Prospecting: Working Smarter, Not Harder
July 25, 2008
Tips for Salespeople (Edited by Stacy Straczynski)
Forget about the old-fashioned idea that some people are "born salesmen." To successfully sell building products, you need to learn the science behind the sale.
Rick Davis, president of Building Leaders, Inc. and author of Strategic Sales in the Building Industry, offers these tips for strategically prospecting leads in the marketplace:
• Tip No. 1: Schedule appointments. Planned meetings equal good sales results. If you try the "drop in and hope" approach to prospecting, you'll be sorely disappointed. Even cold calls should have established appointments. An unscheduled visit, whether with a client or a prospect, is an imposition on their time. For a solid start to prospecting, establish an appointment and confirm it via phone or e-mail beforehand.
• Tip No. 2: Manage your database. Knowledge is power, and your ability to harness knowledge makes you a powerful salesperson. To achieve this, use whatever system works best for you, but write down and save key sales prospect information. Devise a way to include both personal information (i.e. birth dates, sporting preferences, etc.) and business details (i.e. competitive products used, company history, etc.). Make sure to update your filing system daily to stay on top of prospects and customers.
• Tip No. 3: Script it out. First calls to prospective customers are always the hardest. Make life easier by having a written script, or bullet points of information, in front of you while making the call and come to the point immediately. Don't forget that your goal is to gain an appointment, so don't use the phone call to qualify your prospective customer. Use it to get the face-to-face meeting.
• Tip No. 4: Effectively manage territories. With the rising cost in fuel, it is more important than ever to manage your "windshield time" effectively. In addition to scheduling appointments to ensure productivity in the field, map out your territory to maximize your effectiveness during the day. Criss-crossing your marketplace wastes time and gas—two precious and expensive commodities for any salesperson.
• Tip No. 5: Rate your prospects. To make your prospecting efforts more successful, rate your customers and prospects on their potential profitability to you. Asking the right questions will help you determine if a customer has the potential for purchasing 10 or 1,000 widgets from you in a given year. Once you determine profitability potential, rank your customers and prospects from "A" to "D." Spend the most amount of time with the A's, and start looking to replacing the C's and D's accounts.
Based in Chicago since 1998, Building Leaders, Inc. has distinguished itself as the premier sales and sales management education specialists in the building materials industry. For more information, visit www.buildingleaders.com or call 773-769-4409.
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