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Mon, Aug 29, 2016 @ 07:00 AM
Proactive prospecting: The crisis-proof tool
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Proactive prospecting is one of the oldest practices in the sales process. In fact, all traditional courses focused on charisma and motivation always separate the sales process into:
Prospecting
Presentation
Closing
They put a lot of effort into the prospecting part because it is the point where many salespeople die before giving their careers enough time to flourish and improve their skills.
Why? It's hard to be the reason for an interruption.
It's hard to make cold calls or knock on doors. Rejection, one of the feelings we humans want to avoid at all costs, is a threat in every new interaction.
That is why with digital advertising, mass media and the application of inbound methodologies we are tempted to stop knocking on doors and go out 'on the street' to look for new prospects.
At certain times of the year, the flow of leads and sales opportunities allows us to do this without problems. But when these are scarce, it is essential to be ready to find new opportunities on your own, to get out of the building, so to speak, and to prospect proactively.
Fortunately, this activity can be carried out in a much more inbound way thanks to the Internet. With access to all the information necessary to prepare the approach, it is possible to avoid the common obstacles of prospecting.
The traditional situation you should always avoid
Proactive prospecting is traditionally expected to start the process like this:
Sir, I represent Company ABC, which sells XYZ products. I have come to ask you to allow me to present them to you and discuss whether you would like to purchase them.
The problem with this approach is obvious:
It does not generate any value for the potential client: It seems that the most important thing for the person giving this speech is the salesperson's commission rather than solving the potential client's problems.
It doesn't open the door to a relationship and if a conversation is started it will most likely start with difficult questions to manage such as:
Well, how much does it cost?
What are you selling?
What do you want?
It is difficult to maintain a professional stance and take control of the sale when this happens.
The problem is in the method.
Proactive prospecting can be a very professional process if steps are taken prior to initial contact with the client.
Solution: Boost proactive prospecting with content and tools.
One of the worst things a professional salesperson can do is ask the prospect to do his job. With all the public sources, accessible to everyone, the minimum that is expected is a basic knowledge of:
Who is the person with whom you will have a meeting.
What position do you hold in the company?
What does the company do?
What product line do you have?
What market segments do they serve?
Knowing each niche:
By working by niches, the proactive prospecting team can understand the challenges, needs and opportunities of companies in each sector. This will be a good differentiator.
On the other hand, for each niche you can prepare the approach to the potential client with the objective of making it difficult to say no to an initial offer.
In prospecting you don't sell products but rather interest in the sales process. With this goal in mind you can make initial offers driven by content and tools that enable conversations like this:
Dear Francisco, we conducted a study that showed that companies in your industry are facing several problems this year due to import restrictions. This study includes a series of effective strategies to counteract them. Would you be interested in discussing just one of these strategies with me?
Yes, of course, it affects us all and we are all worried about it.
The most effective strategy is proper data analysis.
For this we developed a tool that allows you to understand in a simple Excel spreadsheet what additional activity you need to achieve the minimum results to get through the storm. If you have 15 minutes we can arrange a meeting and review it together.
The biggest driver of proactive prospecting is content and solutions.
Whether on the phone, in person or via email, working with content will make your life more fun and rewarding. This way, you control the conversation in a professional manner and you don't get cornered by questions you don't want to answer at first.
There's a lot to do before you pick up the phone, send the emails or go knocking on doors. So here are some ideas for tools and content that will boost your sales process:
Excel tools: templates with budgets or important information for your potential client.
Success stories.
Industry studies.
A collection of expert opinions.
Ways to improve a process.
Supporting PDF files with bibliographic references.
The most effective medium for proactive prospecting is email.
But it can also be dangerous if you don't use it wisely.
Don't confuse mass mailing campaigns with cold mailing. The first case is sending the same depersonalized email to a list of senders en masse. Cold mailing, on the other hand, is the sending of individual emails in which you collect all the data that allows you to prepare an intelligent and professional contact that will start the sales process.
If you abuse automated systems, you may end up in spam.
Sources for finding contact information:
Superintendency of companies .
Not all of their data is up to date but it is a good place to find out who the contacts are for a company. You can also get some financial information such as:
The level of sales
The level of utility
Their investments in your industry
This data allows you to segment the companies you will visit. The idea is to choose those that, due to their industry and financial structure, are a better fit for your company's service or product.
LinkedIn:
Many people choose to have their contact information on their profile. As long as you are relevant and doing your job professionally, you have this information at your disposal.
LinkedIn is not necessarily a source of direct contact. In job function email list my experience, the response rate to in-mail is low in Ecuador. However, it can tell you relevant things about the people you will meet with, for which I recommend using calendar synchronization .
Tools
Like http://findanyemail.net/:
These tools allow you to have the email of a person whose:
Name
Last name
Domain of your company
Use it wisely.
Especially since a LinkedIn search can give you this information about almost any professional out of the 3 million users in the country.
Websites:
You can find contact information on certain websites. Systems like buzzstream help you with that.
In conclusion