By Lauren Fenthum <--- To save/view this infographic
CLICK HERE Prospecting can be difficult. There is no doubt. According to one study, it revealed that nearly 40% of salespeople agreed that prospecting is one of the most challenging parts of the entire sales process. But why is it so hard? For one, it is hard to capture buyer attention and retain interest and desire, it can also be seen that many sellers do not have the right mindset when it comes to prospecting. Below are 5 ways you can achieve greater prospecting success.
- Lead with Content that Captures Buyer Attention- In order to secure meetings with potential buyers you need to come up with a creative and innovative idea that captures their attention. You need to keep in mind that your potential buyers are being sold to all day. This is why it is so important to come up with something unique that will grab their attention, do research on your potential buyers and come up with a strategy that will be useful to themselves and their businesses. Buyers are looking to add value to their practices and most of the time sellers aren’t offering it.
- Leave Bulk Emails Behind and Send Customized Messages Instead- It comes as no surprise that buyers prefer to be contacted by email when it comes to sellers, as this is less invasive. Whilst email is the number 1 preferred contact method, sellers need to be careful about how they are using the medium. Buyers don’t want your stock emails; instead, try tailoring your emails that specifically relate to the company or person that you are trying to target. By creating high quality, customized emails that are sent individually, you are guaranteed to get a better read- response rate.
- Cold Calling Lives and the Phone Still Matters- Many articles claim that the days of cold calling have come to an end. However, this is not the case, as cold calling is still seen as a fantastic opportunity to increase prospective sales. The phone is still very much a crucial part of the prospecting process. On average it takes 8 touches to generate a meeting or conversation with a targeted buyer. At least one of these touches should be made via the phone.
- Convert Cold Meetings into Sales with Value- Once you land the first conversation, your next challenge is to win the sale. Buyers make purchases for different reasons, but there are a few reasons that influence a buyers purchase from you. Most of them being that of some sort of value added to either the buyer or to their business. Buyers report that a staggering 58% of sales meetings are not valuable meaning that a lot of opportunities are being missed out on. Try selling to buyers they way they want to be sold to which will lead to more meetings being converted into actual sales.
- Use LinkedIn to Help Create a First Impression- 82% of buyers say that they look up potential providers on the social media platform before replying to outreach efforts. Optimize your profile and make sure that you are putting your best foot forward at all times!
By tackling the hurdle of prospecting, you need to ensure that you are in the right mindset to do so, before you make the next outreach, ensure that you have the right content that will resonate best with your target audience. Customize your messages and don’t be afraid to pick up the phone!
