Telephone Guidelines

Introduction

Hello... Good Morning..... Good Afternoon. Could I speak to …….

If you are asked what the enquiry is about, reply with:

“It’s a financial matter.”

When you get through then it’s time to introduce yourself.

“Hello my name is …...... and I would like to introduce you to our specialist corporate services. Your company’s name came up on a computerised profile search we have developed over the last thirty years. We analyse public records information and from that we can see the company might be having a few problems with its finances and liquidity. We haven’t singled your company out specifically but the information suggests that your business might benefit from the specialist services we have developed over the years.”

If he says they don’t have a problem you can say you are looking at records filed a Companies House which tends to indicate the company has a negative balance sheet and that can lead to all sorts of financial challenges. At Corporate Management Services we specialize in helping companies overcome any business problems they may be facing and I would like to show you how we can help your business. I stress that this won’t cost you a penny at this stage and I’d like to spend just a short while chatting with you to see how best we can assist.”

“We have many sources of finance, including banks, finance houses, factoring companies, private investors - but we often find that the solution is less debt rather than more money! We have many innovative ways of solving these liquidity problems - some of which your current advisers may not have thought of - after all, this is a very specialised area and we have over thirty years experience helping companies just like yours.”

If he says that he doesn’t have time right now then back off tell him you understand how busy he is and what would be a good time to phone him. If he says send me a letter or an email then be firm and tell him that our service is so specialised that it simply would not be possible to put it in a letter or an email - this is a personal service that is specially tailored for his business and his specific needs.

Ask him about his business - “Tell me about your business” “what does the business do?” “How long have you been running it?” “How did you get started?” Ask open questions like these - answers that require more than just a Yes or No answer. Make the conversation light and casual to make him feel more relaxed and you MUST sound interested even if you don’t understand some of the answers (he will know what his widgets do and will assume that you know too! Just take notes for me). Don't let them feel under pressure and allow them to talk freely. Often it’s best to just shut up and let him fill the silence! Build up trust and rapport between you and them.

If he starts telling you that the business is in trouble you must be very sympathetic and tell him you are sure we can help him find a way round the problems - we have specialists for that sort of thing.

You can start to get a bit more specific after he has been talking for a while. “So what does your business turn over now?”

“To see how best we can help you I need to ask you some detailed questions about your business - is this OK?” Always ask permission - it makes him feel like he is in charge. When he says Yes you are free to go through the questions on the form.

If he says No then you have to backtrack and explain that we need to have as much information as possible in order to assess the best source of funding to present his business to. Naturally we do this in confidence and no names are given without his prior permission. If he still says No then you have to decide whether this is a real prospect or a time waste - tell him we can’t help him if he won’t give us information to work with.

If he asks why we need so much information then you can explain that different lenders have different lending criteria - for example some will need freehold or long leasehold property to secure their funding, others will look for plant and equipment to create a lease against and others will look at the book debts (money due in from customers) to secure their lending. So, if we can get all the information to start with it means we don’t have to come back several times asking yet more questions.

When you think you have as much information as you can get then tell him you will present this to one of our senior consultants to make an assessment of the best way for us to help his business. “One of our senior consultants” makes our business sound professional and deep - lots of staff.

Remind him this is still free of charge and we will make sure he knows well in advance before we start making any charges. Tell him one of our consultants will call him within the next 24 hours.

Thank him for his time and once again remind him this is all in confidence, so when someone from Corporate Management Services calls be sure to tell the receptionist to put the call through!