Tag Archives: Prospecting

What Are You So Afraid Of?

Have you ever heard of a salesperson who had to go to therapy because they stopped into a business and asked to speak with the owner?

Neither have I.

Yet prospecting can feel strangely terrifying.

What if they’re busy?

What if I interrupt them?

What if they’re having a bad day?

What if they say NO?

What if they release the hounds?

Okay, that last one is probably unlikely.

But the fear is real. You’re definitely not alone. This fear causes a lot of salespeople to do everything except the thing that creates new business.

They organize their CRM. Send emails. Research prospects for 47 minutes. Tweak a proposal. Check LinkedIn. Refill their coffee.

All very productive-looking ways to avoid contacting another human being.

One thing that makes prospecting less intimidating is knowing what you’re going to say before you make the call or walk through the door.

Not memorizing a speech. Preparing.

And know your goal.

Your goal on that first contact probably isn’t to sell anything. It’s to get 20 or 30 minutes with them later.

On the phone, keep it simple:

“Hey Fred, can I steal a minute from you?”

That’s pretty honest. You are stealing a minute.

(I remember this from an audiobook I listened to years ago called “New Sales. Simplified.” By Mike Weinberg – and I really like it.)

Then get to the point:

“I’m hoping to visit with you for about 20 or 25 minutes next week. I’d like to bring you a couple of ideas, learn a little more about your business, and see if we might be a good fit.”

Then stop talking.

You don’t need a five-minute pitch. You need a reason for another conversation.

Preparation creates confidence. And confidence usually doesn’t come before taking action anyway.

It comes because of taking action.

Pick a few businesses. Know who you want to talk to. Know what you’re going to say. Know what your goal is.

Then make the call. Walk through the door.

Worst-case scenario?

They say no.

Five minutes later, your life looks remarkably similar to the way it did before the call.

Check your pulse. Still there?

Good! Call the next one.

Duane Christensen
Ens Media

If you’d like to learn how our SoundADvice program can help your entire Radio sales team open more doors, protect more clients, and create more revenue, email me at [email protected] to request more info. We’ll send you the important details ASAP. And it costs less than 3 lattes a week.

A Different Route… to Prospecting

Prospecting is a never-ending process in sales and it’s the one step, for several reasons, that it often gets moved to the back-burner.

Here is an easy way to make prospecting part of your daily commute to and from the office… Simply take a different route!

If you are like most, the route you take to work is the same, day after day, week after week. It’s easy, you know exactly how long it will take, and unless a new business sprouts up, the view is the same.

Starting this week, dedicate yourself to finding a few different routes to or from work and take these routes once a week now through the end of the year. Travel it in both directions. You’ll see things differently.

On your new journey, you’ll potentially see a variety of things that may land you a new suspect or prospect. You’ll see businesses that you may have never heard of before. In addition, you may notice things like Grand-Openings, Going Out of Business signs, Open to the Public on Saturdays, Factory Liquidation, New Store Hours, Special Events, Help Wanted, etc.

As Robert Frost so eloquently wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”.

By taking a “different route” to the office, and to your prospecting, you may just stumble onto someone who has passion for their business, and it could make all the difference!

If you’re planning on taking a different direction to achieving success in 2020 and beyond, we would like to visit with you about our revenue-generating programs and services that will brand your stations and your media reps as “THE” advertising professionals in your market.

Contact me to arrange a time to visit.

How to Predict Your Results for 2016

Past performance can’t help you reliably predict future results. Just look at your mutual fund performance to verify that.

Yet many sales managers and general managers dwell upon sales reports… of past results.

It can be much more productive to measure Activity Planners. Activity Planners can help you reliably predict future results.

It’s been said that “if it can’t be measured it can’t be managed” but conversely, productivity demands that we should only measure that which can be managed. We can’t change or manage our sales reports.

But we can certainly manage and plan more activities, like prospecting, CNA’s (customer needs analysis) presentations and super-serving our clients.

Instead of asking your sales people to hand in ‘call reports’ or works of fiction on what they did yesterday, it can be much more productive to monitor their Planned Activity Reports.

You know if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

If you had a great quarter, get over it. Your commission and bonus cheques are on the way.

Your focus needs to be on your Activity Plans moving forward. Based upon closing ratios and average sales, and managing the activities that produce results, you can reliably predict the future.

P.S. One of the proven activities you might consider including in your plans for 2016, is our Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) surveys and presentations. These surveys consistently prove that Radio works, and our local TOMA presentations will help your sellers close more new business. Contact[email protected] for an overview of our surveys.

Sincerely,

ENS on Sales

All About Radio Sales