When your prospects don't respond to any of your overtures, it's enough to drive you crazy. All you can think about is, "What will it take to capture their attention?" If you're like me, you've been tempted to get creative. But, the real question is, "Will creative be effective?"
In today's never-ever post, Joanne Black, author of No More Cold Calling, shares a critical mistake that salespeople make when asking for referrals. And, as the Queen of Referral Selling, she shares what does work too.
Jonathan London, author of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling, tells how how he learned (the hard way) that being impressive in your sales pitch isn't always effective.
Most sales gurus will tell you to call your A prospects first. After all, they're the ones who are most likely to buy -- and you'll be closing orders before you know it. Plus, you're not wasting your precious prospecting time with low-priority opportunities.
Have you ever been called in by a prospect who's all excited about making a change? They're busy meeting with vendors, looking at all their options. And, they want you to get a proposal to them right away -- or to do a presentation.
Stop, stop, stop! If you don't fully understand the 'why' behind all this activity, you may be spinning your wheels for nothing.
As sellers, we want to keep as many options open to us. We want to be able to pursue business with anyone who has the potential to buy from us. But doing this actually has a boomerang effect and reduces your sales effectiveness.
Here's what you need to do to get more hot prospects in your sales pipeline:
TERRY ASKS: I help people with new product launches. When I meet with prospects, I do a decent job of building rapport and quantifying their pain. But I run into trouble when I try to nail them down for the next step.
For example, I'll say, "I'll call you at 9am on Tuesday to collect input for the ROI process." Instead of agreeing, they'll say "I don't know my calendar" or "Can you please call me next week."
Should I be empathetic to their situation and just call next week as they ask? Or should I push for a firm time commitment/due date for any follow-up action no matter how harassed they are so I can keep in control of the sales process?
JILL ANSWERS: Dealing with crazy-busy prospects is a real challenge. So let's assume you really did do a great job in the call.
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If you're finding it harder and harder to set up meetings with with potential buyers, you're not alone. Sales prospecting isn't easy these days.
But the real problem is that most sellers don't understand how their prospects are evaluating their attempts to get in. This lack of understanding is the root cause of most prospecting failure.
That's why I wrote The Buyer's Lament -- a sales poem that highlights what your prospects really want from you. Enjoy!
When you write an email to your prospects and customers, you expect it'll be delivered nicely into their inbox. But with today's ruthless spam filters, that may not be happening.