Sales are sluggish, and your team is in desperate need of a morale boost. Hours of your employees’ time is spent on the phone making cold calls or sending e-mails each day with little to no return on their investment of time and energy. Your current sales and marketing strategy clearly isn’t working.
Does this sound familiar? Instead of continuing to do the same old prospecting and hoping for different results, we recommend taking a step back and working through these tips to revive your approach.
Identify your ideal client.Many companies feel that the world is their oyster when it comes to prospecting, but the majority of the time, that is just not true. We’ve mentioned it on this blog before: If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll be nothing to no one. You must segment your audience and personalize your message to reach your ideal client. But you can only accomplish this after first defining who that ideal client is.There is likely a specific demographic that fits your organization best. Consider what kinds of individuals or companies your business enjoys working with and those that are most profitable for your organization. The more refined and focused you can become with your prospecting, the stronger your chances of reaching a warm prospect who is interested in — and ready to buy — your products and services.
Identify and focus on your ideal client’s pain.No matter the product or service, people typically buy for one of three reasons: They want to avoid or remove a pain or frustration; they are seeking pleasure; or they want to attain gain.The “secret” to reviving your sales and marketing is to refocus your energy on identifying your ideal client’s pain. If you dig deep, you can even discover pain as the underlying reason someone wants to buy to seek pleasure or attain gain. It all comes back to that pain or frustration that your prospect has that will ultimately drive a purchase.
Write a message directly to your ideal client.Many of us have fallen into the “It’s all about me,” trap. We write our messaging focused on our company–who we are, what we’re good at, what sets us apart. But our prospective clients really don’t care about us. They want to know what we can do for them. And now that you have identified your ideal client and their pain, you can focus your messaging. Focus your communications — phone calls, emails, social media — around how you can resolve their pain.
Use the data.With the myriad data available to marketers today, we should never be wondering or guessing at our prospects’ activity. Be sure you are utilizing the analytics available to you. For example, after you send an e-mail, are you checking your open rate or click-through rate? Even if a prospect isn’t writing back, are they visiting your website? Which pages are they viewing? These metrics can help you refine your approach going forward.
Be proactive, not passive, in lead response.You have the data – so use it! One of the worst mistakes sales teams can make is to sit back and wait for the phone to ring or a new message to appear in your inbox. Monitor your prospects’ activity and be proactive in your response. Reach back out or provide more information to a prospect during the buying process. Chances are, they are in the midst of their own research about you and your competitors. Anticipate their needs.
Equip your sales’ team with better data.Give your team the best possible chance of success. Instead of endless cold calls, your team can utilize prospect lists and talk to warm leads who are highly likely and ready to buy. They can send focused messages to prospects and proactively monitor activity on the website. Take away the stigma of cold calling and replace it with far more effective means of prospecting.
Company 119 serves as a resource to sales and marketing teams seeking better ways of reaching their ideal clients. We offer a focused system to refine your marketing across multiple digital channels. Contact us today to learn more.
