Sales Prospecting Secret #4
Many people consider the sales prospecting game board that I work through and give out during my Effective Sales Prospecting masterclasses to be the most useful tool I share with them. I think you’ll see why after today’s part of the course.
Today we’re going to talk about how you can;
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Attract the attention of your ideal client
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Put together content that sets you out as the expert in your field
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Create a strategy that gets you to that all important first meeting or demonstration
Just to save you some time here, if the aim of your job is to call people and then close them on the first call – if you have that kind of product or service – then this part of the course isn’t for you.
However, if you need to get in front of people to consult with them, make a presentation or demonstration – then it definitely is. Part 4 is for serious Business to Business salespeople who have something that needs explaining properly and probably requires a professional proposal delivered following the conversation.
OK, with that in mind. let’s just recognise something from the start;
It doesn’t matter who you want to sell your stuff to, or how much you think they’ll benefit from meeting with you – their days are already full – they have not made room in their diary for you – everyone will be as busy as they could possibly be.
Which means that we need to reposition sales prospecting and be honest with ourselves that – if done properly – it’s actually;
The Art of Professional Interruption
To achieve this effectively – when you call to book your meeting – you’ll want to find a way to ensure that;
a) the call isn’t a surprise
b) they actually want to speak to you and find out more – and
c) they’ll put a firm date in the diary to have a proper chat, presentation or demonstration.
So, to do that, let me explain why my Effective Sales Prospecting methodology has the title 5 Point Prospecting.
I want you to imagine you’re playing a board game – something like Snakes and Ladders or Ludo – you have a clearly defined START line – and you can see exactly where the FINISH is.
Sometimes you throw a big number and go hurtling ahead, sometimes you just trundle along or miss a go – but you know where you’re trying to get to, you don’t just give up when you’re half way there, you keep taking action until you complete the game – and you always know where you are up to on the game board – at all times.
The FINISH line for us today, is getting to a point when we know it’s right to pick up the phone and organise the meeting with our prospect – and to do that, we’re going to award ourselves action points until we get there.
So, give yourself a list of actions that will help you interact with your prospect and then award those actions points.
For example;
Sending through a LinkedIn invitation and they accept – move off the start.
You comment on their post and they respond back – step into an interaction space.
They follow a link to your web page which explains how you could help them – move straight onto the “Raise Your Hand” square.
They email you and ask for a call – go straight to the finish line.
In the short vid and article at this link here – Close More Prospects Before You’ve Even Met Them – I list more than 20 ideas on how to make contact and move yourself into their line of vision, positioning yourself as someone who cares about helping them and an expert in their field.
Big thing to point out here – I mentioned it in Secret #1;
You do not try and sell anything to them at this point – that is not what this part of the process is for.
Yes; feel free to share what you do – Yes; discuss how you helped others just like them – but do not scare off the horses with an impatient sales blurt – you’ll just sound like someone who talks about what they want to name their kids on a first date.
Let’s give this the time and respect it deserves.
If they ask you to make a sales presentation – crack on, this isn’t sales prevention – but if that doesn’t happen, simply accumulate 5 points and then make the call.
Here’s a quick vid that goes into a bit more detail regarding the best kind of content to share with your prospects
OK, for sake of argument, let’s say you’ve now mastered the first four parts of this course.
You know exactly where you and your team need to be focusing your efforts; you’ve worked out the profile of your perfect client and understand the different contact points within each account, together with the order you need to see them – and you’ve built a campaign that attracts the attention of clients who are ready to talk to you and sets you up as an the industry expert they need to speak with.
Tomorrow, we’ll finish it all off with a few ideas regarding picking up the phone and successfully booking that appointment.
To your success
Chris
Chris Murray
PS: If you missed any of this mini course so far – you can find it at the link below;
Sales Prospecting Secret #1
Sales Prospecting Secret #2
Sales Prospecting Secret #3
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