In the 2013 issues of Sales Bytes, we will be walking you through the CustomerCentric Selling® sales process, sharing ideas as we go. We'll also be asking you to post your "best practices" on our Blog so that we can all learn from each other.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
Who likes Prospecting?
Let's start at the very beginning - initiating sales cycles, aka prospecting and business development. Who likes to prospect? Not many, but you can't always count on business coming to you. The primary objective for prospecting is to generate curiosity so that buyers are interested in engaging with sellers. Unfortunately, caller ID, Spam filters and gatekeepers do their best to keep sellers at bay. And, how many executives are routinely available to answer their phones? And how many automatically delete emails if they don't know the sender? So, what can you do to increase your chances of making contact? We recommend a campaign where you reach out to multiple people within an organization (we call this the Sphere of Influence approach) AND multiple organizations concurrently. Here are some ideas:
- Profile your Target Market. Identify the top 3-5 titles within a prospect's organization that influence the decision to buy your products/services. Understand why they might need your offering. Using case studies, quantify the potential value of your offering.
- Build a Database. Locate contact information for prospects that meet your target market criteria. Use all available sources including existing customers, lead generation subscriptions, trade association listings, Web site visitors, social media groups such as LinkedIn, and referrals (by far the best approach).
- Develop Issue-Based Messaging. Create 2-3 introductory letters that will be sent in advance of a phone call and close each one with a call to action. These letters are not about your products; they're about how you help your clients. The 1st letter highlights specific issues that your prospects wrestle with. Subsequent letters focus on how you've helped your prospects improve their business results.
- Deliver your Messaging. Send these letters out 3-7 days apart via email to all key influencers, letting each person know you are sending it to everyone else. If one influencer doesn't attend to your email, someone else might. You also may be told that they are not the right person, but someone else is. Bingo - now you have a "referral". There are HTML applications such as Constant Contact that allow you to embed logos, images and links. They also provide stats on opens and clicks which can help you hone in on the more interested prospects.
- Follow Up. Pick up the phone and first contact those that responded to your emails and/or clicked on an email link. The call won't seem as "cold" if you've first warmed them up with an introductory letter.
|
