Prospecting & Qualifying

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.

If we aren’t genuinely curious about ‘why we are talking’, ‘why the problem exists’ and at least 15 ‘why’s’ after that, we run the risk of taking too long to close the sale, becoming an unpaid consultant, or getting ourselves backed into a corner answering their ‘why questions’, like: ‘Why should I buy from you’, ultimately losing the sale.

I tell my clients at our Thursday morning prospecting sessions that I don’t like making cold calls but the reality is…they work IF you do them correctly. Whether you struggle with the idea of picking up the phone without feeling like a pest or you have no problem calling people but your technique is old school, find a place where you can develop your skills in this area and it will pay!

You’ll find that with a little practice, it only takes you a few minutes to confirm an investment. Once you make a habit of doing this, you’ll waste less time with unqualified prospects, close bigger deals, and spend little or no time haggling over pricing.

The other night I walked into my house from a long day and greeted my wife with a barrage of questions. “Who’s picking up our son from school tomorrow? Are you going to workout tonight? Did you already eat dinner?” By the third question she snapped at me, “ I DON’T KNOW!!!! What’s with all the questions?”

Anything a sales person expects when they are buying, they will tolerate when selling.

Pain represented the prospect’s collective reasons to buy a product or service.

So what are prospects looking for today? They are looking for the doctor, the expert at diagnosing and treating the problem.

If you want prospects to react to you in a more favorable manner, you must first examine your own behavior. And then, you need to ask a new set of questions.

There is no room in the sales process to dance around the topic of money or worse yet avoid it.