What is Combo Prospecting?

At a recent Sandler Training Session, I was inspired by a Sandler trainer, Emily Yepes, who spoke about the challenges of prospecting. In this competitive environment, we all need to “up our game” to reach the prospects we believe we can help.  Prospecting is often the biggest ‘pain point’ for my clients and to meet this need, I’ve become a student of different prospecting approaches.

What is most attractive about Emily’s approach, which she refers to as “Combo Prospecting,” is her simultaneous use of multiple channels to reach a targeted individual. She uses LinkedIn outreach, phone calls, and email to reach a targeted client.  She also leverages video in both email and LinkedIn. What’s important is that the targeted individual is someone who she knows is likely to be interested in her solution at some point. She personalizes her messaging by incorporating a topic that is relevant to the individual – something they’ve posted about recently or even recent media coverage that impacts their business.  She attempts to engage by asking a question.  She does not start to sell to this person immediately.  Her mission is to engage them and stand out.  Doing a bit of background research on each person enables her to do this.

As an example, on day one, a targeted prospect might receive a phone call, an email, and a LinkedIn message.  While this may seem like overkill, remember that your prospect is not 100% focused on any one of these channels. Some people don’t go to LinkedIn often, others never pick up the phone, and email is easily overlooked.  From consumer research, we know that it takes multiple exposures to get a consumer to recognize a new brand or name.  Likely, the message a targeted prospect takes away from this type of outreach is that you have prioritized reaching them.  Over 30 days, you can alternate between using one or two methods every two to three days.  By day 30 if there is no response you can send them a final goodbye email.   Like other outreach methods, you develop a routine that you should stick to, and over time the number of responses should accumulate.

I’m trialing this approach by targeting 20 prospects. I reached out with an initial phone call, followed by an email and a LinkedIn message.  In none of these contacts did I attempt to sell. My subsequent contacts will alternate between two of the three channels and will incorporate personalized videos.   What was striking to me was that in just 47 minutes I was able to make an initial outreach to 20 individuals through multiple channels. Think about how long would it have taken for me to visit 20 prospects in person! And, if I only used one method to reach out to 20 people, imagine how much lower my chances of generating a response would be.

Ultimately, I believe this approach will yield great results.  As I have just initiated this process, I don’t have the final numbers, but I am impressed with the productivity. (Stay tuned for a follow-up in 2024.)  And what we do know is that sales is a numbers game and the more outreach you do, the greater the opportunity for a sale.

If you’d like to learn more about this approach or if you have an organization that needs help generating leads, please reach out to One of a Kind Sales – we are experts at cold calling and we can help your team generate the sales you need.  Give us a call at 908-879-2911.

When Being Negative is Positive

I’ve written before about the benefits of getting to ‘no’ quickly. As I wrote in my last blog, the more no’s you hear, the closer you get to ‘yes.’ But you may have challenging prospects that thwart your efforts. For example, they drag their feet on making a decision, or they don’t give you much feedback, or they repeatedly reschedule meetings. A Sandler Selling Systems technique called “Negative Reverse Selling” may help.

In Negative Reverse Selling, you do the opposite of what a prospect expects. This changes the pace of the conversation and may help you uncover information that you might not have discovered otherwise.

Here’s a cold calling example: during an initial call, the prospect requests that you send them information via email. The normal approach would be to agree to send it right away.

Using Negative Reverse Selling, your response might be, “Sure, I’m happy to send it to you, but I’ve noticed that often when I’m asked to send information, it’s because the person wants to end the discussion without hurting my feelings. I will understand if this is the case –  but is this what is really happening here?”

In this scenario, the client expects that you’ll send them the information and end the call. They don’t expect you to ask about their motivations. In response, they may admit that they aren’t interested at this time. Then you can thank them and move on. Alternatively, they may confirm they’re interested but you’ve caught them at a bad time.

Negative reverse selling has three key elements. In the first – the ‘build up,’ you make a positive statement about their comment. In the second, ‘the takeaway,’ you share an observation about that comment.  In the third element, you ask a ‘question’ to confirm whether your observation is correct.  See the breakdown below:

Element Definition Example
The build up Make a positive statement about their comment or request. “Sure I’ll send this…
The takeaway Sharing an observation based on your experience. but often when someone asks, they are trying to politely end the call. I understand if this is the case,
The Question Test to see if you are drawing the right conclusion. but is this what’s happening now?”

This is an advanced sales technique that could be of use in a variety of situations. If you choose to use it you’ll need to practice and apply it strategically. This is not an approach to use for the first time in a high-stakes sale.

At One of a Kind Sales, we are experts at sales and cold calling.  We have many techniques in our “sales toolbox” to navigate through the selling process.  If you need help generating qualified leads for your business or you have a sales team that is not as efficient as you’d like, call us at 908-879-2911 to learn more about our services.  Consultations are complementary.