PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

1 Selling Without Insights

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

What Do the Right People Have?

When is the Right Time?

The Window of Dissatisfaction

Do Sales People Reach Out?

Don’t Avoid the Call

What Triggers the Window of Dissatisfaction

Affordability Triggers

3 Things Can Make a Prospect Want to Change

Strike When the Time is Right

Now Act!

Remember

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

SELLING WITHOUT INSIGHTS 1

When you sell without insights, you try to get everyone’s attention and tell them what you want to say. STOP and start selling to the right people at the right time. “

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

WHAT DO THE RIGHT PEOPLE HAVE? 2

MONEY The right people can afford what you’re selling.

AUTHORITY The right people have the authority to purchase your product.

INFLUENCE The right people have a sphere of influence with other potential buyers who have the money and authority to purchase your product

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME?

EARLY! WHEN YOU GET IN EARLY, YOU CAN:

3

Help to frame the problem

Design the solution

Build the business case

DETERMINE WHAT BUYING MODE YOUR PROSPECTS ARE IN

Status Quo / Past Dependent

Selling in the window of dissatisfaction will do more than net you the most customers, it will net you the best customers. You will build valuable customer relationships that provide loyalty, profit, and testimonials and referrals.

Window of Dissatisfaction

Searching for Alternative

16% chance of making that sale.

Prospects in the Status Quo/Past Dependent stage are happy with the way things are. These prospects will offer you an almost zero buy rate.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE Buyers searching for alternatives have already made some decisions about who they are going to buy from. You only have a

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

74%

THE WINDOW OF DISSATISFACTION 4

When you reach buyers in their window of dissatisfaction, they are unhappy but don’t yet know how to solve the problem. You can sell with a closing rate of 74% during this period according to Forrester Research.

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

33% of buyers called the vendor

3% of buyers have initial contact with their vendors via cold call.

10% of buyers chatted on the vendor’s website via live chat. 53%

of buyers are contacted after requesting more information from the vendor website.

DO SALES PEOPLE REACH OUT? 5

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

DON’T AVOID THE CALL 6

Are sales people foregoing cold calls because they simply are not effective? Not according to execs, of whom

Don’t avoid the call, but call with insights in the window of dissatisfaction. “

say a cold call has catapulted a vendor to the short list of consideration.

49%

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

WHAT TRIGGERS THE WINDOW OF DISSATISFACTION 7

When a buyer’s interest in making the purchase is first triggered, you must be in the initial list of consideration. Being in the group of vendors that is considered from the outset means that you’re ready to make the sales when an affordability trigger hits.

EVENTS not circumstances. “

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

AFFORDABILITY TRIGGERS

THESE THREE QUALIFIERS LET YOU KNOW THAT YOU’VE GOT THE RIGHT BUYER AT THE RIGHT TIME:

8

They want to change.

They can afford change.

They can justify the change.

1

2

3

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

3 THINGS CAN MAKE A BAD PROSPECT CHANGE

A BAD EXPERIENCE

9

With the people Did they have an unpleasant interaction with a salesperson?

Has there been a change in the decision makers, the location, or the priorities of a vendor?

With the product Remember the upset over the switch to Windows Vista?

With the provider Have they had problems in the past with a new partner brought in through M&A activity?

A CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION

Has something happened to cause them to start re-evaluating due to legal issues, risk-avoidance, or economic change? Pointing out information that may lead them to do so is a pro-active step you can take to lead them to wanting to change.

NEW AWARENESS OF AN ISSUE

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

STRIKE WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT 10

To know when a prospect can afford to change, you must watch for business signals and trigger events to communicate the capital availability. This is the time to reach out by producing content your prospects will see and engage with. It’s a chance to pass on your ideas and build the beginning of the relationship. This gives them the information they need to justify the change. You can help with this by telling your product’s story. Highlight the risk of inaction vs. action.

Communicate the outcome of being YOUR CUSTOMER. “

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

NOW ACT! 11

When you lose out on a sale, you always ask yourself what you did wrong. When you MAKE a sale, are you asking anyone what you did right?

PAY ATTENTION WHEN YOU SUCCEED!

• What events led to this purchase?

• When did these events happen?

• What made you choose us?

• What can we do differently to make it easy to become our customer?

ASK YOUR NEW CUSTOMERS:

Now that you know how to read your prospects, do you know how to read your own success? “

PROSPECTING WITH INSIGHTS

REMEMBER Leverage the data that’s out there. Stop calling blindly and get smart PROSPECT WITH INSIGHTS.

Check out the Prospecting with Insights webinar on demand.