eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
I recently conducted a webinar for a client on sales prospecting. Leading up to the webinar, I asked what questions the client had in regards to prospecting so I could tailor the content to their particular challenges.
I was surprised when I only got one response because they do so little of it and were unsure of what questions to ask.
Like most sellers, they were doing little prospecting at all.
Most sellers will tell you that creating conversations with prospects is critical to greater success in sales, but the dynamics of how to do it can be baffling.
Unfortunately, when sellers seek to understand it better, they often find conflicting advice.
Part of the issue is that different situations rightly call for different approaches, so not all advice is right for every situation.
If the path to prospecting success remains foggy, it helps to start by breaking it down into its fundamental steps.
If you recall the age-old formula is AIDA. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Think of prospecting as the process of creating attention and interest — enough interest to win a conversation to explore the subject area more deeply.
The goal of prospecting is to create interest and convert that interest into a sales meeting.
Note that I didn’t say the goal of prospecting is to find someone currently looking to purchase a particular product or service. For most sellers, this is not what you want to do, because it doesn’t work.
When prospecting you will find people who are already in the Desire Phase (someone interested in solving a particular problem or purchasing a known type of product or service) or the Action Phase (someone already in the process of searching for a solution to the problem), but if your approach is only to look for these people, then you are in for a number of rude awakenings:
Find someone who is already looking to buy, and they are likely have a front-runner in mind. This front-runner is not you.
If you don’t sell a commodity product or service, it’s likely that the buyer isn’t considering buying what you offer because she doesn’t know much (if anything) about it, let alone how it works, and why it’s worthwhile.
Find someone who has the desire to solve a problem and hasn’t yet started looking into how to do it, and you’re in luck! But finding these people will be like finding the proverbial needle in the proverbial haystack.
If you are the one who can capture Attention and stimulate Interest and Desire, you will be the front-runner, you will shape the prospect’s understanding of the importance of solving a particular problem, and you will be in the position to persuade them into Action.
The good news is that prospecting training can elevate you to adopt habits to prepare you for success.
How to improve Your Sales Prospecting Skills?
If you really want to be a successful prospector, here are some nuggets:
1.Targeting
The foundation that underpins sales prospecting success is the strength of your list and the precision of your targeting.
Sellers often call too low in the organisation and try to start a groundswell by working their way up. Reach high to the decision makers.
Make sure that your list is clean and ready to go before you start, or you will find that your day is lost in fits and starts.
2.Value in Every Touch.
When you sell, no one wants to hear your capability pitch, your history, or your life story right off the start. They’re looking to find out how their lives can be enriched by working with you.
When you think about providing value, don’t just think about the value you will eventually provide when they buy from you.
Think about the value they will get just from speaking with you. Eventually you’ll sell your company, your offering, and yourself.
At first, sell the idea that the prospects’ time will be well-spent if they elect to speak with you.
- The Right Offer
Your ultimate offer might be a particular type of software, technical instrument, building materials, financial product, operations plan, or marketing plan. But the interim offers — the offers you make and they accept before they buy from you — must be crafted with the utmost care.
- No Tricks
Plenty of business success awaits you with your high-integrity approach. There is no need to use tricks, bend the truth, or cut corners to generate an initial conversation.
All this does is kill trust, and trust is essential for sales success. Anything that you wouldn’t feel comfortable telling your children about when you put them in bed at night, leave out of your sales prospecting techniques.
- Multiple Touches
It takes more attempts than most people think to get through to top prospects.
It can often take seven, eight, nine, or more touches to get through to someone.
That number goes up and down —across different industries and when you reach out to — different titles. What’s always true though is that it takes more attempts to get through to your targets than you think.
- Variety of Touches
Cold Calling works well alone, but it works even better with mail and email. Use a variety of touches to reach out and warm up your prospects — and make sure each touch has value in and of itself
With these few nuggets, you’ll be well on your way to prospecting success. At the very least, you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of the sellers who will not prospect at all.
The views given herein are solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions ONLY.
Robert Gonye is a Business Growth Expert and Influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected]/twitter@robert_gonye
