The most overlooked source of new prospects exists right in your database. Everyone has old contacts. They are people you used to work with, old clients who changed companies, old friends, former members of networking groups among many other categories of people. When you make the call you don’t have to drop into “sell mode” All you have t do is “catch up” with them. After exchanging personal information about the kids etc., the discussion will naturally flow to what you are doing now. If you describe the pains you are currently addressing for a client similar to who they now work for, they might ask you if you could help them. Don’t spend too much time prejudging who to call and who might have a problem. And, whatever else you do, don’t launch into sell mode. These are old friends and most likely they know you and what you do. An Adroit description of What problems you are solving these days and who you are solving them for is all that is needed in most cases. One last tip, Let them talk first about what they are doing. It will help you decide which current client and/or problem you choose to talk about.
Archives for March 2017
100% of Followup is a Waste of Time
Salespeople waste a lot of time following up. That is because they take put offs from a prospect and interpret them as sincere interest. The prospect says “send me a quote”. So they do thinking they have a qualified prospect. However, many times the prospect knows that asking for a quote (or to send information) is the easiest way to get rid of the sales person. Then they ignore the salesperson’s calls when he or she spends valuable time trying to track down the prospect for a decision. The way to avoid this is to get a commitment for a decision at a specific point in time and even to get an appointment (in person or by phone) to get the decision. If the prospect won’t give you that then they are probably not as qualified as you think they are. Its not following up if you have an appointment to discuss the outcome of the quote. Almost all of “follow up” can be avoided if you follow this simple rule – “Never do anything until you know what is going to happen after you do it”.
Jumpstart Your Sales
As the saying goes … doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is … well you know the rest. So if sales are down or not where you were hoping they would be, then inject a little jolt of energy (just like when you jump your car) by a short spurt of massive sales activity. It is almost the only thing you can do. In the short term your sales skills are fixed. Deals you are pursuing have a set timetable to close which you probably can’t change without giving discounts as an incentive or “twisting some arms” and neither one of those is ever a good idea. So inject a little energy by doubling the number of calls you make for the next few days or maybe a week. Then go back to your normal amount of activity. Call clients you haven’t talked to in a while. Call referral sources. Call people who didn’t buy from you in a while. Make cold calls if all else fails. You don’t have to do it forever … only a few days. You don’t keep your jumper cables connected once the car starts do you? So, commit to some massive action for a few days and the world will change around you.
