Old Fashioned Prospecting….a Hi-Speed Way to Increase Sales
ALERT! ALERT! – FOR ALL COMPANIES WITH SLOWING SALES
When the economy was more robust, prospects were eager to invest in many things for fear of being left behind in the hi-tech/high-speed/technology-will-solve-everything revolution. Quietly, and with little notice (while we heard rumors of it in other parts of the country and throughout the world), sales professionals across the country stopped making calls and spent more time on proposals and presentations, because their pipeline was always full. After all, prospects had already decided they were going to buy something. As a result of selling in this climate of growth, expansion and record sales, many sales professionals have lost the skills, or never had to learn how, to generate interest with tough buyers.
Now, with the economy in somewhat of a slump, it’s time to bring back methods that prompt sales growth. It’s time for sales professionals to start prospecting again (actually it’s probably past time……but in an effort to make you feel better, let’s just agree that it is NOW time). Around 1985, the economy was struggling in many parts of the country. My mentor “Peter”, shared advice he had heard years before. “This economy is going to turn around when salespeople pick up the phone, talk to real decision makers and generate interest.” I can imagine words more true today.
Effective prospecting is built on a foundation of three elements. The first is the prospecting plan. The plan describes the attributes of the target customer. This includes all their physical characteristics and “pains” needed to be a good fit for your products or services. Plans describe the methods used to find and contact your prospects. A common error is to design a plan heavily loaded with marketing (mail, e-mail, facsimile) or indirect contacts like networking and strategic alliances. These methods have a place in your plan, but make sure you address ways to find prospects now, today. Challenge yourself with direct contact methods like phone calls to prospects that have just received some marketing materials, and even try stopping in for a brief face-to-face introduction. It could lead to a scheduled appointment in the not-to-distant future. Complete the plan by determining the frequency of activity (number of calls per day/week) and expected outcomes (number of conversations and new appointments set). As results are tracked, it will be easy to see what the most effective plan will be.
The second element consists of the strategies and tactics for each of the prospecting methods listed in your plan. Do you really know how to be effective at generating interest when making calls. To have a chance at success, you must first set the stage for an open conversation. Although there are additional tactics to move the sale forward, a salesperson must master generating interest or any additional time spent on the prospect will be wasted. To avoid the quick put-off, it is important to establish that you are not like other salespeople. The hard part is that you just can’t say you are different. You have to be different. There are many way to do this.
One example: if you want to send a message of honesty, say “I want to be up front with you (Jim), this is a sales call; should I stop now?” This example includes a second concept for making the prospect feel comfortable: let the prospect feel in control. Most calls don’t go very far because the prospect “feels or hears” the salesperson pushing the conversation forward. All prospects fear that if they allow the salesperson to be in control, they will eventually find themselves trapped. Trigger that fear and they get rid of salespeople with false interest like “please send me literature” or redirection such as “my assistant makes those decisions.” There is much more to the call than just this concept, but begin here and the rest can come quite easily.
The third and final element of prospecting is attitude. A salesperson possesses many beliefs, feelings, and opinions. These attitudes control what a salesperson believes he or she can/can’t or should/shouldn’t do when making calls. For example: a belief that you are “bothering” a CEO, results in calling on someone too low in the organization. The sales process becomes protracted, with no sale at the end.
Let’s be a bit more optimistic about this salesperson. Maybe he/she learned that calling too low in an organization often results in failure and the need to make a sales bonus forces him/her to try calling higher. Effort meets good fortune – a CEO is willing to talk. Now the “bothering” rule comes into play. The CEO hears a little hesitation, a slightly strained tonality. Although the CEO can’t describe the problem, she says to herself, “I’m interested in this product/service but I don’t want to continue this conversation.” After a little interplay, it turns into the redirection “talk to my VP.”
In making calls, the rule, “It’s not what you way, but how you say it” is at the heart of the success. Role play scenarios like “If you believed a CEO would welcome a conversation with you, how would you talk to that CEO?” Repeated practice will go a long way to honing the skills necessary for successful prospecting.
Many salespeople would like marketing to refill their pipelines for them. Professional salespeople understand that when it’s time to “turn things around,” the shortest path to new sales is picking up that phone directly.
