EFFECTIVE PROSPECTING TIP #2: Know who you are talking to.

One of the most recognized movie scenes of all times is from Robert De Niro’s Taxi Driver where he is getting worked up by looking at the mirror and asking himself “You talking to me?”

If you are responsible for prospecting in the B2B space I want you to keep this line in mind when you are cold reaching people via phone, email or social media.  Who are you talking to? Do you know who they are? Do you know what they care about? What makes them tick? Why they care to hear from you? And if you don’t have an answer to these questions, JUST STOP!

In my opinion one of the top 3 reasons why prospecting contacts fail is that we don’t know who we are talking to.  How can you possibly engage someone in a meaningful conversation if you have no idea who they are and what they care about? The answer of course is you can’t and that is why prospecting fails 99%+ of the times. 

Don’t interpret what I am saying to mean that you have to stalk someone to know them better (please don’t do that).  What I am advocating is that you need to know within the professional life of the person you need to know what he/she cares about at work.  What this really translates to is what are the key drivers that person is being evaluated on? what are his/her KPI’s. 

In our highly successful sales prospecting program,  The Winning Formula, a key issue we tackle is to get the attendees to understand more about the people that they are calling. Who are they? What they do all day? How are they evaluated on their jobs? What makes them tick? What are their fears and aspireations…etc.  It may seem like a very complex thing to do, but actually it’s not if you know how to do it.  We use a number of tools and techniques to help attendees quickly identify what the priorities of a CFO is and how he/she should approach someone in that role. 

This approach dramatically increases the chances that the recipient of your cold reach may accept your call, email or social medial connection. 

Now, I ask you to look at your current prospecting message/content/pitch.  Are you addressing what your prospect cares about, or are you talking about you, your company or products? If your success rate in converting your prospects into leads is less than 5% I strongly suggest you consider changing your approach.

I AM TALKING TO YOU!!!

Do you want to avoid a year of uphill battle in filling your sales pipeline and struggle to close every deal in your thin pipeline? Contact us NOW for a 30-minute conversation with real impact on your business.

About the author:

Mark Ghaderi is an author, sales coach, mentor, entrepreneur and social selling evangelist with twenty five years of driving business results across the globe.

Vital Strategies Pte Ltd. Provides Revenue Growth Services to companies across the APAC region, helping organizations to grow their top line through digital transformation and improving sales execution.

contact us at: sales@vital-strategies.com