What you were told about prospecting…
“You should be able to sell anybody at any time!”
“You’re not cut out for sales if you can’t one-call-close somebody!”
“Learn to like rejection!”
Have you heard any of these things before? I know I have in my 10 years of sales experience.
I’ve always hated cold calling, and felt like I was a complete failure in sales if I couldn’t make a sale on the first call, or at least get a solid appointment or next step.
I would get rejected, and then think to myself how much I hate sales, and maybe I should find a new career that I was better suited for…
Any of this ring true for you too?
The reality is I was thinking about prospecting all wrong, and being way harder on myself than I needed to be. That’s good news!!
What prospecting really is…
Prospecting is nothing more than contacting a bunch of people, getting their attention and identifying who might have a problem that you can solve with your product or service.
It’s literally that simple!
If you think of prospecting in that way it seems like it would be a super easy task, right? I mean, there’s always going to be rejection because not everybody is going to be a fit for your product (at least at this time), but your goal isn’t to sell anything on this initial outreach.
Your goal is just to get someone to know you, get to know them and what they might be looking to improve, and then get them some information.
This process is usually not a one-step process anyway, unless you’re selling a cheap trinket that really doesn’t have much value anyway.
The prospecting call…
Here’s a simple script that you can use to help formulate your own prospecting script/word tracks…
“Hi John, this is [Jake] with [company].
The reason I’m calling is [to give you access to a tool that has increased sales at companies similar to yours by 30% in 90 days!]
To be sure I’m not wasting your time and can even help you, let me ask…
- How many sales people do you have over there?
- If there was one thing that you’d like to improve with your sales process, what would that be?
- If I could only do 1/2 of what I’ve promised, but you knew for sure you could improve in this area, would you make 5 minutes to talk further about this?
Other than yourself, who would need to get involved in this decision?
When could you make time to discuss this?”
This is just a sample of what your initial call/visit could look like, and again, the purpose is to get their attention, get them a little curious, and then find out if they have a problem that you can help them with.
So don’t overthink this. Just make the call, use your fear as enthusiasm and try to help someone!
Make sure your attitude is that of “Give, give, give.” and provide value before you ask for moeny!
-Jake Martincic
JakeMartincic.com 