Face to face prospecting (cold calling) doesn’t have to be scary, and doing it with the right strategy can be extremely rewarding.
Here are some suggestions on how to present the right reasons for a potential customer to listen to you so face to face prospecting won’t feel like such a challenge.
How to make face to face prospecting easier
- Develop the “hot button” that stimulates interest and gives them a compelling reason to listen to you. You can identify this by doing research and finding out their challenges and frustrations before approaching them. Compelling reasons are the secret ingredient many salespeople would discover if they put themselves in a potential customer’s shoes. However, many salespeople don’t take the time to put themselves in a potential customer’s shoes before approaching them.
- Always keep in mind that your prospect is more interested in what your product or service will do for them than what your product or service actually is. When a prospect buys, they are ultimately buying what your product or service will do for them.
- Consider this statistic from Sales Pro Central: 14% of people make purchasing decisions based on prior knowledge and experience while 86% of people make purchasing decisions based on future expectations.
- Imagine your prospects secretly want you to offer them something that will make them more successful while also making their life easier. Since most people buy based on future expectations, your prospects will be more inclined to listen to what you have to say if you have an end result they want.
- Remember, there’s a big difference between what your prospects think is important and what you think is important. After all, people buy based on their reasons, not yours. With this in mind, it is extremely beneficial to find out what they want and sell that as opposed to simply using the same sales approach every time.
- Identify their greatest pain and share how your product can help relieve it. Truthfully, pain is often a greater motivator than pleasure. If you can pinpoint and then articulate their greatest challenges or concerns during a conversation, it demonstrates your knowledge about their specific problems and shows you really get what their situation looks like through their eyes. This will foster a deeper connection with each prospect.
- Once you verbalize a prospect’s greatest pain or problem, which completely puts the focus on it, they are more willing and ready to resolve it.
- Make a list of at least 5 compelling reasons a prospect should listen to you and review them before face to face prospecting. Reviewing your compelling reasons before you begin to prospect will put you in the right mindset, refocus your efforts towards the value you can deliver, and remind you why your prospects need to speak with you.
- Include testimonials. If you have positive stories to share, the perfect time to share them is during face to face prospecting.
- Always be honest, friendly, stay positive and remember to smile. You never know who people know or what someone will say about you and how it will affect your business.
MediaFast digital sales tools make selling easier
Having state-of-the-art sales tools with videos helps salespeople feel more confident and relaxed. With them, they can talk less and listen more, which potential buyers usually appreciate, and their whole sales presentation usually feels more modern and interesting to prospective clients.
For companies, videos allow them to maintain control over how their brand is presented. Giving away USB flash drives or sharing video brochures or DVDs can boost a company’s image. Also, videos engage more senses in viewers and allow companies to sell without salespeople having be involved throughout the entire process.
Furthermore, research has revealed humans remember up to 65% more when audio and visual are combined. Traditional forms of print advertising and audio messages do not make the same impact as videos.
If you are interested in using digital sales tools as part of your company’s sales strategy, contact us. We’ve helped many companies improve their processes, and we can help yours too.
Having owned an advertising magazine in Utah, I’ve worked in marketing for over twenty years.
I started writing for MediaFast in 2014. The first time I held one of their video brochures, I thought something like, “Wow! This blows away our magazine and any other print advertising I’ve ever seen. This is like a TV commercial, and I’m holding it in my hands. Amazing!”
Since then, video brochures, video mailers and video boxes have become leaders in marketing performance. It’s a privilege to write about them. I also love MediaFast—with its top-notch product quality, industry leading customer service, and all of the wonderful people I get to work with.
