Prospecting Rod Nafziger September 28, 2011

Prepared by Terry Bentley MVP for Columbus, Indianapolis Louisville Market Place

Prospecting Quiz

• How much time do you spend prospecting?

• Do you base prospecting on research?

• Are your prospecting messages about the buyer (as opposed to the seller)?

• Are your prospecting messages customized to the company/Industry your calling on?

• Is the message likely to leave any impression on the buyer?

• What is your advance ratio (suspect to prospect)?

What is Prospecting?

Function: verbto explore, to delve into, to search for, to inquire into, to investigate, to probe, to sift

Sales Definition

To engage in a business dialogue with the goal of initiating a sales cycle.

What It Really MeansProspecting is simply discarding all the unqualified leads and retaining the "gold". The job of prospecting is to find qualified leads that may buy your product

What It is not

Sales………….completely separate activity!

Why Do We Hate to Prospect?

Feels invasive No control

Low success rate

Nothing to sayIt’s exhausting

Survey Results—Sellers

63% said it was the one thing they most disliked about sales

36% said they seldom if ever do it

<3% said they found prospecting to be productive

88% said they are expected to prospect for new business

Survey Results—Buyers

91% said they NEVER respond to unsolicited inquiry from sellers

71% said they found cold calls annoying

88% said the one thing they most disliked about cold calls was that they had nothing to do with their issues or problems

94% said they could not remember a single prospector or message they had received in the last two years

So Why Bother?

“If Marketing would do THEIR job, OUR phone would ring!”—salespeople worldwide

• Worst time NOT to change

• Best time to take a competitor’s account

Sample Statistics for prospecting

• Assume an advance (close) ratio of 20%

• Each account opportunity average worth = $200,000

• Therefore, you need 25 targeted accounts to close 5 opportunities

• Each targeted account has 5-7 opportunities

• Total value of prospects in pipe-line = $5,000,000

• REMEMBER……..YOU WILL HAVE A LARGE LIST OF “SUSPECTS” GREATER THEN 25. • Must qualify the suspects into prospects

Sales goal of $1,000,000 of new business

Effective Prospecting includes

• “Organization” – something that has been made into an ordered whole

• Prepare– Research/Identify/ PROFILE!• Profiling: putting together org chart of who

you will contact in prospect company

• Consistantency– SCHEDULE IT LIKE AN APPOINTMENT!

What Does Great Prospecting Look Like?

• Credentials both Company and Seller

• Positions Seller as Value Creator

• Connects with Buyer’s Issues

• Has a High Success Rate

• Integrates with Marketing

Prospecting vehicles

• The phone– Best, as you get live contact

• E-mail– Easy distribution and follow-up

• V-mail - dangerous…can say too much

• Letters – Very Important Top Officer /Reduce sales cycle by 50%!

- a lot of effort, but good for setting up warm follow-up calls

How Can That Be Done?

• Recognize where the Buyer’s focus is

• Know how to create value

• Know how Buyers buy

• Remember . . . it takes planning

Putting It Together: The RIMS Model

Research

Impact

Message

Sales Cycle

- targeting

- insight

- targeting

- connection

Research (targeting)

• Divide Market into Verticals

• Issues of Urgency and Currency

• Relevance to Buyer

• Search for Changes

RIMS

Research (targeting)

• Examine Current Clients

• Assess Public Data (example: Reference USA)

RIMS

Impact (insight)

• Expand the prospect’s awareness of the impact or magnitude of a problem

• Leave the prospect with a desire to learn more

RIMS

Message (connection)

• Executive Level – needs and results

• Middle Management – implementation difficulties

• Use implications not just facts

RIMS

Good Messaging vs. Bad

• Short

• Provocative first, informative second

• Credentialing

• Value-creating

RIMS

A good message is:

Four Types of Prospecting Messages

Problems, Implications

Facts

Buyer Focused

DifferentiatedDifferentiated

CommoditizedCommoditized

ProvocativeProvocative

CredentialedCredentialed

Seller Focused

RIMS

Four Types of Prospecting Messages

Problems, Implications

Facts

Buyer Focused

CommoditizedCommoditized

Seller Focused

RIMS

Message Example 1

• My name is Bill Gates, I am a sales consultant for Konica

Minolta Business Solutions. Konica Minolta is a leading

supplier of print and electronic document solutions that

improve business processes. I am eager to explore with

you how we might best serve your needs at ABC

Financial. I will call your office on Tuesday September 23

to follow up. I can be reached at 614-555-7777. Thank

you.

RIMS

Four Types of Prospecting Messages

Problems, Implications

Facts

Buyer Focused

DifferentiatedDifferentiated

Seller Focused

RIMS

Message Example 2

• My name is Bill Gates, I am a sales consultant for Konica

Minolta Business Solutions. Konica Minolta has saved

the average client 16% over the past five years and we

have a 99% customer satisfaction rating. I know that ABC

is having issues with your current vendor and it may be

that this information would be of interest. I will call your

office…

RIMS

Four Types of Prospecting Messages

Problems, Implications

Facts

Buyer Focused

CredentialedCredentialed

Seller Focused

RIMS

Message Example 3

• I noted in your CEO’s last analyst conference call that there

has been a decision to move away from selling parts and to

approach the market as sellers of managed services. Is your

marketing literature program able to handle the new

demands. My name is Bill Gates, I am sales consultant for

Konica Minolta Business Solutions. We have recently

assembled some interesting data on what buyers of

Document Management services are looking for from their

partnerships. I believe that we may be able to show you how

the current methods of managing your literature could be

better tuned to support your new sales strategy…

RIMS

Four Types of Prospecting Messages

Problems, Implications

Facts

Buyer Focused

ProvocativeProvocative

Seller Focused

RIMS

Message Example 4

• I noted with interest that your CEO announced a new

sales strategy in his last analysts call. I am curious to

know how this new strategy cascades down to your

document management program. So often new strategies

lack a corresponding set of tactics to support them . My

name is Bill Gates, I am a Sales Consultant for Konica

Minolta Business Solutions. We have studied this

problem and would be eager to discuss your objectives

and the definitions of success that will allow your

Document Management to support your strategy …

RIMS

Sales Cycle

• Plan an Advance

• Have a Point-of-View

• Get the Facts You’ll Need

• Set a Call Objective

RIMS

Conclusion

• Great prospectors understand customer-centric ideas

• You’re trying to start a dialogue, not make a sale!

• Great prospecting takes systematic planning

• Use mix of methods that comfortable for you!

• Spend 10-15% of your time each week

• Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up

Prospect well or fail to prosper!Prospect well or fail to prosper!

Next Steps – Prepare Prospecting Plan• Research accounts to target that fit profile:

Production Print = $1,000,000 + Marketing Literature Fulfillment/Color Production = $250,000 + Document Management Solutions = $100,000 + Print Management Solutions = $200,000 +

• Identify & list 25 accounts• Create a profile by Dept. (Hr, Mkt., Ops., etc)• List contact, phone # & title on profile• Implementation:

Schedule time each week (10%-20%) of time on calendar Schedule your time month in advance & be consistent Research contacts and companies you are contacting Submit Plan by ????? Execute plan effective ?????

• Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up

Prospect well or fail to prosper!Prospect well or fail to prosper!

Prospecting

Thank You