You’re a new sales rep. Congratulations! You’ve embarked on a career path with two defining characteristics. The first is that when working in sales you get paid exactly what you’re worth. The second is that the majority of people who try working in sales fail. Whether you are an employee or a business owner, whether you sell to individuals or businesses, your goal is to be in the minority that succeeds and makes a ton of money. To reach that goal you need prospects. How do you get them?
The first step is looking in the right place. There is a major but not-so-obvious problem in sales: Reps look in the wrong places for prospects. Well-intentioned mentors often teach new reps to do things the wrong way. They tell you to do the wrong things, or tell you to do the things that worked for them long ago, not realizing that times have changed. You waste a lot of time and energy following directions that don’t work. Meanwhile you get paid little, and may lose your job. You need a better way, and that begins with knowing where to look.
When you search for prospects you have one critical question to answer: who are they? Making this determination is called defining your target market. Your target market is the group of people or businesses that are the ideal customers for you. They must have an immediate need for your product, have the money to afford it, and be able to make the buying decision. If you are not dealing with prospects with those characteristics you are talking with the wrong people. Think about who will have those characteristics. Write down every detail that makes them good candidates for you to approach. The list of characteristics that distinguishes good candidates from bad ones is your target market profile.
After creating a target market profile you should build a large list of prospects that have its characteristics. The people on it are your prospects. Once you have a substantial list the next task is to figure out where to find them.
The phrase birds of a feather flock together is the cornerstone of good prospecting. It means that people with similar characteristics tend to spend time together. Fishing enthusiasts, for example, read similar magazines, visit similar stores, and read similar web sites. When you understand what kind of person is in your target market you can start looking for places they congregate.
The goal of smart prospecting is to reach the greatest number of prospects in the most efficient way while engaging them in the sales process. Prospecting where your potential customers gather works well for several reasons. The first is that you only find your prospects if you know where to look. You’ll rarely meet scuba enthusiasts at bowling alleys. The second is that you can meet several prospects at once by knowing where they gather. Meeting many bowling enthusiasts at a bowling alley is easy. Finally, if you understand how they get information about their common interests you will know how to present yourself to them as an authority. If you offer useful information to bowlers in their favorite bowling magazine or through their local bowling center you gain credibility with them.
Build a list of places your target market congregates. Include physical locations, magazines, web sites, trade shows and any other place they gather. These places are where you will focus your efforts to reach them.
When you visit these gathering spots avoid selling at first. Get to know the people. Remember, bowlers show up at the alley to bowl, not to buy from you. Never show up unannounced and launch into your pitch. People tune you out instantly when you do that. A better method is to lure them to approach you. Just like deer are attracted to salt, prospects are attracted to the things they want. Learn what your customers want and offer some of it to them. If your company makes comfort inserts for bowling shoes, have some in your bad and give some away. Be a problem solver rather than a product pusher.
If you are selling to business people you should remember there are only two things they really care about – improving the bottom line, and making their business more efficient. Improving the bottom line can mean bringing in more revenue, saving them money on existing costs, recovering lost productivity, or anything else that makes their net profit numbers better. More efficiency means getting more done with fewer people or completing work faster. Business owners may have other interests, but you can always count on them wanting those two things.
Your task is to show them how your product provides a better bottom line or a more efficient business. They’ll want to know what your product will do for them, and they will want a hard dollar figure on the benefit.
When prospecting you should touch on those subjects briefly. Don’t go into too much detail. Save the in-depth explanations for your sales presentation. All you need to know is a quick way to explain what you do and how it benefits them. For example:
“Bob, companies that use this gadget typically save 15% per year on production costs.”
When the prospect expresses interest in further information, resist the urge to tell them more. Set a business appointment to do that so you can begin the actual sales process. Giving them all the information on the spot lets the prospect dictate how you present to him, and is called spilling the popcorn in the lobby. Make the customer come to you for further information.
Another excellent way to reach your prospects is through professionals they use for other products or services. If there is an accountant in your region that many of your prospects use, find a way to ingratiate yourself with the accountant. As you develop rapport and the accountant becomes comfortable with you, he or she will learn more about what you do and may recommend you to clients. Advice from the accountant is considered to carry great weight, so the accountant’s clients may be receptive to you.
Engaging your prospects with questions is a great way to get them to do most of the work for you. Imagine yourself as the sales rep who can say this:
“Mr. Prospect, yes, what I do is sell widgets that mind-control people into listing their houses with a particular Realtor. How would YOU imagine a realtor like yourself using that in business?”
This tells your prospect what you sell and how it benefits him, and then engages him by making him visualize how he would use it. That makes him internalize a sense of the benefit. He will want to work with you to see that benefit become real.
You should always part as friends. If you’ve been pushy this will be difficult, so don’t be pushy. Be conversational when you prospect. Thank people for listening. Tell them you appreciate the time they spent listening to you. Distinguish yourself with a hand-written thank-you card when appropriate.
Keep the process in mind. Pick a target market. Develop a profile. Make a list of prospects. Go where they are. Offer value first to create social obligation. Use questions to engage prospects and attract them to working with you. Express appreciation.
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