The Age-Old Problem in Selling is…

The age-old problem in selling is: how do you get in front of a customer’s needs?

If your product is one which you can ‘manufacture’ the need for, then you might be able to cold call from a phone book and say the right things that brings awareness to the customer’s problem.

But if you’re in a business like most of us where the prospect actually must have some kind of a presenting need or pain, then you calling from the phone book will be a colossal waste of time.

I’m not like some of my colleagues who say that cold calling is a total waste of effort and energy, however I do think there are some things we can get out of a cold call that might be slightly different.

No Longer a Seller. Forever A Sorter.

I prefer to look at this whole process of prospecting as a sorting mechanism.

I am sorting the people who will never do anything with me – from the people who don’t have a need right now but might soon – from the people who I just happened to call it the right time and they have an immediate issue.

So the first order of business is to change your mindset from one of a seller to one of a sorter. Once you do that, then you will need to determine what the categories are into which you will sort suspects and prospects. I like to look at this as a bucket scenario.

Bucket One: They need it now.

These are the people who you happen to call at just the time that they’re in the process of considering your products or your product segment. Maybe it was pure coincidence or maybe there was a karmic attraction that you had for them. Regardless, you rolled the dice and hit them at the right time. These are people that should go directly into your sales process.

Bucket Two: Not now, but soon.

These are people who you will want to develop a campaign specifically for. These are actually the most critical prospects in your funnel because these are people that you can get out of ahead of their need. Even in Bucket One, they may have a current vendor that these people have.

So what do I need mean by a campaign?

A campaign is a series of tactical events that you will send or present to them that can keep them engaged and educated during this off-season prior to them needing what you have.

My suggestion is that you assemble a checklist of possible tactics that might go into this campaign.

For some companies that are ahead of the game, you might already have this baked into your CRM. So the once a salesperson makes a call on a suspect and realizes they are a Bucket Two person, they will insert them directly into the campaign category.

But most salespeople are on their own as they follow-up with people in this bucket. So what you need to do is, with those assembled ideas, decide how you will follow up with them and what you’re going to do on a continuous basis to keep them engaged with you. Because you know the saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Bucket Three: Not now, maybe never.

All I would do with this group, after asking a few questions about whether they ever consider purchasing what you do, is put them into an email list so they can get updates from you automatically.

Unless there is a specific reason you should call these people back, I wouldn’t spend any time with them. By putting them on your email list, and maybe a video list, you can keep emotionally connected with them so that if and when they do have something that pops up, you might be the first one they call.