About a year ago, I made the decision to become an open networker on LinkedIn after a fellow sales trainer and sales keynote speaker told me that it helped him connect with dozens of decision makers.
I registered for a service that added my name and LinkedIn profile to a database and within hours dozens of people were reaching out to connect.
Woo hoo!
A few months later I had added more than 1000 people to my contact list. Flash forward 10 months and my list of connections has grown to more than 3000 people.
Sounds great, right?
Uh, not so much…
What seemed like a good idea at the time has turned into a complete fiasco.
Since then I have been inundated with messages from people trying to sell me their “stuff” and every single email (with the odd exception) has been spam. What surprises me is the self-righteous attitude people exhibit when I politely request that they stop sending me these messages. Plus, dozens of people are now asking me to connect them with another person in my contact list. Unfortunately, I don’t feel comfortable connecting those people because I don’t really know either of them.
As a result, I am now in the process of deleting people who I don’t actually know from my contact list unless they sent me a personal note to connect (usually from a LinkedIn group, Twitter, my newsletter, etc).
I have long believed that active networking generates new sales leads and can help sales people increase their sales. However, I have quickly—well, obviously not that quickly—realized that there is a difference between real networking and social networking.
Don’t get me wrong.
There is merit in social networking. Lots of it.
In fact, I have some great friends as a result of my social networking efforts. However, these friendships were developed over time; they didn’t happen overnight. And, none of these friends asked for something without first getting to know me—and vice versa.
Social media is being touted as a powerful vehicle to generate new sales leads and opportunities. However, like anything else, you do need to exercise caution before you plunge it. Don’t expect it to cure your sales problems.
Prospecting is a key selling skill and a critical skill to develop if you want to increase your sales and achieve long-term success in sales. Yet, most sales people don’t invest enough time to this integral sales strategy. Part of the problem is that very few companies teach sales reps how to prospect.
Here are five prospecting best practices to consider.
Allot a specific amount of time every day/week or month.
When my wife first started her software training business, our accountant said, “Devote a certain amount of time every week looking for new business.”
Prospecting is not a fun activity, at least not for most people. However, the more time you consistently invest prospecting for new business the more likely it is that you will never suffer from a sales slump. That’s why it is imperative that you block time in your calendar each and every week to prospect for new business.
Do you schedule prospecting time into your calendar every week?
Use a variety of methods to prospect for new business.
Too many sales people take the same approach week after week. Although they may generate good results it is critical that you use multiple methods and approach to uncover new business leads. Here are a few strategies you should consider:
- Cold calling via telephone
-Door to door cold calling - Asking for referrals - Networking - Speaking at conferences - Writing articles - Trade shows - Conferences
Are you using enough prospecting methods to generate ample sales leads for your business?
Develop a powerful introduction.
The majority of sales people fail miserably at this. I recall talking to a person I met at a networking event and after a fifteen minute conversation, I still had no idea of what she did or what service she provided to her clients.
Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak suggests that you have 18 seconds to capture someone’s attention and an additional 100 seconds to convince them why they should continue a conversation or schedule a follow-up call or meeting.
Is your introduction powerful enough to capture the attention of new prospects?
Master all types of media including; telephone, email, text, direct mail, social media
Today’s business offers many more ways to communicate with prospect which makes it easier AND more complex to connect with new prospects. This means you need to be able to communicate effectively in more mediums than before.
- Does your voice mail message help you stand out from your competition? - Can you send an email that compels your prospect to respond? - Do you know how to write an effective sales letter? - Are you utilizing social media to connect with your prospects?
Are you using all forms of media to connect with your prospects?
Create a compelling value proposition.
The vast majority of sales people simply do not create a compelling reason why someone should do business with them or buy their product or service. Their voice mails messages, emails and sales pitches sound like everyone else’s and do little to compel a prospect to return their call, respond to their email, or call them back after a sales presentation.
Is your value proposition valuable enough to compel your prospect to want to talk to you?
Consistent and effective prospecting can make the difference between average sales and great sales results. If you are serious about increasing your sales, make the effort to apply the strategies into your daily and weekly sales routine.
Planning a Sales Meeting or Conference?
I help sales people master sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. If you’re planning a sales meeting, conference or event and need an engaging & informative speaker, call me at: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca. Here’s a short video clip of a live presentation: http://bit.ly/ef5P5l
Someone once said, “Numbers don’t lie.” While that may be true, it’s important to recognize that numbers don’t always tell the entire story. Here are a few examples:
Twitter Followers. A friend of mine shocked me when he told me that he had amassed more than 11,000 followers; I didn’t even know he was on Twitter! However, in the next breath he confessed that he had worked the system by following and un-following people until he reached his goal. He seldom posts a tweet and has yet to generate any business as a result. Yet, I know a few people who have generated significant revenue from a small number of followers. This also applies to Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites.
Sales Calls. I have heard far too many sales managers demand that their team make more sales calls because “Sales is a numbers game.” These sales leaders often focus on the quantity of calls a rep makes instead of the quality. Unfortunately, this focuses on activity rather than effectiveness of the approach. A sales rep can make 100 calls to low-value prospects and fail to make a single appointment or close a single sale. If you’re not calling the right people, you will never reach your target.
Lead Generation. Many companies have contact forms on their website and track the number of leads they generate via those forms. Many sales people grumble about the quality of these leads and in many cases, their frustration is legitimate. I believe this is similar to the previous point because it looks at sheer volume instead of quality. Implementing a pre-screening or qualifying checklist could weed out the tire-kickers and help your sales team improve their sales results while saving them time.
Sales Revenue. An acquaintance proudly told me that he had acquired several projects worth over $200K in revenue in a single month. I have to confess that I had a “green with envy” moment until he told me he was shocked that his year-end profit was so low because the cost of working with those clients was much higher than he anticipated. Top-line sales are essential but it’s the bottom-line profit that will keep you in business.
To increase your sales you need to focus on more than the numbers. If you lead a sales team, make sure that you are considering the right numbers. If you don’t, you could be fooling yourself.
A recent email from a friend of mine (you know who you are!) made me think of some of the dumb things sales people do—usually without realizing it.
My friend had sent an email to his business partner about a prospect that included a satirical comment of the prospect’s business. It was a humorous message that was intended for his business partner only. Unfortunately, he hit “reply all” and he soon realized that the email had also been sent to the prospect.
As Homer Simpson would say, “D’oh!”
Let’s face it…we’ve all done things that discredited our professionalism or eliminated our chances of moving the sales process forward with a particular client of prospect.
Many, many years ago I worked in the restaurant business. In fact, I spent the first 20 years of my career in that field. Early in my career I managed one particular store and received a letter from a customer who complained about something—it was so long ago I can’t recall what the problem was. Anyway, I gave the letter to my office manager and asked her to send an apology letter. Unfortunately, at the same time we were hiring new managers and this customer’s letter got mixed in with the resumes we rejected and my office manager send a form rejection letter.
Needless to say the customer was more than a little upset! She fired off another letter that stated, “I sent a letter complaining about the (problem) and you sent me a “Thanks but no thanks” response. What kind of operation are you running? I will NEVER go to your restaurant again!!!!!”
You can imagine my embarrassment. In fact, I was so humiliated I didn’t even know how to respond. So I didn’t which, in hindsight, was probably the wrong thing to do.
Anyway…here’s where I’m going…
We have all said or done things that did not position us in a professional manner.
Email is an easy and effective way to communicate with prospects and customer. In fact, it’s so common place that we don’t always think before we click the ‘send’ button.
We also make comments on Facebook, Twitter. LinkedIn and other social media platforms in the spur of moment and sometimes those comments required editing. At the very least, they needed to be considered before posting.
The same thing can happen in sales presentations. Our prospect asks a question and we toss out an answer without thinking of the implications. Those knee-jerk replies can seriously affect our reputation and credibility.
In today’s rapid-fire, fast-response, send-a-reply-with-a-click, we need to pause. We need to make sure that the communication we send out is accurate, professional and representative of the image we want to portray.
Before you add that comment to a blog post, post something on Facebook, or send that scathing email, pause and make sure you won’t be embarrassed by it afterwards. At the very least, make sure you don’t hit “reply all”!
Ever wish you could go back in time to a time when things were simpler and selling was easier and less complicated?
Occasionally, someone expresses this sentiment in one of my sales training workshops. It is usually a seasoned veteran who has decades of experience—often in one industry—and someone who has experienced difficulties adapting to the challenges in the new sales environment.
This isn’t a new phenomenon.
I remember talking to a sales rep more than 20 years ago when I was opening a new restaurant for the company I worked for at the time. Gord had been a sales rep for a major beer company for at least 15 years and he frequently lamented the fact that he couldn’t conduct business the way he had in the past. Gone were the days of sitting down with a restaurant owner and spending the bulk of the afternoon consuming beer and reaching a gentleman’s agreement during that ‘meeting’.
I certainly won’t deny that selling used to be easier. But, this could be said of each decade that has passed in the last century. However, this doesn’t always mean that the changes are negative.
Let’s consider some of the changes that have occurred in sales in the last few decades.
Availability of information. There is so much information that is readily and quickly available to sales reps now compared to ten or fifteen years ago. Consider how easy it is to find out who the key decision makers are in a company or how much revenue their company generates or how many people work for a particular organization. You don’t have to scour annual reports, make countless calls or talk to dozens of people. Most of the information you need is now available online.
Access. We now have so much more access to people. This article is a perfect example. Twenty years ago I would have had to print and mail it to people in my database. Talk about time consuming and costly! Now, I can send it to tens of thousands of people with a click of a button.
Instant communication. Years ago we relied on fax machines—before that it was the teletype (Oh man, I just REALLY dated myself, didn’t I?!). Sales reps also carried pagers and a roll of quarters so they could ‘call in’ for messages. There was no voice mail which meant sales people had to keep calling and calling and calling. Now, the majority of sales people have smartphones attached to their hips and have ready access to anyone they need to contact. We also have instant messaging, email and texting plus social media.
Social media. Although many sales people have not fully embraced social media as a way to generate leads and increase their sales, it is becoming a force to be reckoned with. I wish I had fully embraced social media two years before I actually did because it is an excellent way to connect with people that are looking to buy your products or services. Plus, social media also gives you the opportunity to interact with many other people who can give you different insights, ideas and solutions.
Web-conferencing. When I was kid, I remember ‘futurists’ talking about video telephones and how every home would be equipped with one. While that hasn’t happened (directly), streaming and web cams have made the concept a reality.
A face-to-face meeting with a client who was located on the other side of the country used to require many resources including time, flights, hotels, meals. Now, technology has made it easy and cost-effective to have a video conversation with customers or prospects.
The recession. There’s nothing like a serious kick in the head to make you realize that what helped you become successful can change in an instant. The recession certainly did this. Budgets were slashed, buyers were given a mandate to cut purchases, and multiple layers of decision makers were added to many organizations. And many companies suffered tremendous losses.
Where’s the positive in this?
The recession has forced sales people to change their approach. Smart sales executives and their companies realized that they needed to become more strategic in nature and adapted accordingly. Less intuitive companies continued doing what they had always done but got a much lower ROI for their efforts. This has given the ‘smarter’ companies (and people) a serious competitive advantage.
So, what’s my point?
Evolution is a natural occurrence that applies to every aspect of our lives, including sales. Even though selling is more challenging and difficult now there are many advantages for sales people in today’s environment. After all, do you really want to hop in a time machine and go back to the days of limited communication?
Embrace the challenges of change. The good old days aren’t as good as you think they were.
