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Prospecting is arguably the most important part of the sales process, because so much time and energy goes into looking for customers. If you do your homework properly, you will have an easier time of targeting your market and thus homing in on the prospects that will most likely be converted.
Here are some ways you can successfully engage your sales prospects and ultimately sell more.
Put On a Friendly Face
You’re not going to walk into meet with a prospect for the first time and expect to close a sale right then and there. The most important part about prospecting is relationship-building. If you can’t be friendly with prospects, why would they want to do business with you? Aside from facial cues and mannerisms, your personality must shine through to the prospect, as they will be more inclined to listen to your sales pitch or give you the time to review your product or service, and maybe even give it consideration if they feel comfortable with you. Ask yourself if you come across as being friendly and open with your prospects, then make adjustments in the way you approach them to be more successful.
Connect Via Social Media
Social media plays a huge role these days when it comes to prospecting. Many people think they understand how social media works when it comes to sales, but the truth is that it’s harder than it looks. In terms of prospecting, it is recommended that you still use the tried-and-true platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but don’t forget about other social media sites such as LinkedIn, which is geared for business-to-business contacts. One of your biggest allies for connecting with prospects online is your content, which is easily shared via your social media. This is where your prospects are and it’s your job to find out who your target audience is and reach out to that community with well-produced content that will engage with those prospects.
Persistence Pays Off
When you’re trying to engage prospects, you have to remember that you must be persistent in pursuing them . Again, it’s highly improbable that you will contact a prospect once and close a sale, although this does happen on occasion (typically with veteran salespeople). However you are reaching out to your target prospects — be it in-person, over the phone, or via email — you have to learn the art of the follow-up. When you follow up with prospects, you maintain yourself in their conscious memory. Think about all the greatest product commercials, the ones that are most memorable. Perhaps it was a catchy little jingle or the incessant repetition of the commercials that drilled it into your subconscious that makes it impossible to forget. As a salesperson, you want to be that jingle and you want your prospects to never forget about you and what you’re selling.
Ask More Questions
Meeting with prospects is just like meeting anyone else. The fact that you want their money and they may or may not want what you’re selling gives them the upper-hand in the dynamic, but if you use your time to ask questions about them , their company, and their needs, soon you’ll have the advantage because you will have shown them that you have made this all about them. Your thoughtful inquiries will reveal that you are trying to get to know them perfectly so you can provide the best possible service to meet their needs. The extra time and effort it takes to quiz the prospect will yield some valuable information that you can then use to persuade the prospect to convert.
Make Them Feel Connected to Your Brand
Brands have evolved from their 20th-century ancestors into powerful collaborators with the businesses they connect with. In contemporary sales and marketing, it is becoming more important than ever for brands to meaningfully connect with their customers. When you’re dealing with prospects, you have to find out what makes them tick (and if you asked the right questions, you’ll have exactly that) so that you can position your product or service as the solution for their needs. Oftentimes, you can connect with customers on things other than salesperson-customer relationship. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter. Share something that you feel they would be interested in. Find a good cause that they support and begin building your rapport around that. When you are genuinely interested in the same things that your prospects are, you can more easily connect with them and build trust (and even authority), which will result in more conversions.
Sales As Customer Service
Essentially, sales is like customer service in that you are trying to please the prospect. One of the most important things to remember is that prospects are human and they want to be treated fairly and dignified. When you make your prospect feel important, they will want to business with you. Here is that trust-building that is so coveted in this part of the sales process. Even once a prospect becomes a customer, you still need to maintain that level of engagement with them. Don’t forget about them once they’ve converted because they will feel used and unlikely to continue doing business with you. It’ll take some finesse, but engaging prospects with strong customer service will led them right on through to a closed sale.
Related: 5 Ways to Increase Prospect Conversions
What Do You Think?
These several ways to engage prospects are proven in the sales world on a daily basis. The question is, are you ready start engaging prospects in a more meaningful way that will help them with a solution and put the big money in your pocket? Hopefully, these tips to effectively engage prospects will help you if you’re struggling. Additionally, try using an AI-powered CRM , like Spiro, to remind you who to follow up with, and when.