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Now You’re Talking! How to unlock your prospect’s lips

Selling can be relatively smooth once a prospect is talking to you. It’s breaking the initial barrier and getting them talking that can be the challenge.

So how can you and your team get more people to talk with you? Like most things in sales, it all comes down to respecting a prospect and focusing on their needs…

1. Research, research, research

A successful sales representative won’t just pick up the phone and start dialing, with nothing more than a contact’s name. No, a successful sales rep will have all the information needed to make sure the call is personalised, with human warmth, not a scripted sales pitch that can be read to anyone.

There are many avenues you can take to gather information on a prospect. If it’s a business-to-business contact, the most obvious and convenient source is the businesses website. This will tell you what they do, who they serve, and what type of message they want to send. Look for information on the homepage, “About Us,” and “FAQ” pages. If the person is an established leader in the company, they may have a personal profile somewhere in a “Staff” or “Meet the Team” page. You can also visit their social media profiles, especially LinkedIn, which is geared more towards business.

Let’s look at an example. Say you’re selling an online data storage program and you have discovered that the business you are contacting processes thousands of orders in a single day. You could reasonably conclude that they are concerned with organising these orders. In this case, you might hit on your program’s ability to easily file, store, organise, and access orders, making their jobs easier and their processes less complicated.

With proper research, your team will be fully prepared for the next two steps…

2. Make Sure Your Team Respects a Prospect’s Time

Everyone is busy, especially the most desirable prospects on your contact list. For this reason, you and your team need to respect a prospect’s time.

With proper research, you’ll come into a sales meeting fully prepared; you won’t have to inquire about basic facts like a person’s job title or the company’s core business. When you are prepared, it shows a prospect that you value their time, making them more willing to talk with you.

A successful sales rep will often start with questions related to time. Before they get started, they might say “we scheduled an appointment to chat, does now still work for you?”

Of course, the most important element of respecting a prospect’s time is showing up on time, or better yet: early. If you are even a few minutes late for an appointment, you’ve pretty much lost the contact. Show up on time, however, and the prospect will be much more likely to talk with you.

So, how can you ensure that you and your team never miss a meeting? Setting up a CRM is one of the most effective ways to keep your team on task. Depending on what system you use, these programs can organise contact schedules, set daily reminders, and store contact information, decreasing the chances that your team is ever late for a meeting or call.

3. Teach Them How to Offer Relevant, Personalised Solutions

People want to feel special, and your prospects will know a sales script when they hear it. The era of word-for-word scripting is done. You need to offer relevant, personalised solutions for your prospects, not a one-way pitch. Essentially, this is about making the call about them, not about you or the product you offer. Are You a Telesales Scripter, Drifter or Architect?

A personalised, relevant call will be rooted in the ever-important research. While searching the business’s website, look for personal, unique ways that your product or service will benefit them and only them. With a comprehensive understanding of the business, you can offer unique solutions that will solve a problem and make their lives easier.

Research can be used to personalise the message. Maybe you sell insurance, including home, auto, life, and boat coverage. When you visit a prospect’s Facebook page, you find images of them fishing from a boat with a family. In this case, you’ll want to mention boat and life insurance during the conversation, as this person is likely interested in both. These three tips are a sure-fire way to unlock your prospect’s lips.

Put the Human Touch in Your Sales Process

If you want to increase productivity and success among your team, give them the tools to succeed through Natural Training. We focus on real-world, person-to-person communication, not robotic sales scripts. Contact us now to learn more!

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