There are very few professional consultants who like cold calling. In fact, I’d say 99.9 percent hate it and would do anything to avoid it.
But the reality is unless you actively prospect, directly reaching out to potential buyers, you’re leaving money on the table.
If you provide a high value service to a specific group of people, you need to find them and then start a direct dialogue with them to ascertain if there’s any interest.
When I started in sales in the mid 90’s, I’d open the phone book, find companies and start calling. It was painful trying to find the right person to talk to.
Today it’s infinitely easier.
If you’re in a professional market, there’s a huge likelihood they’ll be on LinkedIn. So you can identify them, connect and start a conversation.
Now obviously not all of them will respond.
This is a number’s game. You need to have lot of people coming into the top of your funnel.
Then continuously nurture the relationship by liking, sharing and commenting on stuff they write.
And if they’re not that active, once to twice a month send them something they could find useful.
Could be industry articles or even something personal if you’ve gleaned their interests from their social media activity.
Yes, this takes work. But you’re not trying to do this with thousands of people.
Pick 150 people who are ideal prospects and start there.
Keep nurturing and then nudge. Ask directly if they’re interested in a having a live call.
And if they are, have a sales conversation where you find out if they want to solve the issues you help with and then invite them to make a decision to buy.
You’re looking for a yes or no. And remember, if it’s no, it often just means not now.
So keep in touch. Circumstances change. If you keep in regular contact, when they’re ready they’ll call you.
Wrapping up, if you’d like our help to bring in more sales in less time, give me a hoy. Our MPS marketing, prospecting and selling program is especially geared to helping professional consultants close more business.
Drop me a note at revealedresources.com to find out more.
Till next time, this is Rashid Kotwal.
