In today’s sales world, competition is fierce and being in the right place at the right time just doesn’t work any longer. Cold calling, emailing (spamming), and direct mail campaigns are seeing some of the lowest ROI’s in the history of sales. Why? They all have one thing in common, there is no relationship established to start the conversation.
Take cold calling for instance. If you ask most salespeople what they like least about their position, they will often tell you it’s lead generation, specifically, cold calling. I’ve seen salespeople “dial for dollars” for hours only to leave voicemail after voicemail with an occasional conversation that usually ends with call me back next month. Now don’t get me wrong, cold calling can be effective, but there are better ways. Let’s take a look at a few tips that can help!
Tip 1: Create an ENDLESS Pipeline of Warm Leads
There are many tools out there that can help create warm leads, but none better than LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, you can search for the exact type of customer you are trying to connect with and start a relationship without ever having a single verbal conversation. Your effort of connecting will drive prospects to your profile where you get a chance to describe who you are, how you help, and what makes you unique or different. The prospect decides whether or not to accept, but once they agree to connect, you’ve earned a right to start a dialogue! Just let that sink in for a minute. Hundreds or thousands of potential customers just a connection away. How quickly would your sales pipeline grow if you were connected AND engaged in dialogue with 500 of the EXACT type of prospects that make the most sense for your business?
Tip 2: Be Seen and Known as THE EXPERT in Your Field
Think about the people you consider an expert in their industry. What do they do that makes you consider them an expert? Do they write articles filled with tips, ideas, and make suggestions on how to help you grow your customers? Do they have a blog or podcast that you find has value? Are they posting interesting articles, or better yet, maybe they email you directly an idea that might help you grow?
Let’s consider the insurance industry for a minute. What are the three biggest challenges your customers face today? Raising premiums, lack of good service and incorrect coverage are a good bet. So what could an insurance advisor write about to be seen as the expert and earn more business? How about an article that showed business owners a way to lower their premiums by making a few changes? Or how about an article that describes what good service looks like followed by a video testimonial from a customer?
Being seen as an expert doesn’t stop with one or two attempts. Consistency and solid content earn the title of expert. If you’re not a writer, hire someone to do it for you as there are plenty of people that have the talent. Don’t forget that you can have success forwarding articles that make sense as well. A simple, “Hey Jim, here’s an article that made me think of you. Hope all is well” works extremely well.
Tip 3: Earn Trust by Asking Great Questions and Hearing the Answers
Asking great questions can make or break the sale. There are few things worse than finally earning an appointment with the perfect prospect only to fail because you couldn’t get the prospect to engage because of poor questions or lack of trust. The secret to asking great questions (and getting great answers) is getting the prospect to feel comfortable (trust) about what you are going to do with the information they disclose. As an example, suppose you ask a prospect about their financial situation. If they don’t trust you or know what you are going to do with the information, you might get a simple, “we’ve got that under control” even if they are in a poor situation. Now imagine the same situation only before you ask the tough question, you preface it with, “now before I ask you some personal questions, I want you to know why I’m asking and what I’m going to do with the information”. Make your prospects feel comfortable and you’ll get the best answers possible.
One can further earn trust by intently hearing what the customer is saying. I’ve been in countless sales presentations where the salesperson totally missed a golden opportunity because they were focused on asking the next question on their list instead of responding to the information already presented. Suppose a prospect had just answered a question about how poor the incumbent has been servicing the account. Instead of saying how good your company is at service, it might make sense to ask for an example of what he didn’t like or what he’d expect to see in the future.
(Related: Stop Selling and Start Dating)
Generate leads, be seen as the expert, and build trust. It takes some work, but I promise the benefits far outweigh the work!
FREE SALES PROCESS EVALUATION: What is your Selfless Sales™ score and why is the score important? We have found that when an organization earns a score of 80 or higher, they have a consistent stream of new business opportunities, an above average profit margin, an increase in customer loyalty, and they deal with far fewer objections at closing time.
