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Are you ready to make your pipeline sizzle like this summer heat, and crank up your sales performance?
Its easy to become a sweaty mess stressing about prospecting, but it’s a necessary step all Salespeople need to take in order to fill that pipeline and make up for the Covid crash this Spring.
Here’s three easy steps you should take to develop your prospecting goals, activities and results:
1. Goals
What are your sales goals for the remainder of the year? Do you have to make up for any sales lost this spring? What sales will come from existing clients? How much business do you need to secure in the next 90 days to ensure you will achieve your 2020 sales goals?
For example: Your sales goal is $1M for the year. You have secured $450,000 to-date. You have $550,000 for the next 6 months. You want to secure $350,000 in the next 90 days with $100,000 coming from new customers. Your average sales is $25,000 that’s only 4 new customers. This is do-able!
2. Prospecting Activities
With limited travel, you can block more time for prospecting! You want to block a time in your calendar when you think your buyer will be available to take your call or respond to your email. Typically, most people are in meetings at 9am, 11am, 1pm, or 3pm – you will want to consider alternative times for your prospecting blitz.
Examples:
5 By 5: This means making 5 calls everyday by 5pm
10 before 10: 10 calls/emails before 10am
13-13-12-12 = 50: 13 calls/emails on Tuesday, 13 on Wednesday, 12 on Thursday and 12 on Friday
Personally, I find early morning between 7:45am – 8:55am the best time to make prospecting calls. I commit to 10 phone calls and follow it up with the Double Whammy of an email or text to the same prospect.
3. Results
Applying the Double Whammy approach will increase your response results by almost 50%! In addition, customizing your email to your prospect, their organization and the challenges they are facing will also improve your results.
It’s easy to get distracted or procrastinate each day, so focus on the results you want to accomplish.
Example:
You will secure 3 calls each week to have PURPOSE Business Conversations, to better understand your prospect’s business and explore how you can provide solutions.
3 calls x 12 weeks = 36 new prospective consultative calls to hit your goal of securing 4 new customers in the next 90 days.
Prospecting can be hard, daunting, or flat-out scary. Putting your focus on your goals, specific prospecting activities, and most importantly the results you want to achieve can make the process manageable. You’ll be surprised at how many new customers you can secure by stepping out of your comfort zone and focusing on the right things!
Looking for more reading on prospecting? Check out some of our past blogs below!:
7 Ideas For Writing Better Prospecting Emails
SUMMER SIZZLE PROSPECTING BLITZ
Why Buyers Ignore Your Calls and What To Do About It
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
Did your sales fizzle during the past 90 days? Now is the time to add a Summer Sizzle Prospecting Blitz to grow your business!
Yes, we all want to enjoy the great weather as lockdowns are finally easing up. Summer is the time to be enjoying the beautiful weather, taking holidays, and spending time with family and friends. It can be easy to put prospecting on the back-burner when there are so many other (more enjoyable) things that you could be doing! That said, this Summer is NOT the time to procrastinate, with spring 2020 being impacted by Covid. We need all Salespeople on deck (no, not the boat kind) to turn this economy around and set up a stronger next 90 days to create a booming 2021.
We all know that prospecting can be hard, tedious, and sometimes even discouraging – making for the perfect “procrastination-storm”. I’ve been there! I learned a few years ago when planning a great trip in September, that putting prospecting into high gear in July & August when everyone else was taking holidays, allowed me to capture new clients and business before everyone else started their sales blitz in September. Luckily, I’ve been able to overcome my own objections and I have put together a list of top prospecting tips to help you get motivated, get busy, and get your pipeline sizzling as much as your grill this summer…
Here are 7 tips to heat up your Summer Prospecting Blitz:
1. Create your Hot List of at least 50-100 Customers and Prospects. Go through current customer lists, past customer lists from the last few years, webinar leads, tradeshow leads and your LinkedIn connections to create your Hot List.
2. Block your time in your calendar – the earlier the better. I find 7:45am – 8:55am is a great time to prospect, before customers get into 9am meetings. Take into consideration when your buyer will likely be available to answer your call or email live.
3. Identify your list of 10 prospects you’d like to contact the day prior, so that you’re prepared and excited to call your Hot List. Do your research on their website or their LinkedIn profile so you can create your compelling reason to meet with them. At least 10 calls each day, allows you to get your mojo going.
4. Apply the Double-Whammy method (a phone call followed by an email, text, or video) for even better results. It can improve your response rate by almost 50%.
5. Most customers read their emails on their mobile devices. The first 10 words of your email must be compelling to get a Buyer to click “open” and avoid the delete button
6. Be creative with a video email to break through the clutter of a Buyer’s inbox. Video Emails have been shown to get 81% more responses than traditional emails. Platforms like BombBomb and Covideo both offer 14-day free trials, so you can test this new creative method and get comfortable in front of a camera.
7. Your messaging must be focused on how you can help your prospect improve their business, not on how you want to secure a meeting to sell services. Avoid selling too soon in your prospecting emails. Your objective is to create interest to secure a meeting, not the sale – yet!
Implementing these tips and committing to making those phone calls and emails is sure to make for a fruitful prospecting blitz – then you can grab a towel and hit the beach!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
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Why would your customers or prospects meet with you – either virtually or F2F? What can you say, do, or offer that would warrant a worthwhile meeting to them?
Even though some businesses are re-opening, there are still some major hurdles to jump when it comes to securing a meeting. Most businesses are not allowing salespeople on-site, and everyone – especially buyers – are receiving almost double the amount of emails as before, making it easy for some to get lost or easily deleted before they are even opened.
This is the current reality, and yet salespeople need to be securing more business now than ever, to make up for the sales lost during lock-down.
What will you say to get the attention of a client or prospect to secure a meeting – virtually or F2F?
You will need to have a strong, compelling, and purposeful reason to meet.
Don’t wing it – take the time to prepare in order to increase your chances of securing the virtual or F2F meeting. It’s more about quality than quantity.
You MUST craft a conversational reason to meet – its not a pitch – as that will easily get ditched!
Ask yourself these questions before you even pick up the phone or send an email:
- What are the biggest challenges in their role? Their organization?
- What would make them look good in their role?
- What are they looking to change or improve?
- What are their goals/strategic direction? Has this changed during COVID?
- What do you and your company do better than your competition?
- What would be the purpose and ideal outcome for a meeting?
- What expertise, advice, solutions can you bring to this meeting?
- What can you concisely say to get their attention?
After asking yourself these questions, you can then craft your customized messaging for your email, telephone call or even video email!
Here’s a few tips to consider when creating your customized messaging:
- You will have to be creative. A generic “copy, paste” message is not likely to “wow” your prospect. Take the time to write something original and tailored. Better yet, try reaching out in a new way with a video-email! Platforms like BombBomb, Covideo, and Vidyard make this new form of contact simple (even fun!).
- Keep it concise! Everyone seems short on time these days, meaning they likely won’t have time to read a page long email, or listen to a five-minute voicemail (if they even check their voicemail these days). Highlight only the most important, compelling, and though-provoking points when you’re reaching out – save all the nitty-gritty details for once you’ve secured the meeting.
- It must evoke an emotional response.
- Clearly answer WIIFM – What’s In It For Me (the prospect, not you as the salesperson). Let them know what they can expect to gain from meeting with you.
- Double Whammy – 2 compelling touch-points back-to-back to increase your response rate. For example, a phone call followed by an email, or an email followed by a text. Its doesn’t matter which combination you choose, you can increase your response rate by 50% when you do the Double Whammy!
End your email with a strong call to action and provide 3 date/time options to meet with you. Doing this shows your client or prospect that you’re serious about meeting, and have time allotted to do so – making them more compelled to respond. Put these tips into practice, and let me know your results!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
If you had known what the past 90 days would bring, what would you have done differently?
We are almost at the 90-day mark of COVID shutting the entire world down. It has impacted businesses, customers, families, and personal lives so drastically. What is different for you, your customers, your business and your family now?
In last week’s blog, we talked about what you CAN do, rather than focusing on what you CAN’T do. As we reflect on the past 90 days and the next 90 days, it is an opportunity for you to align your goals with plans for what you CAN do for sales, business and personal interests!
Some people and organizations have accomplished many things in the past 90 days things, while others have hit the “pause” button.
The reality is that we can’t afford to pause anymore. We need everyone, especially salespeople, to pick up the pace and improve performance to turn this economy around, or the last 90 days of 2020 could be a bloody business bath.
It’s summer, so let’s enjoy the time outdoors to fuel our energy for what we need to do for our business and our customers’ businesses. The past 90 days may have been a pause, but that just means that the next 90 days is all about picking up the pace!
Before you plan the next 90 days, it’s important to reflect on the lessons learned, the insights and the meaning of what this pandemic has brought to us. Find a different place to do this reflection. My favourite place to reflect is near the water – I’m not sure what it is, I just think differently when I get away from my desk. Go for a walk, a drive or, like me, find your own place with a note pad to write down your thoughts and your future 90 day goals.
Ask yourself:
✓What did you learn about yourself?
✓How would you rate your business in how they handled the COVID19 situation?
✓How were your sales impacted?
✓Who are the individuals and companies that did an incredible job of pivoting to thrive during COVID?
✓What are the lessons learned?
While many people view the past 90 days as having put a “pause” on the world, we can’t afford to “pause” the world’s economy.
We need strong leaders and salespeople to turn this around. We need to move from “pause” to “pivot” and finally, to “performance.”
What will the next 90 days bring? We don’t know the answers or have the crystal ball. But we can develop goals and plans for our business, customers and even ourselves to enjoy the next 3 months of summer.
What will you plan for the next 90 days to pick up your performance?
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
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Some days it feels like we spend more energy focused on what we CAN’T do – especially in these times when many of our favourite places are closed and plans cancelled. We can’t meet with clients, we can’t go inside our favourite restaurant, we can’t attend our favourite conference. There is no clear direction for the future, and we may never return to our past normalcy.
Even though I’m very positive and optimistic about life and business, there are days when I feel down and prefer to just hit the snooze button – this must be a bad dream. Though as much as I wish I could wake up in a different world, we can’t change this reality – we CAN however change our thinking and focus on what we CAN do.
Recently when I caught myself focusing on the negatives, I decided I had to re-adjust. I grabbed a notepad and started to brainstorm a list of all the things I could do, that I could control and most importantly – that I can could excited about. As I started to draft this list, I began feeling much better, stronger, and excited. The ideas just kept coming – now I’m overwhelmed with all that I can do! I chose to rank these ideas on a scale of 1-10 to help me identify which ones I could put into action.
What is your list of #whatyoucando? You can expand this list to work, family, even summer activities:
Sales – #WhatYouCANDo
- You can sell to customers using virtual platforms
- You can identify customers who are increasing sales and not reducing costs
- You can focus on your key customers to grow business with other divisions/locations
Prospecting – #WhatYouCANDo
- You can research new verticals
- You can ask for referrals
- You can use LinkedIn Navigator to find new leads
Enjoy the Summer with limited travel – #WhatYouCANDo
- Porch Drinks with Neighbours
- Outdoor Office Space
- Ice Cream!
Start a new Hobby – #WhatYouCANDo
- Plant a garden
- Rollerblading
- Trail Hiking
Donate to a Charity – your time, funds or even your empties! #WhatYouCANDo
- Foodbank
- Black Lives Matter
- Your favourite charity
Family – #WhatYouCANDo
- Summer Picnic
- Road Trip
- Get a new Pet
This list is just to get your positive ideas flowing. Share, post, or make this a challenge in your next team huddle. Be creative and have fun to make the most of this summer – let us know your top 3 commitments for the month of June – we would love to see what your list looks like! #WhatYouCANDo.
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
Are you missing your road warrior days? You know what I mean: you’d start the day with your favourite coffee, head out early to avoid traffic, and get an early start on your first customer sales meeting. You’d continue your day with several other customer meetings, including a great customer lunch. Can you believe these road warrior days were your everyday normal just a short time ago?
Even though businesses are starting to open up and you’re getting itchy to get out on the road to meet face to face with your customers, the reality is that many of your customer sites are not allowing sales professionals on their premises. You want to get back to normalcy, to seeing your customers and hitting your sales numbers. You’re getting frustrated and feeling the pressure to increase sales.
There is a way to build rapport, establish trust through technology, and maximize your productivity while working your territory, from your home office. You can use your road warrior selling approach to become a tech Titan.
Here are ways to turn your territory into a tech-driven performance plan to get results:
It’s all about what you do BEFORE, DURING and AFTER your customer calls, and that means mapping out your series of Purposeful Conversations.
SELF-TALK Conversation
It begins with you and your mindset. You may not love technology, your CRM, or the volumes of virtual calls that fill your day. Yet, you like the idea of becoming a Titan – top of your game and ahead of your competitors. This is the opportunity to unlearn your traditional territory selling approach and embrace the Trusted Titan way.
STRATEGY Conversation
Map out how you work your ideal week, without even leaving your home. How will you re-gig your territory to meet with the right buyers on their terms? Identify technology that will save you time and hours of driving, and provide you with the time to enjoy breakfast AND dinner at home with your family. Maybe you convert your typical drive time into a new hobby, or finally put time towards optimizing your CRM.
REASON to MEET Conversation
Our recent conversations with buyers revealed that they are receiving hundreds of cookie-cutter emails each day that do not succeed in winning their attention. To secure a meeting with a buyer, it’s about quality over quantity and using exciting technology (eg. customized videos in emails) to win attention.
Our buyers said that a customized video email would get their attention, as they are getting very little of these types of emails as a means of securing a meeting. Buyers also told us that texting, or the old fashioned technology of a telephone call with an email, would give them the gentle nudge to differentiate you from the competition. At Teneo, we call that the double whammy to increase sales efforts. Again – it’s technology other than yet another email that will get a buyer’s attention.
PURPOSE Conversation
This is the opportunity for you to shine. It’s no longer about your products or even having the best price. It’s about having a Purposeful Business Conversation to ask even more questions about the challenges and impact on your client’s business. What new problems are they trying to solve? How are they trying to become more efficient and optimize costs? What are they doing to pivot and grow revenue? Using different virtual platforms will allow you to be the Titan! Have a discovery call to develop trust in a video call. Demonstrate your new product line, or host an interactive lunch-n-learn using polls to impress and get their attention. Customers will have to validate every decision and cost expenditure – turn your products and promos into a purposeful proposal with ROI that will help them grow their business.
FINAL YES! Conversation
There will be more objections or budgets on pause than ever before. As a Tech Titan, you are armed to anticipate those objections and address these even earlier in the buying process to influence and collaborate on new solutions that will make your buyers heroes! It’s all about making your customers look good – that is what Tech Titans do and it is what you can do to turn things around- both for your sales and for the economy.
Harness your Road Warrior Approach to become a Tech Titan Hero and enjoy your summer, even more!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
