Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Tim Kerin.
About the interviewee
Tim Kerin is an author, national speaker, networker and serial entrepreneur. Tim and his wife Tracey own 5 multi-million dollar businesses in the Washington DC Metro area. With 26 years of experience, they wrote a book 10 Lessons Learned…How to Build a Successful Business. Tim has hosted worldwide webinars on networking and business challenges. Tim is also a mentor to our military hero’s and their spouses on helping them transition from the military to owning their own businesses. Tim was recently appointed to instruct a Emerging Leaders class in Washington DC Sponsored by the SBA.
Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).
Falcon Crest is a commercial cleaning and commercial construction company with 5 employees and subcontractors on the construction side. The cleaning side has 100 employees cleaning 4 million square feet every night.
Customers include Chick-fil-A Mid Atlantic, Boeing and 13 year vendor with the Washington Redskins
Learning Lessons in Business is our speaking and consulting business.
CORE Networking, I am a partner in which has 4 chapters in the Washington DC Market. This is a membership organization that meets twice a month
Tell us about why it is important for you to establish a relationship with your potential clients.
In today’s business climate, people do business with people they like and trust. We are always looking to gain an edge with our competition. The way to gain that edge is by building relationships. These relationships have to be genuine and have a common bond or a like interest. That building relationships take time and is ongoing. A customer needs have to come first. You have to be there when they need you and you can’t take advantage and lower your standards just because you have that relationship. You have to commit and work on it like any type of relationship.
What do you do to establish relationship with the key players?
Let me be your “Google”
You first build Strategic Partners. Those are businesses that are going after the same clientele you are. Develop relationships with them first. Learn their tools meaning what makes them different than their competition and what to look for and listen for to introduce them to your client. A time will come when your customer will need something. Something they are looking for that does not put revenue in your pocket. You refer your S.P. Now you have become their Google and go to person. You now have created an added Value to your customer.
What sales techniques have you found as ineffective in developing relationships, which ones work, and why?
I have always believed in networking and developing relationships to generate business. I have generated over $9 million in revenue all through networking with relationships with S.P. and customers. Some techniques include hosting an event that is outside the office environment. We did this at FedEx Field home of the Washington Redskins. We created a football environment with Super Bowl Alumni, Cheerleaders, and locker room tours. We did this as our S.P. group and invited our customers and called it a customer appreciation event. No hard selling was allowed just relationship building!
Contact information: Provide website so that we can mention your firm on the radio (Business Talk 1110 AM and on our news site).
www.learninglessonsinbusiness.com