(Part 2 of a three-part series titled Sales Savvy for the IT Channel)
No prospecting, no sales. No sales, no riches. It is as simple as that…
Prospecting is the most difficult component of the sales effort. Another term for “prospecting” is Lead Generation. You can Google “lead generation” and you will find page after page of prospecting techniques. They are the same techniques that salesmen have used for decades, and (the bad news is) there is no “Magic Bullet”. Prospecting techniques include:
- Newspaper or magazine advertisements.
- Local business associations.
- Public records.
- Canvassing.
- Trade shows.
- Direct marketing.
- Internet marketing.
I don’t pretend to know which of these techniques is best for your business, but I do know the secret to success in Prospecting, and I will share it with you now…
The secret to success to Prospecting (and most every worthwhile endeavor) is making a habit of doing the things that no one likes to do. And no one likes to prospect! But if we make a habit of doing the things that no one likes to do – things like prospecting – we almost guarantee our success.
Jerry Rice is the most prolific wide receiver in the history of the NFL. Throughout his career, Rice was well-known for his work ethic; he would arrive first and leave last from practice. He would work on the fundamentals of his game even after achieving the status of a multimillionaire star. He would practice framing the ball, route running, footwork, and separation techniques in spite of the fact that he had demonstrated his expertise in each of those disciplines over and over again. His peers found the incessant attention to fundamentals a “grind”, but Jerry made a habit of doing the things that no one likes to do. The end result is success beyond his wildest dreams.
No one likes to prospect, but successful salespeople make a habit of it. It’s not something they do when they need new sales; it’s something they do every week as a scheduled part of their sales activity. Here’s an example of a prospecting schedule for salesman’s work week:
- Set aside time every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; you may choose two hours in the morning or two hours in the afternoon. (I have found it easier to contact a prospect early or late in the day as he is usually preoccupied during peak business hours).
- On Tuesday (morning), call to schedule two sales appointment for the following Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday and Thursday (mornings), repeat the process. The result will be six qualified appointments for the following week; two each for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon. In the mornings before those appointments, call to schedule more for the next week.
- Commit to making this process a scheduled activity for every week. You will undoubtedly encounter or create all variety of good reasons to break this schedule, but your success depends upon your commitment to making a habit of doing this thing that no one likes to do.
Decades of experience prospecting in this industry and others has taught me these additional lessons:
- Script it. Just like a martial artist practices and memorizes a series of moves (kata) before ever engaging in combat, a salesman must know and be comfortable with his “pre-approach” before he ever picks up the phone. It should never sound canned; we want a reflexive response to a conversational opportunity. An example that can be used when selling technology is:
“Mr. Prospect, I have no reason to believe that you’re in the market for a server or storage system today. But I do know that when businesses like yours buy servers and storage, they buy from reputable companies or from people that they trust. I would like to introduce myself and my company so that – the next time you’re considering server or storage technology – I’ll be the one you call.”
- Don’t talk too much; don’t tell it all. Ask good questions and listen.
- Smile. Even though you’re speaking to a telephone, the customer can “see” your smile.
- Prepare for rejection. Like a Marine in a ballroom asking ladies for a dance, rejection is predictable. Persist.
- Find strength in the Law of Large Numbers. There will be weeks where everything goes wrong, and weeks where everything turns to gold. Prospecting will yield an inconsistent result; that’s why we make a habit of doing this thing that no one likes to do.
I have often shared my experiences prospecting for gold in Alaska. I stood on the windy beach of the Bering Sea, carefully feeding my sluice with one scoop of black sand at a time, and I heard an ol’ sourdough chuckling at my efforts. After asking him why he found my prospecting technique so humorous, he replied,
“You won’t get much color workin’ a scoop at a time, boy. Ya’ gotta move a lot of dirt if you want to find the gold.”
Truer words have never been spoken…
Tags: Atypical, Atypical sales training, channel sales traning. selling technology, channel sales. sales training, Pat Taylor, proscpecting, Sales 101, sales prospecting
