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.

What Leads to a Successful Sale?

A quiz for you:

Communicating your expertise and product knowledge to your prospect leads to a successful sale:

1/ True

2/ False

I came across this question in a session with a world-class expert in the Sandler selling method.   This is one that can spark a lot of debate.

I’m aware that many salespeople are trained to be product experts.  In fact, product or service training may be the lion’s share of the formal training that they receive from their company.  Often, salespeople are coached to share their knowledge in order to establish their expertise with a prospect. This might be because the business perceives that the offering is so differentiated that once a prospect fully understands it they will jump at the opportunity. So, an encyclopedic knowledge of the offering and the ability to communicate it is often perceived as a major sales success factor for a salesperson.

However, consider the problems that could arise with this approach.  What if we miss something critical because we are so busy “communicating” about our offering?  When we first meet with a prospect, I believe it’s important to let the prospect communicate with us.  What are their current issues? Why are they even talking to us about our offering? What problems are they trying to solve?  If we move into “presentation mode” without knowing the answers to these questions, we risk losing the prospect’s attention by not addressing their core concerns.   In order to get at these concerns, we need to take the time to ask the right questions and then engage in active listening so that the prospect can communicate with us and so that we can internalize what they are saying.  We need a two-way conversation and, particularly early in the discussion, it’s ideal if the prospect does most of the talking.  This is where we learn what we need to know in order to confirm if they are a good fit for our solution and then close the sale.

So what’s my answer to this question?

False: I’ve concluded that product knowledge and expertise aren’t enough to close the sale.

My recommendations:

  1. Avoid getting into the “nuts and bolts” of a product presentation immediately with a prospect.
  2. Slow down and take the time to get to know prospects in order to learn what motivates them.

When you truly understand their situation, you can then start to use your understanding of your offering to highlight how your solution will make a real difference for them.  In my experience, taking this approach will improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love to sell and are lifelong learners when it comes to selling. Cold calling is our specialty. If your business needs help with getting appointments with qualified prospects, give us a call at 908-879-2911.

Why I Attended Outbound 2022

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Outbound 2022 in Atlanta.  Outbound is self-described as “the biggest, baddest conference in the Sales Profession.” Outbound is unique because it’s the only conference focused exclusively on “sales prospecting, pipeline, and productivity.”  I always make it a point to attend.

Continuing Education

Some people are amazed that I would take time away from my business to go to a conference with other salespeople. But in my view, I’m not taking time away from my business, I’m investing time in my business because, as the owner of a business whose primary focus is outbound cold calling, attending Outbound is continuing education for me.

A conference like Outbound gives me the opportunity to be surrounded by and interact with individuals who believe in outbound activities.  These are people who strive to be the best professional salespeople every day. While there, I’m able to explore new ideas and develop relationships that have led to growth for my own business. My experience at Outbound allows me to be a better leader of my own organization and inspire my team to do their best job.

I also invest in my own people. We have weekly Sandler training attended not only by my sales specialists but my admin team as well. As a result, my admin team has a deeper understanding of our business and they have become better communicators as a result. This investment pays off with greater efficiency and productivity for my business.

My Love of Learning

If you’ve followed my blog and my social posts for any length of time, you’ll know that I have a strong thirst for learning. Attending Outbound helps satisfy that need.  But another way that I address this is through my Conversational Selling podcast. A recent conversation with my colleague Liz Wendling, President of Liz Wendling Business Consulting and Sales Coaching left me considering her wise words: “Selling is the only way to stay in business.” Given the truth of this statement, the need for good sales skills is inexhaustible. One of a Kind Sales will continue to hone these skills to meet the needs of our clients.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love to sell and cold calling is our specialty. If your business needs help with this, give us a call at 908-879-2911.

Six Steps to Improve Your Cold Calling Results

One of the most challenging parts of selling is cold calling.  Like all of us, salespeople dislike rejection and don’t want to hear the word “no.” And many have never been trained how to do cold calling.  As a result, many salespeople find cold calling intimidating. Aside from the fear of rejection, there is a concern that they are “interrupting” someone to make a pitch.  But as professional salespeople, they need to keep in mind that the person on the other end of the call may have a need for the potential solution they offer. If the prospect sees that value in having their problem solved, it is well worth the interruption.

In a recent Zoom Info article, cold calling was deemed “very to extremely effective” by almost 30% of professional salespeople.  Also, it was reported that almost 70% of buyers accept cold calls.   Given these statistics, it’s clear that cold calling presents a real opportunity to prospect for new business. In our experience as professional cold callers, once our callers reach their targeted prospects, most of them get the opportunity to make their initial case without the call terminating before that point.

What goes into making cold calling more effective?  I believe preparation is critical to success.  Below are just some of the steps we take to make our cold calling as efficient as it can be.

  1. The call list should be targeted to the segment you are pursuing. This ensures that your offering is relevant to the prospects you are pursuing.
  2. Develop a script that lays out what you want to communicate. Don’t repeat the script word for word. Use it to internalize your message. This prepares you to be able to say exactly what you want to say the moment you get the opportunity to connect.  You’ll only have seconds to make an impression.
  3. Check your mindset. Think of yourself as an equal to the prospect you want to connect with.  Remember they have a problem, and you have a solution.
  4. Make sure the purpose of your call is clear to the prospect, so they understand how what you are calling about is relevant to their business.
  5. Remember this is a dialogue. Let the prospect speak. This is when you’ll learn whether there is an opportunity for your solution now.
  6. Every time you speak to the prospect remember you are establishing a relationship – one that will earn you the right to speak to them again, whether for a follow up appointment if there is a current opportunity, or for a check-in several months from now if there isn’t a current need.

If your team can incorporate this approach, it can help take cold calling outreach to the next level and bring in new opportunities for growth.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love cold calling!  If you need help implementing cold calling within your sales team, give us a call at 908-879-2911 to learn how we can help.

How to Get More Qualified Leads

Have you had the experience of meeting with a prospect and gradually discovering that the “ideal” prospect is not ideal at all?  Afterwards, you may feel like you’ve wasted your time and energy.

If you’re leading a sales team who has been experiencing this, not only is it frustrating, but it can also turn out to be quite costly. Time spent meeting with the wrong people could have been spent in a more focused and profitable way. And if this happens often enough it can bring down team morale.

There are steps you can take to ensure that this never happens.  But it involves something that may be the hardest part of sales – picking up the phone to qualify leads and confirm that they are true prospects.  Salespeople often tell me that this is something that they avoid. It is much easier to have a conversation with a warm lead than to do a cold call.

A Strong Pre-Sales Process

At One of a Kind Sales, we know that cold calling is a key component of pre-sales.  It’s the prospecting “legwork” that must be done to get a list of qualified leads. All things being equal, when a sales team is working with a list of qualified leads, they’ll have better success because they are meeting with the right people.

A strong pre-sales process uses multiple methods to build a list for the sales team to target. The process includes activities such as prospecting via social media and email, and cold calling.

Our experience is that cold calling is a critical component in the pre-sales process. Ultimately a well-executed cold calling campaign ensures that the sales team’s appointments are with the right people.

Our Recommendations

  • Implement a strong pre-sales process within your organization to build a qualified list of prospects that your sales team can pursue.
  • Alternatively, consider outsourcing the lead qualification process.

Remember, a sales team working with a list of truly qualified leads will result in shorter sales process and faster revenue growth.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love cold calling!  If your sales team needs help implementing a pre-sales process or you would like to outsource cold calling for your sales team, reach out to us at 908-879-2911.

 

Summer Cold Callers’ Jumpstart

This time of year, when I tell people I’m a cold calling expert, they often comment, ‘well this must be a tough season for you and your team because it’s summer.’  This belief that everyone is on vacation and decisions are not being made is a common misperception.

In fact, our experience is quite the opposite.  Here are some tips to make sure that you can use to jumpstart your summer cold calling activity and increase the likelihood of success.

  1. Know your target: Understanding your target means that you’ll know what motivates them to be interested in your offering.
  2. Know who the decision makers are: The decision maker is the one person you need for the appointment when you are cold calling.
  3. Develop and use a good script. Having a script allows you to think about and internalize your approach to the call in advance and anticipate different paths of discussion that might occur.
  4. Understand how your solution solves their problem. You’ll need to be able to recognize when a prospect is telling you something that indicates they are a qualified lead.
  5. Use Active listening. Make sure you’re not doing most of the talking. Allow the prospect to tell you about themselves and their business. This is when we learn what the opportunity really is.
  6. Pivot for the appointment. Once you’ve confirmed that there is a need, go for the appointment. Remember that a typical cold call is generally no more than 4 to 9 minutes. Making the appointment with a qualified lead is your objective. Leave deeper probes will be made during the first 30-minute appointment

Yes, these steps look like the basics…. and in fact, they are the tried-and-true core of cold calling best practices.  There’s a reason why they are best practices – it’s because they work no matter the time of year.

If you need help implementing best practices as an individual salesperson or with an inside sales team you manage, reach out to us.  We LOVE cold calling.  Contact us at 908-879-2911.