5 Tips to help move a prospect over to your side of the street
“I don’t know you. I don’t know your company. Now, what were you trying to sell me?”
You may be familiar with that line. It was from an ad that ran a while back. Odds are, it’s also what your prospect is thinking, or even saying, when you start your wooing ceremony.
It’s important to remember that your prospects aren’t sitting at their desk, with breath abated, waiting for your call. Another thing to remember is that, particularly for service providers, unless something changes it’s pretty tough to lure your prospect to the crosswalk and come over to your side of the street. Most will already have a working relationship with the other guy or gal. Your juggling act is to demonstrate your superior benefits, while not telling Mr. Prospect he’s been wrong all along by using that other place. Folks don’t usually take too kindly to being told they’re amiss, erroneous or otherwise in error.
Here are a few tips to help you pave the crosswalk with gold. Well, maybe not gold, but at least some sound principles.
1. Do your homework
Strive to learn as much as you can about your prospect, their company, their challenges and marketing environment. Poke around to learn about their competitors and their audience. Not only will this help you develop a meaty presentation, it will help cement the idea that you know your stuff and you can help them out.
2. Nurture the relationship
It’s unlikely that you’ll land a client from a single point of contact such as a mailer, phone call or meeting at a networking event. So, it’s your job to keep your name in the prospect’s head. Ask them if you can add them to your list. Email them helpful links, articles and such, invite them to lunch, etc. Become a valuable resource for your prospects.
And don’t forget to be a resource for your existing clients as well. The 80/20 Rule applies. Typically 80% of your work will come from 20% of your clients. Be sure they’re aware of your range of services. Ask for referrals to other people in the company who could also use what you’re selling.
This was a key tactic for me with a Fortune 500 client. I started working with one department of the company and, over time through interdepartmental referrals, built that up to several clients within the same company.
A side note to this is never, ever let any one client represent more that 30% of your revenue. That's a dangerous place to be. I made that mistake a long time ago and it wasn't pretty. Don't follow in my footsteps.
3. Focus on benefits
Clearly communicate what benefits you bring to the table and back them up with facts and figures, testimonials and other hard evidence. Think from your prospect’s point-of-view. They aren’t as interested in what school you went to, or why blue is better than red as they are in “This brochure I created for Acme Widgets yielded a 35% increase in sales over six months."
4. Listen more than you talk
You have two ears and one mouth. There’s a reason for that. If you’ve asked the right questions, listen ... really listen ... to what they’re saying. This goes beyond the words that come out of their mouth. It means tuning into their body language and the real thoughts behind the words.
For instance, your prospect says, “This is a very important (critical, important, key, significant) project for us.” What they might really mean is, “The competition’s beating us to death. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
5. When you do talk, ask questions
Once you’ve opened your presentation and given the background on the benefits and value of what you offer, ask open ended questions. Those are the ones that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” They help to draw out valuable information.
And there you have it. Five simple tactics to keep you on your prospect’s mind when the change comes. And it will. People change jobs, get promoted, the head honcho is wanting some fresh ideas, etc. When you work to build the relationship and clearly communicate your value, you’ll be positioned to step into the ring when the time is right.
You may be familiar with that line. It was from an ad that ran a while back. Odds are, it’s also what your prospect is thinking, or even saying, when you start your wooing ceremony.
It’s important to remember that your prospects aren’t sitting at their desk, with breath abated, waiting for your call. Another thing to remember is that, particularly for service providers, unless something changes it’s pretty tough to lure your prospect to the crosswalk and come over to your side of the street. Most will already have a working relationship with the other guy or gal. Your juggling act is to demonstrate your superior benefits, while not telling Mr. Prospect he’s been wrong all along by using that other place. Folks don’t usually take too kindly to being told they’re amiss, erroneous or otherwise in error.
Here are a few tips to help you pave the crosswalk with gold. Well, maybe not gold, but at least some sound principles.
1. Do your homework
Strive to learn as much as you can about your prospect, their company, their challenges and marketing environment. Poke around to learn about their competitors and their audience. Not only will this help you develop a meaty presentation, it will help cement the idea that you know your stuff and you can help them out.
2. Nurture the relationship
It’s unlikely that you’ll land a client from a single point of contact such as a mailer, phone call or meeting at a networking event. So, it’s your job to keep your name in the prospect’s head. Ask them if you can add them to your list. Email them helpful links, articles and such, invite them to lunch, etc. Become a valuable resource for your prospects.
And don’t forget to be a resource for your existing clients as well. The 80/20 Rule applies. Typically 80% of your work will come from 20% of your clients. Be sure they’re aware of your range of services. Ask for referrals to other people in the company who could also use what you’re selling.
This was a key tactic for me with a Fortune 500 client. I started working with one department of the company and, over time through interdepartmental referrals, built that up to several clients within the same company.
A side note to this is never, ever let any one client represent more that 30% of your revenue. That's a dangerous place to be. I made that mistake a long time ago and it wasn't pretty. Don't follow in my footsteps.
3. Focus on benefits
Clearly communicate what benefits you bring to the table and back them up with facts and figures, testimonials and other hard evidence. Think from your prospect’s point-of-view. They aren’t as interested in what school you went to, or why blue is better than red as they are in “This brochure I created for Acme Widgets yielded a 35% increase in sales over six months."
4. Listen more than you talk
You have two ears and one mouth. There’s a reason for that. If you’ve asked the right questions, listen ... really listen ... to what they’re saying. This goes beyond the words that come out of their mouth. It means tuning into their body language and the real thoughts behind the words.
For instance, your prospect says, “This is a very important (critical, important, key, significant) project for us.” What they might really mean is, “The competition’s beating us to death. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
5. When you do talk, ask questions
Once you’ve opened your presentation and given the background on the benefits and value of what you offer, ask open ended questions. Those are the ones that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” They help to draw out valuable information.
And there you have it. Five simple tactics to keep you on your prospect’s mind when the change comes. And it will. People change jobs, get promoted, the head honcho is wanting some fresh ideas, etc. When you work to build the relationship and clearly communicate your value, you’ll be positioned to step into the ring when the time is right.
