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.
—
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.
