Tag Archives: prospect

Questions – Keep a Couple in Your Pocket

My dad had a lot of little sayings that had far greater meanings than just the few words spoken. Things like, “Can’t never could do anything”, “Do as I say, not as I do”, “Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear”, and this one, “It’s best to keep a couple in your pocket”.

I think the saying “keep a couple in your pocket” originally meant to always keep a couple of coins or dollars on you, and more than once it referenced keeping a few pieces of candy for later in the day! But I also recall him saying, “You don’t need to tell them everything up front. Hold back some of your questions, thoughts, and knowledge for a more appropriate time. Sometimes, timing is everything”.

Others might say something like, “hold your cards close to your chest/vest” or “don’t show all your cards until it’s time to play”.

Regardless of how you express it, using this wisdom in sales at the appropriate time can have a powerful impact.

One of the areas in which I used this wisdom was when conducting CNAs. I would ask all of the normal questions, but, in many cases, I would intentionally hold back two or three questions. Then, at the end of the meeting, I would say to the prospect, “We’ll go back to the office, prepare our ideas and put our recommendations together for you. In the meantime, if I have a few additional questions, do you mind if I call you or set up another appointment to discuss?”

In addition to asking better and deeper questions upfront, this is where we start to separate ourselves from our competition. In a few days or a week, we would call the prospect back and either ask the questions or set up another appointment. I would say something like, “Mr./Mrs. Prospect, I believe we have some really good ideas put together for you, but I do have a few additional questions before preparing our final suggestions. Do you have 10-15 minutes to sit down and discuss?”, or if they don’t have time to meet face-to-face, ask them, “Do you have time to answer a few questions?”

The reason, and goal, for doing this is that subconsciously, we are going above and beyond what other media reps might be doing by putting additional thought into their business, and going the extra mile by thinking the process completely through.

This little tactic is not necessarily a game-changer. You’ll still need to have a great idea, but by keeping a “couple of questions in your pockets” and asking them at an appropriate time, you can certainly capture their attention enough to help position yourself differently from your competitors!

…and in the case of candy, you will never be disappointed that you kept a couple in your pocket!

Fishing for the BIG ONE?

Fishing is very much like advertising sales. First, we must prospect or fish in the right spots, use the right bait and equipment, and then we must know what we are fishing for. Are you fishing just to catch some fish, or are you trying to land the BIG ONE? And… how do you know when it’s a BIG ONE?

We know that furniture stores, car dealers, and grocery stores all have great potential, but they are not always the “big fish”. In fact, sometimes you would just as soon throw some of these back!

However, when you feel like you hooked on what you believe is a big one, there are a few lessons that we can learn from the fishermen.

First, you need to let them nibble a bit, don’t try to set the hook too quickly. Secondly, take your time reeling them in. Just like setting the hook, if you reel too hard and too fast your chance of losing them increases.

If you know you have a prospect with great potential (A BIG ONE), take your time, educate them on how you can help them, ask more questions, have additional meetings to make sure you have all the bases covered, and don’t try to get them in the boat before they are ready. A longer sales cycle typically reaps better success.

The biggest fish, like the biggest prospects, need to be handled with great care. Nearly every six-figure account that my sales teams landed took 3 to 6 months to get on the air, and in some cases, even longer.

Patience is a virtue! Once you have the hook set, guide them in with due diligence, but be prepared for sudden changes so you can adjust accordingly. If they should decide to swim upstream one more time, give them some line (more information) and then steer them back towards the boat. Your chances of getting them in the boat will greatly increase.

If you would like your team to become better prospectors and learn how to land the BIG ONES, click here and we can visit on how ENS Media can help train and motivate your team to have more success in 2021 and beyond.

Happy Fishing – Happy Training!

A Second Chance

You’ve heard the expression that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. While that may be true when it comes to meeting people, it’s not necessarily the case when it comes to B2B (business to business) sales. In fact, in the B2B sales world, if you play your cards right, not only may you get a second chance, but you could get a third, fourth, fifth, and even beyond.

There is a reason that those selling vehicles, appliances, furniture, and other B2C (business to consumer) products come off a bit pushy, and by doing so, often lose the opportunity for a second chance. It’s because once the customer has made the purchase, they are out of the market for an extended period of time. It’s Risk versus Reward. They push because they know that it may be years before those customers are in the market to purchase again.

In media sales, if you make a presentation to a prospect or client today and they say no, you can always reload and present again tomorrow or in the very near future, IF…

The “IF” is… If, you play your cards right and take the “no” professionally. No pouting, no arguing, no trying to make them feel guilty or stupid because they didn’t accept your ideas or didn’t want to do business with you.

Accept the “no” politely and professionally and be ready to reply with a few well-prepared statements and questions, such as, “Mr./Mrs. Prospect, I really appreciate your time and consideration of our proposal or plan. Can I ask you a question or two? Is there a specific reason that you have decided not to move forward with this plan? If I were to re-tool this plan or go back to the drawing board, what changes, things added or subtracted, would you like to see?”

Find out what the possible reasons may be and re-think your proposal. A warning though; business owners do lie and how they respond to these questions may not necessarily be the truth. Be prepared to dig a little deeper to uncover the real reasons.

By being professional, you will always leave the door open to present again. Anything less is unacceptable. In media sales, there is always a second, third, fourth chance to make that first time sale.

Q1 is in the Books – It’s Time to Evaluate

Q1 is in the books and regardless of how it went for your individual reps or your team, there’s absolutely nothing that can be done about it now. It is, what it is!

If you met or surpassed your goals, look back and see what was done to make it a great first quarter, take advantage of the synergies, celebrate the victory, and then … get back to work!

If it was less than expected, it’s time to analyze and figure out where and why they came up short. Was it that they didn’t prospect enough, make enough presentations, or maybe they didn’t approach renewals in the right manner and lost some.

I suggest having your reps write down what was “out of their control” and what was “in their control”. By doing this, if they are honest, they will see their own shortcomings and know exactly what they need to do to get better. They will also see that in some cases there is absolutely nothing they could have done differently, but in the future, they need to prepare for this. Prospecting!

If they are not honest and blame it all on something or someone else, you have a whole different fish to fry.

Together, plan how they can improve in the areas they are lacking …and then get back to work!

The end of each quarter is a checkpoint. Take advantage of this opportunity to evaluate each individual rep and the team as a whole …and Good Luck in Q2!

Prospect for “PASSION”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will tell you that there are approximately 60 registered businesses for every 1000 population within a city. Of these 60 registered businesses, we suspect approximately 50 of them are viable prospects that have the ability to advertise on some level. So, in a city of 50,000 people you have approximately 2,500 viable prospects!

If you have been to one of our workshops or seminars in the past five years, you’ve heard us say that Main Street is shrinking, and that the best places to prospect today are in the service and professional business categories. But regardless of the business category, there is one important quality to look for when prospecting. That quality is… an owner who has “PASSION” for their business!

If you read last week’s ENS on Sales, Just Fishing or Trying to Land the Big One, you’ll recall I stated that nearly every six-figure account my sales team landed took three to six months to land, and some even longer. What I didn’t say was that these same accounts started out spending small and grew from there. But ultimately these business owners all had one major thing in common! You guessed it… they ALL had PASSION for what they did.

There is no secret to identifying those who have it. You’ll feel the passion once you meet them. They get excited, even “gitty” when they talk about what their company has to offer. They share more exciting stories, have more love for their employees and customers, are more open to your ideas and have bigger dreams for their business.

When prospecting, look for the business owners who have passion. Then have the patience and knowledge to help them get where it is they want to go! All they need is someone like YOU, who has nearly as much passion about their business as they do and knows how to make advertising work.

Are your Advertising Reps trained properly to handle these and other accounts? If you have the passion to help your reps be all they can be, click here and let’ s discuss how ENS Media can help train and brand your sales team as marketing professionals.