Sales Prospecting – Annoying, Frustrating and Downright Unnecessary!

You have a great business. It’s been going for quite some time and many people out there know you and like what you do. So then:

Why aren’t they all enquiring and ordering?

It’s because it requires work to convert prospects into appointments. And, unfortunately people are lazy. Here's why people do not like prospecting.

PROSPECTING new deals and CLOSING those deals are polar opposites, requiring very different skills. CLOSING deals requires a one-on-one meeting or telephone call. PROSPECTING is the art of getting in front of the right person in the first place.

Now, PROSPECTING is divided into two sub-categories:

1. Connecting with new prospects and
2. Nurturing those prospects into appointments
   
   

Connecting with new prospects: How do you make the initial connection with the right people in your target market? Do you attend a million networking events? Do you skulk around at trade shows and expos? Do you troll through the Internet hoping someone left their email address lying around on the ‘contact us’ page? The answer is LinkedIn Automation. LinkedIn is far away the best place to MAKE those connections and you can use robotics to automate this process. Sadly, while LinkedIn is the best place to find those connections… it’s the worst place to try and nurture and entice them.

Now that you have used LinkedIn Automation and found these leads on LinkedIn, how do you build relationships with them and get the appointment? This is a time consuming and deeply discouraging process, full of rejection and fear and that’s why we developed a solution. If you’re reading this now, you have started experiencing this solution… You and I connected on LinkedIn right? That’s the first part of the secret.

Sales Prospecting and The Sales Conversion Gap

The Sales Conversion Gap is this dark, awful, horrible place where prospects need to be found, nurtured and converted into an appointment. They are frightened, they are scared and so many potential customers are trapped in the Sales Conversion Gap.

Just one problem: you don’t know who is trapped in the gap?

We do. We developed a system that does all the sales prospecting for you. From finding the right people, connecting with them, nurturing them and calling then on your behalf to book an appointment.

We find the prospects using your LinkedIn profile. Then we warm them up using enlightening content that positions you as an industry expert. Once we know how warm they are, we can proactively reach out and save them from... The Gap.

For more information on the Sales Conversion Gap, I highly recommend that you read Scott Cundill’s article “Trapped in The Gap” here.

Be a saviour. Be a hero! Unshackle those poor souls who are unknowingly trapped in the gap.

Sales Prospecting: The Good Old Telephone

The good old telephone. Works better than it ever did... But only if the person you are trying to speak to already knows you. While everyone is looking online for enquiries, they are missing the point. Sure, online is great to find and nurture leads, however the telephone is the tool of choice to clinch the appointment.

Without “picking up the phone” and initiating the call the likelihood of the nurtured lead engaging with you is very low. Somebody has to be proactive and pick up that phone! It’s a lot easier when you are calling people who already know and respect you.

Notice how we connected on LinkedIn? Now you are reading my article? This is all part of our solution. We are the only company that offers a LinkedIn Robot with automated lead Nurturing, content marketing and telephone calling services all in the same place.

Sales Prospecting: LinkedIn Automation

Your sales prospects are all sitting there, waiting for you on LinkedIn. It’s the only place you need to go to prospect. Few people know this, but LinkedIn shares company details, email addresses, phone numbers and every relevant piece of information you need to prospect for new business.

Our beloved employees bring so much value and life to our business, and we treat them so very, very well! Are they salespeople? Absolutely not. Could they support the sales process by bringing in leads via LinkedIn? Yes!

Put the right salesperson in front of the right person and they thrive. Getting me in front of the right people… now that’s a lot trickier.

Hmmm… if only they could spend a lot more time in front of the right people. It works like this:

In other words, we do the the prospecting for you so you can get in front of the right person and work your magic!

Sales Prospecting: The Dreaded Gatekeeper

In the B2B sales process, the gatekeeper is typically a receptionist or an executive assistant or a designated person who is trained and responsible for keeping a prospect from being bothered by irrelevant callers.

Gatekeepers have 2 main concerns:

• Keeping the wrong person away from the boss
• Allowing the right person to see the boss

If they get it wrong, which decision has the greater consequence? In order to reach the prospect or decision-maker, you'll need to demonstrate to the gatekeeper that it will benefit the decision-maker to speak with you—and you usually have less than 30 seconds to do this.

Getting past the gatekeeper requires two things:

1. Charm
2. The fact that the person you are trying to get to might already know who you are

Never:

• Give the gatekeeper your pitch. Don’t let them be the judge.
• Never take a “no” from someone who doesn’t have the authority to give you a “yes.”
• Be polite and professional as well as charming
• Use humor; it works! Give compliments.

It’s so much easier to get around the gatekeeper when the person you are trying to get to might know who you are. The trick is getting to know that person first and that’s a key part of our solution: LinkedIn automation. When we make calls for our clients, the people we are calling already know who you are AND they respect you as an industry expert!

Five Sales Prospecting Tips

#1: Research

Look for trigger events or some kind of relevant business reason prior to calling your lead. Make it about them, not you. If you focus on certain industries, follow that vertical's news and frequently interview industry business leaders to become an authority in the space. Social media platforms -- especially LinkedIn and Twitter -- have made it easier than ever to learn from influencers and become one yourself. When done right, business will come to you.

If you are an industry expert, and there is a chance that the person you are trying to reach may already know you, then that’s the deal done. Our service positions you as an industry experts which is why our prospecting conversion rates are so high.

Remember, all the data you need to research them is on the LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn must become your best friend.

#2: Work in Volume

The top of your funnel directly dictates your revenue outcome. Take your quota and work backwards to figure out your prospecting goals. For instance, what is your average sale price? How many deals does it take using the average sale price to hit quota? How many opportunities need to be in your pipeline in any given month to close that number of customers? From there, calculate how many leads you need to work in order to generate that number of opportunities, and that's your prospecting target for the month.

Bonus Prospecting Tip: Book time on your calendar every single day to prospect. The key is consistency. Having a time in your diary works wonders.

We use JESS to help us call for our customers. JESS automates LinkedIn and warms up leads so that when we call them for you, they already know who you are. It’s so much easier getting past a gatekeeper when that person already knows who you are.

#3: Add Value

Bring something valuable to each and every call you make. Remember to be helpful first, and the conversation will fall into place. Instead of starting with a pitch, try asking questions. By asking a high value question, you can gather useful information while simultaneously building credibility. When you start all your calls with genuine curiosity and willingness to help, it makes all the difference.

We do this by writing an article for our client that positions them as an industry expert in a particular field. So when we call them, we refer back to that article. We know they have read the article (or else we wouldn’t be calling them) so we add value by speaking about an area of pain that is common to them and you! That’s what gets us the appointment.

#4: Personalise Your Emails Through Storytelling

Instead of "Could you put me in touch with the person in charge of X decision?" try writing an email like you would talk on the phone. Use your prospect's name, mention something of note that you saw or heard about them or their company and relate it back to how you want to help. Speak in a narrative: they need to know that you feel their pain. Then, offer a specific time to connect for a few minutes -- and watch your response rate grow. You will get all the data you need for emailing from LinkedIn. When it’s automated, LinkedIn becomes a prospecting machine. LinkedIn connects with new prospects, emails nurtures them.

Bonus Connecting Tip! Reach out to multiple stakeholders within a company. Create trust with influencers to help you reach the executive level by writing an article that appeals to their pain point. We do this on behalf of our clients because it’s not as easy as it sounds.

#5: Follow Up Like Your Life Depends On It

Or at least like your quota depends on it (which it does!) Over 70% of your conversions come from multiple follow-ups. If you start a conversation with someone, make sure you follow them up if they don’t reply! In our opinion, you should never open with a sales pitch. Instead, start a conversation with them around their pain point. Whether it’s LinkedIn or Email or telephone, you need to keep pushing, but do it in a way that adds value to their life. We always say “stop selling and start teaching!”