In selling, you should have various rules of engagement when it comes to cultivating a prospect. Across the country, most salespeople just chase prospects. They do not follow any rules of engagement. They fundamentally lack a process, a decision tree, if you will, for deciding yes or no in terms of determining if a prospect is truly a prospect for them. If the prospect will meet with them, talk with them, reply to their emails, many salespeople will just go all in. When they do that, they commit one of the cardinal sins of selling. They wind up wasting their time. When a salesperson starts looking at an opportunity, there are three questions that they should always ask themselves if they want to engage with the right prospects.
These three qualifying questions will help salespeople sort all of their new business opportunities into two piles. Over on the left is a pile of opportunities that they want to go after. They believe they've got a good shot at winning the business because they are in their niche and in their market, so in the sweet spot. And over here on the right is another pile of opportunities. These opportunities are opportunities that they should walk on by. They're good folks, good men, good women, good businesses, but they are unlikely to leave the provider they're using today and move the business to their firm.
The problem is of course, weak pipelines make cowards of us all. If there's not much or anything in their pipeline, then salespeople will be content to talk and work with whatever comes their way. It is the equivalent of going grocery shopping when hungry, everything looks good and almost everything makes its way into the shopping cart. So, let's start by looking at these three qualifying questions that will help engage more of the right prospects.
3 Questions to Ask if You Want to Engage with the Right Prospects
Question #1: Do I want to win this business?
The question every salesperson must ask themselves is, do I want to win that deal? Do I want that business? Do I want this firm or these people as a client or a customer? Are they going to be easy to work with? Are they going to be loyal to me? Are they going to be a believer in our value proposition? Are they going to have the wandering eye when every other firm offers a cheaper option? Do I want the privilege of working with them?
That is one of the best things about a career in sales. You get to pick your clients.
Question #2: Can I win this business?
The answer to this question is largely a function of whether or not the incumbent relationship is breakable. A salesperson must consider, can I win it? They can't win unless there are two things present at the same time. The prospect has a problem, a challenge, an issue that they have to fix. They’ve got to be in front of a company or an individual that has a problem that they absolutely have to fix. They're not kicking the tires. It has become a priority that they have to fix.
And secondly, they have to be able to leave the incumbent provider. They have to be able, at the end of the sales process, to do what some would consider to be very tough. Does the problem hurt that much or would they rather live with it? The prospect always wants to avoid that difficult conversation of calling Mary or Matt at the current provider and saying, you're done. We're moving over here to another company. A salesperson can't win the business unless they have a prospect with a problem they have to fix. And they're willing to say, Bye-Bye to the incumbent.
Question #3: How do I win this business?
Question 3 is a matter of sales methodology and sales strategy. When a prospect says to a salesperson, “I've enjoyed our conversation. I'd love to see you put into writing what you think you can do for us.” That request might be fine, but let’s discuss the evolution of an opportunity. The prospect must have a compelling problem that must be fixed and be willing to leave their current provider. Two steps in the sales process. But a salesperson must find out if they have the capacity to deal with it – meaning do they have the time, money and resources to take action. And then a salesperson must make darn sure they are in front of the decision makers and if not, how and when can they meet with them. The how about engaging with prospects is the great pipeline cleaner. Strong salespeople know that the best time to lose a prospect is today. There are more steps to this stage-based sales process, more than can be covered today.
Bonus Questions:
Another unwritten rule is that salespeople must get very good at talking their prospect’s love language. Their love language revolves around the problems they're having and the potential you have to solve them. What are the future growth opportunities that they might see? That's what they think about all the time. Any executive, any owner of a company, the men and women who put their sweat equity into building something - they're concerned about a lot of things. But at the top of their list are the problems and the things that threaten their business today. And as they look down the horizon around the corner into the next quarter or the next fiscal year, what are the potential opportunities that they would like to seize or take advantage of? These are the questions that will help you engage with prospects.
In summary, all salespeople are going to lose deals they probably should have won. But there's one thing that is inexcusable and that is not being properly prepared for a sales conversation. That is not a matter of skill, that is a matter of discipline and being accountable and making the decision to pre-call. One way to engage with more of the right prospects is to have a prospect scorecard. A prospect scorecard will put a little bit of logic and methodology to the process.
