Enjoy this week’s blog post, brought to you by Managed Sales Pros President, Tracie Orisko!
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What’s the secret to successful prospecting?
NURTURE!!!
We can’t say this loudly enough or often enough.
When it comes to generating new leads, a consistent process that supports nurturing your prospects is the key to winning consistently.
So, what does great nurturing look like?
Sometimes it looks like “restraining order prospecting.”
Nothing should leave your pipeline until it is disqualified by your sales team or the company you’re contacting tells you to please, for the love of everything good in the world, stop calling us! (They may not say it that nicely…)
Never close the door after a first conversation that doesn’t go the way it was “supposed to.” Be polite, but be persistent.
Sometimes it looks like your whiteboard exploded.
Discuss ideas with your prospects and your peers, consider creative options, provide alternate solutions, find ways to keep coming back to prospects with new possibilities.
It can be frustrating when people are interested in your services, but something just doesn’t work the way they need it it to. Almost every conversation I had this week was with a company who deemed us (or we deemed them) “not a good fit” on first blush – for budget or methodology reasons. It’s good practice to turn down business that isn’t going to be a good fit for you, but don’t slam the door closed on people who aren’t ready to work with you right this minute. Keep nurturing them!
In some cases, we won deals this week where we went back to the drawing board and got more creative – we approached these leads differently, and they responded differently! Still more prospects came back to us after engaging other members of their team who had a different perspective.
In every instance, there was a “champion” working in the background between calls chipping away at objections that needed to be explored further. Don’t stop prospecting on the first objection, start your creative problem solving engine and stay well-connected.
Sometimes it looks like genuinely caring for the people in your network.
That client who provided a testimonial for you last year? Send them a coffee. The prospect you have had two great meetings with already? Check your sales hat at the door and check in with them as people, not prospects. Did they run a marathon last week? Ask them about it. Did they recently have a new baby? Find out how it’s going.
Sometimes it looks like just being a good corporate citizen.
There’s plenty of business out there for everyone. I help prospects find something in their budget if my services aren’t. I introduce people to experts that might be able to help them solve problems I can’t.
Half of these calls will result in new business for me eventually, but ALL of the calls will result in better brand awareness for both the company and myself.
But it always looks like work.
Data integrity is king. Every time you connect with someone – for any reason, in any place – you must document your interactions and next steps. This must be trained into your team and should become part of your corporate culture. Everyone needs to be held accountable. No exceptions. For example, I recently send a Mission Impossible themed email to our CEO reminding her of what happens when she forgets to update our CRM. The “hit by a bus” scenario is real. Document, document, document.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Change the way you and your team prospect and your outcomes will change too!
Not sure where to start? Managed Sales Pros can teach you how to prospect, set up your prospecting systems, or prospect for you! Call us to learn more. 844-466-2624