A lot of people over the last few weeks have been talking about “the best ways” to locate new customers and clients. A lot of people think that the strategies required have changed and that many of the old strategies don’t work anymore.
Out with the old, in with the new?
Not really. I agree that there are many “new ways” of reaching prospects and customers…
I have a LinkedIn account and a LinkedIn group (Sales Psychology & Performance if you want to have a look). I have a Youtube channel, I Twitter, I have a sales training blog and was blogging well before most other’s in the market place. I have numerous other social media profiles which I don’t use as much and I am also looking at the newest trends all of the time. I love to use the new ways and embrace change…
SoldLab Recommends: 7 Steps for Prospecting Success by Kelley Robertson.
Want to prospect effectively? Read this cover story of the March Sold Magazine issue by a famous sales trainer Kelley Robertson on page 18 at http://www.soldlab.com/sales-magazine
Hard to believe a salesperson could make so many mistakes in a short period of time, using so few words.
But it happened. I’ll explain in detail.
I overheard Steve, my marketing guy, who also answers the phone in my office, talking to the caller:
“Well, that would be Art. I’ll transfer you.”
He put the call on hold and said to me, “Some guy wants to talk to someone about Internet marketing. He’s being pretty evasive though. Might want to turn your recorder on for this one.”
Sounded like it might be good material for this newsletter.
I was chatting with Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales himself, the other day about, well, you guessed it, inside sales. I shared with Mike that one of the items I hear more and more sales people talking about is how email is becoming a black hole. Here at VanillaSoft, our platform provides sales people with fully integrated on-board email that allows them to send highly personalized emails directly to prospects and customers, or send them en masse. Great! We have a wonderful platform that gets them out the door, but what about all of those emails we sent, and never heard back from the prospect. If it was a cold email, fair enough, no harm, no foul. However, if you sent an email to a prospect you were engaged with and they went stealth – that is a different story.
As Mike and I continued our conversation he kind of laughed and said that he has the one email guaranteed to get a response. I begged for more and Mike shared the following with me from his blog. Read it here, but be sure to click through and subscribe to Mike’s blog. If you are a front line sales person or manage an inside sales team, then Mike has great resources. Enjoy the read.
All sales leads are not created equal. In sales, we can spin our wheels working on the wrong leads, wasting valuable time barking up the wrong tree. Here’s how to save time by narrowing in on your target customer.
1. Ask the Right Questions
It takes time to really understand what the right questions are for your sales process. You’ll soon figure out which ones are leading you to dead ends.
Start with basic company information that’s relevant (company size, industry, location), then move on to business needs. When’s the last time the company purchased a copier? If it was in the last 5 years, they might not be in the market for another. Do they have marketing staff? If so, a consultant might not have anything to offer.
Hubspot has a great intake form with all of their free ebooks and whitepapers. In addition to basic contact and company info, you are asked what your biggest marketing challenge is. It’s a free-form box, so you can write whatever you want. I’m willing to bet if you put in “inbound marketing,” you’d get a call.
Cold prospecting – reaching out to targets you don’t know to generate an initial meeting – is one of the hardest parts of sales. Partly, it’s a numbers game. With decision makers more insulated than ever, it’s getting harder and harder to get past gatekeepers and beyond voicemail.
But what happens when you do get a cold prospect to pay attention – whether it’s because they picked up the phone, or responded to an email or a direct mail piece? Do you feel like you nail it every time?
Much prospecting success is determined in this first interaction. Many opportunities die here before you have a chance to engage.
If you want to outsell your competitor then you need to follow-up. I know it is not sexy, not exciting, but it is one of the most powerful ways to outsell your competitors. Research tells us that less than 81% of sales people make more than three follow-up contacts with a prospect. Research also show us that most prospects buy after the seventh contact. (I believe that is even higher now, given the shift in our economy.) Read more at...http://www.soldlab.com/news/2011/9/27/outsell-your-competitor-ndash-the-easy-way-to-read-mor.html
The telephone is your lifeline to sales.
Technology comes and goes but the phone will likely be your lifeline to revenue for decades to come. If the phone is one of our primary modes of engaging the marketplace, why do so many sales professionals perform so poorly on this stage?
Selling is about connecting and engaging with the other party. Your sales quota may be stressful, but there’s rarely gain in exposing that to your prospect.
Although we know that the goal of networking is to discover new business opportunities, it's more than a "paint by the numbers" process. It takes time, patience, and creativity to cultivate people into our lives. The key is to make networking become a natural part of everyday life.
When I first started consulting businesspeople, networking was starting to get a bad reputation. People saw trade shows, business seminars, and community events as "targets" to pass out and collect as many business cards as possible. Ultimately, people networked when they needed something from someone. I agree that type of attitude can be detrimental to our sales success.
To make positive networking become a part of your everyday life, start with a strategy and begin the process. Begin to imagine that many people you meet can lead you to potential business. Now plan a strategy that will...
The word "soft" is enough to turn off any hard-driving business executive. After all, doesn't it indicate a salesperson who can't stand their ground, is in touch with their inner child and can't negotiate the tough business deals? NOT.
Research supports the power of soft skills, often referred to as "emotional intelligence" skills. They're the new weapon for companies competing in a global, information-loaded world. It's no longer enough to hire a person with the highest IQ, unless that IQ is accompanied by high emotional intelligence.
What is emotional intelligence? It's a person's ability to perceive their emotions, understand why...Read more at