Preparation and Recycling: this is probably the most straight forward instalments in the series, but when adopted, it is the one with the greatest return.  Since most sales people do not like to prospect to begin with, they like preparing for the activity even less.  But at the end, anything worth doing is worth doing right, and in sales and prospecting that means taking the time to prepare.

With prospecting preparation is just as vital as at any point in the cycle.  This goes from a simple thing like having a complete calling list ready, including name, title, number, potential value statements, references, potential voicemail message, but most importantly the ability to anticipate and deal with objections.

While these may seem obvious, many sales people do not take the time to be ready, and as a result get distracted, rejected and dejected.  I fully believe that it is not rejection that turns people off on cold calling, but the knowledge that they have not prepared, especially to avoid and handle objections, and therefore failure is inevitable.  Most reps who have a proper process for prospecting have similar success ratios as they do with closing, roughly 1 in 5, yet you never hear sales pros say that they have a fear of rejection when it come to proposals or closing.  Why, because they have properly prepared for the proposal, and as such can deal with the results.

Having the things listed above, having an understanding of how to relate to the person you are calling can dramatically increase the resulting appointments.  As with any of the things discussed in this series, the better you are at getting the right number of appointments to drive your business, the less work you will have to do, and the less dreaded cold calls you will have to make.

I would caution that you have to be realistic not confuse “preparation” with “deep research” for each appointment setting call, that would be a waste of time at this stage.  If your numbers are 12-6-1, (12 dials to reach 6 decision makers resulting in one appointment), and you spend 5 minutes researching each call, that’s 2 hours of research for 1 appointment, not a good use of time. 

Recycling is another key; most reps do not have an active lead management process.  But in these days of climate change, it is important that you recycle your leads and use the right ones for long term value.   We recommend a process of Touch > Contact > Engage.  An approach designed to managing your leads, an organic replenishment plan.  Recycling leads, ensures that you benefit from the fact that today’s dud is tomorrow’s cash cow, understanding that more is not best, just a start, you still need a means of brining new leads in to you base.  Remember even in these days of global warming, the inconvenient truth is that you need prospects to sell, and that means cold calling leads.

Sell well,
Tibor Shanto, The Pipeline