How do you know if a new prospect is real? Here’s the scenario. You meet a prospect who expresses interest. Is that person a blowhard or really interested?
Nurturing while qualifying a prospect is an art and a science. Your time is too valuable to waste on blowhards!
Whether you are the owner, VP Sales, or Sales Manager, closing more sales is your goal.
Find Likely Prospects
Be visible where your ideal prospects visit (social media and in-person) to find likely prospects. These are buyers that are similar to current and desired clients.
Not every contact is a prospect and not every prospect is real. Some new contacts become referrers or friends. Some are not interested or interesting. Identify the real prospects using specific criteria and milestones in your sales process.
What is the definition of Real? A prospect that is likely to convert is real.
Lead Prospects to Buy
In the scenario above, the prospect expressed interest. What questions do you ask to learn more about the prospect’s interest level? “Discovery” often is at your expense so make it meaningful.
Develop a set of questions relating to your business to understand a prospect’s depth of knowledge. Use milestones (i.e., demo, 2nd meeting) that demonstrate buyer intent.
Prospects are Great but Conversions are Better
A useful acronym is BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. Measure prospects to identify your most qualified prospects and treat them accordingly.
Here are some thoughts:
- Rate prospects by BANT and relevant business criteria.
- Focus on A&B prospects and clients. giving them close personal attention.
- Automate the routine, boring, and repetitive emails and tasks.
- Segment your contacts and automate 50% of your outreach.
You will close more sales with less follow-up fatigue.
Your Event Planner
Sarah manages 4 sales reps and 3 event planners. They sell B2B and run corporate events. Their database is a mixed bag.
Sarah’s team struggled to:
- Convert leads and wasted efforts on less promising prospects.
- Follow up or communicate consistently.
- Track prospect and client interactions in a uniform way.
Sarah sought advice from her marketing consultant.
X2CRM Is A Powerhouse
The consultant introduced X2CRM that is robust and easy to use. The team reviewed its sales processes and found many ways to improve.
Set up in 30 days, here is how they use X2CRM today:
- Prospects are rated A to D.
- Sarah meets with all A&B prospects even when it’s another rep’s sale.
- Drip campaigns reach prospects based on ratings.
- Client outreach has increased with personalized emails and “Rep Follow Up” reminders – all automatically.
- Tasks, emails, notes, and quotes are in one place.
- Vendors are listed by specialty.
It took a great team effort, and the results pay off every day.
Results are What Count
Here are the results per year for the last 2 years:
- New client sales up 35%
- Existing client sales are up 25%
- 2 new reps and 3 planners
“The CRM and our vendor made it easy,” said Sarah!
Let’s Meet and Talk Sales
