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As a salesperson it can be extremely difficult to make the time to prospect but it is our most important core activity and vital to our success. Often it is easy to get stuck in a rut and keeping yourself motivated is a big struggle! So get motivated by results – if you’re having success then you’re going to enjoy it right? Try this planned and structured approach – it works, trust me!

First you need to ask yourself – who? Put together a list of a 100 to 200 prospects. You can do this by research on the web or yellow pages, industry magazines, the Business section of the Herald etc. Then find out the key contact in this business – normally this is the GM. You are going to launch a campaign on each prospect – I call it the Five Points of Contact. The key here is to keep a record of all contact, either in Excel or your CRM or in writing – whatever suits you. This is important as you will be referring to the last contact every time you make the next point of contact with each prospect.

1. Make the first call - remember start at the top and work your way down. Start with the GM and if he isn’t the person who deals with your product or service then get a referral from him to the person is his organization who does. They are far more likely to give you the time of day if you drop their Managers name! Make sure this first contact is polite and non demanding – you are gathering information here. Ask the prospect “Are you ok to talk right now” and if not then find out a better time to call. Busy managers will appreciate this approach! Who are they currently using, when does their contract expire, what would they change about their current level of service etc. If you cant get hold of the person give up after three calls and send a business card or email saying you wish to speak with them and will try again next month. What you are trying to achieve here is 1) An appointment if there is an obvious requirement (for example – we are actually looking for a new service right now) 2)Making another time to talk to the prospect and keeping a note of this
2. Second call - The idea here is to secure the appointment. You start by stating “We last spoke on the 20th of September and you suggested I try again in three weeks. I am calling you again as promised” Look for the reaction here – its either the right time or its not. If they won’t see you at this stage then set another time to call and make a record of this.
3. Third call – By now you should be creating quite a rapport with your prospect. Make sure you research them again before this call – whats happening in their business that you can discuss or help them with? Are they expanding, why has their share price just gone up, they have a new CEO etc – show them you have a real interest in their business. Are you doing business with someone who knows them, and can you drop that persons name or get a referral? Again look for the opportunity to close for an appointment and if not then your fallback position is to set another time to call. Follow up with an email at this stage – good talking to you lets talk again on March 3rd etc.
4. Fourth call – Time to hit them hard if you haven’t had a result from them yet. We agreed to speak again on the 3rd of March and I’m calling again as promised. I hope by now you can see that you can trust my word and I am serious about your business. Therefore would Thursday or Friday suit you for a coffee? You will make a script that works for you but the key things to point out are that you a person of your word and you are serious about adding value to their business
5. Fifth Call – If you’ve got this far the prospect is a tough one and requires some closing. Mr Prospect I’ve now called you five times and you clearly aren’t interested. That’s absolutely ok but I’d like to understand why. Can you give me some feedback? This will enable you to gather information about their current service, your approach, your brand and business. This will give you opportunities to overcome any objections and close again – look I understand what you are saying but I’m positive that if you give me 20 mins of your time I can tell you how I can grow your revenue, improve your business process, make your fitter and trimmer – whatever your proposition is – I’m in your area on Thursday and I would love to buy you a coffee – does 9AM or 10.30AM suit you better? If you don’t get a result on this call then I would put this prospect on a three month call cycle. At least ask for referrals at this stage and try and get something from your hard work with this prospect!

Ok- the idea of this process is that you do it over a three month period or a call every three weeks. You will pick up some business from the first call while some prospects are going to take more work! I find most people will agree to see you by the third call – that’s given that you still want to see them based on what they tell you about their business. Most salespeople wont want to go and see a client unless there is a near future opportunity or one right now! Meet and greets are fine but they should be included in the five points of contact rather than seen as the end result. You should expect business from 25% of prospects with this approach – that doesn’t sound like much but break it down – from 200 prospects initially that’s 50 new contracts or sales or qualified leads!! (You may want to call this method the “Keep the Sales Manager off my back” process!)

Remember we train all this and more at The Foundation. If you want to take your personal sales or your Sales Team to the next level of revenue achievement then contact me without delay!

Happy Selling

Jeremy Wilson.