Salespeople struggle with prospecting for many reasons – a bad attitude, lack of confidence, poor calendar management, accepting the first “no,”, listening to fools preaching that the phone is dead, giving up too soon, etc. While those shortcomings certainly reduce a seller’s effectiveness, there is an even more deadly sales sin that destroys our chances of securing a meeting – lame messaging!
The reason I write, teach, and preach so much about messaging is because I believe that the “Sales Story” is our most critical sales weapon, and that’s especially true when we’re prospecting!
There is one objective when we prospect: Get. The. Meeting.
Achieving that objective requires creating a strong enough hunger for the prospect to find time in their precious calendar to meet with you.
The best metaphor I can offer is that our prospecting messaging should be like an appetizer at a fine restaurant.
That definition is the perfect description of what we’re trying to accomplish in our prospecting calls, voicemails, and emails! Our job is to whet the prospective customer’s appetite so they want more. We want to entice them to meet with us!
An appetizer is not meant to satisfy hunger. Quite to the contrary, its purpose is to stimulate hunger and increase the craving for the main course.
Consider that concept as it relates to the “Sales Story” you deploy when initiating contact with prospective customers. Are you attempting to stuff them with lots of cheap “bread” attempting to fill their tummies and make them feel good so they’ll agree to meet with you? Or, as I like to say when leading workshop sessions, are you enticing and intriguing prospects with a small and savory appetizer that makes them want more?
