Sales Blog with Sales Tips

You are feeling a lot of pressure to sell. You are not alone in feeling this pressure, however.

The Problem
Desperate sounding sales professionals are beating up your customers and prospects. They are receiving more prospecting and sales calls today than they have in many years. Companies are being hit hard by people trying to sell to them, while simultaneously being pushed, pushed, pushed to sell their own products and services to their customers.

The pressure on them can be somewhat overwhelming.

The Opportunity
Knowing that your customers feel sandwiched between being sold and having to sell, it’s the perfect time to try a fresh approach with them. This is a chance to differentiate yourself and your company from your competitors. The following might feel somewhat counterintuitive at first, but it will make you stand out and give your prospects and customers some much needed breathing room – and they will respond favorably.

This Strategy Is Called The New Authenticity
What is “The New Authenticity?” It’s how we relate as sales professionals to our prospects and customers.

1. The words we use are sincere and express our personality.
2. We display an almost alarming amount of honesty. “I’m cold calling you because I’m building my business and a partnership between us could make sense, but I’m not sure at this time.”
3. Courtesy rules the day. “Can you talk with me right now?”
4. We must keep the this-is-the-entire-history-of-my-company pitch to an absolute minimum.
5. We shouldn’t lead with our marketing collateral materials; we provide them dismissal opportunities when we do. “Oh yes, I’d love to have your latest white paper.” The prospect says this while thinking, “Whatever it takes to get this guy off the phone.”
6. God gave us creativity and energy; now is the time for us to use it. The prospect has heard a million traditional cold calls. They don’t resonate with him or her right now (if they ever did).

Conclusion
Stand out from the crowd by being authentic. Provide your customers and prospects some room to think and respond to you. It’s an effective way to stop customer blocking tactics in a sales environment where the seller and the buyer both feel a sense of uncomfortable urgency.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

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I’m not paid for this endorsement nor do I have any ownership in Jigsaw.  I think it’s a great  tool and I want to make sure my subscribers know that Jigsaw has extended this benefit to my readers.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

You are more effective in your prospecting efforts than you think you are. I’d be willing to bet that your results in landing new customers for the actual effort expended are much better than you think. I call this ROPE (Return On Prospecting Effort).

Why We Perceive Our Results Aren’t That Great

1. Most of us don’t like prospecting. Every individual phone call seems like one hundred. This makes our perceived effort much higher than what it really is. You only pay income taxes once a year, but doesn’t it seem like you fill out that 1040 form about every three months?
2. Since we dislike prospecting, we procrastinate, which makes it painful even before we start. Actually mowing the lawn on Saturday mornings is less punishing to our psyche than our thinking about it for three hours before we start.
3. Being unorganized in our prospecting efforts makes the whole process seem complicated and burdensome. Has there ever been one time in your life that you looked in your kitchen “junk drawer” and found what you were looking for quickly and without frustration? Of course not, it’s disorganized.

Let’s Put False Perceptions Aside
You can overcome this feeling that prospecting is nothing more than a big struggle with a poor return on your time and energy. How? By keeping detailed records of the prospects you contact. Doing this will enable you to take the emotional part of prospecting out of the picture and focus on your results. You’ll find that your ROPE (Return On Prospecting Efforts) is much better than you realized. There are additional benefits in doing this that I’ll detail below.

How do I calculate my ROPE?
What you’re interested in measuring is the number of customers you create by your specific prospecting activities. How many phone calls (not voice mails or emails) does it take to get an appointment? How many prospect appointments does it take to get an order? You get the idea. You can manipulate the data in many ways.

If you have a CRM system it should provide this information. Why not take advantage of all the information you’re entering into your company’s CRM system? It’s not just for sales management. If your employer doesn’t have a CRM system, then create a spreadsheet and track this information yourself. I’ve provided an oversimplified example below to show you what I’m talking about.

This Has Other Benefits Too
Doing this will provide other benefits, in addition to the metrics, that will make you realize that your ROPE is better than you thought.

1. You’ll learn what method of communication (phone, email, face to face) works best for the companies and contacts you work with.
2. It won’t take long to figure out which industries, and people within those industries, have the highest closing ratios for you.
3. There’s a good chance that you’ll discover a correlation between prospect size and/or prospect location and ROPE.

I want you to keep prospecting, and I want you to prove to yourself that your work is paying off.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer