Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices Of Salesforce.com

by Aaron Ross

The goal of every mass email should be to establish and close a prospect on a next step. That next step should be either one of two things—but NOT both: Who is the best point of contact for …?” (to get a referral); Or... When is the best day/time for a quick discussion around…?” (to set up a conversation with the prospect). For goal #1, getting a referral, the objective is to confirm the best point of contact for a first conversation and get referred to them. Then, you can email the new contact (to whom you are referred) directly while mentioning (or c.c.’ing) the individual who referred you. This shows the new contact that you aren’t making a cold call and you’ve already been engaged with someone from his or her team. Internal referrals create the highest likelihood of getting a response. For goal #2, setting up a call, the objective is to set up a quick time to see if there’s a high level fit between your company and the prospect’s company. This call should be focused entirely on their business – not your business. You should lead the conversation and ask open questions that encourage them to talk about their business – not your business. If you’re talking more than 30% of the time on prospecting or scoping calls, you need to ask more questions or just keep your mouth shut more. If someone responds with a negative, “Not interested”, find out why. Remember, “No” doesn’t matter until you hear it from the CEO or your ideal decision-maker. And even then when you get a No, yo...