Qualify People Out
to Increase Sales
As counter intuitive as it may seem, the
first job of sales is to eliminate people who are not interested or
qualified to do business with you. The quicker you can do that, the
more time and money you'll have available to focus on more
productive sales opportunities.
This advice has never been more appropriate
than it is today. With money tight and budgets shrinking, all
business owners must make their “best effort” to eliminate prospects
that are not qualified, quickly.
Start by analyzing the traits of
your best clients
Who are they? Create a profile of the people
who buy from you.
What do they value about the service you
provide? Answer the question, why do they buy.
What industry niche(s) are they in? The best
way to view your most profitable niches is by SIC code.
Where are they located geographically? If
your best clients are in your local community, it doesn’t make sense
to expand into regional markets.
If you don’t know the answers to these
questions you’ll have to research and ask your clients directly.
Understanding your best clients is key to finding more people just
like them.
Now that you know who
you’re looking for, go on a mission to get rejected
Set a NO goal. For every appointment you
want to set, realize that it will take about four times that many
NO’s to reach the goal.
Make contact with people who are most like
the clients you enjoy working with now. Tell these new potential
buyers about the value you provide. Then ask permission to
communicate.
An eBook, White Paper or Article of interest
to your niche are all great tools to open a conversation.
Follow up your initial communication to find
out what they thought about the ideas you shared.
For the people who have no interest, qualify
them out quickly and take them off of your follow up and marketing
list. You'll save hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars from
this one step alone.
Before qualifying out, make sure
you understand your prospects situation
Sometimes you’re reaching people at a bad
time. They may be open to your ideas, but not right now. If that’s
the case, find out a better time to have the conversation.
The script I like is, “Does saying no now
mean that the timing is just not right and I should check back later
or this is something that is not interesting to you ever.”
More often than not, timing is an issue.
Checking back later reaps great results.
Remember that for every appointment you want
to set, you’ll need four times that many NO’s. Give it a try.
Qualifying prospects out is both an
emotionally liberating and cost effective way to move sales forward
quickly.
As a reader of this eZine you have a distinct advantage over other
people in business. Take advantage of it
today.
My new book, Why is Running a Business so
Darn Hard, is available for download. It's free.
Get your copy today and be sure to share the it with a
friend or colleague who needs new ideas.
