Prospecting can be an important part of selling, but it is important to understand that when prospecting you are not going for a sale, you are going for an appointment. Simply going for an appointment relieves pressure from both you the salesperson, and from your prospect. To prospect, it is ideal to find natural networks where your potential prospects build relationships, and then search and identify ideal customers. It is important when engaging in conversation with prospects to not feign interest or use techniques, but to be genuinely interested in the prospect, that they do, and their interests.
Phase 1
There are two phases to a typical conversation with a prospect. The first phase is introductions and getting to know your prospects. Engage in real conversation, ask about what they do, and usually the topic of what you yourself does will come up naturally. Explain to the prospect what you do, and reference pain points that you assist with. An example would be saying “I help small businesses that are frustrated with ___ do ___”.
Phase 2
Then move on to phase two. Check if any of the pain points you just articulated resonated with them and see if you struck a chord. If they don’t voluntarily offer up this information, you may need to scratch the surface a little more. If any of the pain points you articulated did resonate with them, then go for the appointment, and ask if it would make sense to sit down sometime and have a talk, however it is important not to force an appointment.
Your Best Prospect May Never be Your Customer
It is important to understand that the pain points that you solve will not be relevant to everyone you talk to, however this does not mean there is no use in continuing conversation. Often your best prospects may never be your customers, but they could lead you to your best customers. Just because none of your pain points resonated with this prospect, does not mean that they can’t connect you to those it is relevant to. When in phase two, if it is discovered that your solutions are not relevant to the prospect, naturally and conversationally ask if they know anyone that your solutions might resonate with, then pursue an appointment there.
testacr22
I think you are spot on and get to the heart of the issue when you mention that they should engage in real conversation, ask about what they do, and usually the topic of what you yourself does will come up naturally.
i love how well this was worded. It all made a lot of sense. especially when you mentioned how and when to move into phase 2. it’s important to be natural and genuinely curious.