To no surprise prospects who agree to work with you and say “let’s get started”, with no warning just disappears. The biggest challenge faced by sales people is perhaps the problem of chasing prospects.
Talking about the dynamics of cold calling, we usually expect and hope that the prospect is going to be receptive to whatever we say. However, a prospect instead of thinking ‘ok, this may be interesting’, here’s what they’re more likely to think ‘”Great, we don’t know each other, and you don’t even have an idea that whether we need your product or not and still you have decided to make this call anyway”. And adding to our misery, the myriad of advertising emails and sales calls have made people lose their interest in even listening to a sales pitch. In such a scenario, sales professionals continuously invent ingenious ways to make their voice heard.
The main themes that I try to teach Salespeople is that rather than going the hard way, you could employ a few hacks and tricks to get your prospects chasing you instead:
1. Be insanely confident
As quoted by William Clement Stone, “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.”
Your confident-self has the ability to win you sales more than anything else. When you believe in yourself and your product, the prospect is expected to reciprocate the same way.
Why it is expected to work?
While chasing prospective customers/clients, there are chances of getting turned down with the blink of an eye.
The level of confidence that you have going into a sales call would be decisive enough to judge whether sales will be made or not? Your job, as a sales professional, is about transferring your energies and enthusiasm into the prospects, making them believe in your idea.
2. Depend less on cold calling
For those unfamiliar with the term, ‘Cold calling’ refers to the unsolicited calls or visits in an attempt to make the sales. Cold calling is rarely appreciated by anyone so it would be best to keep it as an optional approach rather than deploying it as a regular practice.
Why it is expected to work?
Cold calling might work in some situations but it is often known to annoy the prospects, pushing them off the cliff. Therefore, all those who have been able to understand the customer psyche can validate the fact that cold calling rarely works.
In a survey conducted to understand the success rate of cold calling, it was found that 72% of cold calls get outright rejected, whereas only 28% listen to you till the end of the call (still not making the purchase and will let you know later). Out of these 28% prospectives, only 0.3% gets converted. Need we say more?
3. Qualify OUT the prospects
Instead of pitching to all the prospects you come across, what could really work for you would be shortlisting the clients/prospects who are most likely to buy the product.
Why it is expected to work?
Taking this into practice will not only save your time but also help you to strategize accordingly to acquire the prospects that are most likely to come on board. Here, CRM software can come to your rescue; researching and understanding a customer’s pattern which can provide further insights on how likely they are to buy the product.
Give it your best shot with the most confidence, deliver your sales pitch right and they will surely be on your radar of prospective clients.
