The Biggest Mistake in Sales Prospecting
Copyright © 2005 Alan Rigg
80/20 Performance
http://www.8020performance.com
Recently I received a prospecting voice mail message from a
salesperson. The salesperson explained his company was "the
leader in Microsoft hosted Exchange solutions" and he encouraged
me to visit his company's website. That was it - that was the
"meat" of the voice mail message.
If you received that salesperson's voice mail message, what would
go through your mind? Do you think it might it be a question
like, "What the heck is a Microsoft hosted Exchange solution?"
Do you think the voice mail message would inspire you to call
the salesperson back?
Why did the salesperson's voice mail message fail to accomplish
the desired end result? Because it focused on a SOLUTION rather
than a PROBLEM.
If your prospecting calls and related voice mail messages talk
about a solution, in effect you are assuming that your prospects
are already aware of the problems that your solution can solve
for them. If your prospects are not able to relate your solution
back to their own specific problems, your message will probably
just "bounce off".
If you use industry-specific jargon to describe your solution,
you are making the additional assumption that your prospects are
familiar with the jargon that you are using. If they aren't, it
further reduces your chances of attracting their attention!
How could this salesperson restructure his voice mail message to
be more effective? Instead of talking about his solution, he
could talk about one or more of the problems that can be solved
by using a hosted Exchange service. A revised voice mail message
might sound something like this:
"We help small companies look like big companies to their
prospects and customers; plus, we help companies of all
sizes focus more of their time and resources on their core
businesses, which accelerates growth and profitability. If
you'd like learn how we do this, please give me a call."
This salesperson could further enhance his message by including
a specific QUANTIFIED IMPACT that his company's services have
produced for customers. Here is what it might sound like if we
add a quantified impact to the previously revised voice mail
message:
"We help small companies look like big companies to their
prospects and customers; plus, we help companies of all
sizes focus more of their time and resources on their core
businesses. This has helped some of our customers reduce
their operating costs by as much as 30% in just six months.
If you'd like learn how they were able to achieve these
results, please give me a call."
Do you see the difference between the revised messages and, "We
are the leader in Microsoft hosted Exchange solutions; please
visit our website"? Do you agree that the revised messages are
likely to capture more prospects' attention and produce more
returned phone calls?
There are other advantages to focusing your prospecting messages
on problems rather than solutions. If you talk about a solution,
your message will have the most appeal for prospects that are
already actively looking for that specific solution. But, do you
think those (few) prospects are just sitting around waiting for
you to call? Or, do you think they might be doing some proactive
research? In fact, isn't it possible they might already have some
price quotes in hand? If they are that far along in the buying
process, how does it impact your chances of winning their
business? If you do manage to win their business, how profitable
is it likely to be? Wouldn't you agree that in this situation
your solution is more likely to be perceived as a commodity, and
the business is likely to go to a low bidder?
Contrast this scenario to a properly managed, problem-based
prospecting approach. If you are successful in attracting a
prospect's interest by talking about the business problems that
you can solve and the quantified impacts that your company has
delivered to customers, the natural next step is to ask the
prospect to identify which specific problems pertain to their
business. Once the prospect prioritizes their problems, you can
ask more questions to help them quantify the impact of these
problems on their business. If the quantified impacts are
substantial enough, it becomes quite easy to justify a very
profitable price for your solution.
If you want to improve your prospecting effectiveness, stop
leading with solutions in your prospecting calls and voice mail
messages. Instead, lead with the problems that you can help
prospects solve, and (ideally) one or more of the quantified
impacts that your company has produced for customers. This type
of problem-focused prospecting approach will attract the interest
of a larger percentage of your prospects, produce higher close
rates, and generate more profitable sales.
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Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His
company, 80/20 Performance Inc., supplies specialized sales
assessment tests and consulting to help organizations build
top-performing sales teams. For more sales and sales management
tips, visit: http://www.8020performance.com
