In today’s world of selling, it is increasingly difficult to get the attention of a prospective buyer after only a few outreach attempts.
We know prospects are busy, but let’s face it, we’re all busy. The real question is this: how do you stay consistent and persistent in your outreach while remaining sensitive to your prospect’s time, priorities, and daily distractions?
Sales prospecting has always been a difficult task for salespeople, especially when it comes to reaching the prospects they call and email each day. They call, they email, they follow up, and they wonder if anybody will ever do one of two things:
• Answer the phone.
• Return a voicemail or reply to an email.
While this is certainly not a new challenge in selling, engaging with prospects has become dramatically more difficult. If we go back to 2009, it took around 8-10 outreaches on average to engage with a prospect. Today, that number has risen to 16-18 attempts. Keep in mind that these are averages. Sometimes, it takes even more attempts across multiple channels before a prospect pays attention.
Recently, I was leading a sales training workshop in Dallas, and a high-ranking bank executive asked me why I thought the number of outreaches required has increased so dramatically in the world of sales prospecting. In my judgment, there are three main reasons.
1. Distraction
Prospects are busier than ever before and are constantly battling the distractions that come their way. Their mobile device buzzes, and they have to look. The email notification on their computer sounds, and they can’t resist. Some have estimated that the typical person picks up and puts down their mobile device between 200-300 times each day.
2. Competition
There is more competition than ever before, and it is fiercer than ever before. Online resources, AI options, and apps on every device all contribute to a chaotic, competitive world where prospects have more choices and more noise surrounding them.
3. Commodity
Unfortunately, in some industries, the prospect believes that the vendor calling them and the vendor they currently use are essentially the same. The prospect does not see any meaningful difference.
To them, a bank is a bank. An insurance broker is an insurance broker. A technology provider is a technology provider.
Of these three reasons, the third is the most concerning, or it should be. If you do not differentiate yourself from your competition by providing value, your prospect will do the differentiating for you. But they will not use a measuring stick of value. More often than not, they will use a measuring stick of price.
So, what can you do to improve your sales prospecting success?
Add value.
Giving Instead of Selling
Value does not begin when you present a solution. It begins with how you show up in the sales prospecting process.
The most crucial principle of a value-based selling approach is focused on giving to your clients, not taking or selling. Read the book Go-Givers Sell More. Unlike other methodologies, value-based selling is not about what products and services you offer. It is about what the client wants and how you can help them achieve their goals.
You’ve heard the saying, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” Value-based selling, especially in financial services, is a relationship-building process. Part of your value is the process you take prospects through as you provide advice, ask questions, and help them think differently about their challenges.
Give a Listening Ear
You may have had this experience before: someone asks you a question, and before you finish answering, they are off to the races with their own stories and thoughts, interrupting you along the way.
That is not a good feeling when it happens, right?
You want others to hear you when you speak. Unfortunately, financial services salespeople are often guilty of doing the same thing. A salesperson might ask, “What do you plan to use these funds for?” and then immediately jump to a product solution without asking any further questions.
Using a value-based sales approach requires you to go deeper in discovery. You must become better at asking good questions and listening first. Skilled salespeople know they can learn almost everything they need through the process of asking and listening, and that is what builds trust.
See how many questions you can ask before proposing a solution. It will become easier with practice.
Spend Time Getting to Know Your Client
In the world of financial services sales, every client is different. The early stages of the sales process should be used to learn as much about them as possible.
Identifying the different relationships with your clients, thinking about what has worked for other similar clients, and sharing relevant examples can help you develop credibility with new relationships.
What do you bring to the table for your prospect that no one else does?
Surely your product can be found elsewhere, so your value must come from more than the product itself. Your experience uncovering issues, asking better questions, and solving similar business challenges is what spotlights your value.
Follow Through Using a Process
Value selling in financial services is not easy. Becoming masterful takes consistent focus, work, and insight.
We know through thousands of evaluations that elite salespeople utilize a consistent sales approach process because it works. Strong value-based salespeople care deeply about the benefits the customer receives, and they are disciplined enough to follow a process that helps uncover the right solution.
That same discipline matters in sales prospecting. If most salespeople give up too soon, then consistency itself becomes a competitive advantage.
Here is another sobering statistic about the world of modern-day sales prospecting. While the average number of attempts has increased to 16-18, most salespeople quit after fewer than 5 attempts.
Maybe they think the prospect is being rude by not replying. Maybe they think that, “in the good old days,” people used to return calls. Regardless, the world has changed.
Prospects are a hard fish to catch. You might need to be out there fishing just a bit longer than in the past, with something much more enticing on your hook.
