Would You Return This Call?

Telephone Cold calling…Email…SMS Text…Twitter…Linkedin…Facebook…Webinars…and more.

All standard techniques for sales professionals to try and drum up business leads and get in front of qualified prospects.  Sometimes these methods work.  More often than not, they don’t.  Why?  Because you’re delivering the wrong message.

How many of us have gone into one of the big box stores and run into the poor person walking around with the dreaded clipboard?  All of us!  The person is typically trying to get your attention, offering a deal of some sort, completely different from the product you went into the store to buy.  Why do you most often walk away after saying “I’m not interested”?  Why are these people getting such a low conversion rate?  They are not offering a service YOU think YOU need at the moment and your time is valuable.

That is the underlying problem sales professionals are facing every day during their prospecting efforts.  We email, call, text, tweet etc. to people WE perceive as prospects, interrupting their daily work and expecting them to drop everything and respond to us.  This just doesn’t produce enough results.

So how do successful sales professionals get their prospects interest?  The top sales producers have learned the technique of creating a sense of need with their prospects.  They have redesigned their message from selling their company’s value proposition to offering a sure fire method to grow their prospect’s business.

Consider this scenario, left on voicemail…..

”Hi Mr. Customer, my name is Kevin from ABC Inc., and I’d like to speak with you about my “Widget” program for your company and the value it brings.  Could you please give me a call back at 781-123-4567”

Pretty standard stuff for a voicemail.  Do you think Kevin is going to get a call back? Pretty unlikely……

Now a different approach…..

“Hi Mr. Customer, this is Kevin from ABC Inc. calling.  I’m looking to arrange a brief 15 minute call to discuss how your company can grow a new revenue stream using the same program I designed for …(a company within your prospects industry)……  Please drop me a quick call @ xxxxxx or email with an appropriate time and I‘ll confirm via Outlook invite.”

Do you think “Kevin’s”  2^nd message will get a better response rate?  Absolutely it will.  By delivering the same message but creating the impression of a new income stream, “Mr. Customer” is more likely to respond.  Not guaranteed by any means, but more likely.  It might take a few follow ups to get a response, but any CTO or COO will tell you unless you create a way for them to benefit from your call, they will not give you the time to make your pitch.  And Kevin didn’t even mention the product in his 2^nd message.

Creating a perceived need for a product or service will help justify the prospect agreeing to give you the time on their schedule to make your pitch.  Try imagining yourself in your prospect’s chair and consider what would make you return a call on your product.  Once you’ve crafted the right message, you’ll see your prospecting efforts return more set appointments which will lead to more sales…….

Have a great opening pitch? I'd enjoy hearing about it.....

Good selling……….