Things are moving quickly in the world of promotion, marketing and sales. I have barely recovered from learning about Google ad words, RSS feeds and Linkedin and now I have to figure out Twitter and Tweets. Technology is spinning fast. Hang on and enjoy the ride.
Is Technology the Answer?
Technology is a big part of the puzzle, but if we hang our hat on and rely exclusively on high tech tools and toys to drive our business we may be disappointed.
Seminar Selling…an Old Friend
I have always liked seminar selling. There is nothing high tech about it. You target some new friends, tune up your message, book a room, send an invitation, follow-up with a phone call and talk to the group at the appointed day and time. If you feed them, your response will be even better.
My Biggest Sale
In the mid-1980’s I hosted a seminar on a snowy Friday at the Holiday Inn in Grand Rapids. At the time I was selling Medical Billing Systems. The turnout was poor. Three attended. One Doctor slept through the entire presentation. I had lots of donuts left when the meeting was over. The results? The two that stayed awake were part of a computer software search team for the Michigan State University Department of Human Medicine. Friends, they purchased a medical billing system for every clinic in their network. Their referral caused the University of Wisconsin to make a similar purchase. These sales were responsible for my best year ever. The irony of the story is that I probably would not have met these people any other way.
My Biggest Save
A few years ago, a good friend of mine asked me to help him sell his Internet services to C-Level Executives at Fortune 500 Companies. I’m not sure if you have every tried to make a sales call on these men and women, but take my word for it, it is very difficult to get them on the phone, let alone book an audience with them. My friend was running out of money while being hard pressed by his board of directors to make a sale. The curtain was falling. My answer was simple. We would make the “C’s” an offer they might accept. I went on the road and hosted luncheons in most major cities at the best restaurants in town. The luncheons were reasonably well attended and because of it I landed a major contract that helped the company secure a million dollars in funding. The travel was grueling, but seminar selling was the answer for my friend and client.
Breakfast at the Coney Island Restaurant
Another good friend of mine sells point of sale (POS) computer systems to specialty retail stores. He is one of the brightest guys I know. He recently hired me to train and coach his sales staff and design programs to uncover opportunities, qualify leads and make sales. Really, who doesn’t want that? Among the problems we faced is that the retailers are hurting in this economy like everyone else. They are also hard to sell because they are busy working long hours at their stores during the day and evenings. A retail store is not an ideal venue for a sales call or a software presentation. I suggested that he host a breakfast seminar to attract prospects and to qualify leads. My idea was accepted. A venue was secured, a hard hitting message was created, and an invitation was mailed to 150 specialty retailers, followed by a phone call. To my delight, 15 retailers attended the breakfast. My friend delivered a terrific presentation and he certainly will sell point-of-sales computer systems to a handful of the attendees. Wow.
Old School Still Works
Seminar selling remains a solid tactic to attract and qualify prospects. Seminars are time tested. They do require careful strategic planning and execution and must deliver value to succeed. I strongly suggest that you consider seminars to build your business.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Qualifying Leads
Qualifying leads is a very important part of the sales process.
The concept is straightforward. Do not spend your valuable time attempting to sell to people who are not qualified to be your customer. Your time should be spent with prospects that you have a fair shot at selling.
Before you can qualify leads as those who meet your requirements, determine what “qualified” means to you. For years, I would not spend time with any prospect unless they clearly had a need, a budget and could make a decision. Without investing too much time you can ask a few questions to your prospect to determine if they are qualified and to what degree they are qualified to do business with you.
Here are some common sense ideas to consider when qualifying prospects.
Need
From your experience, you already know the profile of a good customer. They may really need what you are selling but don’t see the value. The chance you take by spending time with an “unaware of their needs” prospect is that they may never understand and you will have wasted your time. The solution is to invest a few minutes in a great consultative sales call by phone or in person to get them to acknowledge their needs. You accomplish this by asking probing questions and getting them to agree that they need what you have to sell.
Budget
There are business cycles where prospects are not inclined to spend money. Just like prospects that don’t see a need for your product or service; they may not see any value in buying from you. Assuming you are offering something of value that streamlines operations, cuts costs or creates revenue, it is up to you to engage in a consultative conversation to get the prospect thinking right about the value they will enjoy by working with you. Qualifying the budget might be as simple as offering terms or waiting until next month when they will have the money.
Decision Making
Decision making is a formidable roadblock to the sales process. If you spend time working a non-decision maker you are probably wasting your time. The non-decision maker, at best, will tell your story to the decision maker if they are convinced that you have something of value to consider. I don’t want to rely on a non-decision maker to tell my story to their boss. The facts will surely be mixed up or omitted and questions will go unanswered. A good strategy here is to ask your contact who the decision maker is and insist that they participate in your process.
It’s Your Call
Who you chase and under what circumstances you launch your campaigns is your call. I have successfully pursued opportunities that were less than qualified based on a sense or feeling that I could make the sale.
I guess the rule of thumb is that if you’re flush with highly qualified leads you can enforce strict rules. Common sense says that if your sales funnel is empty, you should work less than qualified leads.
More Leads
The best strategy to increase the number of qualified leads in your sales funnel is to prospect for more leads. (Duh!) There are some powerful emerging tools and tactics that will help you to increase your volume of sales opportunities.
More to Come…
The concept is straightforward. Do not spend your valuable time attempting to sell to people who are not qualified to be your customer. Your time should be spent with prospects that you have a fair shot at selling.
Before you can qualify leads as those who meet your requirements, determine what “qualified” means to you. For years, I would not spend time with any prospect unless they clearly had a need, a budget and could make a decision. Without investing too much time you can ask a few questions to your prospect to determine if they are qualified and to what degree they are qualified to do business with you.
Here are some common sense ideas to consider when qualifying prospects.
Need
From your experience, you already know the profile of a good customer. They may really need what you are selling but don’t see the value. The chance you take by spending time with an “unaware of their needs” prospect is that they may never understand and you will have wasted your time. The solution is to invest a few minutes in a great consultative sales call by phone or in person to get them to acknowledge their needs. You accomplish this by asking probing questions and getting them to agree that they need what you have to sell.
Budget
There are business cycles where prospects are not inclined to spend money. Just like prospects that don’t see a need for your product or service; they may not see any value in buying from you. Assuming you are offering something of value that streamlines operations, cuts costs or creates revenue, it is up to you to engage in a consultative conversation to get the prospect thinking right about the value they will enjoy by working with you. Qualifying the budget might be as simple as offering terms or waiting until next month when they will have the money.
Decision Making
Decision making is a formidable roadblock to the sales process. If you spend time working a non-decision maker you are probably wasting your time. The non-decision maker, at best, will tell your story to the decision maker if they are convinced that you have something of value to consider. I don’t want to rely on a non-decision maker to tell my story to their boss. The facts will surely be mixed up or omitted and questions will go unanswered. A good strategy here is to ask your contact who the decision maker is and insist that they participate in your process.
It’s Your Call
Who you chase and under what circumstances you launch your campaigns is your call. I have successfully pursued opportunities that were less than qualified based on a sense or feeling that I could make the sale.
I guess the rule of thumb is that if you’re flush with highly qualified leads you can enforce strict rules. Common sense says that if your sales funnel is empty, you should work less than qualified leads.
More Leads
The best strategy to increase the number of qualified leads in your sales funnel is to prospect for more leads. (Duh!) There are some powerful emerging tools and tactics that will help you to increase your volume of sales opportunities.
More to Come…
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