Prospecting

Jim Morgan

Prospecting Part Three – What might Prospecting with Integrity look like?

Prospecting-2

Friends, by now you are properly not surprised  that I would like to start this post  with a question.  Can you think of a time in your professional career when you realized that you were truly being heard?  For me it was over 20 years ago.  I was sitting with an important executive undisturbed in his office.   This individual sat across from me; away from his computer, no phone in hand or secretary standing at the door.  I started talking and became almost oddly aware that this individual who had given me his valuable attention, was really listening to me!  It was a brief meeting and yet had a very powerful impact on my life.

In thinking about my buyer and the prospecting experience, perhaps the best description of the thought I would like to share was encapsulated by Stephen Covey in a communications term he called  “psychological air”.  In this instance it means that no matter how eloquent I think I am, my prospective buyer will not be listening to anything I have to say until she controls the space to breath.  One way for her to do this is to hang up the phone.  One way for me to improve the opportunity of being granted the privilege for more time is to pause and ask for permission to continue!   It’s interesting, I can almost feel the experience of my buyer pausing, taking a breath and leading our path forward!

Several thoughts on what prospecting with integrity might look like. If you don’t recognize the term I invite you to read last week’s post before reading on!

  • Demonstrate that you value your prospective buyer and his time by conveying early who you are and why you are calling.  Is there something you know about this buyer’s  situation that might peak his interest in what you have to say?
  • Write out your script. Think about the words you use.  Be concise.
  • In the first 20 – 30 seconds, pause and ask for permission to proceed!
  • No matter what the outcome, even if the prospective buyer elects to terminate the exchange, be sincere in your appreciation for his brief attention and wish him  a good day. Believe it!
  • Plan for and meet your call targets! Making and keeping promises to ourselves is also an expression of self-integrity and a driving force in personal power!

In treating my buyers the way I want to be treated  I am not only consistent in taking  the necessary steps of earning the opportunity to “understand”, I am making it easier on myself to execute on my prospecting goals.   Why?  You guessed it. I am prospecting with Integrity!

Your Salesman for Life,

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Thought on my mind:

“Your actions are screaming so loudly I can’t hear a word you are saying!”

Jim Morgan

Prospecting Part One

Prospecting

I want to start this post by saying Thank You. One of the great benefits of going through an exercise like this is that it reminds me of three related attributes I admire in every high performing salesperson; A passionate commitment to lifelong learning, evaluation, and application.

Let me begin by asking if you have heard about prospecting discussed in terms of these four stages of learning and execution?

1. Unconscious Incompetent – A salesperson  who “doesn’t know he doesn’t know” how to prospect!  Depending on outlook this might include a salesperson who has decided prospecting is not important.
2. Conscious Incompetent – A salesperson who “knows he doesn’t know” how to prospect and wants to learn!  I hope that some part of me remains in this stage and the next for all aspects of my life.
3. Conscious Competent – The salesperson in training. This is the one who is consistently practicing at making his learned prospecting skill sets proficient.
4. Unconscious Competent – This is the salesperson  that is so practiced at consciously developing her prospecting skills that she can execute perfectly without even thinking about it.

Let me stop for a moment to clarify my definition of prospecting as the process of personally hunting for and actively speaking with prospective buyers.  No, it does not include solely sending 500 emails unless this is part of a process that gets you into a forecastable number of conversations!

Now let’s make some observations about the learning stages just introduced and prospecting.  First, as a sales person, “Do you think prospecting is important?” If you think it is, “How vigilant are you in planning and execution?”   To answer this objectively,  “Are you are looking at your metrics?”

If you are not a consistent prospector (I have been in this category) I encourage you as a fellow salesperson to think about why that is.  More on this topic in the next posting.

If you are a consistent prospector and have refined your approach (research, clearly defined objective, execution, tracking, adjustment  and consistent achievement of call targets), I humbly salute you!

If you are in the unconscious competent category, I encourage you to continue to evaluate your metrics and determine if your approach can be adjusted to increase effectiveness (improve ratio of calls to conversations). Do this at least on a weekly basis. Technology and resulting options are changing rapidly. There are no substitutes to personal contact. The right questions is, “What can be used to enhance it?”

Whatever the outcome of your personal assessment, I encourage fearless reflection and self-honesty.  Do not decide that consistent, prioritized prospecting is not important   because you don’t like it!  I believe that many including myself are tempted to do this. With two full rings, no voice message, and a 7.5% conversation rate, I found that I can make and log up to 50 phone calls in an hour.  8 hours of uninterrupted phone work a week means 400 calls and 30 conversations!

Whatever your approach and execution tactics, personal engagement is the goal. Without it you are not helping your customers buy!

Is it possible to love prospecting? Join me next week for more on this topic.

Your Salesman for life.

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Quote on my mind:

An unexamined (sales) life is not worth living!