Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

In sales, you’ll come across three types of people. Those who are ready to buy, those who can be convinced to buy, and those who simply don’t care about what you have to say. As a salesperson you should, obviously, seek to build relationships with people who are ready to buy, but the trick is to understand WHY they are ready to buy so that you can appeal to their wants and needs.

There are nine key factors that usually motivate a person to buy a product. They are:

1. Ambition – they want to move their businesses forward and will buy whatever it takes to help them do so.
2. Status – they believe that their social and economic statuses demand they have the latest and greatest products.
3. Ego – they take great pride in their organisations and want to have nothing but the best, fastest, and most effective products and services.
4. Greed – they simply want to collect new products, be the first to have them, and be better than the competition.
5. Security – having the newest products and services makes some business owners feel as though they are secure in their position in the marketplace.
6. Fear of loss – no one wants to be the last one to get a new product – or to be the last one able to offer it to his clients or prospects.
7. Prestige – will having your product make this organisation stand out from the rest?
8. Pride of ownership – some organisations simply take pride in owning new products, make the most out of their function, and take care of them properly. They want to add something functional to their arsenal.
9. Desire – some people care less about the product than they do about having it before their peers or competition.

As superficial as some of these motives seem, they still drive certain people to buy. Find a prospect that falls into one of these categories, act quickly, and make a great presentation. You’re almost guaranteed a sale.

Sean

Sales Expert - Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker

Let’s keep things a bit simple today. We already know that in order to succeed in sales you need to prospect for new clients. Prospecting, however, is everyone’s least favorite part of the job. We’d much prefer to have a preloaded list of interested parties so that we could instead spend all of our time making our presentations and closing the sale.

Sadly, life isn’t that simple and no one is going to hand you a list of prescreened prospects. You’ll have to find them yourself, and in order to do so you’ll have to try a few of the following methods:

Networking

I like to think of networking as building a list of contacts that will work for you over time, but in this case I mean you need to ask about and rely on the networks of your clients. If one of your clients calls or emails his friends to talk about your work, the chances of you making a sale are much higher than if you had approached that other company’s CEO on your own. In short, ask your current clients to refer you to their counterparts.

Get on the Phone

We all hate cold calling, but for some reason this often avoided sales technique is often the most effective. Pick up the phone, dial a number, make your presentation, and then repeat the process. Cold calling takes time (probably one of the reasons so many people avoid it) but it works.

Just Ask

Ask for referrals. This is not the same as networking because you aren’t asking your clients to contact their friends on your behalf, but you are asking them if they know anyone who might need your services. Don’t limit yourself. If you’re speaking to a prospect ask him if he or she might know someone who’s interested in what you have to offer – just because they aren’t ready doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate or understand the value of what you do.

There are dozens of prospecting techniques and you’ll learn about and try to implement many of them. I highly encourage experimentation, but whenever you find yourself in a rut remember one thing. These three prospecting methods are the oldest and most frequently used for a reason – they work. Whenever you hit a bump in the road, return to one of these methods and you’ll find yourself back on track.

Enjoy your weekend!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The other day we began looking at some of the things you can do to ensure you are successful as possible when prospecting for new clients. We talked about finding the right prospect list and moving on without pressuring those who aren’t interested. While remaining consistent in your efforts is paramount, it’s also important to make sure you aren’t burning yourself out.

With that in mind, here are five more tips you should keep in mind as you continue on your path to prospecting success.

Study Yourself

Get a small tape recorder and turn it one when your potential prospect answers the phone. After the call is finished, listen to the recording. Did you sound natural or did you sound like you were trying to push a sale? The more natural and conversational you sound, the better your results will be.

Don’t Waste Time

When you get on the phone with a prospect you’ll likely have a series of qualifying questions that will help you to determine whether or not what you are selling is really right for them. You’ll be able to separate your “high-probability” prospects from your “low-probability prospects.” Low-probability prospects will drain you of time and ultimately not buy. High-probably prospects need what you have – spend more time with high-probability prospects while politely ending your low-probability calls quickly.

Pay Attention to the Numbers

Prospecting is about reaching as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. You need, specifically, to keep track of how many people you can call in an hour and how many of those calls turn into actual sales. If you make a sale, you obviously won’t make as many calls in that hour, but how many calls must you make before you find a prospect that is really interested?

Keep Records

Grab a notebook, start an Excel spreadsheet, or create your own record keeping system. Make sure you keep accurate records regarding the number of calls you make during each prospecting session, the time of day you made the calls, the results you achieved, and any other information you may find helpful when reviewing your results versus your goals. Having detailed records will help you to identify areas of success as well as areas that need work so that you can tweak your prospecting plan accordingly.

Keep Calling

While putting together a mailing may seem like an easier route, prospecting over the phone is actually the most effective and productive way of building a book of business. It costs less than putting together a mailing and eventually you won’t have to make as many calls – especially once you have a book of business that regularly sends you referrals!

Don’t shy away from prospecting. It’s difficult in the beginning, but only gets easier with time. Before you know it you’ll have a million dollar book of business and you’ll need to hire a team of associates to make those prospecting calls for you!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert

Prospecting is one of the most dreaded tasks for any businessperson. When working in sales it’s your job to not only sell your product but to find your own customers and, while you may love your product or service, sometimes cold calling or prospecting seems like an unforgiving task.

Today I’ve put together a list of five tips you can use to jumpstart the prospecting process. Consider the following:

Use a Targeted Prospect List

Consider purchasing a list of prospects from a list broker, but don’t just buy any old list. Make sure that the names or companies on your list are those who are likely to want or need your product. It actually costs less in time and manpower to purchase a list than it does to attempt to build your own list. The only time you should use your existing client list is if you have a new product you feel they might be interested. Otherwise, stick to finding brand new clients.

Develop a Winning Offer

When your potential prospect gets on the phone you will have no more than 20-30 seconds to convince him to speak to you. You need a clear and concise statement telling your prospect who you are, the type of product you’re selling, and why he needs your services. Work on devising a simple statement and don’t start cold calling until you have one. A strong statement will keep people on the phone; faltering will result in hang-ups.

Don’t Pressure Your Prospects

Listen to your prospects carefully. If they tell you that they are not interested simply thank them and hang up. You will leave a positive impression because they won’t remember you as being a nasty aggressive salesperson, and they may respond differently when you call again later on.

Be Consistent

Which brings me to my next point – being consistent. You should call every name on your list at least once per month. Just because someone was not interested at the time of your first call does not mean that have not identified a need since then. It may take 3 or more calls, but your prospects will respond. Remove them from your list entirely only if they ask you not to call again.

Don’t Burn Yourself Out

You do have clients to take care of, so don’t spend all day prospecting for new clients. Schedule prospecting sessions of 3-4 hours at a time and make sure you take a 10 minute break every hour or so, especially if you’re not having a productive day. Don’t dwell on your prospecting session once it’s over – simply move on to the next task and go back to prospecting the next day.

Prospecting doesn’t have to be a difficult or stressful task. Remain consistent and dedicated and after a reasonable amount of time you’ll begin to see results!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert