Colin Mills for The CFO Centre Regional Finding Black Books with Colin Mills

Speakers: Colin Mills, CFO Centre

Colin Mills: Hello. All I've been asked to talk for a few minutes day on black book marketing. This is how we actually started the business back in 2001. Black book. This is the black book actually you can see it's not black but this was the book that I used in terms of my thoughts and ideas about the CFO Center in the first place. And on the second page I listed down 26 names of people that I thought might be able to help me bring this idea to market. And basically I just gave him a call, asked what they were up to some of these names on the list I hadn't spoken to for months. In fact there's one on this list probably for several years but they were all people in business or who had a business connection that to be honest. I was just interested to catch up with and I certainly was interested in what they were doing I think by expressing some interest there, they inevitably asked me what I was doing. I spoke to them about the idea of what we branded them that the F. D. Center that's now the CFO center and I wasn't too shy to ask for some help either. So one of the names on this list actually is my sister. And and through that telephone call she actually introduced me to her boss and hey presto that was our first piece of business. So that's all black book marketing really is. Have I seen it change over the years. Yes I've seen people adapt this and send out some emails first of all. I see them these days, perhaps reaching out on linkedin, first of all by way of intro to set up a call. But honestly the simplest easiest thing you can do, You really don't have to think about it for too long. It's just list out 20 people that you know, give them a call, find out what they're doing. They're bound to ask what you're doing now and just begin a conversation about clients that you're looking for. And even if they don't introduce you directly to a client, they may be able to introduce you to somebody that they know, maybe a bank manager, maybe uh accounting partner at a local firm, but just something to get the momentum going. So that's how we started the business. I'd encourage everyone to do the same thing. It's a way to get one or two pieces of business really quickly. Good luck with that. Don't be fearful of it. Just be brave enough to pick up the phone. Thanks

Colin Mills: So question is, what would be your top tips for managing relationships with your black book contacts for me? I didn't have too much of a structure system, if I'm being honest, I had my initial list of 26 contacts that I thought could help me and my way of keeping in contact with these guys is just to give them a call when I had some space. So it was literally one tick means I'd run them once, two ticks means I'd run them twice and I just fitted in in my diary when I had a little bit of spare time, just a quick call just to check how things were with them. I didn't pass them every week. It may not have been every month, depending how busy I was and how things were going generally. But my top tip is simply find a way that works for you to keep in touch for me. It was off of my one book, here's the book, I think I referred to it before. My black book, that actually wasn't black, but I just used the tick system to keep in touch and with a with a few notes um if I'm being asked with a few notes of what I covered last last time, just so that when I was on the call with them, I could be present and I remembered exactly you know what I said to them. So top tips for me, just keep in touch, keep a brief record, keep the conversations going. Good luck guys

Colin Mills: Hi again. So the next question is, how many contacts did you start with? And how many did you find manageable? I think I've probably answered this question already. I started with 26. I sometimes quote 20 is the number. But checking back in my own black book, I see there was actually 26 names. I really didn't have any difficulty managing those. 26. Some I think I probably followed up more than others because I just felt their energy coming back to me. But my list of 26, perhaps abbreviated to 20 is very manageable. And by keeping in touch, by keeping those relationships going I found that that was a great way to start the CFO Center. Hopefully you can do the same thing too in terms of building your portfolio. Good luck on that journey.

Colin Mills: So I've been asked to share a positive story on a referral originating from my black book marketing. And the most impressive referral I can think of was how the business actually started. It was our very first piece of business. And so one of the people that I contacted in my black book marketing was my sister. I think through it wasn't just one telephone call by the way, I think she was probably, maybe she was even fed up of me keeping on about this idea that I had at that time called the F. D. Center that we now call the CFO center. Anyway one Wednesday afternoon she gave me a call to say hey listen Colin I've been just talking to my boss, she was the secretary of the M. D. Of a local construction firm and he was bemoaning or perhaps sharing a concern that he had of being worried about not being able to pay the wage bill the following Wednesday. Uh And my sister just happened to mention, listen I know this is concerning you robert, we've spoken about this before, My brother actually has been an F. D. In a number of businesses. It's something I think he might be able to help with. Would you be interested in just having a coffee with him, robert's answer was yes and that was our first piece of business. So it's the most impressive referral, positive story if you will that I can think of it was how we actually started the business. So good luck in your black book marketing endeavors just have a go like don't think about it too much because I think CFO mindsets can perhaps see all the problems and the pitfalls and the fears. Don't think about any of that. Just pick up the phone, make some connections with people, have some conversations they are going to be interested in you in terms of what you're doing now. Obviously you be interested in them and just begin those conversations and refresh those relationships. If nothing else, it will be good. It's always good to catch up and talk, isn't it? And connect with people who you've been colleagues with or partners with or had relationships with previously. So anyway, I hope that's helped enjoy your journey with CFO Center and good luck.