Two weeks ago, I was looking for assistance on a project and was looking to hire a company to take it over. One of the companies I spoke with on the phone was courteous and nice, but they didn’t get the job. The reason is simple — they didn’t ask the tough questions.
After two weeks, they emailed me to arrange another time to talk. Sorry! Too late! The itch is scratched, problem solved, and I’ve moved on. They’re way too late to try to sell me!
In case you didn’t get the memo, things are moving fast, but I still see too many salespeople going at yesterday’s speed. Is that you?
The company I talked about earlier could easily have had the business. They were recommended to me by a person I respect. Here’s what made their follow-up even more disturbing to me: They said they’ve been busy with other clients and as a result were just now following up.
This company doesn’t just have a prospecting problem. They have a time problem and the only solution is to move faster. When we prospect using the old approach of “we can’t seem like we’re in a hurry and desperate for business,” we wind up creating more work for ourselves and, worse yet, we close fewer sales.
It’s time to think seriously about the questions you’re asking early on with the prospect. We must be much more aggressive in qualifying the prospect faster to allow us to do two things. First, it helps us not spend time with “suspects,” and second, it preserves our most valuable asset — our time.
Check out this 40-second video of me talking about qualifying fast to preserve your time:
Your goal needs to be to spend more time with your best prospects, but to do that you need to get rid of everyone else. Go ahead and ask the questions you’ve been hesitant to ask. You know the ones I’m talking about that have to deal with time and outcome. I’m not talking price in money. I’m talking price in terms of time and outcomes.
Focus on the expedient needs of the customer earlier and you’ll find out faster who is ready to dance.
If you have not yet purchased my book High-Profit Prospecting, you need to. The book is full of strategies you can use to speed up your prospecting process and close more deals. Here is the link. Insert link to Amazon
Many of you have read the book. You’ve sent me notes saying how much you like it. I’d like to ask you to go to the website where you bought the book and leave a short review, as that’s the best way to help let others know they need to read the book. Thanks!
Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
One Response
Yes, “spend more time with your best prospects” and it’s not only about asking the tough questions when prospecting it’s also about becoming efficient at the paperwork and distractions and meetings that companies always seem to throw at sales people.