I’m fortunate to have a readership of this sales blog that sends me their sales questions on a regular basis. By far, there is one question that I get the most. I’m going to tell you what the question is and provide some sales tips below. Be prepared however. Like everything in life, there are no shortcuts.

“Once you identify a good lead, enter their name on Google Alerts which will automatically email you when something new about that company pops up on the Internet.”

So What’s The Question?
“How do I get to decision makers at my prospects?” I’m asked that question in one form or another almost every day. The following sales tips are based on personal experience and observing hundreds of sales professionals over the last 20 years.

If you’re looking for a sexy simple answer, stop reading this sales blog post. If you’re looking for real-world sales tips that work, read on. These are presented in no particular order, but all of them are important.

Scott’s 7-Step Plan
1. Get Real. Sadly, 42% of all sales professionals give up after making only one attempt at trying to contact a decision maker. It’s going to take a number of contacts over a period of time to reach that important decision maker. You must first accept that reality.

2. Get Organized. We know that it will usually take numerous contacts with many different people in order to finally reach a designated decision maker. You’re going to have to be organized in order to pull this off. If your company doesn’t have some kind of CRM system, then create your own simple spreadsheet to keep track of things.

3. Use Technology. Use social media such as LinkedIn and Jigsaw to identify promising prospects. Buying lead lists is not what I recommend here. Their information is frequently not current. Once you identify a good lead, enter their name on Google Alerts which will automatically email you when something new about that company pops up on the Internet. It’s easy to use too.

4. Educate Yourself. Spend 60 seconds on the Internet and learn something about the company and decision maker you are about to call. Knowing some information about them will greatly enhance the prospect’s receptivity.

5. Be You. Have you ever really listened to other sales professionals make prospecting calls at your company? They all sound the same. What’s worse, sales professionals from one company to another sound the same too. Do you think decision makers are tired of hearing the same sales monologue 20 times a day? Be creative. Be you. Use your God-given personality. Lose the script. Please.

6. Go Stealth. Contact people around the target decision maker. Find an employee who will tell you how to get past the gatekeeper. A great place to start is in their sales department. They’re usually sympathetic and will be happy to help you.

7. Act Like A Sales Professional. Ask for a 15-minute initial meeting and stick to your self-imposed time limit. If they are interested and want you to stay longer, they’ll let you know.

Sales Blog Wrap-Up
The above list of sales tips is not complete. There are a few other ingredients that I would like to add to the seven items above. In fact, these ingredients are the catalysts that will make everything work: prospect continually, never stop, do a little every day, be patient.

Further reading:

• Jigsaw CEO Tells Me Why You Need His Website
• Tips for Sales: The Business Social Networking Landscape is Changing Radically
• Quirky Sales Professionals
• Sales Tips: What is Cycle Prospecting or Perpetual Prospecting?

To receive this sales blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. ©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

Related posts:

1. Two Powerful Questions to Identify Decision Makers
2. Decision Makers, Vertical vs. Horizontal
3. The Three Stooges can teach us about decision makers
4. Is Barack Obama a Lone Decision Maker?
5. Digital Sales Proposals

Tags: personality, Prospecting, prospects, script, technology

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