Prospecting is Not For Dummies

One of my favorite stories about prospecting happened when AT&T was broken up into the baby bells and their “sales people” experienced their first taste of competition. A vice president of sales was speaking to a large group of sales people. He was going on and on about how they would need to adjust their approach now that they had real competition. They would have to be proactive and go out their and prospect for new business… they couldn’t just wait for the customer’s to call them.  He went on for a few minutes until one of the sales people raised his hand and asked, “What’s prospecting!”

When salespeople struggle to achieve their numbers, the first questions I ask are “How are you prospecting?” and “How are you closing?” Through my experience in talking with, observing others as well as studying my own conscience, prospecting can be a very thrilling, anxiety ridden, stressful and empowering experience. It reminds me of exercising, because it doesn’t always sound like fun, but I’m always better for it afterwards.

What does your prospecting experiences remind you of…?

The End of the Never-ending Sales Cycle

Need-Urgency-Money

Often, sales people are adept at confirming need and money within a sales opportunity, but struggle with urgency… Recently, two different corporate clients shared very similar experiences about their prospective customer situations. Both clients were engaged with prospects who were demonstrating a great deal of interest in their products and services and had the resources to make a purchase. While the interest seemed high and the feedback was positive, the prospects weren’t making a final decision. The sales cycle just kept going on and on and on…

Critical Events

When I asked about the critical events in the sales cycle, both clients responded with the usual answers I hear initially from participants in my sales training classes. They suggested the critical events in their sales were things like… the date of their next meeting scheduled with the customer, the date their proposals were due, the date the customer said they would make a decision, and the end of their quarter to achieve their bonuses. The best sales professional I work with are very aware of the “real” critical events in their sales opportunities that make a difference. The critical events I’m suggesting are the ones that are critically important to your customers. These are the critical events that your customer’s really care about. These events are usually independent of anything you are doing. Some examples might be:  the launch of your prospect’s new product, a trade show where the prospect is exhibiting or presenting, your prospect’s board meeting, your prospect’s end or beginning of their fiscal year, an important anniversary date for your prospect, or the launch of your prospect’s new advertising campaign.

Examples

The best sale professionals uncover critical events in their customer’s world that they can tie their sale too or they create a critical event that their customer believes in that they can tie their sale too. For example, one client who builds and maintains websites started asking their prospects when their anniversary date of their business occurs and suggested that date as a date to launch and advertise the redesign of their website. Another example from a company that provides web analytics was to identify any major advertising campaigns where it would be even more important to ensure the accurate tracking of people to their customer’s sites. By tying the sale of their products and services to the customers’ critical events, they increased their success rate shortened the average sales cycle.

What critical events are important in your sales?

Sales Calls That Make an IMPACT!

Your ability to help your customers identify their issues and define the IMPACT that unresolved issues have or will have on their business and in their lives has a direct correlation to your success in sales.

The one element I see sales people overlook, ignore and/or avoid during sales calls is the activity of asking questions that uncover impacts. I’ve heard reasons for avoiding asking impact questions like…”Isn’t the impact obvious to the customer,” “It’s like putting salt on the wound” and “It’s uncomfortable to ask impact questions.” A generic example of an impact question could be, “If the issue that you are describing goes unresolved, how will this impact your business or your life?”

One critical observation I’ve made when listening to my client’s sales calls is that when a customer begins to share the impacts that unresolved issues in their business may bring… the tone of the conversation changes. The conversation goes to a different level, it’s becomes more authentic as the customer becomes more vulnerable. If the customer is willing to share impacts it is also a sign that you have done a good job establishing trust and credibility.

How do you make sales calls that make an IMPACT?

Negotiating for What You Want

What you don’t negotiate can cost you.

You’ll never know what you can get unless you negotiate for it. The following story is a reminder to me that “negotiation” is a skill that has to be learned, developed, and thoughtfully put into action to work.

Do you ever wonder how much you are paying for your airline seat compared to what the person paid for the seat next to yours? How about what the person at your athletic club is paying to use the same equipment as you each month? And finally, how about the office space next to your office? Well, one of my career development clients just learned the hard way. She was paying $1300/month for a one person interior space with no windows. She was told that the one person office across the hall with the beautiful windows with the forest view was $1800/month. When she asked if their was any room to negotiate, the response was “no.”  A few months go by and she starts to talk with person who ended up leasing the window space across the hall and learned that he was paying $1300/month. After she got over her frustration that she was paying the same as him without the window…, she asked how he got that rate? He replied he asked the management firm to match another (less desirable) space across town or he would walk. He used the “competition” tactic like a pro and it worked!

How do you negotiate for what you want?

Establishing Trust and Credibility

No Trust No Sale.

As animals, we sense things before our minds have a chance to think things through. We can sense if someone is being authentic, vulnerable and real verses hiding behind a mask or being guarded. 

What instantly imbues trust and credibility?

This is a question that is at the very core of my work as an executive coach and trainer. I had the opportunity to witness first hand the rise of a Regional Account Manager to the position of VP of Sales of a very large and successful software company. We hadn’t talked for over 7 years. In the interim, he left the company amid many changes, including several executive team transitions. With a new CEO on board, he was recruited to come back, not as a Regional Account Manager, but as their VP of Sales with an offer he couldn’t refuse. What was it about him? One of the things was the ability to establish instant rapport with others, especially his ability to do this over the phone with his customers with only the use of his voice. He left me a simple voice message about needing to miss a meeting I inviting him to. I was so impressed by it, I saved it to play it back to participants in my sales training courses (Tactical Selling Skills). In addition to being relevant and personalizing the message, what made his message authentic was the tone of his voice, inflection and pace. His thoughtfulness came through, as he used humor, laughter and vulnerability to explain why he hadn’t called earlier because he was at his daughters art class while his wife was traveling.

What establishes trust and credibility with you?