Prospecting The Modern Buyer: Are Your Reps Doing It Right?
A Buyer, experiencing a Lean-Forward Moment.
I Come Straight To The Point:
Think about this for a moment:
At the first point of contact, the first meeting, the first call, how do you come across to your buyer?
Are you merely “reaching out”, or do you truly engage your prospect?
My clients know the distinction between reaching out to a prospect, versus engaging them.
Let’s look at your prospecting approach from a buyer’s perspective:
As a buyer, particularly C-Level Executive, you are getting bombarded on a daily basis with "outreaches" from sellers. More often than not, these sales pitches are all about the seller, their business, and their products or services. I called this WeWe Syndrome in another article.
These kind of sales pitches offer no value to the buyer, leaving them feeling like the person in the image below.
A buyer hearing a sales pitch.
This type of outreach just drives your buyers away.
Even worse, it makes them reluctant to engage with salespeople altogether. This is bad news as buyers are becoming increasingly difficult to reach in the first place.
They no longer answer their phones to numbers they don’t recognise. They don’t respond to emails, and they increasingly ignore contact requests on social media platforms.
So, how do You ENGAGE Buyers and get them seriously interested in You?
You create a Lean-Forward Moment.
A Buyer, leaning forward, ready to engage.
What the %^&* is a Lean-Forward Moment?
Have you noticed that you automatically lean forward when you see or hear something interesting or exciting? For example: What do find yourself doing when you see your favourite sports team is about to score?
Right, you lean forward and focus on the action.
It’s the same in sales. Your Buyers react the same way when you say something that grabs their attention. It's an instinctive human reaction.
You can leverage Lean-Forward Moments for your sales.
You create a Lean-Forward Moment when you say something VALUABLE that INTRIGUES your prospects
Something that makes them take note, literally lean forward, and ask you a question, like "Tell me more about that." or "Could that work for my business?"
Why are Lean-Forward Moments great for Sellers?
Because only at that moment when your prospect asks you a question have they given you their explicit permission to sell to them.
Now you can talk about your business, what you’re selling and why they should be interested.
Not before.
Only now are you ENGAGING them, instead of PITCHING, like everyone else does.
Now you are starting a business conversation that positions you as someone knowledgeable who can HELP THEM make an informed buying decision.
This approach lifts the buyer’s respect for your knowledge and insight, and may even build trust. Trust that you are on their side and that you can help them make a safe buying decision.
Which is something all buyers want.
How do you create Lean-Forward Moments?
OK, now we understand the psychology behind Lean-Forward Moments.
But HOW do you get to that point?
WHAT do you say to get that reaction?
Did you know there are only 3 ways to get serious engagement from senior executive buyers?
The first two ways are:
1. You make them aware of a business opportunity they did not know they have.
2. Or, you warn them of a risk they did not realise they’re exposed to.
These first two options are effective, but not easy to pull off.
Why?
Because you will need to do significant research on your prospects, on their industry and on their challenges first, almost to the point where you know more about their business than even they do themselves.
It’s hard, but not impossible.
Your experience with other businesses that are similar to theirs, in their industry and in their circumstances, may well equip you to lead with an intriguing point of view, or with particular insight that stimulates and maybe even challenges their current thinking.
The third option is much easier to implement.
Plus, it is far more scalable than the other two, as it involves less time and effort.
This is the technique I teach my clients. They use it to great effect. It can work for you, too.
Here’s what you do:
You help them to understand that they have a need for the product or service that you’re selling.
Importantly, you don’t tell them.
You let it be their idea.
Why?
Because, psychologically speaking, they will believe that an idea they thought is superior to anything you tell them. It’s human nature.
So, how do you make it their idea that they need what you’re selling?
The easiest way is to give them a checklist, a self-assessment, to ask them questions that provoke their current thinking.
Get them to question their status quo. Have them imagine a better future for themselves.
Want to see an example of such a checklist?
An example of a sales checklist.