Is that a good sales lead?
There are sales professionals who believe that a sales lead is really a name from a list. That’s not correct. A name from a list is just not a sales lead--it’s a suspect, a total stranger and it does not matter if he or she meet some standards (e.g. age, occupation,net worth). A true sales lead meets your standards AS WELL as has indicated interest in what you provide. Specifically, the lead has responded to an e-mail, a print ad, a piece of direct mail, an offer for a quote, an offer for a free analysis, etc. A true marketer and sales specialist only contacts potential customers that have first expressed interest, people who have made the first move.
Now that you have a qualified sales lead, how do you turn it into a sale?
What to Say to Your Sales Lead
You don’t call the prospect and say, “I’m following up…..” Each and every salesperson says this and the phrase is a synonym for “get ready for my sales pitch.” Your prospect automatically gets defensive (no one likes to become sold) as well as your chance of a sale is close to zero. Rather, call the lead and say “Bob, you requested an analysis of (fill in the blank); what motivated you to complete that?” The only words that must come out of your mouth would be the benefits your sales lead needs. Your initial task is always to engage your lead, not to discuss your product or service.
Next, you don’t say “we have” or “my firm offers” as these phrases are synonymous with “here comes the spiel.” Once more, these words can make your sales lead wary. You do say, “I don’t know if I will help you…may I ask you a number of questions about your (investments, fill in the blank)?” You disarm the defensiveness with the potential customer by proclaiming you really don't know if you can help.
Next, you ask wise questions about what’s essential to your sales lead. A good thing you can do here is forget about features and benefits of your product because your sales lead isn't going to care. He cares only about what’s vital to him. So to really pay attention, you need to neglect your pitch. As your prospect reveals answers for your queries, you ask deeper questions to reveal their emotional desires. Questions like: do, you happen to be to the right track. The only difference is that big producers ask better questions than low producers do, they motivate men and women to action and consequently get paid a great deal more. Here are sample questions:
- Why is that information that vital to you?
- In case you could have that information, how would it make things different for you?
- If you do not solve that problem, what’s the extended term expense for you?
- Does that bother you?
- Are you satisfied with the present situation?
Considering that men and women make buying decisions emotionally, so you must get them to reveal what motivates them emotionally. 'Til you do, do not proceed to your following stage (to set an appointment, inquire for the credit card, close the deal) as you will fail. Too great a number of sellers attempt to close the prospect for the purchase too early in a conversation and as a consequence, they get objections. First, get your prospect to reveal what motivates him emotionally after which you ask if he has interest in a solution to that problem/opportunity. Only when he says sure, do you proceed to the following action.
“Bob, if there were a solution to that problem, what would be the monetary value for you? Should you be able to obtain the remedy for only 10% of that value you just mentioned, you'd wish to learn about it? Great, then (set a visit, ask for the credit card, conclude the deal).”
Sellers tell me they are client focused or customer focused but it’s not true. Sales people are product focused and "my-agenda" focused. If your personal mission or company mission is to really help someone, then it becomes easy to turn sales leads into product sales. Since your goal changes from “getting” prospects to get your item to “finding” potential customers who want what your products offers. You can only know when you have an appropriate sales lead by making inquiries. And when you encounter a person that does not have an interest in what you offer, i.e. is not a good sales lead, you move on. You don;t waste time or energy convincing them why they should be interested in your wonderful product.
The key to turning an annuity sales lead into a sale would be to depart from your goal to get the sale and rather, get your sales lead to reveal his emotional agenda. Then, you definitely have the relatively elementary procedure of illustrating for your prospective client how your item fits his agenda (as an alternative to convincing the prospect why they should have interest inside your agenda).