Robb Ryerse's Blog, page 3

Be Memorable – Tell Good Stories: Selling Strategies

When I was in college, one of my buddies bought a “Mega Memory” course from a late night infomercial. After we stopped laughing at him, a few of us were curious enough to try it out. For a couple of weeks after that we gathered in my dorm room to listen to the tapes. We dreamed of never having to study again. It didn’t quite work out like we had hoped.

But … there was one technique that has stuck with me. Basically, the idea is that if you have a list to remember, you need to connect each part of that list with something you can’t forget in a very memorable way.

The course taught us to, for instance, “peg things to your body list.” So, if you had to remember a grocery list of eggs, milk, and bread, you’d imagine something outlandish with eggs and your toes. Then, you’d imagine something crazy or painful about milk and your calves. Then, you’d think of something connecting bread and your knees. When you get to the grocery store, you can just start moving up the parts of your body, which you’re not going to forget, to remember what you need to buy.

The key was to create a story for each item – the more emotional, painful, or fun, the better. Stories make things memorable.

Hubspot recently shared a great article about the neuroscience of storytelling. It dovetails nicely with the sales mantra that “facts tell but stories sell.” Hearing a story actually stimulates more parts of the brain than hearing facts and figures. That’s why we remember stories better.

Here are some stories that every salesperson needs in their arsenal:

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Personal Anecdote

When I first began selling digital advertising solutions, my manager at the time used to tell our team over and over again about how his wife would shop for shoes online and then he would be served tons of shoe ads when he was online at his house. He told the story so often that I could tell it too. But you know what he did? He demonstrated the effectiveness of our product by telling a personal anecdote that all of us could relate to.

Think about a way that your product or service has helped you or a family member or a friend. Have a personal anecdote that a prospect or client can identify with. Include it in your presentation naturally and in a way that invites them to admit that what you’re offering works. Follow your story up with a question that begs an affirmative answer like, “That’s happened to all of us, hasn’t it?”

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Success Story

Many – but not all – of your buyers will be concerned that what you’re offering has been effective for someone else. Can you tell a success story that is industry-specific and replicable?

Here’s an even better idea – use your iPhone to record your client telling the story themselves. When you’re doing your presentation, whip your phone out and play it for them, or embed it in your PowerPoint, or email it to them later. This allows you to double-dip, getting a reference and a success story all at once.

If you’re new to your sales position, it’s completely acceptable to borrow a success story from a team member. Just be honest about it. Say something like, “One of my teammates was working with a client, and they were able to …” The point is to tell the story in such a way as to demonstrate how you can meet your client’s needs the same way another client’s needs were met.

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An Illustration that Makes the Complex Simple

There is probably some aspect of your offering that can be a little difficult to understand. Instead of hammering your prospect with facts and figures, come up with a story that illustrates your point.

Let me give you an example. In advertising sales, we talk a lot about reach and frequency. It’s important for a high number of people to see an advertisement a certain number of times. But a discussion of reach and frequency can easily turn into a bunch of numbers that make people’s eyes glaze over. Instead of going through the numbers, I’ve started saying something like this:

What we want to do is make you a regular with a particular audience. For instance, if I take my wife out to a new restaurant every week, there’s no guarantee about what we’re going to get. The service might be good or not. The food might be good or not. We just don’t know what to expect; we’ve all been there, right? That’s a much different experience than what we have every Saturday morning. For the past two years, my wife and I have been having breakfast at Susan’s Restaurant. We’re at the point now where we don’t have to look at the menu. The waitresses know us and our kids. We’re regulars. We want to make you a regular with this audience.

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Pop Culture Reference

Sometimes, movies or TV shows or some other aspect of pop culture do your job for you. If you see a scene that makes your point, use it. In season 2 of Better Call Saul, Jimmy shoots a TV commercial for a lawsuit he’s pursuing. He uses great creative and a targeted strategy. It’s a perfect illustration of what I try to do for my clients. I can lead with, “Do you watch Better Call Saul? Do you remember the scene …” Don’t force it, but if you find one that works, use it. People remember the stories that entertain them.

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Salespeople need a few good stories that will help make our presentations more effective. If you work with a sales team, brainstorm good stories together. People aren’t likely to remember the facts and figures we drop on them. We’ve got to tell stories to be memorable.

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Here’s the full infographic Hubspot shared:

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for an article about the dots we absolutely have to connect for our clients..\

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The post Be Memorable – Tell Good Stories: Selling Strategies appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Hooking a Prospect with a Great Idea: Idea Selling Strategies

Hooks in the water.

That’s a phrase I use a lot to describe sales. It’s important to put as many hooks in the water as possible so that you have as many opportunities to make a sales as you can get.

Let me push the analogy one more step. I like to have a hook for prospects and clients.

Many times I’ve walked into someone’s office or business and said something like, “Hi, I’m Robb, and I’d love to chat with the person who handles your advertising and marketing.” And many times, I’ve been met with blank stares and uninterested people. Most business owners feel like marketing is an often-unnecessary evil, and they have very little desire to chat about it with a total stranger. This approach, though common, fails a lot of the time because it does nothing to hook the prospect.

I’m positive that the same can be said for just about any other salesperson, regardless of industry, service, or product.

But there have been a few times that I’ve had a great idea. And I’ve prospected for that idea. And I believed in it. And I wanted the prospect to believe in it too. And I couldn’t wait to talk to them about it. “Hi, I’m Robb. And I’m working on this great idea that I think would be perfect for you. I came in today because I’m so excited to share it with you.” Most people can’t help but be interested in learning more. They’re hooked.

Idea selling is simply a way to bait your hook.

Idea selling is using a creative concept as the lead by which you get a prospect interested in talking to you more. Idea selling shows that you’ve already taken an interest in your prospect’s business, that you’re smart enough to be thinking about their needs (and solutions to those needs) before you ever walk in the door. Idea selling is a way to open the door and start a conversation.

But here’s what idea selling is not – it’s not selling a cookie-cutter package. When I come up with an idea that I want to sell, I make sure to not figure out every single aspect of it. I come up with a concept, a sketch of an idea, and then I work with the client to fill in all the details in a way that meets their specific needs. Idea selling is not a take-it-or-leave-it proposition; it’s an invitation to a conversation in which we’re going to customize something perfect for the client.

Maybe you’re thinking, “But I’m not a very creative person. I can’t come up with great ideas.” That may or may not be the case. Either way, here are some prompts I use to come up with ideas:

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Calendars

Some of the best ideas are seasonally appropriate ideas. What’s something that makes sense for summer? How can you creatively customize the solution you’re selling for fall? What holidays are coming up that would be a natural hook for you to utilize with prospects?

In advertising sales, I also think about specialty designations for each month. February is Children’s Dental Health Month. May is National Bike Month. August is Back-to-School. November is Adoption Month. I’ve come up with great sell-able ideas based on each of these. Every month has several designations. Just google it.

But … keep this in mind. When it comes to idea selling for time sensitive ideas, you’ve got to be thinking in advance. Give yourself a lot of lead time. Don’t start prospecting for a Valentine’s Day idea on February 1. You probably won’t have enough time to it sold. You’re likely going to hear, “We like the idea, but our budget is already set.” I once sold a Thanksgiving-themed idea in July. It was perfect timing.

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Causes That You Care About

The world is not the way it is supposed to be. So many people are doing such good things to make things a little better. What are the things you care about? Is it poverty? Awareness of a disease? Environmental issues? Veterans’ care? If you can come up with some ideas that address causes you care about, you’ll have the motivation and passion to sell those ideas.

Here are a couple of tips: once you have an idea for a particular cause, look up every organization that is currently working to address that issue, both locally and nationally. See if they have a sponsors page that lists companies that support them. Prospect off those sponsorship pages. Go to places where you know they already care about the issue.

Also, if you can, develop a partnership with a local non-profit. If you can say that you’re already working with a local non-profit, your idea has instant credibility. And, that non-profit might also be able to provide you with some great leads to prospect.

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Clever Creative

In advertising sales, it makes a difference if you can can come up with a commercial idea for a business category ahead of time. Describe the idea to a prospect so that they can picture it. Maybe even storyboard it for them. If they can see it, they may be more likely to buy it.

This works with other industries as well. Let me give you an example. I’ve had many, many pest control salespeople come to the door of my home. They have a line they all use about working at another house in our neighborhood and ask if I’d be interested in their service. Boring. I always say no. But what if that door-to-door salesperson had an iPad with them with pictures of bed bugs or termites or all the horrifying bugs I can’t see in my house. What if she said something creative about how I’m living with these bugs and showed me their pictures? It hasn’t happened yet, but I bet I’d be much more inclined to listen to her!

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I try to spend one afternoon a month just thinking about creative ideas to sell. I normally get a cup of coffee and hole myself up in a place where I can think and brainstorm without distractions. Try it and see if might work for you.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for an article about the importance of using stories when you sell.

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The post Hooking a Prospect with a Great Idea: Idea Selling Strategies appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Keeping Track of Business Cards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43LT6c6g6CY

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I use two apps to digitize and keep track of all the business cards I collect as a salesperson – Scannable and Evernote.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for the first article on selling strategies – how to use ideas to make more sales.

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The post Tech Tip Tuesday: Keeping Track of Business Cards appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

7 Essential Questions to Ask … And 1 Bonus Essential

Asking good questions is essential to an effective comprehensive needs analysis. This isn’t an all-inclusive list of questions that I ask prospects, but these are all definitely questions I won’t leave the CNA without asking.

And remember, questions don’t have to be phrased like questions. It’s not an interrogation. What you want to do is say things that invite people into a conversation.

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1. Who is your ideal customer?

I don’t sell cookie-cutter packages to my clients. I provide them customized marketing plans that are designed to drive their business growth. This takes targeted precision. I’ve got to know who I’m trying to reach so that I can put together a plan to reach them effectively. I want to know about the center of my client’s bullseye so I know where to aim.

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2. Talk to me about your most profitable product/service/offering.

One of the biggest advancements in leadership and productivity thought in the past several years is that people should focus on maximizing their strengths rather than eliminating their weaknesses. This principal can be applied to helping a business grow. What works best? How can we maximize that?

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3. What is your capacity for growth?

If I’m going to put a strategy together to drive more people through the door or make the phone ring more often, then I’ve got to be confident that my client can handle it. This question also serves as a way for the client to evaluate their own potential in ways they haven’t thought of before.

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4. If you had a magic wand that you could wave, what one problem would you fix?

I love this broad open-ended question. It gets people talking about the things that they really care about. Their passion comes through, and you need to make note of it. Address the issues that are close to their heart, ping off their passion, and you’re going to have a client for life!

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5. Tell me more.

At some point in the course of a conversation, the prospect is going to say something that pricks my curiosity. Often, it’s something that is well outside of my experience. I don’t have to know anything about it to learn more. I can simply say, “Tell me more about …” People will open up like a book.

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6. What does your decision-making process look like?

Two things kill salespeoples’ spirits – finding out that you’re not talking to the decision-maker and waiting forever to get an answer. I like to address both of these concerns by asking an open-ended question about their decision-making process. If I want more specifics about the who or when, I’ll ask that in a follow-up question. This question, however, helps to set my expectations by giving me a sense of how long a decision is going to take and who is involved making it. And, as added value, the prospect will often tell me about my competition without me having to ask about it directly.

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7. If I were to bring you a plan that meets your goals and provides the solution you’re looking for, what would keep you from moving forward?

Always be closing, isn’t that what they say? A CNA is just a step in the journey to a sale. The goal is always a sale. It’s not too soon to get the prospect used to the idea that they’re going to buy from you. Find out what the big obstacles are and build your answers to them into your presentation.

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Bonus: Be quiet and listen to their answers!

You can ask the best questions in the world, but if you don’t shut up and listen, it won’t mean a thing to helping you be successful as a salesperson. Silence can be awkward. Don’t worry about it. Sit in it. Let it be. If you want quality answers from your prospects and not cliches, they might need a minute to think. Give them that. Ask your question and be quiet. If they need you to rephrase or explain something, they’ll ask you to. Salespeople typically are good talkers, but if you talk to much, you’ll be annoying. No seriously – shut up. And, don’t be so impressed with the brilliance of your questions that you’re thinking about them instead of the answers to them. Be still and listen.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Next week, we’ll be talking about selling strategies!

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The post 7 Essential Questions to Ask … And 1 Bonus Essential appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Leading Meetings Is As Easy As Riding a Bike

Many years ago, I learned an analogy from Wilson Learning about sales – sales is like riding a bike. This word picture has completely revolutionized how I think about sales and what it takes to lead a good meeting.

To ride a bike, you need to move and manage both the front and the back wheels.

In the sales analogy, back wheels are the products and services you offer. You have to know about them. You have to know the ins and outs of what your product does. Plus, there is a lot of other back wheel knowledge including internal systems and software, CRM programs, and industry insights. Like the back wheel does for a bicycle, this knowledge is the driving momentum of sales. But there is more to a bike than the back wheel. And there is more to sales than product knowledge.

In sales, the front wheel represents people knowledge. Successful sales people can read a room. They know that the first sale they’ve got to make is themselves. Buyers need to trust their salesperson, and so having good people skills is equally important as having mastery of your company’s products and services. The back wheel may drive the sale, but the front wheel sets the direction of the sale.

Here are 5 front wheel people skills salespeople need to keep things headed in the right direction:

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Body Language

You set the meeting. You do your research. You’re excited about the opportunity for your prospect because you fully believe it will benefit them. You sit down in their office and jump right into your questions or presentation. But before too long, you get the nagging sense that they’re not with you. They keep checking their phone. They seem distracted. They look bored. What went wrong? Maybe you weren’t paying enough attention to their body language to begin with.

Mirroring is an important body language skill. If your prospect talks softly or slowly, modulate your verbal pattern to not overpower them. If they are sitting back and relaxed, you should do the same. Keep in mind that mirroring works both ways. Model for your prospect the posture of an engaged, interested person. Soon, they’ll be mirroring you and following your lead.

If they seem a little distracted, don’t talk louder to get their attention. Try lowering your voice. I taught 4th grade for a year. I realized very quickly that I couldn’t be louder than a room full of 4th graders. But, if I lowered my voice and kept talking more softly, they would tend to get quiet and listen. Prospects are the same way. Keep them engaged in the conversation by not talking in a monotone. You can even pause until they look at you. And once they do, be engaging.

You can also use posture to lead your meeting. When you’re about to make an important point, lean in. Be on the edge of your seat. Smile and speak with confidence so they are put at ease. Use gestures like real-life emojis, emphasizing your conversation in non-verbal ways.

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Rapport Building

Small talk and chit chat are a part of the sales process. I’d like to call them a necessary evil of the sales process because I don’t like them very much, but that would be showing my own biases. Whether you like small talk or not, salespeople need to build rapport with their buyers. In my opinion, the best way to build rapport is to be genuine and authentic. Take an interest in the person you’re talking to. Demonstrate your interest by being prepared with good questions that you’ve thought about ahead of time because you’ve done your research. Don’t waste someone’s time with a bad meeting. Don’t waste their time talking about dumb things. If there are natural points of connection, capitalize on them, but don’t force it. I tend to think it’s far better to be a genuine consultant than to comment on the weather or a picture they have on their wall. Nothing builds rapport like confident authenticity.

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Listening Skills

Most salespeople are good talkers. The truly successful salespeople are also good listeners. Much has been written about developing listening skills. Maybe the key one is simply being silent. When you ask a question, give the prospect a chance to answer. Don’t interrupt them. Don’t jump ahead in your mind. Stay in the moment and be present with your prospect. Reword and repeat their answers back to them to make sure you understand. And don’t just listen to what they say, listen for how they say it. What causes their voice to raise or their pace to quicken? What lights them up? What are they passionate about? In a comprehensive needs analysis with a prospect, don’t interrogate them; engage them in a conversation about their business.

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Empathy

What do you care about – making a sale or serving your client? If you’re desperate to make a sale, the person you’re meeting with will be able to smell it on you. You don’t want to stink!

Empathy is identifying with your client. Imagine how they might be feeling in the moment, and adjust your approach to address their concerns, especially their unspoken ones. Put yourself in their shoes. Having empathy is about developing the emotional intelligence to hear not just their words, but also their emotions. Be aware if they look stressed out or confused or worried. Once you notice something like this, try saying something like this to a stressed out prospect for instance, “I know if I was sitting on your side of the desk, I would be feeling overwhelmed by all the options and the success of your competitors. Maybe you’re worried that trying an idea like we’re talking about sounds too good to be true. Is that the case?” See where the conversation goes if you empathetically address the elephant in the room.

And, always make sure they know that their customers come first, and if you need to be interrupted so they can serve a customer, you’re more than willing to be patient.

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Motivations

One of the trickiest people skills to develop is the ability to decipher what motivates a person. We all have the tendency to think that what motivates me motivates everyone. But it’s simply not the case. In reality, there are two sets of motivations we need to figure out – the institutional motivations and the individual motivations. What are the priorities of the company? Are they looking to reduce their cost? Do they want to invest to increase the efficiency of their processes or the quality of their products? But maybe even more importantly, we need to determine the individual motivations of the buyer we’re dealing with. Do they want to look good to their boss? Do they long to be seen as a great team member? Do they wish to be seen as on the cutting edge? Are they a numbers cruncher who needs proof?

Imagine this scenario. You have met with a decision maker a few times and have a solution for them that you’re convinced will work for their company. You are the type of person who loves proof-of-concept, so you’ve provided case study after case study showing how what you’re offering has worked for other similar companies. You would jump at the chance to move on something that is so proven. But your buyer isn’t jumping, and you can’t figure out why. Maybe just maybe, those case studies are back-firing on you. If you had figured out that you’re buyer is motivated by being innovative, you’d realize that they don’t want to be like everyone else. They want to take risks, not follow the well-worn path taken by their competitors. Maybe you need to show your buyer how going with your plan will make them stand out as an industry leader. Maybe you haven’t made the sale because you haven’t figured out what truly motivates them.

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How about you? What are the front wheel skills you need to work on? What are some people skill techniques you can begin employing today?

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Tomorrow’s article is about the 7 questions you’ve absolutely got to ask in a meeting … and one bonus skill that will make your meetings successful.

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The post Leading Meetings Is As Easy As Riding a Bike appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Finding Business Email Addresses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSwpy_MOz2U

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Here is the process and websites I use to find prospects’ business email addresses online.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for an article about how important people skills are to leading a good meeting.

The post Tech Tip Tuesday: Finding Business Email Addresses appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

The ABCs of Leading Good Meetings

Successful salespeople must have the skills to lead a productive meeting.

We’ve all been in meetings that made an abrupt turn and ended up going nowhere. We’ve all sat through a conversation wondering what the point of all this talk was. We’ve all walked out of a meeting wondering if anything at all got accomplished.

Our prospects’ time is too valuable to waste with ineffective meetings. And maybe more importantly, our time as salespeople is too valuable to waste with ineffective meetings.

I use three abbreviations to keep my meetings with prospects on track. Here’s what they are:

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CNA

When I schedule an initial meeting with a prospect, I think of that meeting as a CNA – a comprehensive needs analysis. I know that other people call these meetings other things – time out calls, intake meetings, initial sales calls. I like to think and talk about the meeting as a CNA because it keeps the goal of the meeting at the very front of my mind. I am meeting with this prospect to get as complete a picture of their business, goals, and needs as possible. I’m there as a marketing consultant to ask questions so that I can make the very best recommendations to help grow their business. I definitely wouldn’t use this inside-baseball term with a prospect, but it’s what goes on my calendar when the meeting gets scheduled. Calling the meeting a CNA simply keeps in the front of my mind the reason why we’re meeting.

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PPP

I always try to start my meetings with a PPP, a technique I gleaned from Wilson Learning. PPP stands for Purpose, Process, and Payoff. Clarifying right from the start and getting buy-in for why we’re having this meeting, the way we’re going to conduct the meeting, and the desired takeaways has proven a tremendously effective way to keep a meeting on track.

Purpose – The purpose statement answers the question everyone is wondering internally, “Why are we here?” Is this going to be a waste of our time? What are we trying to accomplish with this conversation?

Process – The process statement clarifies the way I expect the meeting to be conducted. It sets the ground rules for interaction and sets the expectations for everyone involved. It also makes clear that I’m the one driving the bus, that I am the one leading the meeting.

Payoff – The payoff statement lets everyone know what the value of this meeting is. It’s worth our time to engage in this conversation because we’re going to accomplish something that is worthwhile.

If I’m using a Powerpoint presentation, sometimes I’ll include a PPP screen right at the very beginning that spells all of this out. More often than that, however, I’ll simply get the meeting started with a verbal PPP. It goes something like this:

“Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today. One of the things I do is provide my clients with customized marketing strategies; I don’t do the cookie-cutter approach. So, I wanted to meet with you so I could get a good sense of your business and put together a plan that is customized specifically for you. To help me do that, I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions about a whole bunch of topics. It’ll take about 20 minutes. When we get done, I’ll have what I need to build a marketing strategy for you that will work. Does that sound good to you?”

Everyone says “yes,” and we’re off on a comprehensive needs analysis that is much less likely to go sideways.

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BACTU

There are tons of examples out there of sales questionnaires that work. Personally, I prefer to not work from a form. I like to have more free-flowing conversations with prospects. However, I do want to make sure that I cover everything that needs to be covered. To make sure I don’t forget any of the important things, I’ve adopted the BACTU method.

When I first started in advertising sales, I would write “BACTU” in the top right corner of my paper on which I was taking notes to remind me to cover everything. I’m at the point now that I’ve done enough CNAs to simply keep the BACTU outline in mind.

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Business Questions

I want to ask them a series of questions about their business. These range from background of how long they’ve personally been involved to the history of the company itself. Business questions also include stats and numbers – things like average sale, number of clients, capacity for growth. Answers to these types of questions help me to calculate the all-important ROI aspect of my sales presentation. The longer I’ve been doing it, the more confident I’ve become to ask straightforward, dispassionate questions about the sensitive business numbers. A prospect who is skittish about sharing the numbers, or worse – doesn’t know them, is going to raise red flags for me.

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Advertising Questions

Since I’m in advertising sales, I want to ask about what they are currently doing to advertise, across all platforms including things like sponsorships that they might not consider part of their marketing budget. Salespeople in other industries would want to ask questions specific to be their industry and what the prospect’s current involvement is. These kinds of questions give me a sense of the savviness of the prospect, how much hand-holding they’re going to need, and the size of their budget. Remember, I have multiple sales to make – selling them on me, selling them on my industry, and selling them on my solution. This section of questions helps me to gauge how much selling of the industry I have in front of me.

A note about budget. I like to ask questions that help me to back into their budget number. And, I also like to ask them directly about their marketing budget. These two approaches complement each other and give a much fuller picture of both what they are currently spending their money on, as well as what they think they’re spending their budget on. And again, confidence to ask budget questions comes with time and experience. Ask the question. If they don’t want to answer it, they’ll tell you.

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Competition Questions

Asking a prospect about their competition can be very revealing. You find out where they see themselves in the market landscape. When they tell you about what they like about what their competition is doing, they are revealing needs that you can meet. When they tell you about what they don’t like about their competition, they are revealing the pitfalls you absolutely need to avoid. Questions about competition also have a way of opening a prospect up about what motivates them.

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Twelve-Month Goals Questions

Sometimes prospects aren’t very adept at explaining their needs and deficiencies. People don’t like to reveal their weaknesses, especially to people they aren’t yet sure they trust. A way to get a prospect talking about areas of need that you’ll be able to address later is to ask them about their twelve-month goals. Later, when you make your presentation, if it’s aligned with their stated business objectives, you’ll be much more likely to get a “yes.”

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Uniqueness Questions

I love to ask a prospect what makes them unique. The answer to this question is going to tell me what part of their ego needs to be stroked and what sacred cows need to be revered. I certainly don’t want to make things worse for myself by unwittingly calling the prospect’s baby ugly (though sometimes I will do it wittingly!), and so asking them questions about what makes them stand out gives the prospect a chance to brag about themselves and highlight their success. A big part of my job is helping prospects build on those successes, so I better know what they are.

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Nothing short circuits a promising prospect like a meeting gone bad. I’ve been able to minimize bad meetings by keeping these three abbreviations in mind. You can too.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for Tech Tip Tuesday and learn how I find email addresses for prospects to set up meetings.

The post The ABCs of Leading Good Meetings appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

6 Ways to Heat Up Your Cold Calling: Prospecting

Prospecting and cold calling can be difficult. Here’s 6 ideas to make them a little easier:

1. Know Your Numbers

Remember when your math teacher said you better learn algebra because you’d need it in real life and you didn’t really believe her? Well, if you’re a salesperson, you’ve got to solve for X.

Sales is a numbers game. To close a sale, you’ve got to do X number of presentations. To do X number of presentations, you’ve got to have X number of meetings. To set X number of meetings, you’ve got to make X number of cold calls via phone, email, or drop ins.

If you know your numbers, you know how close you likely are to your next sale. Everyone’s numbers are different, and that’s ok. But knowing your numbers helps to keep you motivated and active when the first 5 or 6 cold calls didn’t go as you had hoped. Keep going. Remember, there is no substitute for activity.

2. Tag Team

When I am out making cold calls by myself, I can easily get discouraged. People can be rude or weird or unavailable. I’ve found that I can talk myself into giving up. 

But … on the occasions that I’ve teamed up with a colleague to make some four-legged calls, I’ve found that we can encourage each other to keep going. We can blow off the rude prospect. We can laugh about the weird situation. We can push each other to stay at it when we haven’t been able to connect with a decision-maker.

Tag teaming shouldn’t be an everyday occurrence, but it may be the shot in the arm that your prospecting needs.

3. Get an Idea You Believe In

I love idea selling. I’ll write about it more in an upcoming article. But for now, remember that an idea that you believe in can give you a reason to persevere in your prospecting.

Let me give you an example.

I work in advertising sales. Last year, I came up with an idea that I really believed in – creating a School Garden Spotlight to focus on the amazing school gardens that exist in my area. I did the background work and found a great non-profit to partner with. I just needed to find some clients who would help sponsor the School Garden Spotlight. So, I made a list of about 30 businesses that would be an ideal fit. My enthusiasm for the idea was obvious as I talked to them. It took a while, but eventually, I found 4 clients who were willing to buy into the idea, and it became a reality. I loved the idea so much that I wasn’t going to give up until I found clients who believed in it too.

4. Do Something Completely Different

It’s easy to get into a rut, to fall into patterns that fit my personality. When I realize I’m in a rut, I try to mix things up. For instance, I don’t love making phone calls to prospects. I’d rather email or drop in. So to make phone calls a little more efficient, I once paid one of my kids $20 to make me a spreadsheet of all of the chiropractors in our area, complete with names and phone numbers. Since I paid for the list of leads, I was really motivated to use it. I used that list to make 50 phone calls and secure several meetings. Doing something different helps to break us out of our ruts.

5. Get A Referral

We all have favorite clients. They know us, trust us, and would probably be willing to recommend us to someone they know. Tap into their network. Ask them for a referral. 

A referral gives you a reason to call on a new prospect. “We’ve got a mutual friend, Tom Smith. I’ve worked with Tom for a while, and he said you might be interested in talking, so I stopped in to see if we could schedule a time to meet.” That’s a great hook to get make prospecting easier.

6. Poach Your Competition

When you’re making a sale, you actually have a series of smaller sales to make along the way before you get to the ultimate “yes.” You’ve got to sell them on you as a person. Then, you’ve got to sell them on the value of your industry or medium. Then finally, you’ve got to sell them on your particular service or offering.

Why not eliminate one of these? If they’re using one of your competitors, they’re already sold on your industry or medium.

For instance, when I worked in education technology sales, I loved calling on our competitions’ clients. I didn’t have to sell them on the idea of outsourcing their bookstore because they had already done it. I just had to sell them on me as a person and what my company had to offer. 

Prospect off your competition. Make a list of their customers and call on them. Chances are not everyone working with is satisfied, and you’ll be able to poach some new clients.

When it comes to prospecting, you’ve got to remember that it might not be easy, but there is no substitute for activity. Pick one of these ideas and get after it today!

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Next week, I’ll be writing about how to conduct a meeting once you’ve secured it with a prospect.

The post 6 Ways to Heat Up Your Cold Calling: Prospecting appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Chasing Squirrels: Prospecting

The company that I currently work for has provided its sales team with the amazing resource of on demand video sales training with Jim Doyle and his team. I recently completed one of the sales modules and something Jim Doyle said has stuck with me about prospecting. I’m paraphrasing here, but the idea was – if you’re going to be a top seller, you need to figure out what the average sale for your company is and not accept orders less than the average.

That struck home because I have spent more than my fair share of prospecting time chasing squirrels.

Squirrels are smaller-than-the-average prospects. Sure, they are more plentiful than whales, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be chasing them.

One of the downsides of chasing squirrels is that they can be as much work as whales.

When I worked for a company that sold educational technology solutions to K-12 schools, I saw this first hand. It didn’t matter the size of the school, the process to set up their system and manage it effectively was exactly the same. A school that produced $500,000 in sales was virtually the same amount of work as a school that produced $20,000. Why did we ever go after any $20,000 school?

And here’s a dirty little secret, often squirrels are more work than whales. Small clients are used to doing everything themselves. They want to have a lot of input, but they don’t always have a lot of experience. A salesperson might end up with more hand-holding and question-answering with a small client than a large one. Nineteenth century British pastor Charles Spurgeon used to say that he wouldn’t want to pastor a small church because every little wave rocks the boat.

And yet … there may be times when we need to prospect and catch a squirrel. When that’s the case, here are my two pieces of advice:

1. Have An Intentional Reason for Prospecting a Squirrel

There are times when it’s a good idea to catch a squirrel. Maybe you’ve been in a slump and need some positive momentum. Maybe you are thisclose to meeting your monthly goal. Maybe your company has some small promotional or offer that management is pushing hard, and you want to help contribute to the effort. Maybe it’s a friend or some company that you care about.

The important thing is this – if you’re going to take a smaller-than-average sale, be clear about your reason for doing so on the front end going in. Don’t make a habit of it, but make an exception if it makes sense. Chasing squirrels isn’t going to grow your business and make you successful, but every once in a while, it’s the right thing to do.

2. Have a Plan to Grow the Client

Making a sale to a small client is a fantastic opportunity to grow that client, but it probably won’t happen on accident. It’s good to have a funnel of clients that can be grown into something bigger and better. Utilize the goodwill you’ve gained from making that small sale to parlay it into something greater. Depending on your industry, within a month or two of catching a squirrel, you should be back in front of them with a plan for incremental growth.

When I first started in advertising sales, my company offered a special holiday promotion. Since I didn’t have much of a client base, I intentionally decided to use this promotion as a way of prospecting and developing some new relationships. I sold that promotion to four new clients. About six weeks later, another larger opportunity came up. I now had a funnel of four people to talk to about it. It was a great fit for one of them, and they signed an above-average annual commitment with me. They were a squirrel when I initially caught them, but I had a plan, and in time grew them into one of my favorite clients.

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for 6 Ways to Heat Up Your Cold Calling.

The post Chasing Squirrels: Prospecting appeared first on Robb Ryerse.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Prospecting

Tech Tip Tuesday: Using Siri to Effectively Keep Track of Your Potential Prospects

 

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Join the Bow Tie Sales Guy community on Facebook. Like our page here and submit questions which will be answered in an upcoming podcast.

Come back tomorrow for an article about when to go after smaller-than-average prospects … and when not to.

The post Tech Tip Tuesday: Prospecting appeared first on Robb Ryerse.