Rekindling Prospect Connections

How many networking events, trade shows, seminars, and conferences did you attend this past year? How many business cards did you collect? If you spoke with people at an event, gathered business cards, or connected for a brief moment on LinkedIn- you are now on your way to cultivating warm leads! The trick is to turn that connection into a sale. Writing down notes on business cards after meeting someone will warm up the introduction to the call or email when you reach out somewhere down the line. Distinct dialogue from that initial conversation will help them remember the time and build rapport. Attending various events are all great ways to meet people and gather leads, but without follow-up, how will you get closer to the sale? Those prospects will rarely come knockin’ on our door. Actively go after your target market through a conversation that uncovers whether there is a reason to pursue towards a sale. Here are a few tips to help you pick up the phone and start building and managing that relationship!

ORGANIZE YOUR LIST.

The day after an event, take time to organize and capture the new names you have collected on your prospect list. Add the names, contact information, where you met, and any pertinent information about them to a spreadsheet, if you don’t have a more sophisticated database management system. Highlight the “hottest” leads in red and call them first, or, insert a call priority field to notate the opportunity as A, B, or C. This activity will offer more clarity on how much time should be spent on any given lead. Then, use the sort feature so you can differentiate your leads based on call priority.

RE-ESTABLISH A CONNECTION.

The biggest difference in the content when calling a cold contact – someone who has never heard from you and is not expecting your call – and a warm one, is in the introduction. To encourage a “they know me, so connect me please” result, be sure to relay the affinity you have with that prospect to the person answering the phone. Once you’ve made your way past the gatekeeper and have gotten through to the person who handed you the business card, immediately remind the prospect of the initial connection. Aside from using your professional notes on your first encounter, consider sprinkling in some personal details you’ve acquired about them. Perhaps mentioning their sports interests or a vacation they mentioned.  Make an effort to not talk about work before jumping in.

ENGAGE WITH QUESTIONS.

Once you’ve made the link, transition to the reason for your call and a brief overview of your company. Next, engage your prospect with questions to make him or her an active participant in the dialogue. Create the opportunity for positive responses while getting the information you need. Utilize open-ended questions to allow the prospect to elaborate on topics that may uncover pain-points and other useful information that will create a reason to meet.

TALK ABOUT BENEFITS.

Stress your company’s unique advantages, against responses to questions you have asked. What differentiates your company from the competition? How will you save time, increase profits, and reduce costs? Help your prospect to see how you can help provide them with solutions. Introducing your core competencies may uncover gaps in service from their current provider, which will get your foot in the door. When one or more of your benefits solves a problem of theirs, they will see the value in discussing further.

GET THE APPOINTMENT.

Even though the call was warm, if you don’t ask for the appointment you may not get it. “Always Be Closing” was a phrase made famous by Alec Baldwin, but what he missed was, “Always Be Closing when it’s the right time to close!” There is surely a process and methodology that will lead up to a successful close. Try this approach:

“Do you have a calendar in front of you?” Wait for the “Yes”, as that question often yields a yes response… “Is this week good for you or is next week better?”

PHONE FOLLOW-UP.

When sales managers are analyzing challenges faced by their sales reps, they often fail to look at one crucial element in the sales pipeline… and that is, the number of outreaches that occurred after the meeting transpired, whether it is the very first casual meeting at an event, or an appointed 30 minute sales call. A popular sales technique for the next step when a sales call is complete is sometimes, “Can I call you back next Tuesday to see what our next move is?” But meanwhile the prospect knows they won’t have a decision for two weeks. Instead, ask your prospect, “if I don’t hear from you, when do you think I should follow up?” This questions allows the prospect to hold themselves accountable to the date that THEY gave you. The question put this way will also give you insight as to the prospect’s own priority rank of coming to a decision, which will allow for further probing if the answer is “Call me in a month.”

EMAILED PROPOSAL FOLLOW-UP.

Here’s a tip: if you use Outlook and you want to find all the prospects you sent your recap to, to send a second or third message from the same thread, just do a Search of a unique word you would use every time in the Subject line (such as “recap”). Each month, you can easily see who your prospects were by this search. If they did not become your client, you can easily forward them the same “recap” and ask them if they’ve thought any more about your proposal, or better yet, offer the prospect something new or interesting as a reason to follow up.