Two things you MUST confirm at the start of your cold calls.
Most trained salespeople understand the importance of qualifying at the start of the sales process.
However, there are two additional steps in my experience ensure you do not get into sales cycles with prospects that lead to nowhere.
You must confirm BEFORE qualifying:
Their decision making process:
'Hi. This is Matthew calling XYZ company and provide ABC products and services. I am NOT looking to speak with anyone at the moment, however can you tell me who would be involved in the decision making process if your company was looking at buying CBA product?'
And this is SO critical:
"And who ELSE would Sarah consult with in your organisation if she were considering CBA products?"
You need to touch base with EACH decision maker, not just the key decision maker in the buying centre. So don't just make a call to the marketing manager or managing director, touch base with both BEFORE your face to face meeting.
As a general rule, you should go over the top of middle managers and speak with c-level executives whenever possible. But make sure to include all of them in your correspondence and meetings.
I don't deal with franchises, boards, charities, body corporates. I want free roam throughout the organisation without dealing with sales-crushing spectors that pull the strings from behind. Confirming their decision making process and selling each on your meeting ensures you can control the sales cycle.
The second thing we must do at the start of the process is to find out their baseline of current situation. This includes who they are using for marketing now and how long they have been with them. If it is a recent purchase, it is a low probability sale and you should qualify out. This saves time on unlikely sales opportunities.
This is why I split my calls between research, prospecting, follow up, and closing to keep a consistent pipeline of prospects, opportunities and sales.
These two key pieces of information along with the business owner or site manager's name are gathered at your research stage.
You can use this as well as your internet research to make your prospecting calls stand out. Right away you can position the call differently and go in knowing MORE of these prospecting calls will convert into opportunities which will lead to sales later on.
Remember: there's probably hundreds of IM businesses in your city or town selling basically identical products as you. The way you get chosen over your competition is with your sales skills, because that is something inherently UNQIUE to you alone which can't be shopped around like a commodity, unlike your products.
However, there are two additional steps in my experience ensure you do not get into sales cycles with prospects that lead to nowhere.
You must confirm BEFORE qualifying:
Their decision making process:
'Hi. This is Matthew calling XYZ company and provide ABC products and services. I am NOT looking to speak with anyone at the moment, however can you tell me who would be involved in the decision making process if your company was looking at buying CBA product?'
And this is SO critical:
"And who ELSE would Sarah consult with in your organisation if she were considering CBA products?"
You need to touch base with EACH decision maker, not just the key decision maker in the buying centre. So don't just make a call to the marketing manager or managing director, touch base with both BEFORE your face to face meeting.
As a general rule, you should go over the top of middle managers and speak with c-level executives whenever possible. But make sure to include all of them in your correspondence and meetings.
I don't deal with franchises, boards, charities, body corporates. I want free roam throughout the organisation without dealing with sales-crushing spectors that pull the strings from behind. Confirming their decision making process and selling each on your meeting ensures you can control the sales cycle.
The second thing we must do at the start of the process is to find out their baseline of current situation. This includes who they are using for marketing now and how long they have been with them. If it is a recent purchase, it is a low probability sale and you should qualify out. This saves time on unlikely sales opportunities.
This is why I split my calls between research, prospecting, follow up, and closing to keep a consistent pipeline of prospects, opportunities and sales.
These two key pieces of information along with the business owner or site manager's name are gathered at your research stage.
You can use this as well as your internet research to make your prospecting calls stand out. Right away you can position the call differently and go in knowing MORE of these prospecting calls will convert into opportunities which will lead to sales later on.
Remember: there's probably hundreds of IM businesses in your city or town selling basically identical products as you. The way you get chosen over your competition is with your sales skills, because that is something inherently UNQIUE to you alone which can't be shopped around like a commodity, unlike your products.