How to Find the Real Decision Maker

February 9, 2019 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Sales professionals searching for insight into prospective clients would be wise to think of themselves as detectives. The more research you do on a client the faster you speed up the sales cycle and the more likely you are to increase transaction size.

As you do your detective work, it eventually becomes clear who the real decision maker is and who the primary and secondary influencers are.

More than anything, it is important to determine the true decision maker, the person who has veto power and whose signature seals the deal. But almost important is determining who the key influencers are.

No matter how independent and self-confident a decision-maker may be, that person usually has valued and trusted advisers whispering in his or her ear. We need to know who those influencers are and get to them as early in the process as possible.

Some sales detectives prefer the direct approach and ask questions such as:

“Who is the most influential person helping you make this decision?”

“Whose advice and counsel will be most valuable to you as you make your decision?”

Other sales pros are more subtle, but once you identify the key influencers, you need to build a trusting relationship with them too.

Sometimes a prospect will be vague and non-committal when asked to name influencers. A mid-level person might not want to give up control or admit that he or she lacks decision-making power. Such a person could also be protecting c-suite executives from interruptions.

Some prospects worry that disclosing influencer names will cause the sales process to grow deeper before they are ready. When you’re having trouble drawing information out of a prospect, be patiently persistent. Keep asking, digging and researching. You can also look at precedent…What kind of influencers did similar prospects in the past have?

A word of warning: be careful of false influencers. There are those people who get some sort of psychological payoff pretending to have influence over the buying process. Do your homework. Don’t jump to conclusions until you have performed thorough due diligence on the prospective client. A little extra work will increase your closing ratio!

Attention Sales Leaders – Are your sales reps letting too many leads slip through the cracks? Is your sales team actively prospecting or are they sitting at their desks waiting for the phone to ring? Is your sales team “pretty good” but not reaching their potential?

If so, check out my Sales Training Menu, which has a couple new courses for 2019. There are many options when I visit your company: a motivational kickoff message; a half-day sales training program; or a full-day prospecting workshop.

Let’s schedule an on-site program at your office so your team can bring new prospects into their pipeline, shorten sales cycles and crush it in 2019!

Jeff Beals helps you find better prospects, close more deals and capture greater market share. He is an international award-winning author, sought-after keynote speaker, and accomplished sales consultant. He delivers compelling speeches and sales-training workshops worldwide. He has spoken in 5 countries and 41 states. A frequent media guest, Jeff has been featured in Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.

The Referral Gap

February 5, 2019 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Most companies are getting only one-third of the referrals they could receive from current clients

That’s according to a 2018 Texas Tech University study showing that 83 percent of satisfied clients are willing to refer products and services, but that only 29 percent actually do.

The underutilization of referrals is nothing new. Back in the day, the legendary Dale Carnegie claimed that 91 percent of customers said they would be willing to give referrals, yet only 11 percent of salespeople ask for them.

If your company is like the average company in the Texas Tech study, you are failing to get referrals from approximately two-thirds of your clients who would otherwise be more than happy to give them to you. The study referred to this as the “referral gap.”

It’s time to close that gap, because you can’t afford so much missed opportunity in a competitive marketplace.

I believe that latent referral potential is the biggest wasted resource in the sales profession. There is simply no better way to get a cold prospect to talk with you than to have a referral from someone that prospect trusts.

But why does this referral gap exist? Why are sales reps hesitant to ask?

There are several reasons, but we’ll start with fear of rejection. Fear is a natural part of everyone’s psyche, even confident, gregarious people. After building a trusting relationship with a client and cashing a commission check, it would painful to hear “no,” upon asking for a referral.

Similarly, some sales reps fear asking for too much. They think along these lines: “I spent so much time with the person, and they agreed to buy, so isn’t it going too far to now ask them for a referral after everything they have already done for me?”

But if you have done a good job of serving the client while at the same time building trust, you could make the argument that the referral actually strengthens your relationship with them. It’s kind of flattering when a vendor wants me to make referrals on their behalf. It shows me that I was an important and prestigious client.

Asking for a referral puts you and the client on the “same team” and creates more of a friendship between the two of you. Furthermore, saying nice things about you to others reinforces and reminds your client why you’re so awesome.

In an era when buyers are jealously protective of their time, a referral from a trusted source is your ticket to the show. The higher up a prospect is in a company, the more important referrals are.

Reaching busy decision makers is not the only reason you should ask past/current clients for referrals. By asking for business leads, you could find out about prospects who otherwise would remain hidden from your view. There are essentially thousands of prospective clients out there who you do not yet know and who have not heard of you. A referral is your ice breaker, a chance to know someone who could someday become one of your best clients.

Additionally, referrals can get prospects thinking about making a change even when the thought of changing hadn’t previously entered their minds.

For example, let’s say there’s a client who is marginally happy with their current vendor. They’re happy enough that they don’t feel compelled to look around but they’re not so satisfied that they wouldn’t consider an unexpected solicitation from someone who referred you. A referral could be just enough of a catalyst to make them consider a new provider.

Always be grateful for any referrals you receive. When clients allow you to use their names to seek business from their cherished contacts, they are putting their reputations on the line just to help you. That means you have an obligation to treat those referrals with the utmost care and respect. Caring for referrals is a sacred trust in the sales world, so take your job seriously.

Let’s schedule an on-site program at your office so your team can bring new prospects into their pipeline, shorten sales cycles and crush it in 2019!

Simply reply to this email or call me at 402-510-7468.

Ingredients of a Good Voicemail

February 3, 2019 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

In last week’s article, we analyzed a poorly executed sales voicemail I had received. This week, we go a little further and talk about what you SHOULD do when leaving a voicemail for a cold prospect.

Focus on the Recipient’s Value – Make your voicemails interesting by focusing on what the recipient cares about. Remember that people are more interested in their lives and their businesses than they are in you and yours. Research recipients before you call them. Talk about what interests the recipient or what matters to his or her business. Do not talk about your company or your product’s features and benefits in a prospecting voicemail.

Be compelling – Think of a strong idea you want to convey in your message and say it. Surprising or insightful messages have a much higher likelihood of being returned. Boring, rambling messages as well as messages that are too focused on the caller’s (salesperson’s) interests are easily deleted and not returned.

Don’t “Touch Base” – Never say you’re calling to “touch base” or “check in.” Those are useless reasons to waste a prospect’s time. Always say something of value.

Use an Old Advertising Trick – Use an enticement. Hint what benefit the person will receive if they return your call. Then spark their curiosity, saying you have something to share with them that they will find valuable or interesting. Another trick is to ask a thought-provoking question at the end of the message. That could compel the listener to call you back.

Conserve Your Words – Say a lot in a little amount of time. Voicemails need to be short, ideally less than 20 seconds but no more than 30 seconds. In that short time, convey a captivating message. Be like a newspaper reporter writing an article in that you put the most important idea in a powerful and information-rich lead sentence.

Be Easy to Reach – Leave your call-back number. One of the easiest excuses a prospect has to NOT return a voicemail message is if the call-back number is not readily available. Only 7 percent of sales voicemails are ever returned, which means it’s hard enough to get call backs. Don’t do anything that lowers the likelihood.

No Deception – Some sales reps like to deceive prospects in their voicemails either by implying that they are returning the recipient’s call (even though the recipient never called them in the first place) or by name-dropping a person they don’t really know. You don’t want to do anything that comes back to embarrass yourself if you do end up getting a meeting.

Don’t Give Up – You’re being naïve if you think one message – no matter how creative it may be – will do the trick. Your prospects are so busy that they just assume callers like you will eventually call them back. I’m not saying you should carpet-bomb people with daily messages, but it is now taking 8 to 12 attempts to get a cold decision maker to return your call. This is especially true with high-ranking, senior decision makers. The average sales rep gives up after only 2.5 attempts.

Mid Week Update!

January 30, 2019 jeffbeals

Rapid Responsiveness

If you’re looking for a way to improve your performance in 2019, try speeding up how quickly you respond to new prospects. According to InsideSales, 50 percent of sales go to the vendor who responds first. Technology has made infinite amounts of information immediately available at our fingertips. The result? We expect everything NOW. If you’re waiting 24 hours to call back prospects, you’re in danger of losing them to a more responsive competitor.

Top 10 Ways to Get Involved

There are great benefits that come from being involved in your profession, industry and community. If you would like to find new prospects through networking, check out my Top 10 Ways to Get Involved:

Professional and Trade Associations
Chambers of Commerce
Philanthropy and Non-Profit Groups
Networking Organizations and Tips Clubs
Service Clubs and Fraternal Organizations
Religious or Spiritual Organizations
Political Parties, Candidate Campaigns or Interest Groups
Youth Organizations
Arts, Sports and Recreation
Mastermind Groups

It’s Not Easy to Find Prospects & Close Deals

Is your sales team “pretty good” but not necessarily reaching their potential?

If so, check out my Sales Training Menu, which has a couple new courses for 2019.

There are many options when I visit your company: a motivational kickoff message; a half-day sales training program; or a full-day prospecting workshop. Let’s help your team bring new prospects into their pipeline, increase average deal size and crush their sales goals!

Breaking Down a Bad Sales Voicemail

January 18, 2019 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

As a sales consultant, I enjoy analyzing the various voicemail solicitations I receive each week. Like you, I receive a lot of them. Here is a transcript of a voicemail I received just yesterday:

“Hi Jeff. My name is Zach, and I’m with [Company Name]. I hope you’re doing fantastic, man. Uh, the reason for my reach-out is pretty simple. My company, [Company Name], has a tool that identifies businesses that visit your website—show you what they look at even if they don’t actually contact you through your contact forms. I work with a couple clients in your space. I wanted to see if this was maybe something you wanted to learn more about. We offer a free trial so you can see how the tool works for yourself. Give me a call ###-###-####. Thank you.”

Now that you’ve read the transcript, I have one question for you. Be honest. Would you call this guy back?

I chose not to call him back, not because I wanted to be rude, mean or inconsiderate. I chose not to call him back, because he gave me no compelling reason to call. Given that I am overloaded with stuff to do, I’m not going to allocate any precious time to call someone I don’t know, from a company I have never heard of and who gave me no compelling reason to call him.

Let’s break it down – what’s wrong with this voice mail?

1. The wording sounds like every other “salesman” in the world. I recommend you avoid using terms like “reach-out” and “clients in your space,” because they sound like cheesy corporate speak.

2. Because I don’t know this person, I think it’s a little too informal to refer to me as “man.” Some people might disagree with me on this. The guy’s voice sounded very young.

3. He started talking right away about HIS company and what HIS offering does. Instead, he should talk about what matters to ME, the prospect. His message would have been more effective had it started with something like this: “Business owners like you are missing out on countless customers, because you don’t fully understand who is visiting your website and what they are reading.” See the difference? Talk about what you believe matters to the prospect and not about yourself. Frankly, I (and pretty much every other prospect in the world) couldn’t care less about the offerings of a company I’ve never heard of.

4. If you have to mention a free trial in your initial conversations, it means you lack confidence in your offering and/or you have done nothing to establish value. When someone pushes the free trial too soon, in my mind, it’s code for “the offering is not good.”

Voicemail is a critically important prospecting tool.

The vast majority of prospecting calls go to voicemail. Some sales pros gripe and grumble when they are automatically routed to a prospect’s voicemail. They complain, that “nobody ever answers the damned phone!”

It is true that prospects are getting harder to reach. It is also true that decision makers are more likely to let calls from unrecognized phone numbers go to voicemail.

But don’t consider voicemails to be a bad thing; see them as opportunities, little advertisements that can be customized exactly to each prospect’s unique situation. Because you are most likely going to get voicemail whenever you call, it makes sense that you put a lot of thought and effort into each voicemail.

The key is to leave a voice mail that captures a prospect’s attention by relating to what truly matters to him or her. If you leave voice mails about your company or your product’s features and benefits you are almost guaranteed not to get a call back.

Is your company planning a sales kickoff meeting this year? At most companies, these meetings are filled with product-centric training sessions, boring PowerPoint slides and bleary-eyed sales reps wishing they were somewhere else.

I deliver entertaining kickoff sessions that are filled with ideas your sales team can start using the very next day. Let’s help your sales team:

Bring new prospects into their pipelines
Shorten sales cycles
Increase average deal size
Sell value so they don’t have to compromise on price
Get motivated to crush it in 2019

Check out my Sales Training Menu with some new training courses for 2019. Give me a call at 402-510-7468 to discuss a first-quarter sales training program or simply reply to this email.

How Do You Cope When the Sales Profession is Rough?

January 14, 2019 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Let’s say you are in the running for a particularly large deal.

You invest countless hours and other resources to win the business. For a while, it looks promising. You build a trusting relationship with the primary decision maker and have demonstrated how your offering perfectly fits their need. The prospect starts using phrases like “When we work together…” and “You will be responsible for…” and “We really need you…” You now consider the decision maker to be a friend.

Then suddenly your main contact starts being vague and evasive and is slow in returning calls. Two weeks later, the decision maker, your new “buddy,” sheepishly tells you they chose a different provider. It makes no sense to you that the other company was chosen, because they don’t provide the things that the prospective client originally told you were the biggest priorities. You feel frustrated, defeated and misled. Worse yet, you were counting on that business and it vanished. You’re incredulous and wonder, “Why did they lie to me?”

If this hasn’t happened to you, consider yourself lucky and know that it will probably happen in the future. Working in sales can be very frustrating. One of the most important skills a sales practitioner can possess is the ability to bounce back when life punches you in the gut.

Given all the pressure in this business, here are a few ideas to help you handle stress, avoid burnout and stay motivated:

1. To cope with the inevitable rejection in a sales career, concentrate on your victories. Celebrate each one of them in your own way. Some people will tell you that if you simply expect success, you don’t need to celebrate victories. I disagree. Appreciate everything.

2. Keep in mind that selling is a noble profession. Without sales activity, the wheels of commerce grind to a halt. Your work creates jobs and feeds families. Sales is the lifeblood of your company. Without you and your colleagues, there would be no company.

3. Remember that character is king. Focus on people – the hopes and dreams of the clients you serve. Draw inspiration and motivation from the people who surround you. When you remember that the things you sell have real impacts on real people, it helps you ride through the rough patches.

4. Embrace the competitive side of sales. Sales is game. Try to accumulate little (and sometimes big) victories each day. Playing to win removes the drudgery of day-to-day work.

5. Take pride in your resilience. It feels good once you have successfully persevered through difficult times. Remember that feeling anytime you feel hopelessness and then do what it takes to feel that way again.

6. Make it fun. Those who don’t ﬁnd ways to enjoy their work typically don’t survive long in a brutally competitive industry. Find the joyful and positive aspects of your work and focus on them.

7. Tell the truth even when it hurts. Integrity leads to success. You will be rewarded with high levels of client retention.

8. And finally, as you sell today, imagine what your legacy will be years down the road. Your work in sales literally shapes the future. I’d say that’s rather significant.

Jeff Beals shows you how to find better prospects, close more deals and capture greater market share. Jeff is an international award-winning author, sought-after keynote speaker, and accomplished sales consultant. He has spoken in 5 countries and 41 states. A frequent media guest, Jeff has been featured in Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.”

Here’s Why Should You Choose Jeff Beals as Your Next Speaker:

“Jeff Beals has presented four different topics at five of our internal events this year. At each event, the audience of commercial real estate principals and agents was completely engaged and motivated the entire time. Jeff facilitates his training sessions in such a way that each member of the audience was able to relate and understand how to apply it every day in the field. Jeff is brilliant, and we have hired him to continue speaking at our events next year!” – Lindsay Fierro, Senior Vice President, NAI Global, New York, NY

“Jeff Beals is a consummate pro. With short notice, he put together an engaging, fun, sales-focused presentation full of specifics – just what our exec team needed. We’ll ask him back for annual company retreat again next year.” – John Baylor, President, On to College, Lincoln, NE

“In the three months since Jeff Beals became my sales coach, I have signed over 20 top-tier clients and have positioned myself among the top three sales producers in my company nationwide. Jeff has helped me create a beneficial success plan and ensures, through an accountability process, that I’m actively accomplishing my goals. Not only is Jeff an incredible coach, he’s a true friend, mentor and wonderful human being.” – Carter Green, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Stratus Building Solutions, Oklahoma City, OK

(402) 637-9300

The Other Part of Goal-Setting: What Will You Stop Doing?

December 30, 2018 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Hopefully, you have set your 2019 goals by now, but there’s still time if you haven’t. Either way, there’s an important part of goal setting that you might not have considered: What are you going to stop doing?

The beginning of a year is a good time to declutter your business and your life. The longer you’ve been working in sales, the more unnecessary stuff you accumulate in your brain, on your calendar and in your job description. Sometimes that stuff needs to be purged.

Salespeople are notorious for adding things to their plate without taking things off. Why? Salespeople tend to be ambitious and very confident in their abilities. They want multiple ways to prospect even if one prospecting method hasn’t paid off much in the past. They tend to be independent personalities, rugged individualists who think they can do it all. Sales professionals know they need to persevere in an eat-what-you-kill environment, so they don’t give up or accept defeat lightly.

Those are great traits, essential for long-term success in sales, but they are traits that can burn you out if you’re not careful.

Since there is great power in decluttering, here are a few things you might consider stopping:

Blowing off leads

Fifty percent of sales leads never receive proper follow-up. That is probably the greatest waste of resources in the sales world. If you let leads fall through the cracks because you’re focusing on less important things, by all means, stop doing it.

Poor Qualification

Stop wasting time on people who will never buy. For whatever reason, many sales reps latch onto prospects who look good on the surface, but deep down, you know they’ll never buy from you.

Networking for the sake of networking

Some sales people never miss an event. They are on umpteen boards and committees and are always running from one meeting to the next. Why do they over commit and run themselves ragged just trying to keep up with all of it? Prospecting! They are afraid, they’ll miss out on their next dream client if they are not at every event. While I’m a big proponent of prospecting through networking, you must be efficient. If a time-chewing obligation is not regularly producing convertible leads, don’t trick yourself into believing you have to be there.

Chasing Shiny Objects

Many sales practitioners are looking for silver bullets, anything that could save them from researching the right prospects and picking up the phone to call them. If you have been hoping that social media can generate all prospects you need, you’re probably coming up short. Stop it.

Lack of Focus

Stop wasting time on non-sales functions. Sales professionals are often drafted by upper management to serve on company-wide projects or task forces. This is especially true if you are a senior leader in the sales division. Sales people tend to have first-hand knowledge of customers and buying trends, so they are valuable contributors to these company-wide groups.

But be careful. I’ve seen sales professionals sucked into so much committee work having nothing to do with sales that they have hardly any time left to sell. The United Way, for instance, is a fine organization, but do we really want our sales reps on the United Way employee committee instead of working the phones and hitting the streets? Sales is the lifeblood of the company; we need all sales hands on deck.

Would you like to know the single most important thing to stop? Counter-productive thinking. No matter how successful you are, you probably cling to some negative ideas. Every sales rep is at least occasionally afflicted with self doubt. Whatever negative things you harbor in the deep recesses of your brain, now is the time to perform a Japanese decluttering miracle on them.

So, consider this permission to declutter your sales career and liberate yourself. What do you need to stop?

Here’s Why Should You Choose Jeff Beals as Your Next Speaker:

(402) 637-9300

Overcome Social Discomfort at Networking Events

December 18, 2018 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

While preparing to go to a networking event, have you ever worried, “What if I don’t know anyone?”

It’s a common concern, but knowing nobody at a networking event is actually a blessing if you have the right attitude.

Not knowing anyone forces you to use your networking skills. Too many people will go to a function and sit in the corner with their friends, co-workers, spouse, whoever. That’s a waste of time. If you’re going to do that, just go to a restaurant.

If you find networking intimidating, you’re not alone. Many professionals who are good at networking have had to work hard to make it look that way. Sure, some people are naturally gregarious, but they are the exception, not the norm. It is natural to feel tinges of uneasiness when you attend a networking function by yourself where you know nobody.

Here are eight things you can do to make you feel more comfortable:

1. Practice

There is absolutely nothing wrong with rehearsing how you will act in a networking encounter in the quiet privacy of your home or office. Some people even practice in front of a mirror.

2. Observe the Masters

Think of someone you know who is socially gifted, very at ease working a room. Watch that person. Study that person. Think how you can imitate him/her. Each time you go to a networking event, do something he/she does. Instead of reinventing the networking wheel, figure out how you can mimic someone who has already figured it out.

3. Hold a Drink

Holding a drink at a social function can help you be more comfortable.

If you’re a non-drinker, there is nothing wrong with holding a soda or virgin cocktail. The drink is useful, because it gives you something to do with your hands.

Just be careful not to become intoxicated. You don’t want to do anything that would embarrass your company or damage the reputation you are working so hard to build. Some networkers will order one drink and nurse it for a couple hours, just taking infrequent sips. I know of one person who orders a 7-Up with just a tiny amount of alcohol in it. That way, it smells like a drink, but there’s not enough live ammo in it to compromise his faculties.

4. Positive Vision

Another way of dealing with shyness is to envision success before going to an event. Like a coach mentally preparing athletes for a big game, you can increase your likelihood for success by imagining yourself doing well in a social situation. Sit down and envision yourself saying the right things, using good interpersonal skills and being professionally assertive. If you do this regularly, you will evolve into a graceful networker.

5. Brush It Off

Operating out of your comfort zone can increase introversion tendencies. Some networkers worry they will say the wrong thing and sound stupid. Others are afraid to “interrupt” someone at a party. Others fear they might be “rejected” when they reach out to another person. Even as an established professional, it is an unpleasant experience to introduce yourself and attempt to carry on a conversation with someone who is clearly uninterested in you. When it happens to you, just brush it off and go to the next person.

When someone gives you a cold shoulder, it likely means that person’s problems are greater than yours.

6. Pair Busting

Periodically, you will find yourself at a networking event, standing by yourself with nobody to talk to. You look around the room and everyone is already engaged in conversation with someone else. There are no other “single” people. It can feel unnerving. When this happens, it’s time to be a pair buster.

Simply look around for a pair of people and walk toward them. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re interrupting. Just go up to the pair and introduce yourself. Be assertive. Sometimes it helps to say, “Mind if I join you?” in a joking sort of way. Ninety-five percent of the pairs you bust open, will welcome you. The other five percent are not worthy of your attention.

7. Welcome Other Busters

When you are already talking to someone else and a third person tries to bust into your pair, be sure to make that person feel welcome. Treat the conversational newcomer the same way you would like to be treated. Don’t act as if you’re inconvenienced. Just introduce yourselves and allow the person to feel part of the group.

The tone of your voice and your body language will help make such a person feel more welcome. Slightly turn your body toward the new person. If the person comes in mid-conversation, explain what you have been talking about in an effort to bring the new person up to speed.

8. Connecting

Networking gives you the opportunity to be a “connecter,” a person who introduces two people to each other. Go out of your way to connect others to each other. If you connect two people who end up doing business together, you have earned social capital. The two people who profited from that relationship will always appreciate you and owe you a debt of gratitude.

Connecting also helps mitigate shyness. Instead of focusing on the stress of networking, make it your mission to find people you already know but who don’t know each other. You could make a game out of it.

Attention Sales Leaders – Are you planning a sales kickoff meeting during the 1st quarter of 2019? At most companies, these meetings are filled with product-centric training sessions, boring PowerPoint slides and bleary-eyed sales reps wishing they were somewhere else.

Jeff delivers entertaining kickoff sessions that are filled with ideas your sales team can start using the very next day. Jeff will help your sales team:

Bring new prospects into their pipelines
Shorten sales cycles
Increase average deal size
Sell value so they don’t have to compromise on price
Get motivated to crush it in 2019

Call Jeff at 402-510-7468 to discuss a first-quarter sales training program or simply reply to this email.

To discuss booking a presentation, go to JeffBeals.com or send an email to info@jeffbeals.com or call 402-637-9300.

How to Keep Your Pipeline Full During Your Busiest Months

December 16, 2018 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Let’s say you are having the month of your sales career.

Everything is going right and you’re incredibly busy. In fact, there’s so much going on you have several deals that are closing all around the same time. Everything is looking good with those deals.

You know there’s a chance one of them could fall through at the last minute, so you’re doing your darnedest to make sure nothing goes wrong. You’re acting like a “deal shepherd” as you diligently monitor all aspects of the process and keep in constant communication with all parties involved in the transaction.

And let’s further say everything works out. You make a ton of commission money and you couldn’t feel happier.

Congratulations. It’s awesome when you get a month like that.

But there is a down side when you have a great month full of bottom-of-the-funnel activity: you will most likely neglect your prospecting.

I don’t necessarily blame people who find themselves in that situation. I’ve been there myself many times. It’s easy to put off top-of-funnel, down-the-road prospecting activity when you’re busy. And at some level, it’s completely rational to do so. After all, it makes sense to devote whatever time it takes to close a sale that is late in the stage and has a high likelihood of closing. After all, you presumably had to work very hard to get the sale to that point.

So what can you do to make sure you do at least some prospecting even when you are up to your eyeballs in high-value opportunities that are just about to become done deals? Here are a few things that can help you get the best of both worlds – your sales completed without leaving your pipeline empty:

Time Management – All professionals need to exercise good time management practices but it’s especially important for busy sales practitioners. I have noticed that even those people who are highly successful and who happen to be going through a particularly busy time, STILL end up wasting time each day. If you watch the little five- and 10-minute time wasters, you just might find time to work in some calls to prospects.

Teamwork – Any time you can divide the labor, you give yourself more capacity. If it’s appropriate in your company, you might want to team up with another sales professional. If you have access to clerical support, find good and efficient ways to use it. I have met many a sales pro who has access to administrative support but chooses not to use it, saying something like, “Well, it’s faster if I just do it myself.” To me, that means the sales pro hasn’t spent time training the admin how his or her sales process works.

Time Blocking – I’m a huge fan of time blocking, and it’s an important component of time management. Time blocking means you literally block out chunks of time on your calendar before a week even begins in which you will do nothing but reach out to prospects. It could be email. It could be in-person visits. It could be telephone calls. I find that telephone calls still tend to be the best use of prospecting time. The key to time blocking is to never cheat. Once a time block is on your schedule, you should stick to it no matter how tempting it is to do something else during that time.

Proactive Research – It is especially important during your most busy months to do your prospect research during off hours. Since you have so much going on when you’re about to close a bunch of deals at once, you don’t want to spend prime, daytime meeting/calling hours looking up prospects’ websites and LinkedIn profiles. Instead, do that during weekends, late nights or early mornings.

No matter how busy we get, even during our busiest, most exciting months, we still need to find a way to reach cold prospects. It is shocking how fast a pipeline can drain. If you want to avoid the up-and-down, boom-bust business cycle that too many sales reps find themselves struggling with, you have to find the time, energy and enthusiasm to make one more call.

Here’s Why Should You Choose Jeff Beals as Your Next Speaker:

(402) 637-9300

Are You Getting in Front of Enough Prospects?

December 11, 2018 jeffbeals

By Jeff Beals

Only 24 percent of salespeople exceeded their quotas last year.

That’s according to a report by sales strategist Marc Wayshak entitled, “18 Sales Statistics You Need to Know About Right Now.” The report summarizes Wayshak’s study of 400 practicing salespeople. Sales reps like to talk about “crushing it,” but the majority are notcrushing it.

To make matters worse, 54 percent of the respondents said it’s harder to get in front of prospects than it was five years ago.

But there was one statistic in Wayshak’s report that particularly stood out, and it explains why less than a quarter of sales reps exceeded their quotas: “66.7 percent of respondents reached out to fewer than 250 prospects in the past year.” Furthermore, only 15 percent reached out to more than 1,000 prospects in the past year.

That’s another piece of evidence in my quest to prove how important prospecting is to your sales success. The majority of today’s sales reps simply are not putting themselves in front of enough prospective clients.

Prospecting is the key. Prospecting has always been the key. It’s the reason 20 percent of sales reps do 80 percent of the business, and why in some companies, 10 percent make 90 percent of the sales. Prospecting separates the great from the good.

If you want to make more money, prospect like your life depends on it. Consider prospecting to be a mindset, a way of life and a fundamental part of your company’s culture. When things are going well and you’re closing so many sales you can hardly keep up, you still need to carve out at least a little time for prospecting.

Turn over every rock and scratch the dirt. Opportunities are often buried layers below the surface. Keep in mind that every person you meet could potentially lead to business and that prospects can theoretically be found any place you go.

In order to make sure you prospect perpetually, block out a couple periods of time each week that are reserved for prospecting activities: telephone calls, personalized direct emails or showing up at prospects’ offices. This time should be a non-negotiable calendar commitment not to be interrupted or rescheduled unless it’s an emergency.

When you reach out to new prospects, talk about things you believe they value instead of talking about you or your company. Research the prospect before contacting them and talk about what they value and then be ready to explain how the outcomes/results of your products and services satisfy those values.

Finally, map out your weekly prospecting plan on Sunday evening or early Monday morning. Decide who you’re going to contact and research those prospects ahead of time. That way, when you get to your dedicated prospecting time, you’re focused on communicating instead of digging through websites and looking up LinkedIn profiles. If you do anything other than communicating during dedicated prospecting time blocks, you’re wasting the prime calling hours.

Ultimately, success or failure in sales comes down to prospecting. If you prospect perpetually and enthusiastically, you’ll likely succeed. If you cheat on prospecting, you will likely fail.

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