A great read for any person in sales to improve their Pipeline Generation activities. This was a good book about the actions, methodologies and mindset that equip the sales teams who differ the 20% from the other 80%… Setting of the time each week, and not letting anything interfere with it.
Here are the key takeaways:
- “Prospecting is a way of life.” Prospecting is the first and foremost activity for a sales person, and by focusig on that, everything else will come (deals). Prospecting is what builds your future success, end of story.
- Sales Superstars don’t make excuses, don’t complain, don’t whine, don’t live in fear, and don’t procrastinate. They prospect when times are good, when times are bad, when their pipeline is full, and even when they don’t feel like prospecting.
- There are only three things that you can control: Your Actions, Your Reactions, and Your Mindset.
- Sales Hack: Call other salespeople in the organization you are prospecting. They will often empathize with your struggles and get you the right contact info.
- “When it’s time to go home, make one more call”
- The only question that matters: How bad do you want it?
Memorable quotes
In spite of what the social selling Kool-Aid pushers and inbound marketing companies tell us, the truth is that top producers and sales superstars are fanatical prospectors who take personal responsibility for identifying and creating their own sales opportunities.
New sales are the lifeblood of a business. Nothing is more important than securing discovery meetings, conversations, appointments, and sales calls with potential customers.
What’s the secret that separates superstars from everyone else, and why do they consistently outperform other salespeople? Fanatical prospecting.
They prospect anywhere and anytime—constantly turning over rocks looking for their next opportunity. They prospect day and night—unstoppable
They prospect anywhere and anytime—constantly turning over rocks looking for their next opportunity. They prospect day and night—unstoppable and always on. Fanatical!
My favorite definition of the word fanatical is “motivated or characterized by an extreme, uncritical enthusiasm.”1
enduring mantra of the fanatical prospector is: One more
The enduring mantra of the fanatical prospector is: One more call.
The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe, and, the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to prospect.
“easy is the greatest marketing hook of all time.”
The first step toward building an endless pipeline of new customers is acknowledging the truth and stepping back from your emotional need to find Easy Street. In sales, easy is the mother of mediocrity, and in your life, mediocrity is like a broke uncle. Once he moves into your house, it is nearly impossible to get him to leave.
The next step is keeping it real. In sales, business, and life, there are only three things you can control: Your Actions Your Reactions Your Mindset
So instead of whining about the things that are out of your control, focus your energy on what you can control—your attitude, choices, emotions, goals, ambitions, dreams, desires, and discipline (choosing between what you want now and what you want most).
However, if you dream of having a superstar income and living a superstar lifestyle, you must face the reality that prospecting sucks and get over it. To get what you want, you must prospect consistently.
Yet, even though I know what brought me to the dance, even though I am fully aware that prospecting generates my income, the truth is prospecting is still the hardest, most mentally exhausting part of my sales day.
We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.
They view each day as a fresh new opportunity to achieve. Because of this, they seize the day, brush past naysayers and complainers, and dive into prospecting with unequaled drive.
Systematic and efficient: Fanatical prospectors have the ability to execute with near-robotic and systematical efficiency. They are skilled at their craft like a pro athlete. They protect the golden hours, block their time, and concentrate their power to tune out distractions and avoid disruptions. They systematically develop their prospect database to build more effective and targeted lists, and squeeze
Systematic and efficient: Fanatical prospectors have the ability to execute with near-robotic and systematical efficiency. They are skilled at their craft like a pro athlete. They protect the golden hours, block their time, and concentrate their power to tune out distractions and avoid disruptions. They systematically develop their prospect database to build more effective and targeted lists, and squeeze every moment from each sales day.
It has never been about degree of the call; it is has always been about the willingness on the part of the salesperson to interrupt.
The problem is, most companies can’t create enough qualified inbound leads to keep the pipeline full.
question is how to strategically balance prospecting across the various prospecting channels to give you a competitive advantage when interrupting prospects in the crowded, competitive marketplace.
The pipeline always reveals the truth. Salespeople who gravitate to a single prospecting methodology seriously sub-optimize their productivity.
In sales, consistently relying on a single prospecting methodology (usually the one you feel generates the least amount of resistance and rejection), at the expense of others, consistently generates mediocre results.
Balance simply means that to get the best return from your prospecting time investment, there should be a mixture of telephone, in-person, e-mail, social selling, text messaging, referrals, networking, inbound leads, trade shows, and cold calling.
Find out what the top salespeople in your organization are doing to generate qualified prospects. Then do what they do.
sales professionals spend as much as 80 percent of their time on prospecting and qualifying activities for one important reason: They want to get up to the plate often and put together a consistent string of singles, doubles, triples, and a few home runs.
Top sales professionals spend as much as 80 percent of their time on prospecting and qualifying activities for one important reason: They want to get up to the plate often and put together a consistent string of singles, doubles, triples, and a few home runs.
The Universal Law of Need The 30-Day Rule The Law of Replacement
Desperation magnifies and accelerates failure and virtually guarantees that he won’t close the deals he must have to survive.
Because he treated his slump as a closing technique issue rather than a prospecting issue, he continued to call on stale, dead-end prospects over and over again, unwilling to mentally admit that those deals were never going to close.
The 30-Day Rule states that the prospecting you do in this 30-day period will pay off for the next 90 days.
The lesson the Law of Replacement teaches is that you must constantly be pushing new opportunities into your pipeline so that you’re replacing the opportunities that will naturally fall out. And, you must do so at a rate that matches or exceeds your closing ratio. This is where a fanatical prospecting mindset really begins to pay off.
Becky has 30 prospects in her pipeline. Her closing percentage is 10 percent. She closes one deal. How many prospects remain in her pipe? Most people answer 29. The real answer is 20.
demanding that I get my sales back on track. It was my up-front and close experience with the brutal reality that in sales it is not about what you have sold but rather what you have sold today.
It was my up-front and close experience with the brutal reality that in sales it is not about what you have sold but rather what you have sold today.
The impact of daily prospecting on my performance that quarter—from zero to hero in just three months—made an indelible impression on me.
The impact of daily prospecting on my performance that quarter—from zero to hero in just three months—made an indelible impression on me. It was a lesson I never had to learn again.
The Universal Law of Need doesn’t punish others, though. It punishes you for your failures in executing the daily disciplines required for success.
Success in sales is a simple equation of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual activity.
You can’t expect to make prospecting calls for a single day and expect miracles any more than you could expect to hit the driving range once and go on to win a golf tournament. It requires consistent commitment and discipline over time—a little bit every day.
At any given moment, you should know how many calls, contacts, e-mails, responses, appointments, and sales you have made.
You should track social prospecting activity on sites like LinkedIn, text messages sent, and even smoke signals (if that is relevant). You should measure how many new prospects or new information points you’ve gathered about existing prospects that you’ve added to your database.
Those variables include the quality of the list you are working from, industry vertical, time of day, time of year, day of week, decision-maker role of your contact, product or service, complex sale versus transactional, call objective, prospecting channel, quality of your approach, methodology, message, confidence, your mindset, and much more.
This is why you must gather the courage and self-discipline to track, analyze, and make regular adjustments based on your prospecting performance stats. Keeping count keeps you grounded in reality and focused on your daily goal.
One of the commonalities that I observe among top salespeople and fanatical prospectors across all market segments—inside and outside—is manual tracking of activity. They each have their own style and means of tracking their numbers, but the one thing they all know is exactly where they stand.
One of the commonalities that I observe among top salespeople and fanatical prospectors across all market segments—inside and outside—is manual tracking of activity.
When you choose delusion over reality, you are making a conscious choice to not only lie to yourself but to lower your standards and performance.
Reality is the realm of superstars, and joining reality is one of the first steps you’ll need to take on the road to developing a fanatical prospecting mindset.
There are three mindsets that hold salespeople back from prospecting: procrastination, perfectionism, and paralysis from analysis.
Frankly, that is all failure really is. The cumulative impact of many poor decisions, slips in self-disciplines, and things put off until it is too late.
The failure to do the little things every day will cripple your efforts to achieve your goals. Lack of discipline will slowly but surely tug at your success and will eventually steal it away.
“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.”
As soon as she sat down at her desk that same morning, she ran a list on her CRM and started dialing. An hour later she’d made 53 calls, spoken to 14 decision makers, and set two appointments with qualified prospects. Then she sent 39 prospecting e-mails. It wasn’t perfect. She ran into a few snags and had a couple of calls that would have gone better had she researched in advance.
“The great irony of perfectionism is that while it’s characterized by an intense drive to succeed, it can be the very thing that prevents success. Perfectionism is highly correlated with fear of failure (which is generally not the best motivator) and self-defeating behavior, such as excessive procrastination.”
“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.”
“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” I’ve always believed that messy success is far better than perfect mediocrity.
Advance is the optimal word, though. Do research before and after the Golden Hours so that it does not encroach on your prospecting block.
Rather than just dialing the phone, sending the e-mail, or walking in the door and dealing with what comes next, the rep goes on a “what if” binge, often followed by an attempt to get every duck in a perfect row.
Top performers organize their day into distinct time blocks dedicated to specific activities, concentrating their focus and eliminating distractions within those blocks.
They develop outside sales territory plans that minimize drive time and inside sales plans that organize their database and resources to get the most out of each sales day.
drives home the point that in sales you control your own destiny. This is the very reason that I love sales so much.
Fanatical prospectors adopt a CEO mindset. They believe that they and they alone are accountable for their own success or failure. They take complete responsibility and accountability for managing their time, territory, prospect database (CRM), and resources.
Likewise, fanatical prospectors do not allow unexpected obstacles to slow them down. They do not blame others. They do not make excuses. Instead, when faced with roadblocks, distractions, and surprises, they adapt and find creative solutions that allow them to work around problems while they continue to fill the pipe.
If you want to maximize your income, you will need to get up early, go to bed late, and do some work on weekends to ensure that you don’t waste your Golden Hours on nonsales activities.
If you are not prospecting, qualifying, information gathering, presenting, or closing during Golden Hours, you are hurting your career and your income and you are not doing your job.
One of my favorite sayings is “In God we trust; everyone else, we follow up on.”
you fail to systematically follow up on tasks you have delegated, you’ll find yourself scrambling at the last moment because critical tasks were left undone or incomplete.
If you fail to systematically follow up on tasks you have delegated, you’ll find yourself scrambling at the last moment because critical tasks were left undone or incomplete.
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, “3 Behaviors that Drive Successful Salespeople,” Ryan Fuller cites a compelling VoloMetrix study that indicated a direct correlation between success in sales and the salesperson’s investment in building a strong internal support system and network.
Salespeople and leaders are absolutely stunned at how much they get done when they block their time, focus on a single activity, and set an outcome goal for that activity.
You become incredibly efficient when you block your day into short chunks of time for specific activities. You get more accomplished in a shorter time with far better results.
We schedule our prospecting blocks into three “Power Hours” that are spread across the day—morning, midday, and afternoon. During Power Hours we do
We schedule our prospecting blocks into three “Power Hours” that are spread across the day—morning, midday, and afternoon. During Power Hours we do nothing but make teleprospecting calls.
We minimize the downtime between calls by having our targeted call lists prepared and researched in advance (Platinum Hour work). We take notes during the block and wait until after the block concludes to log our calls and update the CRM—time that is blocked specifically for CRM activity. We also schedule blocks for e-mail and social prospecting.
Our work contracts to fit the time allotted, so we get more done in less time. Anybody can stay focused for an hour.
If you invest just an hour a day to make 25 to 50 teleprospecting calls and another hour for e-mail and social prospecting, I can absolutely and unequivocally guarantee that in less than 60 days, your pipeline will be packed.
With all their prospecting calls for the day knocked out in just an hour, they were able to concentrate their power on other activity blocks like lead generation, social selling, outbound e-mail prospecting, discovery meetings, proposals, and closing.
possibly make that many calls.” The two biggest prospecting derailers for sales professionals are e-mail and mobile devices (text, social media, e-mail, web surfing, apps).
Blocking out the first one to two hours of each day for a focused telephone prospecting block is the mark of fanatical prospectors.
“If something is really important, they will call or text you on your mobile phone—not just send an e-mail.”
They use the Platinum Hours for: Building prospecting lists Research Precall planning Developing proposals and presentations Creating contracts and getting approval Social selling activities E-mail prospecting Prospect research and call objective planning Planning and organization Administration and reports Responding to e-mail Calendar management CRM management
We call these periods the Platinum Hours. Top-earning sales pros set aside time early each morning or late each afternoon to attack important nonselling activities before the demands of the sales day kick in or after they’ve been addressed.
When you know what you are worth, you become acutely aware of the damage that doing $10-an-hour work (like data entry) during $50-an-hour
When you know what you are worth, you become acutely aware of the damage that doing $10-an-hour work (like data entry) during $50-an-hour prime selling time has on your income.
goals or away from them. When you take time to gain a clear understanding of what each Golden Hour is worth, you will make far better decisions about how to spend your time.
When you take time to gain a clear understanding of what each Golden Hour is worth, you will make far better decisions about how to spend your time.
The objective is the primary outcome you expect from your prospecting touch. There are four core prospective objectives: Set an appointment. Gather information and qualify. Close a sale. Build familiarity.
time and attention from better opportunities.
Yet, in spite of the obvious signs, salespeople forge forward, either delusional or oblivious, placing these deals in their pipelines and projections, wasting endless hours working on ugly deals that will never close.
While setting an appointment is your primary objective with prospects you have already prequalified as potential buyers, gathering information is your primary objective with prospects you have not qualified.
Your drive as a sales professional should always be to spend your time with the most qualified prospects in your database. This means that you will want to: Set appointments with the prospects that are highly qualified and/or in the buying window Nurture the prospects that you’ve qualified but are not in the buying window Gather information on the prospects for which you have some or no data so you can qualify their potential and learn their buying windows Eliminate the prospect records that are bogus, out of business, too small, too big, or will never be buyers
They’ll likely have the information you’ll need—decision-making roles, account size, buying windows, budgetary windows, contractual obligations—to build a profile of your ideal opportunity.
The more familiar a prospect is with you, your brand, and/or your company, the more likely they will be willing to accept and return your calls, reply to your e-mails, accept a social media connection request, respond to a text message, and engage when you are prospecting in person.
This is a wake-up call. The quality of list you work from during each prospecting block has a more significant impact on the success of the block than any other element except your mindset.
Lists should be constructed based on the following filters (or other methodologies depending on your unique situation). Use these elements in combination to structure your prospecting lists for maximum impact. Prospecting objective: set an appointment, gather information, close the sale, build familiarity Prospecting channel: phone, e-mail, social, text, in person, networking Qualification level: highest qualified at the top of the list—least qualified at the bottom of the list Potential: largest opportunities at the top of the list—lowest potential at the bottom of the list Probability: highest potential probability to achieve your objective at the top of the list—lowest probability at the bottom of the list Territory plan: day of week, postal code, street, geographic grid, city Inbound leads Conquest prospects Decision maker/stakeholder role Industry or market vertical Customers that purchase a specific type of product or service Seasonal customers Inactive customers Leads from a recent trade show or conference
Starting your day by calling the prospects on the top of your pyramid will deliver early wins. These wins give you confidence and motivation to attack the remainder of the sales day.
Once you have exhausted your high-potential prospects, focus your prospecting activity on qualifying and nurturing activities with conquest accounts. Follow that by focusing on qualifying the hundreds or thousands of prospects lower on the pyramid.
Tomorrow morning when you get ready to make your prospecting calls, take a look at the first name on your list and ask yourself, “Is this the best prospect to call?”
Being accountable for maintaining the integrity of your prospect database. Not waiting until your manager is screaming at you because you haven’t updated a record in a month. Taking time to make copious notes following sales calls and logging those calls. Putting new leads in the system rather than carting around a pocket full of business cards you’ve collected from prospects.
These salespeople see themselves “working for the man,” whereas fanatical prospectors believe that they are the CEO of their territory. They are working for themselves.
Familiarity lubricates prospecting because it makes the prospect’s decision to give you their time feel less risky.
The real secret to generating referrals is: Give a legendary customer experience. Ask.
To be successful at networking, refrain from becoming a walking, talking marketing brochure and get it through your thick skull that nobody cares about you or what you have to say. They want to talk about themselves.
not just contact information, but context. Through the social channel, we gain glimpses into our prospects’ behavior, desires, preferences, and triggers that drive buying behavior and open buying windows.
And not just contact information, but context. Through the social channel, we gain glimpses into our prospects’ behavior, desires, preferences, and triggers that drive buying behavior and open buying windows.
With the exception of the social inbox that can be a supplement and alternative to the traditional e-mail inbox, social prospecting is about nuance, tact, and patience.
Social selling is a collective term that encompasses a variety of activities—all designed to enrich the sales process and fill the pipe with more qualified and motivated prospects. These activities include: Social research Social networking Social lead generation Social inbound marketing Social prospecting Social trigger-event monitoring Social competitive intelligence Social customer relationship management (CRM) Social account management
No matter what you are selling, integrating social into your prospecting and sales process is no longer an option.
Write in the first person and make it conversational. Your bio should explain who you are, what you are all about (values), what you do best, and why customers and clients count on and trust you to solve their problems.
Engaging means liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts as well as content they are commenting on and sharing. You also need to post content that is of interest to them, congratulate them on achievements, and
Engaging means liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts as well as content they are commenting on and sharing. You also need to post content that is of interest to them, congratulate them on achievements, and be present in groups where they participate.
It is important to consistently monitor your news stream, lists, update alerts, and discussions in the groups where your prospects hang out for trigger events.
simple analogy for curation is the act of clipping articles from magazines and newspapers and sending them to someone. Except that on social, you are doing this digitally and amplifying the impact by going from a one-to-one analog footprint to one-to-many digital distribution.
A simple analogy for curation is the act of clipping articles from magazines and newspapers and sending them to someone. Except that on social, you are doing this digitally and amplifying the impact by going from a one-to-one analog footprint to one-to-many digital distribution.
Discover and follow the thought leaders who are shaping the dialog in your industry and know where great content is being published.
You must block 30 minutes to an hour each day (preferably before or after the Golden Hours) to engage in planned, intentional social prospecting activities.
MESSAGE MATTERS For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic,
For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.
Salespeople are making egregious messaging mistakes on the phone, in person, via e-mail, and social media because they don’t realize that prospects are not going to give up their time for: A product and service features dump An enthusiastic pitch about their company being “number one this” or the “biggest of that” Regurgitated lists of generic facts and figures Marketing brochures Information that is not relevant Or any of the other mindless crap that spews from the mouths and keyboards of salespeople
If you are relaxed and confident, you’ll transfer that emotion to your prospect. If you want prospects to be enthusiastic about meeting you, be enthusiastic about meeting them.
A simple definition of confidence is “a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something.”1 Enthusiasm is defined as “a strong excitement about something; something inspiring zeal or fervor.”
You’d want them to be quick and get right to the point so you could get back to your day. You’d want them to be clear and transparent about their intentions—to tell you want they wanted. You’d want the interruption to be relevant to your situation, problems, or issues.
This is why, for example, it is more difficult to get a yes when requesting an hour-long meeting to do a full demo than when asking for a 15-minute discovery meeting to determine if there is enough interest and reasons to move to a next step.
Konrath suggests that there are three key parts to a winning VP: Focuses on a business objective that is measured: You’ll get their attention when you focus on a metric that impacts their performance. Disrupts status quo: The status quo is powerful. People abhor change and will only move from the status quo when they feel they can significantly improve their current situation—increase sales, reduce costs, improve efficiency, reduce stress, and so on. Offers proof or evidence: When you can provide information about how much you have helped prospects in similar situations, you gain instant credibility.
The prospect’s issues Your offerings that address these issues Competitive differentiators
What I am saying is that focusing on a simple, straightforward because works, and spending hours agonizing over some complex value prop is unlikely to give you anything more effective in prospecting than a simple, direct because.
What we learn from Langer’s copy machine study8 is when we ask people to do something for us, like give up their time, they are more likely to do so when we give them a reason.
For example, just saying, “I’d like 15 minutes of your time because I want to learn more about you and your company” works surprisingly well with many prospects. What we learn from Langer’s copy machine study8 is when we ask people to do something for us, like give up their time, they are more likely to do so when we give them a reason.
Strategic bridges are unique to a single high-value prospect and specific individual (decision-maker role) at that prospect. You will typically craft strategic bridges for enterprise level, conquest prospects, and C-level executives. Strategic bridges require research so that your bridge or because is specific and relevant, reduces risk, and gives them a compelling reason to give you their time.
People make decisions based on emotion first and then justify with logic. This is why pitching
The real secret to crafting prospecting messages that convert into meetings, information, or sales is staring with a simple but powerful premise: People make decisions based on emotion first and then justify with logic. This is why pitching logic—features—doesn’t work.
They only give their up time because you offer them: Emotional value: You connect directly with them at the emotional level—typically by relating to painful emotions like stress, worry, insecurity, distrust, anxiety, fear, frustration, or anger and offering them peace of mind, security, options, lower stress, less worry, or hope. Insight (curiosity) value: You offer information that gives them power or leverage over other people. Most prospects worry about maintaining their competitive edge—either as a company or an individual.
They’re anxious that there may be something in the marketplace that they are not privy to. Unknowns are disconcerting—especially if a competitor has a best practice, information, system, or process that they don’t. Tangible (logic) value: Executives and contacts in technical and data-centric roles will value data and case studies. How much, how many, and what results can you deliver, have you delivered, will you deliver—specific to their unique situation?
Start by answering these questions from your prospect’s perspective: What would cause you stress? When do you feel stress? What makes you worry? When do you worry? Why do you worry? What creates anxiety? When do you feel anxiety? How do you feel when you run out of time for important things? How do you feel when you don’t have enough money to accomplish your goals? When does this happen? How do you feel when you don’t have enough resources to accomplish your goals? When does this happen? How do you feel when you don’t have the knowledge to accomplish your goals? When does this happen? How do you feel when you fail to accomplish your goals? When do you get overwhelmed, and how does it feel? What impacts your peace of mind or sense of security? How would it feel to have limited options? What is causing you to feel frustrated or stuck? What makes you mad? What causes you to feel distrust? What causes you fear? What causes you anguish? How do you feel when ______ happens? What might you want to know? What unknown would make you worry?
What information would you fear getting into your competitor’s hands? What might a competitor be doing that would make you want to do it, too? What information would you believe might give you a winning edge? What would cause you to be curious? What might be stealing
What information would you fear getting into your competitor’s hands? What might a competitor be doing that would make you want to do it, too? What information would you believe might give you a winning edge? What would cause you to be curious? What might be stealing your time, money, or resources?
Analyze the deals you are closing and gain a deeper understanding
Analyze the deals you are closing and gain a deeper understanding of trigger events that open buying windows.
The one question that will keep you from getting shut down on prospecting calls: What would cause your prospect to say, “So what?” to your message?
“Maybe if it would be okay and if you are not too busy we could kinda maybe get together for a few minutes, what do you think?”
There is only one technique that really works for getting what you want on a prospecting touch. Ask.
There is only one technique that really works for getting what you want on a prospecting touch. Ask. That’s it. Just ask. Ask for the appointment, ask for information, ask for the decision maker, ask for the next step, ask for the sale. Ask for what you want. Ask.
Starting with prospecting and all the way through the close, you must constantly be asking for what you want. Otherwise your deals tend to stall and die or you never get into the door in the first place. There are three steps to asking: Ask with confidence and assume you will get what you want. Shut up. Be prepared to deal with reflex responses, brush-offs, and objections.
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the Little Red Book of Selling, says that “the assumptive position is the strongest selling strategy in the world.”9 Assuming you’ll get what you want begins with your belief system and self-talk. When you tell yourself you are going to win and keep telling yourself so, it bolsters your internal belief system.
With e-mail, social messaging, and text messages, direct, assumptive words and sentence structure are the body language of the written word.
Getting past the fear of “no” isn’t easy. I’ve been selling my entire life and have been incredibly successful at it, yet today I still have to remind myself that “no” won’t kill me. That, by the way, is the key. You have to teach your rational brain to tell your amygdala, or “reptilian” brain, that the threat isn’t real.
This is why, despite all of the alarm bells going off in your adrenaline-soaked mind, you must shut up and give your prospect room to answer. Here’s why: The faster you get to an answer, the faster you’ll be able to move on to the next prospecting touch or deal with a no or maybe. It’s governed by a simple rule of thirds.
Get to no fast. About one-third of the time the prospect will say no and mean no. Sometimes this is a phone hung up on you, a door slammed in your face, or a deleted e-mail. Sometimes it is a string of expletives. Most times it is the prospect giving you a very direct and uncertain no! Although it sucks to hear no, it is also a blessing. It allows you to quickly move on to the next call—again, making you more efficient.
Get to yes fast. About one-third of the time they’re going to say yes just because you asked. Your goal is to get these yesses on the table and avoid talking yourself out of them. This makes you super-efficient. They say yes to your request. You get what you want. Both of you quickly move on to the next thing on your list.
Get to maybe fast. About one-third of the time the prospect will hesitate, say maybe, negotiate, or give you a false objection just to get you off of the phone. This is where the rubber meets the road in prospecting—it’s where you have a chance to turn a maybe into a yes with effective RBO tunrarounds.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Telephone prospecting is the most despised activity in sales. Calling and interrupting people you don’t know is uncomfortable. You get a tremendous amount of rejection.
That’s why it is called prospecting, not order taking. Look at it this way: If telephone prospecting were easy, everyone would be in sales and we’d all be making minimum wage and living with our parents.
Fanatical prospectors set up daily telephone phone blocks of one to two hours. During this time they remove all distractions—shutting off e-mail and mobile devices, and letting those around them know that they are not to be disturbed.
They set clear goals for how many calls they will make. This call block is a booked appointment on their schedule and it is sacred. Nothing interferes.
Have fun. You are likely a competitive, creative person. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be in sales in the first place. Set up challenges for yourself. For example, some people count nos. They play a game to see how many nos they can get. It sounds a little sick and twisted, but I’ve done it and it is actually motivating since you will always get more nos than yesses.
No matter what you do, though: Schedule that block. Make the appointment with yourself. Keep it sacred and don’t be late.
As a salesperson you’ve got a choice to make: Interrupt or start a new career at your local coffee shop making minimum wage.
Shorter, more impactful calls mean you complete phone blocks faster, which in turn keeps your pipeline full and gives you more time to spend engaged in the activities that make sales fun.
Get their attention by using their name: “Hi, Julie.” Identify yourself: “My name is Jeb Blount and I’m with Sales Gravy.” Tell them why you are calling: “The reason I’m calling is to set up an appointment with you.” Bridge—give them a because: “I just read an article online that said your company is going to add 200 new sales positions over the next year. Several companies in your industry are already using Sales Gravy exclusively for sourcing sales candidates and they are very happy with the results we are delivering.” Ask for what you want, and shut up: “I thought the best place to start is to schedule a short meeting to learn about your sales recruiting challenges and goals. How about we meet Wednesday afternoon around 3:00 PM?”
“Hi, Corrina, this is Jeb Blount from AcmeSoft.
Here is another example where my objective is to qualify and move them directly into a sales conversation: “Hi, Corrina, this is Jeb Blount from AcmeSoft. The reason I’m calling is you downloaded our white paper on creating more effective landing pages for lead generation and I’m interested to learn what triggered your interest. I work with a number of marketing executives who’ve been struggling to bring in enough quality leads to meet their growth objectives, and I’ve got a few best practices that my clients are using to generate more and better leads that I’ll be happy to share with you. Can you tell me more about your situation?”
Here is another example. My objective is to gather information: “Hi, Ian, this is Jeb Blount with Acme Restaurant Supply. The reason I’m calling is I read in the paper that you are building a restaurant over on the 44 bypass and I want to learn more about your process for purchasing kitchen equipment. I realize I’m calling a little bit early in the game; however, I’ve found that when we get our design team working with your team before you make critical decisions about kitchen layout, you’ll have more options and can often save a ton of money in construction costs and future labor with a more efficient and streamlined kitchen layout. Can you tell me how you make those decisions and when the selection process will begin?”
Telephone prospecting should be professional and straight to the point. There is no reason to overcomplicate it with cheeseball scripts that piss off prospects, create resistance, and make you look foolish.
Don’t ask, “How are you doing?” and don’t pause or leave any awkward silence. Say their name and keep moving.
It demonstrates that you are a professional and that you have respect for your prospect’s time—save the idle chitchat until you have established a real relationship.
By telling them who you are and why you are calling, you reduce their stress because people are more comfortable when they know what to expect.
They don’t want to be tricked, they don’t want to be manipulated, and they don’t want to be interrupted. What they want is to be treated with respect. The best way you can show your respect is to be truthful, relevant, and to the point.
Learn more about you and your business Share some insights that have helped my other clients Share some best practices that other companies in your industry are using to… Gain an understanding of your unique situation See how we might fit Flexibility Options Peace of mind Save Frustrated Concerned Stressed Waste Time Money
If you are qualifying, ask for the information you need to determine your next step. If you want an appointment, ask for a day and time. If you want to engage in a sales conversation, ask an open-ended question that gets them talking.
Be confident, direct, and smooth—and don’t pause. Get to the point. Ask and assume.
The single biggest mistake salespeople make on prospecting calls is they keep talking instead of giving their prospect the opportunity to respond to their request. This increases resistance, creates objections, and gives your prospect an easy way out.
What I want to impress upon you, though, is just how many prospects will say yes when you are straightforward, confident, and assume through your words and tone of voice that they’re going to say yes.
What I want to impress upon you, though, is just how many prospects will say yes when you are straightforward, confident, and assume through your words and tone of voice that they’re going to say yes. Ask for what you want, and shut up.
Identify yourself. Say who you are and the company you work for up front. This makes you sound professional. Say your phone number twice. Prospects can’t call back if they don’t have or you garbled your number. Give your contact information up front and say it twice—slowly. After they hear your name and company, they may not care about the rest of your message because based on their situation, they can infer what it is about. Tell them the reason for your call. Tell them why you have called. There is nothing more irritating to a buyer than a salesperson who is not honest about their intentions. After you give your personal information just say,
purpose of my call is…,” then tell them why you are calling and what you want. Transparency is both respectful and professional. Give them a reason to call you back. Prospects call back when you have something that they want or are curious about. Curiosity is a powerful driver of behavior. When you have knowledge, insight, information, special pricing, new or improved products, a solution to a problem, and so on, you create a motivating force that compels your prospect to call you back. Repeat your name and say your phone number twice. Before you end your message, say your name again slowly and clearly and always,
So, forget about timing your calls and commit instead to a daily, first-thing-in-the-morning call block.
Frenchman Nicholas Chamfort advised people to “swallow a toad in the morning if you want to encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.” In his book Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy says that your “frog” is “the hardest, most important task of the day. It is the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.”
This is why you should block your first two hours every day for telephone activity. Set the appointment with yourself and keep it.
Most RBOs will come in the form of: Not interested Don’t have the budget Too busy Send information Overwhelmed—too many things going on Just looking (inbound leads)
You cannot argue another person into believing that they are wrong. The more you push another person, the more they dig their heels in and resist you.
You cannot argue another person into believing that they are wrong. The more you push another person, the more they dig their heels in and resist you.
Your prospect is conditioned. They expect you to act just like every other salesperson. When they tell you no, they expect a fight.
When they say, “Just send me some information,” say, “Tell me specifically what you are looking for.” This calls their bluff and forces engagement.
When they say, “I’m not interested,” say, “That makes sense. Most people aren’t.” Their brain isn’t ready for you to agree with them.
When you get two RBOs and still can’t turn your prospect around, graciously move on and come back at them another day.
Courage is developed in the presence of fear, not in spite of
Courage is developed in the presence of fear, not in spite of it.
In fact, one of the enduring qualities of highly successful people is the ability to turn disappointment, defeat, and anger into unmovable determination.
The salespeople-help-salespeople hack is an awesome secret weapon. It has worked for me time and again when I’ve had a hard time getting to the right people in prospective accounts. It’s effective for several reasons: Most sales organizations pick up their phones, so there is a high probability that you will have the opportunity to speak to a live human being.
According to his sales manager, what sets Kelly apart from his peers is relentless prospecting. Each day Kelly invests an hour prospecting by phone; his goal is to set two to
According to his sales manager, what sets Kelly apart from his peers is relentless prospecting. Each day Kelly invests an hour prospecting by phone; his goal is to set two to three appointments with qualified prospects.
Plan questions in advance. The research you do in advance helps you plan the questions you want to ask about problems, issues, decision makers, and competitors. Having a plan gives you an extra boost of confidence as you walk in the door.
IPPs are powerful because unlike most other prospecting channels, you use all of your senses to communicate. You’ll be most effective when you relax, are yourself, ask open-ended questions that encourage others to talk, listen, and engage in meaningful conversations.
Sales trainer Kelly Robertson says, “It may sound simple, but most sales people don’t get it. They still believe that selling means talking at great length about their company, their product, or their service. However, truly effective salespeople understand that it is all about asking the prospect the right questions and demonstrating that you can help them solve a particular problem or issue. That means you need to direct all of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about your company or your offering.”
I also talk to the person next to me when I’m waiting in line, sitting in waiting rooms, on trains, buses, and airplanes. Over the past five years, I’ve generated more than a half-million dollars in business from these conversations.
Awareness without action is useless. Be fanatical. Put on the sales brake, walk up to people, ask questions, and hand them your business card. Sure, some people might get irritated, but most people will help you, talk to you, and give you a chance. Note 1.
The Law of Familiarity is always in play with e-mail prospecting. The more familiar your prospect is with your name, brand, or company, the more likely they are to open your e-mail.
For example, you might call and leave a voice mail, ping them on LinkedIn, and follow that up with an e-mail (or vice versa). This “triple threat” increases familiarity and leverages your persistence across multiple channels.
If you meet them in person at a trade show or networking event and leave a positive impression, then connect with them on LinkedIn, follow that up with a voice mail, and then send an e-mail, the probability that your e-mail will get opened improves exponentially.
Solution: Keep e-mail prospecting subject lines super short—three to six words or 40 to 50 characters including spaces.
Solution: Keep e-mail prospecting subject lines super short—three to six words or 40 to 50 characters including spaces. Remember—less is more.
Solution: Use action words and directive statements instead of questions. List-based subject lines that include a testimonial like “3 Reasons Why ABC Chose Us” are especially powerful, as are referral subject lines like “Jeb Blount Said We Should Talk” and statement-based subject lines like “Biggest Fail in Industrial Pumps.”
Solution: Connect your subject line to an issue your prospect is facing—especially if it is emotional or stressful—or compliment them on a recent accomplishment or something that you know makes them feel proud. For example, the easiest, fastest way to get me to open your e-mail is a subject line that reads: “Loved Your Book!”
So, play the odds, and make your subject line about your prospect. It’s really easy to do if you take a little extra time to research the recipient of your prospecting e-mail through an Internet search, company website, and social media sites.
The long ones that cause eyes to glaze over. WTF, we live in the age of Twitter, text messaging, infographics, OMGs, and LOLs. Prospects have the attention span of mosquitos. I delete 99.9 percent of them.
What will get their attention? What’s important to them? What will cause them to give you what you are asking for? The key here is taking time to do some basic research to get to know your prospect and using that information as the foundation on which you construct your message.
The most effective way to tailor your message to the person you are writing is to step into their shoes and ask some basic questions:
Hook: Get their attention with a compelling subject line and opening sentence/statement. Relate: Demonstrate that you get them and their problem. Show empathy and authenticity. Bridge: Connect the dots between their problem and how you can help them. Explain the WIIFM. Ask: Be clear and straightforward about the action you want them to take, and
Once you have your plan in place, you’ll use a four-step framework to craft your e-mail: Hook: Get their attention with a compelling subject line and opening sentence/statement. Relate: Demonstrate that you get them and their problem. Show empathy and authenticity. Bridge: Connect the dots between their problem and how you can help them. Explain the WIIFM. Ask: Be clear and straightforward about the action you want them to take, and make it easy for them to do so.
Here is an example of an e-mail to a COO of a bank. It leverages the four-step framework: Subject: COO—The Toughest Job in the Bank Lawrence, Ernst & Young recently reported that the COO has the toughest role in the C-suite. The COOs I work with tell me that the increasing complexity of the banking environment has made their job harder and more stressful than ever. My team and I help COOs like you reduce complexity and stress with strategies to optimize growth and profit, mitigate credit risk, allocate resources effectively, and minimize regulatory surprises. While I don’t know if we are a good fit for your bank, why don’t we schedule a short call to help me learn more about your unique challenges? From there we can decide if it makes sense to set up a deeper conversation. How about next Thursday at 3:00 PM? Dave Adair Senior Account Executive JunoSystems
Also, never use “Hi” or “Hello” or “Dear” or any other salutation in front of your prospect’s name. No one in business does that except salespeople.
Here’s Brandon’s attempt to relate: We build custom software solutions; web, cloud, mobile, desktop. Whether you have need to modernize outdated software, build something new from scratch, or augment your team to meet a critical deadline, I’m confident we can help. How does this relate to me or any of my problems? Notice that this paragraph is all about him. Just a features dump. My reaction: So what?
“If I give you what you want—my time—what’s in it for me?”
Since people do things for their reasons, not yours, you must answer their most pressing question: “If I give you what you want—my time—what’s in it for me?” If you are unable to answer WIIFM with value that exceeds the cost of your prospect giving up their time, your e-mail will not convert.
This is where your research pays off. When you know a specific issue that your prospect is facing in their business, you should bridge directly to that issue and how you might be able to solve it. When you are unsure of a specific issue, bridge to issues that are common to your prospect’s role,
Dave disrupts expectations. He tells Lawrence up front that he might not be a good fit for his bank. That is exactly the opposite of what Lawrence would expect of a salesperson. Unlike pitching that pushes prospects away, disrupting expectations pulls prospects towards you.
Dave caps things off with the phrase “your unique challenges.” This makes Lawrence feel important because everyone believes that their situation is unique.
Develop the habit of researching prospects and becoming aware of trigger events that are impacting them and opening up buying windows.
For most B2B salespeople, this will be first thing in the morning to midmorning because that is when your prospects are fresh and usually handling e-mail.
The fact that texting is so personal makes it an extremely powerful channel for getting the attention of prospects. Because it is so personal, though, timing and technique become more important than any other prospecting channel.
The probability of your text message converting—compelling your prospect to take action—increases exponentially if your text comes after contact through another channel.
According to the Lead360 study1 that covered 3.5 million lead records from more than 400 companies, a text message sent alone converts at 4.8 percent. That same message, sent after a phone contact, increases conversion by 112.6 percent. Why? The Law of Familiarity.
During your conversation, when the vague agreement is made to meet sometime in the future, casually say, “Sounds good. I’ll text you and we can get together.” (It is highly unlikely they’ll protest if your conversation has been positive.)
Within 24 hours of the event (give it two days if travel is involved), send a text message thanking them for the conversation and request a meeting. Personalize it with information you gleaned in your conversation.
If your second attempt fails, shift to the phone and e-mail to make contact. It serves no purpose to potentially create ill will by continuing to text. Bonus step: Always send a handwritten note within a week of the event via snail mail—this will really make you stand out from the crowd. Figure 20.1 Text Message After a Networking Event
If your second attempt fails, shift to the phone and e-mail to make contact. It serves no purpose to potentially create ill will by continuing to text.
Matt was smart enough to realize that I was a qualified prospect because I had a need for his software and the means to purchase it. However, I had no urgency to pull the trigger. So he began systematically nurturing the relationship using four prospecting channels—phone, e-mail, social, and text.
His text messages are appreciated and nonintrusive because they are valuable to me and personal. Because of this, Matt and his company stay on my mind (as evidenced by this story), and when I do make a buying decision on BI software, I’ll be doing so with him.
There are seven rules for effective text messages: Identify yourself. Never take for granted that your prospect has your information saved on their phone.
Message matters. What you say and how you say it carries impact. Be very careful that your tone is not misinterpreted in a negative way.
Be direct—be brief. Say exactly what you mean in clear, precise, well-written sentences using good grammar and spelling.
Keep the text to one to four short sentences or less than 250 characters when possible.
Fanatical prospectors receive more rejection before 9:00 AM than the average person gets in an entire year. The fact is, most people wouldn’t last a minute in sales.
This is why salespeople are the elite athletes of the business world. The employees of your company
This is why salespeople are the elite athletes of the business world. The employees of your company (even if they don’t act like they understand this) count on you for their jobs and paychecks.
When the whistle blows each morning, you’ve got to be ready to rock it.
Mental toughness, sometimes called grit,2 is the real reason some salespeople are perennial superstars while others, with the same level of talent, fold up like a cheap lawn chair as soon as things get difficult. James Loehr was one of the first experts to identify the “psychology of winning.” He described seven core dimensions of mental toughness:
Self-confidence Attention control Minimizing negative energy Increasing positive energy Maintaining motivation levels Attitude control Visual and imagery control
Winston Churchill said that “when you are going through hell, keep going.” Faith is crucial.
Winston Churchill said that “when you are going through hell, keep going.” Faith is crucial. Faith that by doing the right things every day, the cumulative impact of these actions will pay off. Faith keeps you focused on your goal when no tangible evidence exists that the hard work you are doing will get you there.
The fact is, sales is a grind. Prospecting is a grind. But you’ve got to grind to shine. Everybody wants the glory of the close, but most people are unwilling to grind—to pay the price for success. In any endeavor, success is paid for in advance with hard work. In sales, success is paid for in advance with prospecting. You will never excel at anything if you don’t put the hard work in first.
It’s the ability to block out negative self-talk, manage disruptive emotions, ignore people who tell you what you can’t do, and put singular focus on a desired goal.
Optimism: When you get knocked down, optimism tells you that if you can look up, you can get up. Optimism is the mother of perseverance.
Optimism: When you get knocked down, optimism tells you that if you can look up, you can get up. Optimism is the mother of perseverance. It powers a positive belief system and attracts positive energy.
Competitiveness: Do you hate to lose or love to win? The drive to avoid losing is what keeps superstars working longer, harder, and doing whatever it takes to win.
Need for achievement: Psychologist and researcher Henry Murray defined the need for achievement as “intense, prolonged and repeated efforts to accomplish something difficult.
For example, if you desire more than anything to buy a house but you need a down payment, then you’ll do what it takes to earn bigger commission checks. If you desire to go on your company’s elite sales trip, you will find the will to wake up early every morning and hit the phones.
This requires you to answer three questions: What do you want? How do you plan to get what you want? How bad do you want it?
Not fleeting wishes and or vague hopes. Real goals that mean something for your career and life.
you don’t have a plan, you will become a part of someone else’s plan. You can either take control of your life or someone else will use you to enhance theirs. It’s your choice.
If you don’t have a plan, you will become a part of someone else’s plan. You can either take control of your life or someone else will use you to enhance theirs. It’s your choice.
Learners invest their own money in books, seminars, and workshops to keep their skills updated and sharp. They subscribe to newsletters, trade magazines, industry publications, blogs, and sales publications to stay current on their own industry and the sales profession.
I’ve got limited patience for salespeople who don’t read. There is absolutely no excuse for it. When you decide not to read, you are making the conscious choice to limit your growth and income, and I have zero sympathy for you.
It doesn’t matter what you do; it just matters that you do something that makes you sweat, for at least 30 minutes every day.
All sorts of ugly things happen to you when you are not getting enough sleep.10 Over the long term, you become more susceptible to immune deficiencies, obesity, heart disease, and mood disorders, and it reduces your life expectancy.
Eating poorly is like putting low-grade gasoline in a high-performance race car.
You are what you believe. Your beliefs either attract success or push it away. Your beliefs drive your attitude.
In my travels around the world, I’ve discovered that people with a positive attitude share two common beliefs: They expect to win. They believe that everything happens for a reason.
Instead of complaining, “Why me?” when you face a setback, you ask, “How can I learn from this?”
The key to keeping your attitude tuned in to the right channel is self-awareness. When you start to feel uncentered, your language turns negative, or other people start pointing out that your attitude sucks, it’s time to take action.
Change your self-talk. There is a little voice inside of you and it jabbers away 24/7. Self-talk, what you say to yourself internally, manifests itself in your outward attitude and actions.
You are not defined by what happens to you but rather by how you deal with what happens to you. Each time you face adversity or when things don’t go your way, you have a choice. You can either choose to whine and complain, or choose to learn and grow.
Elite salespeople are thankful to have a career that allows them to outearn almost everyone around them. Grateful for the roadblocks and challenges that help them learn and make them stronger. Grateful for the customers and prospects that generate their incomes. Grateful for the companies that pay their commission checks. Grateful for the bad bosses who help them learn what not to do and the great bosses who inspire them to stretch and become more. The good news is you can deliberately cultivate gratitude and the positive attitude that comes from it by reminding yourself to be thankful.
When you’re in second place, attack the leader. When you’re in first place, attack yourself.
When it is time to go home, make one more call.
What top performers understand is that to succeed at the highest level, they’ve got to pay for their success in advance with hard work, sacrifice, doing things they hate, and making one more call.
When you face your Goliath, when you set your goals, when you face fear, rejection, and adversity; when you’re tired, worn out, and have the choice to go home or make one more call—the only question that really matters is: How bad do you want it?