Outbound Prospecting Mistake: Being too aggressive
Slow down and let your prospect do most of the talking.
Ask a few simple questions.
If answers are positive, hey --- you got yourself a "qualified" prospect!
From there your follow-up calls take over... methodically moving your prospect through your sales funnel and into the appointment setting stage.
Now you know a bit more about sales prospecting and cold calling.
So set aside an hour a day for outbound calls to develop new clients.
Outbound lead prospecting tips
- Use sales prospecting to renew relationships with lapsed clients and build your customer base.
- Start with introductory cold calls to qualify each prospect. It's here the weak prospects are weeded out...and the better qualified prospects are engaged for follow-up calls. This is where the all important relationship building process begins.
- Follow-up calls to your house list are especially important. They build customer loyalty and help keep customers from drifting away.
- Be on time with your follow-up sales calls. Prompt follow-up separates you from the competition and helps build long lasting business relationships.
- Today's B2B appointment setting strategy is all about building relationships. And that takes time. The key is follow-up calls. They keep you in front of your prospects.
- Work your follow-up calls into a methodical strategy that moves your prospects through your sales funnel...educating and informing them about what you can do for them.
Unsettling News For Old Way Sales Prospecting
This article in FORBES may unsettle your prospecting B2B strategy.
Reading it may force you to rethink how you go about getting and keeping customers.
Prospecting B2B In The Age Of The Customer
Called 7 NEW RULES FOR PROSPECTING IN THE AGE OF THE CUSTOMER it tells of the massive shift that has taken place in the marketplace of business to business sales.
This upheaval is the relationship between buyer and seller.
Buyers no longer need you the seller in front of them to make intelligent buying decisions.
Your importance to a buyer is vastly diminished if you follow old way selling habits.
Forget prospecting for appointments.
The digital age has pushed appointment setting off the high ground it held for so many years.
Appointment setting is now a loser's game.
Sure, face-to-face appointments matter...but their significance in the sales cycle has faded.
The importance of this dynamic for anyone in B2B sales and marketing cannot be understated.
Bottom Line: If you are prospecting for appointments you are playing a loser's game.
Get over it. Or get yourself another job --- but not in sales.
With that in mind my page on prospecting for new clients also may be worth a look.
If you want better qualified sales leads, higher conversion rates and more revenue per sales lead than is typically achieved by traditional sales prospecting B2B lead generation I can help you.
- Get updates on ways my Business Prospecting B2B can help your business grow ---especially in this economy. Also, go here for DMA 2012 response rate reports for lead generation marketing media. Plus this Advertising Age update on B2B phone marketing.
Also, if you do nothing else today click and read this:
7 New Rules for Prospecting In The Age of The Customer
Marketing Direct Archives: Browse these articles. You'll find more sales prospecting tested tips and advice.
George Clay 