can also be helpful. Offeringa little free labor is another potentially productive tack. Scoresof organizations are always trying to find free speakers. Talkingabout your own business not only should be relatively easy, but itwill set you before potential clients. “After all,” quipsRomeo, “I began working for free in Pennsylvania and it hasbroughtme across the river into the land where the big boys play — andpay.”— Bart JacksonTop Of PagePassing the Torch Without Being Burned: Steven FriedmanDid ya hear? The old man’s selling the business,”announces some water cooler clarion. “Yeah,” responds therumor mill, “Doc gave him about six months. Can you imagine hiswife, that gym teacher, running this place?” Thus starts thestampede.Every employee madly launches updated resumes through cyberspace inhopes of swiftly abandoning the sinking ship. By the time of transfer,the old man’s lifelong enterprise sells for 20 cents on the dollar.Business succession need not be this horrific. There are ways tosmooththe transition. Stark & Stark presents “Financial Planning andLife Transition Situations” on Wednesday, March 26, at 6:30 p.m.at the Trenton Country Club. Free by reservation. Call 609-219-7413.This broad-coverage workshop features three Stark & Stark attorneys:Robert Durst, small business specialist; Steven Friedman,estates and elder law; and Allen Silk, closely-held businessspecialist. In addition, financial experts Christopher HamiltonBrashier and Kim Kundra of Wachovia Securities are on handto discuss specific asset protection programs. This seminar isdesignedto help all owners who want their firms to continue profitably afterthey leave the helm.Each speaker urges all business owners to consider the importanceof preparation. “Despite your current omnipotence,” notesFriedman, “you have very little control over your firm from thegrave.” Bronx-born Friedman graduated from Rider University witha major in accounting, to which he added a law degree from WesternNew England College. Since joining Stark & Stark in l989 he has helpedscores of families, with all degrees of readiness, to keep the firmprofitable when its owner passes.Silk, his partner, puts the task succinctly, “you have to askyourself simply, `What will happen when I’m not here?’ and then workout a plan.” Silk, a native of Pittsburgh, and still a staunchSteelers fan, earned an accounting degree from Penn State, and thena law degree from Villanova, and a tax law master’s at New YorkUniversity.In his 27 years with Stark & Stark, he has noted that, though theconsiderations of succession are several, if handled methodicallyand with forethought, owners can ensure a undisruptive transfer.Grooming successors. Alexander the Great reclined on hisdeathbed with all his generals clustered around awaiting the whisperedname of his successor. He died without appointing anyone, and hisempire disintegrated into warring factions. Had our conqueror listenedto Silk and Friedman, he would have selected and named a potentialheir years before his death, begun training him, and slowly made hischoice public in order to answer all the possible objections thatmight arise.Typically, the choice of successor comes down to an evaluation ofhigh potential members of your firm and your heirs. “No matterwhom you select,” says Silk, “make sure you mean it. Testthis person with increased responsibility and let him grow into thejob.”Where an obvious successor, such as a younger partner, spouse, child,or trusted senior executive, does not fit the bill, the owner maywant to select an advisory board. This unofficial board can aid theowner while he is still running the firm, and then be empowered toselect the best CEO when he steps down.Succession plans. A succession plan is the greatest weaponagainst a mass employee exodus in the case of a void at the top. Youremployees are your firm’s most valuable and volatile asset. If theyfeel that your absence will leave an emotional void, but not a fiscalchasm, they are much more likely to stay and to increase the valueof the business.A good succession plan should include a transition team, empoweredto vote in the new leadership. Shareholders’ agreements typicallycan be easily worked out in advance, yet if postponed until the fact,they can fill investors with trepidation and resistance. Lifeinsurance,tax liabilities, estate and asset shifts should be addressed. Equallyimportant to designing the plan is sharing it. Everyone from the rankand file to the largest stockholder must know that you have a definedplan in place. Yet exactly how much of the specifics you releasedependson the amount of friction you expect to engender.Ownership transfer. It’s all very well to transfer thecrown of your firm to another head, as long as his hands are holdinga purse heavy enough to pay for it. In the case of death, Friedmansuggests, the prospective new owners can pre-plan by taking out lifeinsurance on the current owner, which will give them the needed liquidfunds for the buy out. Other such bootstrap purchases can be arrangedthrough buy-sell agreements. But Silk warns that agreements oftenentail a long payment plan, which can squeeze the cash flow to bothto the heirs and the business.If the firm is being sold to a an outside party, an insurance hedgemay become necessary. The loss of the owner automatically makes thedollar value of the business dip. Debts accrue and liquid assets arerequired. A very few businesses, perhaps a jewelry store or acorporationwith several salable franchises, may have the quick-sale inventoryto meet the terms of the will and demands of the new sale — butmost businesses don’t.Tax liability. Under certain conditions, a business maypass to a surviving spouse with no tax penalty. But only to thespouse.Children, other heirs, or partners all get hit with a whopping taxliability. Friedman suggests two ways to minimize this loss. First,you can reduce your business’ tax bill by beginning to transfer piecesof its value during the owner’s lifetime. Thus, at death, thecorporationshows less book value and takes less tax.The second tax planning method is to take out a simple life insurancepolicy on the owner. The premiums become, in effect, an escrow accountavailable for the upcoming transfer tax bill. The benefit of aninsuranceplan, rather than a separate investment fund, is cost versus odds.It is nearly impossible to estimate the company’s future value andthe future tax law at an unknown date. With an insurance policy, youcan count on a payment, based on premiums you can afford today.Additionally,full payment arrives immediately upon death of the owner — asdoes the tax bill. Without such a tax plan in place, the new ownersmay find themselves taking out an equity-based loan that restrictscash flow just when the company is shifting through the tryingsuccession.The family. In most cases the closely-held businessbecomesthe dominant family asset upon death of the owner. In this age ofthe blended family, surviving spouses and intertwined step-childrenall come in for a chunk of this not-very-liquid asset. They key toa smooth transition, Silk insists, is previous and ongoingcommunication.”Traditionally, most Americans perpetuate a code of silence aboutbusiness matters,” he says, “and this invariably leads todisaster.” Long before the parents get older and in need of help,it is wise to bring in the children and explain your personal andbusiness finances to them. Even if they are not going to take overthe business, they will play vital roles in the transfer. “Andfor god’s sakes,” laughs Silk, “find your safe deposit keyand show them where it is kept.”Avoid asset competition, warns Friedman. One partner seeks incomefrom certain profits; the other sees reinvestment and growth as thegoal. Putting these two in charge of the same fund, or making thembeneficiaries of the same trust, is a recipe for endless friction.Too often Friedman has witnessed the classic blunder of a trust willedto the wife of a second marriage, and, upon her death, reverting tothe children of the first wife. “Imagine how the children willhowl when the wife asks the trustees for cash to buy her newFerrari,”he says.Faced with the current economic slump and no clear hope on thehorizon,business transfers nationwide are slowing down. The fever to quicklylaunch a start-up and sell it off to the highest bidder has been iced.No one’s investing, no one’s buying. Those who own a functioningbusiness,if it is at all profitable, are hanging on. Odds are, their employees,witnessing their 401Ks dwindle, and keeping an eye on government thatsees Social Security as a potential war chest, are planning to laboron into their 70s. But every company, like its owner, has a life span.The individual who founded it will someday, for whatever reason, passthe torch to new hands. With a little foresight, it can pass smoothlyand shine profitably.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageCorporate Angelsd>Panera of Nassau Park hosted volunteers from theYMCA’s Crafters Marketplace, treating them to coffee and pastries.Panera also helped Crafters’ Marketplace raise nearly $64,000 bysellingits products at the event and donating all profits.Proceeds from the event benefit the Bates Scholarship Fund, whichsubsidizes course fees so that economically disadvantaged communitymembers can participate in YWCA programs.The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountantsare offering free financial planning to the spouses of New Jerseymilitary personnel who have been assigned to active duty. The helpcomes from the society’s New Jersey CPA Help Center, which is staffedby volunteers prepared to offer assistance with budgeting, developinga long-term savings strategy, tax filing, and other financial issues.Top Of PageHelp ‘Til Johnny Comes Home AgainWith the military on call, New Jersey’s small businessowners should plan ahead for the loss of one or more key employeesto military reserve activation. In an effort to lessen the economicimpact such an activation can cause, the U.S. Small BusinessAdministrationis continuing to offer affected businesses the opportunity to applyfor Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loans.The loans are low-interest, long-term operating loans intended toprovide otherwise viable businesses with relief until essentialemployeesreturn from active military status. They provide funds to smallbusinessesto assist with meeting ordinary and necessary operating expenses anddebt payments that were being met prior to the loss of the keyemployee.The loans can be used for long-term debt refinancing or capitalexpansion.Reservists loans are offered at a maximum interest rate of 4 percentfor a term of up to 30 years. The SBA determines the actual term ofeach loan, based on the borrowers’ ability to repay.Loans are offered for up to $1.5 million, with each loan amount beingbased on the actual economic injury to the business due to the lossof an employee. Potential borrowers must have a good credit history,no unsatisfied liens to the federal government, and an ability toshow that they can not survive economically without governmentassistance.For further information, call 800-659-2955.Top Of PageNJEDA Loans AvailableThe Community Loan Fund of New Jersey is getting aninfusion of capital from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority(NJEDA) to finance commercial projects in underserved communities.The EDA made a 10-year loan of $500,000 to the Community Loan Fundthrough its Fund for Community Economic Development at an initialinterest rate of 3 percent. Established in 1987, the Community LoanFund is a nonprofit agency that provides technical assistance andcapital for investment in housing and commercial development torevitalizeneighborhoods and build economic self-sufficiency for low-incomeindividuals.The Trenton-based Community Loan Fund typically provides monies foraffordable housing, child care facilities, cultural centers, healthcare clinics, and small businesses. It has made 345 loans totally$54 million since 1987.The Community Loan Fund lends money to organizations that are eitherunable to obtain financing from conventional lending sources or areotherwise unable to provide sufficient capital for a project thatis needed in the community. For more information about the fund orother EDA programs, call 609-292-1800 or visit www.njeda.comTop Of PageApply Pleased>PSE&G is honoring the 100th anniversary of thePSE&G Foundation by making two $100,000 Century of Caring grants andfunding and building a Habitat for Humanity house in Newark.The two $100,000 grants will be awarded via a Request for Proposalprocess to nonprofit organizations in the PSE&G service area. Onewill be awarded in the area of children and families and one willbe awarded in the area of community and economic development. Fordetails visit www.pseg.com/caring.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
