Tag: Prospects

What About Leads?

“Leads” are a many splendored thing, especially in sales organizations that haven’t yet figured out the shortcuts that are actually short.

Leads fall nicely into the category called “Selling the Dream.”  Many who buy this Dream, too often are delivered the Nightmare, and not the shortcut.

There are exclusive leads, warm leads, hot leads, cold leads, info leads, referred leads, interested leads, guaranteed to buy leads, old leads, phone book leads, email leads, very interested leads, cheap leads, expensive leads, shit leads and even Glengarry Glenross leads, direct from Alec Baldwin, in his NYC accent.

All leads are wonderful.  And all leads suck.  Leads make perfect sense.  Until humans get involved.  Although a lead seller will swear it’s all highly reliable data, leads are human.  Uh oh.

I have bought insurance leads, life, health, telemarketing, direct response, B2B, LinkedIn, etc etc, in multiple industries over decades. 

No matter who the lead provider, prospects are people, and people are prone to do unexpected things.  Illogical things.  For example, buying things they don’t need and ignoring things they just said they were sure to buy.

From one perspective, providing leads is a great business to go into.  If the leads don’t work out, you still get paid, and you can just blame the salesperson for not closing.

If the leads do work out, that’s because your leads are so much better because anyone with a pulse can close them.

Almost as foolproof as selling guns to both sides of a war.

Only one small problem is that the business also attracts a lot of shysters and make-money-quick at everyone else’s expense kind of people.  They will be your competitors.

I have endured over a dozen of these lead generation demos recently, and it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart because nearly all of them say the same stuff to differentiate themselves.

Our leads are the best because blah, blah, blah, blah.  And you can trust me because our leads are exclusive and blah, blah, blah.  Exclusive, my ass.  Like a prospect only filled out YOUR advertising and no one else’s?  Really?  Good thing I’m stupid.

So if you go into that business, you better be unique enough not to be dragged down by your peers to compete on price and have a long-range plan to outlast the posers.

If you pull it off and create something worthwhile and unique, I will sign up waving a credit card with no limit.

Of course, you could also sell guns to both sides.  But I digress

The Carrot Illusion

Do you ever feel that a prospect is leading you on, dangling a carrot in front of you to keep you hoping that they will eventually reward you with a sale?

Did you ever ask yourself where that carrot came from and who put it there, really?

You may think that the prospect is purposely teasing you. One author calls this “carroting”. Others call it “future faking”.

If you are so eager to chase an illusory carrot, can you blame them?

But consider the possibility that this fake carrot may be entirely of your own making. Wishful thinking. Part of the fiction that you tried to create in the prospect’s mind. Only you fell for it, and they didn’t.

There is a simple mirror that you can hold up to see if the illusion has any real substance. Ask the questions that you are afraid to ask.

  • Ask the prospect if they want what you are selling. If the answer is not yes, then let go. If they do say yes, find out more.
  • Ask the prospect when they want this to happen. If it’s too far in the future, don’t spend any time on it now. Come back another time.
  • Say what it will cost, and ask if the prospect is prepared to spend that. If the answer is not yes, well, you know what to do.

Is This Really What Your Prospects Want?

Today, you need some appointments for the week and next. So you call your prospect list.

You’re polite and courteous with your introduction and you give your pitch.

They say it’s too soon after the holidays, and they’re too busy right now.

You explain why now is much better than later and persist in making an appointment…after all it will only take 20 minutes…just so you can establish a relationship… Everyone says to sell the relationship first.

You make it seem as reasonable as you can; they mention how the economy is bad and they don’t want to do anything new right now.

You acknowledge their concern, and you persist in trying to set an appointment.

After all, you’re just trying to help them, maybe save them some money…if they would just give you 20 minutes, then they would see the value that you provide.

Finally, they relent and ask you to send them a brochure, which they will seriously consider and then get back to you.

You offer to bring it to them on your way home from the office.

They tell you they’ll be out running errands then so just put it in the mailbox, then they say “Thanks, and then goodbye”.

With all the hope you can muster, you drop it off in their mailbox on your way home.

Of course, nothing ever comes of it.

If everyone says to do it that way, why doesn’t it work?

The Fear of Not Selling

by Jacques Werth

The fear of not selling has too many salespeople pushing hard enough to be offensive.

No matter what their product or service, most salespeople will attempt to sell every potential prospect in hope of making a sale.  However, at any given time, most prospects are not ready, willing, or able to buy.  But for various reasons, a lot of prospects are willing to sit through a sales pitch while acting like they might buy – with no intention to do so.

Then, the salesperson becomes disappointed often enough, that they think that they should push harder, overcome objections, and try several closes.  Then they get rejected.

Most prospects buy for their own reasons, in their own time.  The right timing can put the salesperson in front of prospects when they are ready, willing, and able to buy – without pushing.

How Can Fewer Sales Calls Produce More Sales?

by Jacques Werth

Highly effective sales producers make fewer sales visits.  They only visit the prospects that are most likely to buy from them.  They become more and more skilled at knowing the difference between buyers and “tire kickers”.  They also become very skilled at communicating with real buyers.

Salespeople that follow this strategy close more sales per month (on average) than those who make more sales calls.

It’s Up to You

by Jacques Werth

I was head of sales and marketing for a company that provided production equipment to the electronics industry when I fired our sales representative for the upper Midwest.  I hired a young man named Ben as his replacement, and we brought him to the home office near Philadelphia for two weeks of product training.

A few weeks later Ben called to say that one of the largest manufacturers of radar detectors was interested in one of our production machines.  The prospect would probably buy several more machines if the first one worked to their satisfaction.  The prospect was also looking at two of our competitors’ machines.

Ben made a sales call to see their VP of Production, and he had one of our demo machines in his van.

A few days later, Ben called me to say that the prospect had decided to buy one of our competitor’s machines instead.  I asked him why?  Ben said that he didn’t know the reason.  I asked Ben if the prospect had actually tried out the demo machine.  He said. “No, we only went over the written specifications, which I left with him.”

I said, “Ben, I want you to call the VP and tell him that you are on the way to his plant to set up and run your demo machine.  That way, he can see how it works compared to what he has decided to buy.”

Ben said, “That’s over 160 miles from me.  It doesn’t make much sense if he’s already decided on a competitor’s machine.”

I said, “Ben, just make the call and let me know what he says.”

A couple of hours later, Ben called back and said the VP wanted him to bring the demo machine the following Monday.

I told Ben that we would have one of our field technicians fly into an airport near the prospect’s plant on Monday morning, and Ben should pick him up.  Then, the techie would set up the demo machine properly and train the prospect’s people, and Ben, how to use it.

About two weeks later Ben called me to say that the prospect wanted to buy the demo machine and a second one just like it.  Ben wanted to know whether he had to go all the way back to the customer’s plant to set up the second machine.

I said, “What do you want to do?”

Ben said, “Well we have a lot more equipment that they could probably use.  But, it’s a long trip.”

I said, “It’s up to you.”

Ben made that trip and several more.  By the end of the year that manufacturer was one of our top ten customers, and Ben was one of our top three salespeople.

 

Want Interested Prospects?

What happens when you spend your time and resources engaging with prospects that are merely interested in what you are selling? An interested prospect is only shopping for information and free advice. Suppose you give them that, plus lots of your time. Do you think they will eventually buy from you out of gratitude?

by Jacques Werth and Carl Ingalls

What happens when you spend your time and resources engaging with prospects that are merely interested in what you are selling?  An interested prospect is only shopping for information and free advice.  Suppose you give them just that, lots of free information and advice, along with lots of your own valuable time.  Do you think they will eventually buy from you out of gratitude?  How do you think they will feel about “owing” you the order?

When a prospect has finished shopping for information and is ready to buy, they are no longer an interested prospect.  At this point, they are far more likely to buy from someone who is simply in the business of selling than they are to buy from someone who spends their time giving free information and advice.

How do you feel about someone else getting the sale after you have invested all that time and energy with the prospect?  Do you feel that you lost something you deserved to get, and that the other guy was just lucky?

Do you want to be one of those salespeople who regularly contacts prospects at just the right time to get the sale?