Prospect smarter and find companies that are most likely to need and buy your products and services with PROSPECTING DATABASE TOOLS.

Prospecting database tools, designed for B2B sales people, show you the companies that are most likely to buy your products and services.  Stop scouring newspapers, web sites and other unorganized information sources.  Prospecting databases, designed for sales people who do their own prospecting, uncover the decision makers quickly and effortlessly.

How is one of these tools different from a rented list of names and phone numbers?  First, they usually carry a monthly fee, although some offer a limited free service level that’s quite adequate for many sales people.  Second, they don’t carry “minimum orders,” which the list rentals do – often requiring $400-$500 or more to meet minimums.  Third, these tools allow you to select the suspects you want to contact, rather than relying on a series of “selection criteria” that list rental companies use.  Fourth, these tools often provide email addresses as well as postal and phone information.  Those are four great reasons to check out some of the best of breed tools and services.  We recommend:

•    www.insideview.com –a pioneer in on-demand business search and intelligence applications. Try their Free service to get acquainted.
•    www.zoominfo.com – a leading business information search engine for information on people, companies, products, services and jobs.
•    www.jigsaw.com – a truly phenomenal service that lets you search and select the exact profile of people most likely to buy your products and services.
•    www.onesource.com – a comprehensive source for global information on companies, industries and executives.

Take a moment to learn about the prospecting tools you can access on-line.  Don’t waste your time harvesting names and phones from web sites. With these prospecting tools you can find and reach the people most likely to buy from you far more quickly.

And once you find them, be sure to build a relation with your prospects and customers by sending Thank You notes when they download a whitepaper, attend a webinar or place an order.  You can do all this and more on-line at www.inkanote.com

HIRE ONLY THE BEST SALES PEOPLE

Most companies suffer from Pareto’s Law – the 80/20 rule – where most production comes from a subset of the sales team.  Almost everyone has been in a job at one time or another that was not right for him or her. Even then, the organization hired each of those people after detailed review and with positive expectations. Most people took those poorly-fitted jobs with every intention of succeeding.

But if you want only “A-players” for your sales team, you’ll need to begin using some of the best practices in pre-employment selection.  Here’s a primer on pre-employment assessment from The Steering Group.

Assessing Candidates BEFORE Hiring—What Drives Them

What motivates employees to sell, manage, service or connect with customers the way they do? What prompts an employee’s enthusiastic response—a happy customer, a big sale, a tough problem solved? Why do they differ? How can you place the right people in the right jobs and motivate them to achieve more for the organization? The answers to these questions are all based on values.

Values are the drivers behind our behavior; what moti¬vates our actions. Abstract concepts in themselves, values are principles or standards by which we act. Values are beliefs held so strongly that they affect the behavior of an individual or an organization.
An individual’s experiences, references, education, and training tell us WHAT they can do. A behavioral assess¬ment will tell us HOW they will do it. However, it is not until we know an individual’s values that we will under¬stand WHY they do what they do.

With the knowledge of values, we can encourage employ¬ees in a way that satisfies their inner drive. We can determine if their position will be rewarding, based on the values they hold. Think of the advantages in knowing what motivates an employee right from the start, rather than waiting for time to tell.

Targeting Sales Talent

The TTI SI Sales report, available through The Steering group, Inc. is geared towards the sales professional. In some respects, a sales force is the same as any other group of employees. In other respects, it is quite different. The Sales report takes cru¬cial differences into account and provides information on an individual’s style of selling.

Defining Unique Selling Styles

In today’s competitive marketplace, success in selling is more challenging and requires a higher level of skill. TTI SI Sales report provides computer gener¬ated reports that gives sales professionals a broad under¬standing of their natural sales style. The software ana¬lyzes and details the type of product they prefer to sell, how they handle sales presentations, as well as how they close and service their accounts. Because all people are unique, no two reports are alike.

Report Contents –

• Sales Characteristics
• Value to the Organization
• Checklist for Communicating
• Don’ts on Communicating
• Selling Tips
• Ideal Environment
• Perceptions
• Descriptors
• Natural and Adapted Selling Styles
• Adapted Style
• Keys to Motivating
• Keys to Managing
• Areas for Improvement
• Action Plan
• Behavioral Hierarchy
• Style Insights®Graphs
• The Success Insights® Wheel

Results and Benefits –

• Spot winners with a reliable selection method.
• Evaluate the performance of both new and existing salespeople.
• Maximize the sales team’s effectiveness.
• Coach the sales team for maximum results.
• Hire the salesperson who fits the company needs.
• Bring a salesperson out of a sales slump and back on a winning track.
• Reduce employee turnover and new training costs.
• Boost your sales—the ultimate business objective.

And of course, once you’ve taken the steps to hire a real A-player, teach him how to send Thank You notes using our services at www.inkanote.com.

Get “warm introductions” to qualified new prospects every week through BUSINESS REFERRAL NETWORKING.

Networking for new sales leads can give you a higher close rate than conventional prospecting, and can fill your pipeline faster than any other method of finding new business.  Why?  Because when your networking partners get to know you, trust you, like you and understand your business, they give you personal introductions to prospects who are solid candidates for your product or service.

If your revenue forecast is not all you’d like it to be, take an hour to visit a business networking referral meeting.  Find new prospects who will be pleased to meet with you and learn about your products and services.

Where to begin?  Check your Chamber of Commerce for local groups in your area.  Better yet, visit Business Networks International (www.bni.com) and make contact with a group leader in your neighborhood. BNI groups allow a visitor to attend twice, without cost, to get familiar with the organization and its people.

If you’re new to networking, also take a moment to read Bob Burg’s book, “Endless Referrals,” or Robert Littel’s “The Art and Heart of Netweaving.”  Both provide invaluable information that will help you avoid the mistake of showing up at a meeting and immediately begin passing out your business cards!

And be sure to send Thank You notes to the people who become good referral partners. You can do that from your PC, quickly and without having to buy cards, stamps and envelopes, as www.inkanote.com.

OUTSOURCE YOUR COLD-CALLING AND TELEMARKETING to a contract telemarketer and get 50 to 100 or more qualified new prospects every month. 

The metrics: 
Millions of calls across scores of industries show that it takes about 25 dials to get just one contact with a decision maker.  Then it takes six to 10 contacts to get one face-to-face sales call.  That’s between 150 and 250 dials to get time with a decision maker.  For most sales people that’s a full day’s work. 

But will outsourcing your calling work for your company, in your industry, with your product?  Will you get quality leads and prospects who are interested in your product or service?

There are a few key steps you need to take to create an effective calling program. 

 ·        Begin with a targeted list of people.  You can go to www.nextmark.com and choose “Find Mailing Lists.”  Choose the kind of audience you want to reach – either B2B or B2C, and choose “Telephone” list. Type in the keywords that define the kind of company or job title you want to reach.  You’ll get a list of lists that can be rented.  Each will have a minimum order quantity that may be as low as a few hundred names, but is usually at least 5,000.  Accuracy of rented telemarketing lists are often guaranteed to be 90 percent or better – be sure to check with you’re the list rental company to assure you’re renting a quality list. The sales rep at the list rental company will ask you questions to help zero in on the exact demographic that best defines the “sweet spot” in your market.

·        Develop a script. You don’t want to be winging-it on your calls.  A good resource for script development is the  book  “Selling to VITO,” mentioned elsewhere in this blog.  Another is “Question Based Selling” also posted at this blog.

·         Consider using a contract caller. With a little effort you can find a qualified caller with real outbound calling experience on Craigslist, or perhaps even within your personal network, among Chamber of Commerce members or other resources in your local area.  Typical hourly rates for outbound calling are in the $8-$12 per hour range in most areas.  Caution: Be sure to get references on your proposed caller.  You don’t want to pay someone who has not achieved results for others in the recent past.

·        Rehearse, or have your caller rehearse, the script until it’s smooth. There’s nothing more disconcerting than a caller who reads from a script. You want it to roll off the caller’s tongue naturally to get the best results. 

·        Track results.  You can use a spreadsheet or even a CRM system, such as the free CRM system at
www.zoho.com.  You should be able to tell how many calls were made each hour. A typical calling campaign should produce at least 12 to perhaps 20 dials per hour, depending upon the job title and type of company you’re calling.

There’s an entire process for setting up and conducting an outbound calling campaign.  This article summarizes the key steps. If you’d like more information, leave us a comment here and we’ll be in touch.  In the meantime, don’t forget to send Thank You notes to your customers and prospects as part of your daily sales work.  You can find them at www.inkanote.com.  

Here’s how it worked. A sales rep would say, “I’m 90 percent confident my customer will buy next quarter, but they’re just not ready now.” Management would reply, “OK, let’s risk ship to them at the end of this quarter. We’ll consign it to your customer and have the carrier (Van Lines, Freightways, etc.) store it in their warehouse until the customer is ready. Then we’ll release it from the warehouse when they’re ready. All you need to do is get the PO so we can ship.”

So the sales rep got on his knees and somehow managed to get the PO. The product was consigned to the customer and shipped to the carrier’s warehouse. The manufacturer realized revenue this quarter instead of next based on the PO and the fact that the product was no longer “in the house.” There was a lot of
due diligence that went into the decision to risk ship, and woe unto the sales rep whose deal fell through! When that happened the product had to be brought back and the transaction reversed.

Yet my friend and I both beg to differ with the thought that channel partners can’t create demand. Over the years we’ve both worked with channel partners who do an outstanding job of getting behind a product and making things happen. In fact, each channel partner sales rep in a B2B environment can bring scores of
new customers that a manufacturer’s sales rep would never be able to penetrate and cultivate.

Creating demand does not mean sell-in to a channel partner. It means sell-through to the end-user customer. If a manufacturer wants to take advantage of the relationships partners can bring in various niche markets, it needs to reward the demand creation work being done. There are many ways to do this – MDF
funds, special recognition, extra discounts for building sales volume in a defined niche, contests, etc.

If you’re a manufacturer sales rep, you can personally begin recognizing the work your channel partners are doing for you. Take a small, easy step and recognize your partners by sending an Ink-a-Note to thank them for the sales they’re generating for you. Start your own person campaign to say “Thank You.” Being appreciated goes a long way.

What would you say if you got this call?

No Thanks comes to mind. Sad to say there are still too many sales people using these outdated tactics.

Most novice sales people who take the old-fashioned cold calling approach either fail within about 12-18 months on the job, or find more effective sales tactics.

One of the better selling styles is the brain-child of Anthony Parinello, widely known as Selling to VITO. “VITO” is the Very Important Top Officer — the C-level contact every sales person is told they need to reach to get a major deal closed.

How to reach him or her? Parinello outlines an entire approach that teaches the right way to make a cold sales call, how to leave a voicemail that gets results and how to become a valued player on VITO’s team.

Parinello gives great advice on how to get past gatekeepers by first explaining the there are two kinds. First is the general receptionist or switchboard operator. Part of her job is to screen out sales calls, and she’ll
usually have specific instructions on how to handle those calls. “What’s this in regard to?” is something we’ve all heard. Your job is to avoid being grilled and questioned, and to remain polite throughout the call as you forge ahead in an effort to reach VITO. Parinello advises that you use the call with this initial
gatekeeper simply to get to VITO’s executive admin or personal secretary, who is the second gatekeeper.

Once in touch with her, treat her as if she is speaking and acting for VITO – which is often the case. Ask her for input and advice as if you’re talking to VITO. This little tip by itself helped me make a big sale. Here’s what happened.

An Atlanta computer sales company was on my target list to begin reselling our product line. I called the company and got in touch with Mary, the CEO’s admin assistant. I knew that they were focused on IBM hardware, and explained to her that many of our resellers had increased their sales by an average of 12
percent after adding our complementary product line to their offerings. We talked about why this happened and, after a few minutes of conversation, she agreed to talk to the CEO about our product lineup.

A couple days later she called back and set an appointment for me to visit. However she said the CEO was out of the country for a few weeks, and that she would be glad to hear the presentation – then to relay her conclusion to him overseas. At first I was concerned that getting to the CEO with second hand
information coming from Mary was not the way to go. But when she offered a meeting at 10 o’clock a few days later, I decided to go ahead and break the ice with Mary.

When I arrived at her office, I was surprised and happy to meet both Mary and their VP of Sales. The meeting went almost flawlessly and within a month we had delivered our first round of product to their warehouse. That account became one of my largest channel partners and put many commission dollars in my pocket for
over four years. Working w ith Mary as if she were the VITO I wanted to reach gave me exactly the results I was shooting for.

If you’re struggling to reach the VITO’s on your target list, take a few minutes to pickup a copy of Selling to VITO. You’ll need to spend some time digesting Parinello’s advice, but for this salesman, it was time well spent.

Various sales training groups offer almost countless ways for getting in touch with those well-guarded people. Over my career I’ve found three sales approaches that give specific advice that actually work. One is Selling to VITO by Anthony Parinello. Another is SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham.

But my favorite approach, and the one I’ve found most effective, is the sales approach taught by Thomas A. Freese in his “Question Based Selling,” aka QBS approach. Tom is not only a great person. He’s been extremely successful as a quota carrying sales person in the software industry, and over the past decade, as a sales trainer teaching QBS to major international companies. QBS is not just a series of tips; it’s an entire change in strategy which, by the way, truly respects the prospect and builds great relationships.

Tom talks in one of his books, Secrets of Question Based Selling, about the “Herd Theory,” and tells a great story about bringing 119 people together for a software sales presentation, including people from IBM, US Sprint, Hallmark Cards, American Express, Master Card and other top-ranked Fortune companies. The conventional approach for getting out invitations to the event would have included mailings and cold-calls that might have gone something like this:

“Mr. Prospect, we develop CASE software and I’d like to get together with you to discuss how our products might assist you in your software development.” To which, in most cases, Mr. Prospect would say “No thanks.”

Yet by using the Herd Theory Tom achieved the highest turnout for any event the company held that entire year. What is the Herd Theory? Basically, getting everyone moving in the same direction. The step Tom took was to let everyone know that “everyone else” was going to be there and he “didn’t want Mr. Prospect to be left out.” Mr. Prospect followed the herd. Of course you’ve got to read the whole story and I suggest you get the book, which you can find at Amazon or at Tom’s web site: http://www.qbsresearch.com.

Another major take-away from QBS is the importance of asking questions that build curiosity with your prospects. Rather than telling them about you, your company, your outstanding products, the benefits and value they’ll derive by using them…and on and on…it’s far more effective to ask a question that builds curiosity and furthers the conversation. People who are curious will engage, those who do not will say “No Thanks.”

Which brings me to a thought about how sending a personalized, hand-stamped note to the person you want to reach is a great way to stimulate curiosity and get something started. How would you respond if you got a personalized, “handwritten” note in the US Mail that asked you this question:

“Joe, I met one of your sales people, Bob Smith, last week. He told me some interesting things about your company and I’m just curious to learn more about your widget confabulation process. I understand you’re the expert and wonder if you’d have time for a phone call or a cup of coffee sometime next week? I’ll call to see if we can setup a time to talk. Many Thanks!”

Sincerely,

Les Falke

Sending a personal note is a dozen times more effective than just firing off an email, or leaving a voicemail. It shows Mr. Prospect that you’ve taken an extra step beyond what other sales people do. In a sense, it “formalizes” that critically important first contact. After all, you’ve taken time. You’ve spent money for a card, an envelope and a stamp. The bad news is that people don’t really take much time to personalize their first contact in this multi-tasking e-world we’re all part of. But the good news is that sending a personal note will set you well apart from the crowd who rely on cold calls and emails.

Take-aways for you? There are two.

1. Visit www.QBSResearch.com to learn more about Tom’s powerful approach to building relations and closing sales. Get one of his books or CD sets. I’ve spent hours reading and listening and it’s helped my sales and marketing life in countless ways.
2. Take a minute to visit www.InkaNote.com and take the Test Drive. See for yourself how easy it is to send a personalized hand-stamped note to the decision maker you need to reach.

]]> http://inkanote.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/getting-past-the-gatekeeper/feed/ 0 inkanote http://inkanote.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/guidelines-for-successful-business-referral-networking/ http://inkanote.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/guidelines-for-successful-business-referral-networking/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:02:28 +0000 inkanote http://inkanote.wordpress.com/?p=3 ]]> Business referral networking might be one of the best ways to meet new people and build a “team” who can help you in your sales career. Some years ago I hosted a weekly networking meeting here in Atlanta for over a year. I met scores of people who helped me and, over time, began to see that certain people were providing the bulk of good quality, warm referrals that let me get my foot in the door with new prospects. In those days I would go to the Hallmark card shop and buy a pack of Thank You cards and send one out to those great referral partners…people who helped me. Nowadays Ink-a-Note is doing that job for me with none of the hassle of buying cards and stamps. And even better, because my handwriting legibility has gone to pot over the years, Ink-a-Note lets me send clear, easy-to-read “handwritten” notes that people can actually read!

Anyway, here are some ideas that worked in the 90′s and will probably help you if you’re new to business referral networking. Let’s call this…

Guidelines for Successful Business Referral Networking

Most people in sales – and perhaps this is your experience as well — spend a good part of each sales day working to find new business. Perhaps you make cold calls on the telephone. Trying to speak to people you don’t know; people who don’t know you; people who seldom have interest in learning about your product or service. You might canvass office buildings, trying to find a receptionist who will introduce you to the decision makers, or at least tell you who they are. Perhaps you send letters or e-mails and hope someone will read them before throwing them away or deleting them, unread, from their inbox.

Sadly, these traditional methods of finding new business don’t work very well in these days of voice-mail, call screeners, gatekeepers, spam filters and other sales avoidance techniques. When you use these outdated methods, your investment of time and energy in trying to find new prospects far out-weigh the returns in most cases.

There is a better way to find new business

Business Referral Networking. It is effective – it can get you past the gatekeepers and in touch with the decision makers you need to reach. It is enjoyable – warm introductions and referrals eliminate the rejection conventional sales methods invariably cause. And, in the process of networking, bonds and friendships are created that can far outlast the 9 to 5 business day. Referral networking can lead you to the nirvana of doing all your new business from referrals – permanently eliminating cold-calling, canvassing and other aspects of a sales job that most people dislike.

However, to be successful in a networking organization, there are four things you need to achieve during the first several meetings you attend. You’ll want to reach the point where your networking associates…

Know you. If they don’t know you, it’s clear they can’t help you.

Like you. If they don’t like you, it’s doubtful they’ll be willing to help you.

Trust you. Building a bond of trust takes time, but it’s essential. Your networking partners need to know that you’ll deal with the referrals they provide to you with 100% business professionalism, integrity and courtesy.

Understand your business. Your networking partners need to understand your business so they can identify prospects in your target market. They need to understand your value proposition. (Do you save companies money, do you help them increase revenue, or help them increase productivity and drive more profits to the bottom line? If you are a B2C sales person, what is the compelling reason a consumer would want to buy your product?) Clearly, your partners need to know as much about your business as possible so they can provide you with top quality referrals.

When you achieve these four basics, you’re on the launching pad to watch your sales skyrocket. You’ll begin to get referrals to people you don’t know and might never have met — warm referrals and introductions that bring you new business.

But there’s more you’ll need to do.

Give before you receive. It’s a good idea to cultivate the attitude of giving referrals to your networking partners without any expectation of receiving referrals in return. There are two reasons for adopting this attitude. (1) What you give, you receive back many times over. Some would say this is a “universal law.” (2) The practical, no-nonsense reason for giving before you receive is that it draws people to you.

Building relationships with people takes time. It takes time to achieve the four goals listed above. When you give before receiving, a remarkable thing starts to happen. You begin to get referrals from your networking partners. Why? Because they begin to know you, to like you, to trust you and to understand what you do. The best way to speed that process is to give referrals without expecting immediate returns

When you come to a networking meeting, be sure to “mentally” bring the list of people you know with you. Networking is not about selling your products and services to the people sitting at the table with you. It’s about selling to the people your networking partners know.

It’s been shown that most people in business know about 250 other people. Friends, neighbors, co-workers, spouses of co-workers, vendors, customers, prospects, people from church, on and on. If you went home tonight and wrote down everyone you’ve met and know, if you pulled out the deck of business cards you’ve collected over the months and years, most business people would find at least 250 people on the list. This fact even has a name: it’s called “Girard’s Law of 250.”

When you come to a networking meeting, be sure to “mentally” bring your rolodex with you. Then, listen carefully to your networking partners when they tell you what kind of customers they are seeking. Think about what your networking partners do, and then give them referrals to the people in your rolodex.

Bring guests. When you bring a guest to a weekly meeting, you are introducing a new person with his or her own network of 250 or more people. That guest who sells insurance or payroll services is not just a single person. He or she “brings along” at least 250 other people. Perhaps you’re introducing a person in a line of business that has not been represented before. You’ll see some of your networking partners begin to make new connections with that guest. Bringing guests keeps a fresh flow of talent, personality, business background and opportunity for everyone.

Summary. When you follow these fundamentals, your business will skyrocket. You’ll find that economic freedom begins to happen for you. Best of all: This happens without cold calling, without having to endlessly prospect on the phone and without having to spend your days canvassing office buildings to find your next sale.

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