When Prospecting, Go for the Appointment

Last Friday, when Professor Sweet lectured about Rule #8: When Prospecting, go for the Appointment, this lecture really stuck out to me because of how effective it can be as a salesperson showing genuine interest in the prospect. First, Professor Sweet gave us a definition of prospecting: a set of activities for identifying potential users of your product or service. He continued with prospecting and said that prospecting is not selling, it’s just preliminary to the sales process. Within prospecting, there are two primary goals. First, as the seller, you want to engage people in a conversation about your product or service and determine if they have any kind of interest. Second, if yes, make some sort of appointment to discuss it further. By doing these two primary goals of prospecting, the buyer can see that the seller is genuine and is willing to put time away from other things to focus on what the buyer wants. Through the conversation, “what do you do” always comes up naturally in conversation. When you get asked this, you want to say something interesting that they might not expect. For example, I help people identify problems in the construction industry. Then usually they will ask, “really, what’s that?”. A great response a skilled salesperson would say is something like, “I help small businesses that are frustrated with something do something. After this response you give them, see if they seem interested or if it stroked a cord. Or is there anything relevant to which they respond. So, as the seller, you can steer the conversation in the direction of topics around your business. Typically, skilled salespeople find ways of facilitating the conversation in a way that makes talking about business feel natural and organic. Although, going for the appointment relives pressure from both the salesperson and the prospect. This appointment should not be forced and should allow the need for an appointment arise naturally in the conversation.