8 Steps to Surprising Prospects You’ve probably heard the news: cold calling is dead. It’s a statement that is ringing throughout the sales and telemarketing world. And it’s true for most markets. The day of calling random prospects with no information and just hoping to get to make a pitch has passed. Prospecting doesn’t have to be cold any more. It’s warm. It’s inviting. It’s knowledgeable. All thanks to the myriad of information available on our social networks. Michael Crain, VP of Sales for CloudCoaching International and Baker Communications, has outlined a seven-step process for taking advantage of this warmer world of prospecting, standing out from the crowd, and making real connections with customers. 8 Steps to Surprising Prospects & Making Connections Step 1. Be different. Be better. When it comes to reaching customers, we should be thinking about how we can do something different from, and better than, our competition. A lot of people focus on just getting the confidence up to make an attempt. Being willing to make the attempt, and stick with it, is huge… but it’s not enough to be good at making phone calls or good at sending emails, because “good” just puts us in the same category with everybody else. We can’t just be good. We have to be better than. Step 2. Say something in a way that they don’t expect. Part of being “better than” is being unexpected. Always ask the question: “How can I say this in a way that they don’t expect? How am I going to get their attention within the first few words that I say or that they read?” That’s really about honoring our customers and doing a little bit of research before we reach out. That bit of research allows us to make a more intimate connection with who they are, rather than coming across as someone who’s just trying to make a sale. It’s also important that we catch their attention within our first few words. While this is important when sending an email or having a conversation in person, it’s even more important when leaving a voicemail if we’re going to have any hopes of having them call us back. We have between 7-12 seconds to get their voicemail before they hit the delete key. So, those first few words are probably going to get the customer’s attention or lose it, whether we’re talking on the phone or writing an email. Nobody likes to listen to anything long-winded, and no one has time to read for long. Step 3. If you didn’t get through, try something new. After we’ve tried one approach and were declined or ignored, it’s time to reach into our toolbox of ideas and try something different. Part of our job is constantly restocking our toolbox with fresh, new methods that we learn from our other successful customer interactions and stories from colleagues. (Another great source is messages from people soliciting our attention – if one impresses you, figure out why and use it!) Step 4. Look for mutual connections – they’re your best friends. If we haven’t been able to get a customer to respond to an initial connection request on LinkedIn, we might look for a third party connector and ask them to introduce us, rather than sending that generic, “I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn.” One of the best tools on LinkedIn is being able to see a connection that we share with the prospect. Once we identify that mutual connection, we can ask that person to help perform an introduction, or at least give permission to include their name in our initial request to connect. Step 5. Make it safe for them to connect. Our greatest challenge and our greatest competitor is the status quo. The reason most people aren’t reaching out or responding to us is simply because they would rather deal with what’s known than something new. So, we have to be very careful in the beginning to make it safe for the customer to do something different, even if that something different is just to connect with us. This means that when we first request to connect, it’s very important that we don’t ask for a meeting. Let me say that again: we are not going to ask for a meeting. We are not going to ask for a sale. All we’re going to do is make it safe enough for the customer to connect with us. Step 6. Time for more research! After making that connection, it’s time to dive in deeper. Research the customer’s organization and company news, take a look at their position in the company, see what groups they’re in, and read their posts to find out what’s important to them. Step 7. Present a customer-centric benefit. Try to find an article, blog, or stat that’s associated with their interests. For example, let’s say they’re in the business of school construction. Let’s Google “school construction” in the customer’s state, and find an article that looks like it would amuse, intrigue, or even help the customer in their business. Using the research we did, we now have something to share that has absolutely everything to do with the customer and nothing to do with us. A few days after connecting, we can send a note like this: “Thanks for connecting. I came across this article and thought I would share with all my LinkedIn connections in the construction industry. I thought you might appreciate it.” Notice, once again, we are not asking for anything. Not a meeting. Not a sale. Think of relationship building, especially in the beginning stages, as an emotional bank account: we either make deposits or withdrawals. Right now, in the early stages, we need to make deposits, and not ask for anything. Step 8. Enter the challenge. After sending the article, we wait a few more days (follow your intuition about how long). Then we’re ready to provide a challenge introduction and a meeting request. This can be on LinkedIn, email, or even over the phone, if they’ve responded to a voicemail. Here’s an example: “Greetings, Keren. I recently met with your industry colleague, Rich Harris, over at ABC company, because he was having an issue. He needed to grow their sales in the European market. I’m happy to share that Rich is now announcing that we’ve helped him improve sales by 18%. If you are also looking to see even greater revenue, I’d like to team up with you and learn about your objectives, and then determine how we can be of value to you. Please call me back between now and Friday. If, by chance, we don’t connect by then, I’ll be sure to reach out on Tuesday.” This breaks down into five distinct elements: The name drop: we build authenticity and verification by mentioning a name and/or company that we are sure the customer will recognize. The challenge: state the issue in one sentence, because word count is everything. The results: share the performance improvement, ideally a numerical value. The connection: rather than claiming that we believe their company has a problem or that we can fix it, we offer to help them be more successful. The invitation: if they’ve stuck with us to this point, we’ve earned the right to invite a meeting. (Notice that our offer to call them if “by chance” they can’t connect is an invitation, not a threat. We are doing them a favor by honoring their schedule.) Even if we do everything right, keep in mind that our first attempts may not work. If that happens, don’t give up! That’s when we draw from our toolbox to help grow our influence, especially if we feel like there’s some resistance to making a connection. Happy hunting! Michael Crain is the Vice President of Sales & Product Design for Baker Communications and CloudCoaching International. He also has over 25 years of experience in sales and training. Connect with Michael via LinkedIn .
