The Biggest Mistake in Sales Prospecting

The Biggest Mistake in Sales Prospecting

Copyright © 2005 Alan Rigg

80/20 Performance

http://www.8020performance.com







Recently I received a prospecting voice mail message from a

salesperson. The salesperson explained his company was "the

leader in Microsoft hosted Exchange solutions" and he encouraged

me to visit his company's website. That was it - that was the

"meat" of the voice mail message.



If you received that salesperson's voice mail message, what would

go through your mind? Do you think it might it be a question

like, "What the heck is a Microsoft hosted Exchange solution?"

Do you think the voice mail message would inspire you to call

the salesperson back?



Why did the salesperson's voice mail message fail to accomplish

the desired end result? Because it focused on a SOLUTION rather

than a PROBLEM.



If your prospecting calls and related voice mail messages talk

about a solution, in effect you are assuming that your prospects

are already aware of the problems that your solution can solve

for them. If your prospects are not able to relate your solution

back to their own specific problems, your message will probably

just "bounce off".



If you use industry-specific jargon to describe your solution,

you are making the additional assumption that your prospects are

familiar with the jargon that you are using. If they aren't, it

further reduces your chances of attracting their attention!



How could this salesperson restructure his voice mail message to

be more effective? Instead of talking about his solution, he

could talk about one or more of the problems that can be solved

by using a hosted Exchange service. A revised voice mail message

might sound something like this:



"We help small companies look like big companies to their

prospects and customers; plus, we help companies of all

sizes focus more of their time and resources on their core

businesses, which accelerates growth and profitability. If

you'd like learn how we do this, please give me a call."



This salesperson could further enhance his message by including

a specific QUANTIFIED IMPACT that his company's services have

produced for customers. Here is what it might sound like if we

add a quantified impact to the previously revised voice mail

message:



"We help small companies look like big companies to their

prospects and customers; plus, we help companies of all

sizes focus more of their time and resources on their core

businesses. This has helped some of our customers reduce

their operating costs by as much as 30% in just six months.

If you'd like learn how they were able to achieve these

results, please give me a call."



Do you see the difference between the revised messages and, "We

are the leader in Microsoft hosted Exchange solutions; please

visit our website"? Do you agree that the revised messages are

likely to capture more prospects' attention and produce more

returned phone calls?



There are other advantages to focusing your prospecting messages

on problems rather than solutions. If you talk about a solution,

your message will have the most appeal for prospects that are

already actively looking for that specific solution. But, do you

think those (few) prospects are just sitting around waiting for

you to call? Or, do you think they might be doing some proactive

research? In fact, isn't it possible they might already have some

price quotes in hand? If they are that far along in the buying

process, how does it impact your chances of winning their

business? If you do manage to win their business, how profitable

is it likely to be? Wouldn't you agree that in this situation

your solution is more likely to be perceived as a commodity, and

the business is likely to go to a low bidder?



Contrast this scenario to a properly managed, problem-based

prospecting approach. If you are successful in attracting a

prospect's interest by talking about the business problems that

you can solve and the quantified impacts that your company has

delivered to customers, the natural next step is to ask the

prospect to identify which specific problems pertain to their

business. Once the prospect prioritizes their problems, you can

ask more questions to help them quantify the impact of these

problems on their business. If the quantified impacts are

substantial enough, it becomes quite easy to justify a very

profitable price for your solution.



If you want to improve your prospecting effectiveness, stop

leading with solutions in your prospecting calls and voice mail

messages. Instead, lead with the problems that you can help

prospects solve, and (ideally) one or more of the quantified

impacts that your company has produced for customers. This type

of problem-focused prospecting approach will attract the interest

of a larger percentage of your prospects, produce higher close

rates, and generate more profitable sales.







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Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His

company, 80/20 Performance Inc., supplies specialized sales

assessment tests and consulting to help organizations build

top-performing sales teams. For more sales and sales management

tips, visit: http://www.8020performance.com