Good Sales = Good Business
Whenever I start working with a company and they want to grow their sales, we first focus on what markets we want to grow in and which customers we want to target. We identify 3 – 5 characteristics of their best customers, or aspirational customers. We call this an Ideal Customer Profile, and it guides us to the companies and contacts to call for our clients. These are our Suspects!
When we begin to interact with our suspects, making calls, having conversations, and arranging meetings, we have moved them to our active prospects list. If our interaction with prospects makes our offering easy to understand and straight forward, most people will accept a meeting. NOTE: You are not telling them you are God’s gift, you are telling them that you think you might be able to help them in this particular area and you would like to meet and discuss.
In these meetings it’s important to follow a few general guidelines:
1. We talk 20% of the time and we listen 80% of the time.
2. We ask a lot of open ended questions.
3. We spend a lot of time understanding who they are, what they do, who they are working with, what problems they are having, how satisfied they are with their current vendors or situation, how much work they have to put out, etc.
4. We do not spend a lot of time selling.
5. No selling until you find someone who is worth selling to.
6. If at the end of your questions, you believe that you truly have a value proposition to offer, you offer it and explain it. Believe me if you have spent enough time asking good questions and listening, many times people will be so appreciative that they will actually help you find ways to work with them.
7. Very rarely will you close any business on your first call when you are selling business to business. You have done well if they give you a chance to review or quote on something.
8. If the meeting went well and you feel like you can help them, then ask them if they have anything you can look at, quote on or review. From here on, whether you are on the phone with them or in person, always ask if they have something you might be able to look at.
In the first pass qualifying them and understanding them is more important than selling to them. When you leave a meeting you should be in a much better position to have the discussion internally whether or not they are a prospect worth pursuing. Remember, don’t sell initially. Qualify! Qualify! Qualify!