Prospecting. step3. Who are your customers? Step 3 / 1. When you are a hammer everything looks like a nail! (Maslow)

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1 step3 Prospecting When you are a hammer everything looks like a nail! (Maslow) When you have something to sell, everybody should become your customer! Or should they? Selling a product or service can be a time-consuming affair especially when you try to sell a comple product to a large organization. That s why it s wise to be selective when it comes to choosing your customers. In this third step we will show you how to select and qualify potential customers, how to approach and manage them and how to get an appointment. istockphoto.com/nicholas Belton istockphoto.com/philip Sasser Who are your customers? Step 3 / 1

2 Closing rate and sales cycle eplained Managing your sales funnel Turn your leads......first into prospects......then into customers. The difference between the number of fruitless sales attempts and the number of deals you win is called the closing rate. The length of time the process takes for a lead to turn into a real customer is called the sales cycle. Sometimes you may have to approach 15 different leads or more before you make a sale. Depending on the industry you are in, a sales cycle can last from a few hours (consumer goods) to years (selling an oil refinery.) Knowing these numbers will help you to make a sales forecast and lets you calculate how many sales calls you must make to achieve it. Let s assume you work for 48 weeks per year, your sales cycle is 2 weeks, and every 20th lead turns into a customer. In order to make 50 sales per year, you need to make 50 * 20 = 1000 sales calls per year or 21 sales calls per week or 4 calls per day. Use the sales funnel planning tool on the net page to manage your lead process. Cendesic.com/Oliver Fritsch istockphoto.com Visualize for a moment that your sales process looks like a big funnel. Imagine that you can feed an unlimited amount of potential customers, or leads into the funnel mouth on the top. Once they are inside your funnel, you begin listening to them and attempt to understand what their needs are. This is part of the sales process and is often called prospecting. During these conversations you verify if they: Selling sounds harder than it is! have an urgent need that your company can satisfy have set aside a budget they are willing to spend are generally interested in doing business with you Only after you have found satisfactory answers to these questions, people qualify to become possible future customers or sales targets of yours. During the sales call and conversations that follow, you offer, or propose your products and services. You will find that not all of your targets end up buying from you, but some of them will. These eit your funnel as customers. Step 3 / 2

3 2. Prospect Find out if your leads are good prospects: Review Website Project sense of urgency Face to face meeting Verify a possible fit 3. Qualify Good qualification criteria for future customers: Requirements known Funding is available Decision maker(s) identified Influencers identified Credit check passed 5. Close You know you have succeeded when the following points are checked off: Open issues satisfied Order received & booked Delivery completed Testimonial for web site received Payment received istockphoto.com/che McPherson 5-Step printable funnel chart Always keep your funnel full! 1. Get Leads Check these sources to find leads: Friends, relatives, insurance agents, real estate people Dentists, accountants, business associations Conference and workshop attendees Annual top lists from the local chamber of commerce Member lists of industry associations Companies where you are a customer Companies you have worked for in the past Competitors/suppliers you have worked with Social networks (e.g. LinkedIn.com, Xing.com) Business contacts and lead web sites (e.g. Jigsaw.com) List brokers, white pages and other directories 4. Propose Important steps during the selling process: Demo conducted Influencers won over Pricing calculated Proposal submitted Objections addressed Follow up meetings conducted Step 3 / 3

4 Getting an appointment Pick up the phone......make an appointment......meet with your prospect. Don t you love the promise of your web site as an automated sales machine? Ways to sell more 1. Prospect every day 2. Make more calls 3. Get through more often 4. Get more appointments 5. Close more sales 6. Get more dollars per sale 7. Make ONE more call at the end of the day You would never have to pick up the phone again to make another sales call. Instead, customers will flock to your web site where they will engage with your carefully crafted web eperience, get all the information they need, convince themselves that you are the right company to do business with, and click the order button whenever they are ready to buy. Right? Right! Unfortunately this promise remains unfulfilled for most of us! Many customers with a need for your product will never find you. And if they did, they still wouldn t buy from you because they don t know or trust you. Well, how can I get the sale then? you may ask. and 8. Make it a goal to get to 100 No s! Why? Not every sales call will lead to a sale, but imagine for a moment that for every five sales calls you make, you earn four No s! and one Yes! By the time you have reached your hundredth No! you will also have achieved 20 additional sales! istockphoto.com/alistair Scott istockphoto.com/achim Prill The answer is simple: Pick up the phone, make an appointment and meet with your prospect in person. A 20 minute face-to-face conversation can replace months of customer research, weeks of programming your web site and days of ing and online prospecting. Not only will you learn about the needs of your prospective customer first hand, but you will also get a chance to ask clarifying questions on the spot. And, most importantly, you will be able to make a connection on a human level and leave a lasting impression. Nothing happens unless you meet with someone in person. Step 3 / 4

5 Sales call mechanics The more calls you make......the more......success you will have. istockphoto.com/steve Snyder 5 Steps to the perfect sales call Selling is a numbers game. Not every call will be successful but:» The more calls you make...» The more appointments you will get...» The more sales you will make! Here are five steps to make the perfect sales call 1. Get the person s attention 2. Identify yourself & your company 3. Give a reason for your call 4. Make a qualifying /questioning statement 5. Set appointment istockphoto.com/michael Kempf Dealing with the fear of rejection is the hardest part of making a call. But it really depends on your mind set: you have no reason to feel bad about offering a valuable service that saves your prospect money or time. Use the phone to get an appointment in person. Don t try to make a sale on the phone. You will feel less rushed and more confident during a face-to-face meeting. We suggest writing an initial contact script before you make your first call. Even then, don t stick with it if it s easier to go with the flow. Selling is a numbers game! Good morning Mr./Mrs. (name), this is (your name) from (your company). We are a (describe what your company does) company right here in (name of the city if the same as your prospect - creates a local connection.) The reason I am calling you today is to set an appointment (1 in 12 will do so, just because you asked!) so I can stop by and tell you how you can (insert your value proposition here, e.g. increase your sales.) Our meeting should not take more than 30 minutes. We have just completed a project with (insert name of another local company you have worked with. Await positive response.) That s great Mr./Mrs. (name) - let s get together! How is Tuesday at 3:00? Step 3 / 5

6 Succeeding at your first appointment Use an agenda......to structure your......first meeting. Use your first appointment to ask questions about your prospect s needs. Send a meeting agenda ahead of time. It could look like the one right here: Important: Put the overview of your company on the agenda last. This gives you a chance to listen to your customers needs first. Dear (insert name) I look forward to seeing you on (insert date) in your office at (insert place.) In order to prepare for our 30 - minute meeting I would like to propose the following agenda: What to do after the appointment? Resist the temptation to talk too much about you or your company s products. Agenda Proposal (Your customer s company name Location, Date, Time) Send a thank you note (traditional postal mail may be better than depending on your prospect) and follow up your visit with answers to all open questions from your meeting. Use the time between your first and your second appointment to learn your customer s business, then submit a written sales proposal that addresses your customer s pain points. istockphoto.com/blackred istockphoto.com/martine Affre Selling is mostly about listening, not talking. Before you start the meeting thank your customer for his or her time. Bring a copy of your agenda and ask if anything should be added or changed. Confirm that you have about 30 minutes time and then follow the agenda and listen, listen, listen. Qualify and understand your customer s pain points immediately. Arrange for a follow-up meeting to come back, right then and there. (Your customer s company) Growth goals (5 Minutes) Past successes (5 Minutes) Current challenges (10 Minutes) Overview of (your companies) capabilities (5 Minutes) Net steps (5 Minutes) Selling is mostly about listening, not talking! Step 3 / 6