We all want to make more sales, close more deals, create more relationships, and earn more money. To do this, we need to fill our sales funnel with new opportunities. To begin, organize your year into quarters, and then create 30,60, and 90-day sale objectives to make more sales. Read on to learn how you can increase your law of averages and make more sales by filling your funnel with prospects.
Make a habit of seeking new opportunities. Even when you’re busy with your existing clients, you should be prospecting for future opportunities. You can do this within the framework of the business you’re already doing. Meet members of other teams in other departments, make connections with people who don’t usually use your product, and have a good use case for additional business uses. Know how using your product or service will help benefit the new contacts you encounter. Keep seeking new opportunities to fill your funnel.
Sales is a numbers game, so the more customers you talk to, the closer you get to finding someone who’s already in need of what you’re selling, someone who wants what you’re selling, or someone with whom you get along well and really want to create a business relationship or partnership. The point is that we need to meet a lot of people if we want to make more sales. Pick through your territory, deck, or prospect list to find those ideal customers who want, need, or will need what you have to offer. You have to go find them, so let’s get to it.
Identify Your Target Market
First things first; who’s your target market? Review your list of current customers to determine who buys now, then find more customers like them. In Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive Harvey Mackay has a 66 question customer profile about the person who buys from you. Mackay says to “dig your well before you’re thirsty” – it’s great advice and can help you keep up with your sales goals. You can read more about his 66 questions.
Use Tools for Shortcuts
Social media helps you reach out to people in your demographic. You can utilize social media to educate potential prospects with small doses of valuable information. Eliminate prospects’ fears by helping them make decisions that are right for them. When you prove yourself to be an authority, they will be ready to talk to you. Get specific, and show expertise that’s dialed into their industry and needs by using their language. Make sure to maintain a sense of personal touch. You can also create valuable marketing content such as YouTube videos about what you do, and be sure to include tutorials and customer testimonials.
Reverse prospecting online is a strategy of sorting out and narrowing down potential prospects in similar geographic areas with common needs. One way you can use this strategy is by reverse searching for prospects, search by zip code with LinkedIn.
Another social media prospecting strategy is to join or even create your own LinkedIn Groups where you share who you are and what you do. Join groups with people who might buy from you. Research the groups, request to join, be sure to follow the groups’ outlined rules of engagement, and be active in relevant groups. For example, if you sell insurance and love cars, you can join a car enthusiast group. When joining a group, stay as long as you feel it’s paying off and you’re still interested in it. Don’t try to be in too many places at once. Quality over quantity is the best strategy.
Closed groups require acceptance which also means they are moderated. These are the best groups to be a part of. Don’t join more groups than you’re willing to actively participate in. Try 2-3 to start with, and experiment with your approach to determine how much you can be involved. Start your own group, but first you’ll need to make a plan and know what you are creating a group for. Invite others to join, and then post valuable insights several times a week. Create a place that maintains interest and actively engages your members. Give added value before you ask for any business.
Keep Track with Activity Logs that Convert into Your Funnel
Keep track with daily activity logs that outline how many emails and calls you make, if you’ve provided follow up, and the amount of time invested in researching information for finding your best prospects. Watch for patterns of what’s delivering and what’s not.
Set goals that make you stretch, choose a number to hone in on, and make that a part of your motivation. Create a daily goal and have a plan for what you will do after each rejection. Keep all your leads in the same place. Use a customer relationship management tool to stay organized. I’ve used Salesforce, but there are many others on the market that are very helpful.
Plan Your Calls and Create an Agenda
To be most effective and efficient, preplan everything. This means set agendas for meetings, and preplan your daily calls and emails. Build on your goals and strategize how to achieve those goals. What needs to happen next to move your business forward? That action item then becomes your next goal. There should be an agenda for every prospect or client contact. Be persistent, build trust, and establish relationships while looking for the perfect timing.
Emails
There are several ways sales professionals can approach prospecting emails; some create a bank of message templates that they save and use over and over again, others have standardized messages, or create messages individually. Having a mix of several kinds at your fingertips is a good idea to start with until you figure out what works best for you. Trial and error will help, and you can eventually have your perfect palate of custom built or banked messages so that each message is catered to each client.
In conclusion, just get started by developing your plan. Understand any limitations with solicitation rules in the city and state you’re working. Take good notes, make reports, and document every detail from prior phases of the sales process. Make sure your calls and emails include a call to action. Have fun exploring what works for you, and as you develop more customer relationships, you will find yourself gravitating to people you love doing business with. Focus on the people you like, and in time you will find you only work with people you like. Have fun, make money, and enjoy the rewards and benefits your hard work deserves.
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