Generating new business as a salesperson is essential to a company’s success, yet few salespeople are good at it. Many reps are intimidated by making “cold calls” (first-time calls to potential customers to ask for their business), and therefore, they make only half-hearted attempts or none at all. But “prospecting” for new business isn’t difficult. In New Sales. Simplified., veteran salesman and sales coach Mike Weinberg demystifies prospecting for both veterans and inexperienced salespeople.
Weinberg’s solution to many companies’ and sales reps’ struggle to grow new business is a three-stage sales model he calls the “New Sales Driver.” The stages of the model are:
Look for potential new customers with a profile similar to that of your best current customers. Ask:
Once you know what kind of sales prospects you’re targeting, there are many resources for coming up with specific names. Local business journals compile and publish annual lists of businesses in the region by size, business sector, and so on. For instance, a journal might list the 10 largest architectural firms in the market, largest employers in the region, or top 25 banks. Another resource is Hoover’s, an online source for business data. With a subscription, sales teams can research potential targets. Other tools include LinkedIn, trade shows, social media, and referrals.
In addition to being strategic, a target list should be:
Once you have your target list, you need three key sales weapons: a compelling sales story, an effective cold call, and a structured face-to-face sales call.
Your sales story is the response you give when someone asks you to tell them about your business. It’s the core of your initial face-to-face sales meeting with a potential customer. In addition, you’ll use pieces of the sales story in phone calls, voicemail messages, emails, marketing materials, presentations, and proposals. An effective sales story:
The sales story should be a one-page encapsulation of how your company helps clients that can be presented or read in two or three minutes. Here’s what it should look like, using the example of a company that provides security services:
1) Headline: A sentence or two introducing your company so potential customers can quickly categorize it. This provides context for the sales story.
2) Transitional phrase and client issues: An introductory phrase intended to pique the prospect’s interest. It names the type of businesses you serve or client job titles.
After the introductory phrase, list a half dozen client issues that you address in bullet-point format.
3) Your company’s offerings: A few short, unembellished sentences ticking off what you sell. This part of your story is the least compelling to the client, so don’t dwell on it.
4) Your differentiators: A concluding statement or phrase followed by about five compelling reasons your company does a better job than anyone else at solving the problems you’ve presented.
Here’s a condensed example showing how Weinberg weaves the pieces together into a story for his sales coaching business:
Your next weapon is the cold call—a first-time call to potential customers to ask for their business. Many salespeople are intimidated by cold calls. So, they make only half-hearted attempts or don’t try at all. But with a strategic prospect list and a structure for the call, cold-calling isn’t difficult. Here are the key steps for planning and conducting cold calls:
1) Create a call outline and talking points: Don’t use a canned call script or you’ll sound like a telemarketer with a phony “sales voice.” But do know what you want to say and plan to say it in a logical order.
2) Focus on the objective: Always keep in mind why you’re calling and the outcome you want—to get a face-to-face meeting with the prospect. Keep steering the conversation toward your objective and don’t get sidetracked when the prospect raises questions or objections.
3) Develop an effective introductory phrase: Weinberg likes to use “Let me steal a minute” as an introductory phrase. When you say, “Let me steal a minute,” you’re acknowledging, but not apologizing for, interrupting. Other introductions—for instance, “May I have a moment of your time?”—give the prospect a chance to say no.
After your introductory phrase, identify yourself by saying, “I head up the western region for Acme company” or “I head up client relationships for Acme.” Saying that you “head up” an area of responsibility underscores that you’re an important person who’s worth listening to.
4) Write a mini-sales story: Start the dialogue with a condensed version of your sales story that will pique the prospect’s interest in having a face-to-face meeting with you. To position yourself as someone who people in the prospect’s industry turn to for help, focus on a few client issues and one differentiator from your sales story.
Present the issues and differentiator in a conversational way—for example: “Right now many property managers are looking for a security team that projects a professional image.” Pause and wait for a response. Based on the response—for instance, nodding in agreement—you’ll know whether the issue resonated. If it didn’t, mention another issue. Then describe a differentiator, or ask for a meeting.
5) Ask three times for a meeting: There’s a good chance the prospect will say no to the first request for a meeting. It’s automatic, so don’t take it personally. The important thing is, don’t hang up. If you give up on a prospect after one rejection, you’ll fail and keep failing. The third time you ask is usually when you’ll be successful.
Once you’ve secured a face-to-face meeting—your third sales weapon—you must take ownership of it from start to finish by structuring the call in stages that you follow in order:
First, use small talk to connect with the customer and make them comfortable. Also, assess the person’s personality and conversational style—for example, are they quiet, talkative, or impatient? As the meeting continues, you’ll want to adapt your approach to the customer—for example, to cut to the chase if they get impatient. When you adapt to their style, they’ll be more comfortable with you and therefore, more amenable to what you offer.
Share your planned agenda for the meeting, then ask the customer what they’d like to get from it. Sharing your agenda:
Here’s an example of how to handle the first two stages:
In three minutes, tell your client-focused sales story, highlighting why customers turn to you, what you offer, and how you’re different from competitors. Be alert to the prospect’s reactions to the client problems and opportunities you list—for example, a nod or a wince indicates you’ve hit on a relevant issue. If the customer asks a question, answer briefly but don’t sidetrack your story. Make a note so you can discuss the question further in the next phase of the call.
Ask several types of probing questions to gather information, discover problems and opportunities, and demonstrate expertise on issues relevant to the customer:
With the information you’ve gleaned, deliver a sales pitch that incorporates what matters to the prospect. Show that you’ve listened by focusing only on the points relevant to the buyer, and connecting their needs with your offerings using the buyer’s words.
This is the time to comment, “From this conversation, it looks like we might be a good fit for your needs. What do you think?” If the customer is hesitant to confirm you’re a fit, you may need to ask more sales process questions to determine whether there's an obstacle somewhere. If you sense there’s an issue the client isn’t mentioning, ask: “I have a feeling something is concerning you … What are you thinking?”
Simply ask: “What do you propose as a logical next step?” Listen to the response, then summarize the next steps for each of you—for example: “Based on what you’re saying, how about if I do X and you do Y?” Open your calendar and schedule the tasks. Confirm the date and next step with the client one more time.
The final step in the new-sales model is planning and executing by pursuing the prospects on your list. Many salespeople like to talk about selling, but when it comes to prospecting, fewer actually do it. Three ways to make prospecting a priority and get it done are time blocking, creating a personal business plan, and maintaining a balanced “pipeline” or portfolio of active accounts.
Time blocking is reserving stretches of time for activities that are priorities. Schedule blocks of 90 minutes to two hours at least twice a week for prospecting. (Three hours is probably the maximum you can concentrate and be free of interruptions.)
If you’ve done little or no prospecting, consistently devoting four hours a week to it should significantly improve your results. If you have aggressive business development goals, scheduling eight or nine two-hour blocks a week—still only a third of your working hours—will get superior results.
The keys to successful time blocking are:
Write a personal business plan annually that places a great emphasis on prospecting. Include the following components in the plan:
Once you have a business plan, share it with your colleagues to create accountability and get feedback. Also review it regularly to make sure you’re on track.
Your pipeline is the accounts you’re working on. Spread your sales efforts over many accounts that are at various stages in the sales process so that hitting your sales goals won’t hinge on one or two accounts that could stall. You should have three types of prospect accounts in your pipeline:
It’s natural to focus on urgent accounts, but you should be working in all categories simultaneously. Allocate about a third of your prospecting time to each. In addition, make sure all accounts are progressing from one category to the next rather than stagnating.
Generating new business is critical to a company’s success, yet few salespeople do it well. Many reps are intimidated by making “cold calls” (first-time calls to non-clients to ask for their business), and therefore make only half-hearted attempts or none at all. Further, sales reps are often their own worst enemies, engaging in negative attitudes and behaviors that turn off buyers.
But acquiring new business isn’t difficult. In New Sales. Simplified., veteran salesman and sales coach Mike Weinberg demystifies prospecting. He presents a three-part “New Sales Driver” model:
By learning some fundamental sales techniques and executing this model, anyone can become a confident, successful “sales hunter.” And by regularly delivering new business, you can bring value to your company, your customers, and yourself.
(Shortform note: Some chapters in this summary were combined or reorganized to eliminate repetition.) Part 1 examines obstacles to new-business development, while Parts 2-4 explain how to implement the new-sales model.
A salesperson’s job, in the simplest terms, is to connect with customers and prospects to see if your solution meets a need or solves a problem for them. The more people you connect with, the more you sell.
Even though it’s that simple, many reps are reluctant or afraid to tackle the most important aspect—connecting with new customers. There are both systemic and individual reasons many salespeople do a poor job of acquiring new customers.
First, here’s a look at the systemic issues undermining new-sales success:
Besides these systemic problems with the sales profession, there are 12 reasons individual reps fail at acquiring new business, even when they excel at other aspects of selling. Some stem from a lack of knowledge while others are personal shortcomings.
1) The rep hasn’t identified good prospects and diligently pursued them: They haven’t strategically identified the potential customers most likely to buy their product or service. Or if they have a good list, they don’t stay focused on pursuing the prospects—for instance, they leave one message or get one refusal, and they move on without following up. Chapter 5 explains how to strategically develop a target list.
2) Reps don’t manage their time productively: They’re often distracted and reactive, using their time for whatever comes up (which is never new business development). But generating new business requires scheduling dedicated time on your calendar for prospecting and treating that time as inviolable. It also requires creating and following a personal business development plan. Chapter 14 looks at time blocking and executing a new business plan.
3) The rep lacks a compelling story: Reps who can’t articulate a compelling story can’t sell because, without it, their pitch is boring, self-focused, and unclear on the message. Chapter 8 explains how to craft an effective story about why your company and offerings are a good fit for the customer and better than any alternative.
4) The rep doesn’t know how to conduct an effective face-to-face sales call: Getting a face-to-face meeting with a prospect is an essential step in new business development, but you also need to know how to handle a meeting effectively once you get it. Many reps play it by ear or follow the customer’s lead. However, to differentiate yourself from the competition and discover customer problems you can solve, you need to gather information by asking the right questions and listening for clues about what the buyer is interested in. Chapters 10-11 explain how to structure a face-to-face call.
Besides a lack of knowledge, salespeople are often hampered by their own bad behaviors, which cost them sales. Here are some of the most common—most are related in some way to procrastination.
5) They wait for something from their company or the potential client before they act—for instance, reports, marketing materials, or a callback. While they’re waiting, a competitor may win the account, or the buyer will be shopping around and will have already decided what they want (reducing the salesperson’s ability to influence the prospect’s choice).
6) They keep hoping for a specific deal that’s in the works to come through. This puts all the salesperson’s eggs in one basket, increasing the risk of failure. Instead, the rep should have multiple deals at various stages in the works to increase the likelihood something will come through.
7) They’re reluctant to make cold calls and therefore procrastinate. They delay or seldom make cold calls; when they do, they’re so uncomfortable and lacking in confidence that their calls are ineffective. But generating new business requires dedicating time each week to calling prospects and following through. Chapter 9 explains how to confidently make effective cold calls.
8) They spend too much time on customer service: They babysit existing accounts—for instance, tracking the order and invoices, and listening endlessly to complaints. Of course, salespeople need to take care of existing customers, but many overdo it at the expense of acquiring new customers—because it’s more comfortable to deal with people they know, or they feel important when they respond to a request. But this is a service role, not a sales role, and there’s an opportunity cost: not growing your company’s customer base.
9) They spend their time on office social activities: Salespeople sometimes get involved in too many office activities aimed at building company culture—for instance, planning the company Halloween party or serving on the safety task force. These activities can be fun, especially for extroverted salespeople. Further, companies often evaluate employees on how they get along with others and contribute to the team. But being seen as nice at work shouldn’t distract you from acquiring new business, which is essential to your success as a salesperson.
Counterproductive attitudes also hinder sales because prospects sense and are turned off by them. Or, the reps’ attitudes hold back their development or success.
10) The sales rep isn’t likable and doesn’t adapt to the customer’s style: As the sales adage goes, customers buy from people they like, so having an unpleasant personality, a negative attitude, or habits such as not looking professional will undermine sales success.
Many reps who are unlikeable lack emotional and social intelligence—that is, the ability to manage their emotions, relationships, and others’ perceptions of them—and therefore struggle to build relationships with clients. For example, they fail to adapt their communication style to their client’s: They may be overly talkative with a reserved client and not pick up on when the client is uninterested or irritated.
11) They’ve stopped developing professionally: Many reps don’t invest in their professional development. They believe the cliché that “either you can sell or you can’t” and think there’s nothing new they can learn about sales. But you can’t succeed in any field, sales included, without continuous learning. Another reason to keep honing sales skills is that customers are becoming increasingly resistant to existing sales approaches, making it important to learn new strategies.
12) They’re not cut out to be in sales: Some people aren’t suited to be sales hunters for two reasons:
When a company’s sales are falling short of its goals, the reasons may lie in the company’s own actions and policies rather than the competence of the sales team. Here are some common company-driven issues that undermine sales success:
1) The company isn’t providing a clear strategy or mission: The executive team's job is to decide and articulate the company’s strategy; the sales team’s job is to execute it. However, a muddy strategy often leaves salespeople confused about their focus and therefore, less effective.
The company should clearly define:
2) The company and its culture look down on the sales team: Many companies have an anti-sales culture that kills the passion salespeople must have to sell successfully. For example, other departments complain that sales reps are using too many samples, aren’t using the right marketing materials, or are spending too much on meals with clients. However, to grow their business, companies need to be sales-focused—that is, to fully support sales efforts and provide whatever the team needs to close deals.
3) Reps spend more time on servicing accounts than hunting for new business. Requiring salespeople to babysit customers rather than hiring customer service people is the biggest obstacle to new business development. Customer service tasks that could often be handled by others include: quoting, taking orders, handling complaints, and walking orders through production.
Companies have few sales reps to begin with who consistently bring in new business (they make up about 10-15% of a typical sales team). At the very least, these people should be freed up from routine account management to do what they do best.
4) The company’s sales compensation plan is illogical: Compensation plans are a sensitive topic in sales because people’s livelihoods depend on them. However, most companies get two things wrong and, as a result, their plans disincentivize the behavior they want (new sales development):
The plan treats all sales the same when it comes to paying commissions: Commissions are typically calculated based on total sales (X total sales times Y commission rate equals commission). This treats all sales as equal, but they aren’t—acquiring new sales is more challenging than servicing existing accounts.
If companies want new business, they need to decrease the base pay and increase the rewards to encourage reps to focus on sales hunting.
A lack of knowledge or counterproductive behaviors and attitudes keep salespeople from succeeding at developing new business. Review the list of common reasons for failure to determine whether any are holding you back.
Which two or three issues on the list are the most challenging for you and why (for example, not knowing how to conduct a sales call or spending too much time servicing existing accounts)?
Many of the issues on the list are rooted in procrastination. In what ways do you procrastinate when it comes to prospecting and why?
How willing are you to improve your new sales success rate by addressing the issues and behaviors holding you back? What can you do this week to tackle one of them?
The solution to the struggle to generate new business is a three-stage new-sales model—the “New Sales Driver.” The stages are:
This chapter discusses the first stage, targeting or selecting the right prospects (those most likely to buy) to pursue.
When choosing your targets, look for potential new customers with a profile similar to that of your best current customers. Ask:
In addition to being strategic, a target list should be:
Your prospect list should include a few “dream” customers—accounts that would be a huge coup for you and your company. Pick only a handful and develop a plan for tackling each target; do something each week to advance your plan. Meanwhile, keep working hard to pursue the other more conventional targets on your list. You still need to make your sales goals even if the dream client doesn’t come through.
Besides determining which businesses to target, think about whom you should be targeting within those businesses. They should be higher-level people.
Getting access to senior leaders is easier than you think and it increases your chances of sales success. The key to getting their attention is connecting with them on issues that are top of mind rather than delving into the details of your products, services, and processes. You have nothing to lose by aiming high. If you’re denied a meeting, then pursue a mid-level executive. This is a better strategy than starting lower and then going over someone’s head when they turn you down—because this creates enemies in a company whose business you want.
It’s also a win if the executive takes an interest in your pitch and directs you to someone else with the specific knowledge to evaluate your proposal. An internal referral from a senior leader will be paid attention to.
In addition, executives are often easier to work with than with middle managers or purchasing agents—they’re friendlier, more professional, and are big-picture thinkers. While middle managers focus on saving every possible dime, senior leaders are more interested in solving business problems and achieving results.
Once you know what kind of sales prospects you’re targeting, there are many resources for coming up with specific names. Local business journals compile and publish annual lists of businesses in the region by size, business sector, and so on. Another resource is Hoover’s, an online source for business data. With a subscription, sales teams can research targets or potential targets.
Other tools include:
In addition to your prospect list for new sales, you should also develop a target list of potential referral sources—people who might provide you with names of prospects.
By referral sources, Weinberg doesn’t mean clients who refer new customers to you, or members of your professional network who pass your name to potential clients. Referral sources are people in a position to provide you with an ongoing stream of referrals—for example, real estate agents are often referral sources for bank loan officers (the agents provide names of potential mortgage clients). Similarly, in a large banking system, loan officers at smaller branches are referral sources for premier bankers seeking wealthy customers.
Once you have a list of target referral sources, develop a plan for approaching them almost as though they were sales targets. Track the results you get from referral sources and focus your energy and attention on the ones that generate the best opportunities.
The strategic thinking process for creating prospect lists can also be used to prioritize existing customer accounts, so you’re spending the most time on the accounts that deliver the most.
Both inside and outside reps could increase sales among existing customers by “segmenting” or categorizing the customers, then devoting the most time to the ones likely to produce the best results. (Shortform note: Outside reps make face-to-face sales visits, while inside reps make phone calls in the office using system-generated customer lists.)
A simple way to segment existing customers is to use these four groups:
You’ll want to spend the most time on the accounts in the first three segments and the least on the miscellaneous accounts.
To create a list of viable new-business prospects, identify companies that are similar to your best customers. To come up with a target profile, consider the following questions.
Who are your company’s top five customers and what characteristics do they have in common?
What do these companies and their markets look like (for example, are they growing or highly competitive)?
What resources can you use to identify potential customers who resemble your top customers (for example, industry directories or trade associations)?
Once you have your target list, the next step in generating new business is developing sales weapons or tools. This chapter introduces the most important sales weapons in the new-sales model, which are then discussed in detail in later chapters. It also lists a range of supplementary tools that may be useful once you’ve mastered the key weapons.
These sales tools and techniques, used proficiently, will differentiate you from your competitors.
1) Your sales story: Your sales story is a compelling, succinct, customer-focused response you give when someone asks you to tell them about your business. An effective story focuses on the problems you solve for customers and the ways your solution is different and better than anyone else’s.
2) The cold call: A cold call is a phone call in which you’re attempting to make your first contact with a prospect. It’s one of the most important and effective ways to get a meeting. While many reps fear making cold calls, you can make these calls with confidence when you know that your target resembles your best customers and you have a compelling sales story to tell.
3) The first face-to-face sales call: Getting an initial meeting with a potential client is the linchpin of new business development. Many reps go into an initial meeting with no structure or plan in mind. They end up talking too much and sounding like every other sales rep. An agenda built around your sales story will differentiate you from competitors.
4) “Discovery” questions: One of the most important parts of a sales meeting with a prospect is asking “discovery” questions to uncover frustrations, problems, and opportunities your solution could address better than anyone else’s. Asking these questions and listening to the answers is more important in the initial sales call than making a great presentation.
5) Case studies: A useful tool in a sales call is having a few case studies of how you’ve helped companies similar to your prospect’s to solve problems and seize opportunities. These examples are strong evidence of the value of your solutions. Similarly effective are third-party testimonials and recommendations, which come across as more credible than touting your own virtues.
6) Team selling: This is when the salesperson is accompanied on a call by senior executives or “subject matter experts” (such as an IT director who can discuss technical details of your solution). Their involvement underscores that you’re committed to getting the prospect’s business.
7) Presentations: Prospects often expect a presentation right off the bat because that’s what most salespeople deliver. However, to make an effective presentation, you first need to ask discovery questions so you can tailor your offering to the client’s needs and interests. A well-planned, customized presentation will make you stand out from the competition.
8) Proposals: Proposals can take various forms. You may have to respond to a formal request for a proposal (RFP). But typically, you’ll have the opportunity to create a tailored proposal for the customer. It’s one of the last tools you’ll apply in the sales process, so it’s important to make it count by sharpening your proposal writing skills.
Following are some additional tools and resources for sales reps, both digital and traditional.
The next chapters focus on developing and using the highest-impact sales weapons: the sales story, effective cold call, and face-to-face sales meeting.
Your sales story—the response you give when someone asks you to tell them about your business—is the centerpiece of any sales effort. In a nutshell, an effective sales story focuses on the problems you solve for customers and the ways your solution is different from and better than anyone else’s. Most importantly, the sales story is the core of your initial sales meeting. In addition, you—and everyone throughout the company—should use talking points from the sales story in:
Because it’s used so often, companies and sales teams need to get their sales story right before they can effectively use almost any other selling tool. Yet most companies don’t have a coherent, consistent, effective sales story because they’ve just assumed everyone knows what their company is all about.
Try this test at your company—ask your colleagues, “What’s our company all about?” People may be momentarily stumped. They may offer a marketing slogan, or ramble on with statements like: “We’ve been serving the community for 75 years, we have unique processes, our people are our most important resource,” and so on. Even many CEOs can’t give a succinct, compelling response. And everyone will likely have a somewhat different story.
An effective sales story contributes to increased sales because:
1) It fuels confidence and pride for the company and its offerings: When salespeople have a powerful sales story, they feel good about the company and themselves. They can thus sell with passion, driven by the belief that they create value and solve problems for customers.
2) It overcomes buyer resistance: Most salespeople launch into a presentation focused on the company and its products rather than on how it meets customer needs. Customers resist being bombarded with a pitch, especially if it doesn’t seem relevant to them. A good sales story effectively counters resistance and indifference because it leads with the problems, opportunities, and outcomes most important to the client.
3) It differentiates the company from competitors by emphasizing what makes your solution unique: Buyers will attest that most salespeople sound alike: They give the same presentations and demos, using the same words and tone of voice. However, coming across as different in your phone call or voicemail sparks the interest that gets you that first meeting. In addition, you must differentiate yourself from competitors to justify premium pricing; you must sell the customer on the value you create for the price. Conversely, you don't need skill or a great sales story to sell a product if you have the lowest price.
Following are some essential characteristics of a sales story:
(Shortform note: For more on storytelling in business, read our summary of Building a Storybrand.)
This section looks at how to draft an effective, client-focused, differentiating story. An effective sales story has three components:
It’s important to start with customer issues because:
The sales story should be a one-page encapsulation of how your company helps clients that can be presented or read in two or three minutes. Here’s what it should look like, using the example of a company that provides security services:
1) Headline: A sentence or two introducing your company so potential customers can quickly categorize it. This provides context for the sales story.
2) Transitional phrase and client issues: An introductory phrase intended to pique the prospect’s interest. It names the type of businesses you serve or client job titles.
After the introductory phrase, list a half dozen client issues that you address in bullet-point format.
3) Your company’s offerings: A few short, unembellished sentences ticking off what you sell. This part of your story is the least compelling to the client, so don’t dwell on it.
4) Your differentiators: A concluding statement or phrase followed by about five compelling reasons your company does a better job than anyone else at solving the problems you’ve presented.
Here’s a condensed example showing how Weinberg weaves the pieces together into a sales story for his sales coaching business:
Here’s a team exercise for outlining a sales story.
1) Begin with three sheets of paper (one for each key part of the story: client issues, differentiators, offerings) and your company’s marketing materials and recent sales proposals.
2) Create a list of client issues by brainstorming answers to questions such as:
3) Ask a few of your top customers:
4) Examine your marketing materials for additional ideas on what your company achieves or what problems it solves (don’t get sidetracked by why your company is so great).
5) Discuss and narrow your client issues list to a half-dozen points and describe them in a compelling way.
6) Create a list of differentiators or compelling reasons your solution is different from and better than anyone else’s—for example, cite your unique expertise, proprietary methods, or service guarantees.
7) Spend only a few minutes listing your company’s offerings in a few brief sentences.
8) Over time, continue to tweak and revise this first draft. Carry it with you for a while and make notes as you think of improvements.
Your sales story is the response you give when someone asks you to tell them about your business. It should focus on the problems you solve for customers and the ways your solution is different from and better than anyone else’s.
What’s your current sales story? Are you satisfied with it? Why or why not?
How much does your sales story focus on the problems it solves for customers as opposed to the company’s history, people, and processes? How can you increase the customer focus?
How does your company’s sales story differentiate it from competitors (that is, show how your solution is different from and better than anyone else’s)? How could you improve this aspect?
In addition to an effective sales story, your next tool for generating news business is the cold call. This chapter explains how to make successful cold calls by adjusting your mindset and creating a plan to effectively introduce yourself, present a mini-sales story, and ask for a meeting.
Few sales reps are proficient at or like making these calls. Further, some sales managers and teams have bought into the myth promulgated by new sales models that cold calling to generate new business has been replaced by “inbound marketing.” Inbound marketing attempts to attract new customers through social media, search engine optimization, branding, and content marketing (videos and blogs that provide information without explicitly mentioning a brand). However, it’s a supplement, not a replacement for calling prospects.
To set yourself up for success when cold calling:
1) Throw out your preconceptions and start fresh: When most salespeople make cold calls, they picture themselves as annoying telemarketers interrupting the prospect to pitch an unwanted product. Because what you believe affects how you act, having this negative image will undermine your sales efforts. Calling strategically selected targets who have problems that you can help them with is the antithesis of telemarketing. You’re a problem-solver. The fact that you have a valuable solution should make you want to call prospects.
2) Adjust your tone of voice and approach: In a few seconds of hearing your voice, a potential client forms an opinion about you. Too often, when making calls, salespeople sound like stereotypical salespeople—they speak in an unnatural “sales voice,” which raises a prospect’s resistance. Ask a colleague to listen as you make calls (when you’re unaware of it) to see if you’re speaking unnaturally. If you are, try to break the habit by practicing your pitch in a normal, comfortable voice. It’s better to be a bit informal than to be overly formal or respectful, which makes you come across as subservient. You’re an equal who has something to say that’s worth listening to.
3) Stop procrastinating by spending unnecessary time re-qualifying prospects: If buyers are on your prospect list, you’ve already selected and vetted them (qualified them) as people who could benefit from your solutions. Focus on your objective, which is getting a meeting with them, not on second-guessing your selection. The key to generating new business is action—getting in front of potential customers.
Here are the key steps for planning and conducting prospect calls:
Step 1) Create a call outline and talking points: You don’t want to use a canned call script like a telemarketer would use—however, you need to know what you want to say and say it in a logical order. Also, having a consistent approach for all prospect calls is important—you can’t tell what’s working and not working if every call is different.
Step 2) Focus on the objective: Before making a call, you should know why you’re calling and what outcome you want (your objective). If you don’t know these things, it’s easy to get sidetracked when the prospect raises questions or objections. You need to keep steering the conversation toward your objective.
Your objective is:
Step 3) Develop a useful, effective introductory phrase: Weinberg likes to use “Let me steal a minute” and an introductory phrase. When you say, “Let me steal a minute,” you’re acknowledging, but not apologizing for, interrupting.
After your introductory phrase, identify yourself by saying, “I head up the western region for Acme company” or “I head up client relationships for Acme.” Saying that you “head up” an area of responsibility underscores that you’re an important person who’s worth listening to.
Step 4) Write a mini-sales story: To start the dialogue, create and use a condensed version of your sales story that will pique the prospect’s interest in having a face-to-face meeting with you. To position yourself as someone that people in the prospect’s industry turn to for help with challenges, focus on a few client issues from the sales story: a unique, intriguing issue and a widely applicable issue. Also, choose one differentiator from the sales story.
Present the issues and differentiator in a conversational way—for example: “Right now many property managers are looking for a security team that projects a professional image.” Pause and wait for a response. Based on the response, mention another issue, describe a differentiator, or ask for a meeting.
Inside sales reps will need to create a segue or bridge to the structured sales conversation (since you’re not asking for a meeting). One way is to ask a few simple probing questions and listen carefully to the answers in order to uncover sales opportunities. Learn all you can about the prospect’s situation and note anything that might be useful later.
Step 5) Ask three times for a meeting: There’s a good chance the prospect will say no your first request for a meeting. It’s automatic, so don’t take it personally. The important thing is, don’t hang up. If you give up on a prospect after one rejection, you’ll fail and keep failing. The third time you ask is usually when you’ll be successful.
Weinberg uses three words repeatedly when asking for a meeting:
Everyone, sales reps included, resists salespeople—it’s an automatic negative reaction to past experiences with pushy salespeople, or stereotypes about the profession. For example, consider the common put-down that someone is like a “used car salesman,” meaning manipulative, annoying, untruthful, a fast-talker, and a poor listener.
To avoid reinforcing this stereotype and undermining your effectiveness, think about how you come across. Ask yourself:
Your beliefs, what you say and sound like, and how you feel about prospects can exacerbate buyer resistance unless you adjust them.
As a salesperson, you’ll end up in voicemail about 75% of the time. Rather than making fruitless callbacks, use voicemail to your advantage. Here are some tips for leaving an effective voicemail message:
Besides having a compelling sales story, a critical tool for developing new business is cold calls, but many reps fear making them. The key to making cold calls with confidence is preparing a call outline and talking points.
How do you currently prepare for cold calls?
Successful cold callers prepare by developing a positive mindset plus a call outline, including a clear objective, an effective introductory phrase, a mini-version of your sales story, and the “ask” for the client’s business.) Which of these components are missing from your preparations or could be improved?
How can you structure your calls to keep the objective of getting a meeting on track?
When can you schedule time this week to develop or strengthen your introduction and mini-sales story?
Getting a face-to-face meeting with a prospect is the culmination of your new business development efforts. There can still be a lot of work to do after the first meeting, including preparing a formal proposal or presentation. But the essential step to winning new business is first getting in front of the prospect and setting the tone for a productive relationship.
A surprising number of salespeople try to “wing it” in face-to-face calls, but the key to a successful call is taking ownership of it from start to finish. You can’t own the call without a plan and structure. Reasons for planning are:
In contrast, not planning your call sets you up for two problems:
To prepare mentally for the initial face-to-face call, remember that:
Conducting a sales call is like piloting an airplane. You must follow a plan with specific stages in the proper sequence. The order is critical to the outcome. Here are the stages of a prospect call:
At this stage, connect with the customer and make them comfortable. Rather than commenting on a photo on their desk in cliché fashion, have a genuine conversation about news, sports, or something interesting you noticed in their LinkedIn profile. Only chat for as long as the customer wants to—move on if you get one-word answers.
Also, assess the person’s personality and conversational style—for example, are they quiet, talkative, or impatient? As the meeting continues, you’ll want to adapt your approach to the customer—for example, cut to the chase if the customer is impatient. The more comfortable they are with you, the more amenable they’ll be to your ideas.
Next, share your agenda, then ask the customer what they’d like to get from the meeting. This accomplishes the following:
Here’s an example of how Weinberg handles the first two stages: building rapport and sharing the agenda:
This step applies only to current customers. It’s important to clear up any problems or bad experiences the customer has had with your company before you talk about increasing their business with you.
In three minutes, tell your client-focused sales story, highlighting why customers turn to you, what you offer, and how you’re different from competitors. Be alert to the prospect’s reactions to the client problems and opportunities you list—for example, a nod or a wince indicates you’ve hit on a relevant issue. If the customer asks a question, answer briefly but don’t go into details and sidetrack your story. Make a note so you can discuss the question further in the next phase of the call.
In this stage, ask “discovery” questions to gather information, identify problems and opportunities, and demonstrate expertise on issues relevant to the customer. Discovery questions can be personal, strategic, issue-focused, or sales process-focused:
With the information you’ve gleaned, deliver a sales pitch that incorporates what matters to the prospect. Show that you’ve listened by focusing only on the points relevant to the buyer, and connecting their needs with your offerings using the buyer’s words.
This is the time to comment, “From this conversation, it looks like we might be a good fit for your needs. What do you think?” If the customer is slow to confirm you’re a fit, you may need to ask more sales process questions to determine whether there's an obstacle somewhere. If you have a feeling there’s an issue the client isn’t talking about, ask: “I have a feeling something is concerning you… What are you thinking?”
Simply ask: “What do you propose as a logical next step?” Listen to the response, then summarize the next steps for each of you—for example: “Based on what you’re saying, how about if I do X and you do Y.” Open your calendar and schedule the tasks. Confirm the date and next step one more time.
As you conclude the meeting, don’t go overboard thanking the prospect for their time. Because you’ve delivered value, the prospect should be equally appreciative of the time you spent meeting them.
(Shortform note: For another perspective on making a successful pitch, read our summary of Pitch Anything.)
A successful face-to-face sales call requires developing and following a plan with specific stages in the proper sequence.
What is your sales call structure? (For example, do your calls have a logical progression from building rapport and sharing an agenda to telling your sales story, asking discovery questions, confirming fit, and agreeing on next steps? If not, what structure do they have?)
Are any of the steps outlined above missing from your call structure? If so, why? How can you incorporate them into future sales calls?
How have you wrapped up your calls in the past? Write a brief script incorporating fit, objections, and determining the next steps that you can use to end future calls.
Many prospects expect sales reps to make formal slideshow presentations at the initial face-to-face meeting. This started with the introduction of PowerPoint in the 1990s when the ability to create slick slideshows changed the focus of many sales calls from dialogue to presentation. The seller became a performer taking the stage with the buyer as the audience.
However, as Chapter 12 explained, to win new business, you need to first learn the customer’s needs so you can offer a tailored customer-focused solution rather than a generic presentation. Such a tailored presentation, given after the initial meeting, can be a powerful sales tool. This chapter looks at how to create a customer-focused presentation and how to deal with premature presentation requests.
The first step in creating a customer-focused presentation is resisting the urge to create a monologue and visuals focused on your company, processes, people, and solutions. Drop the photos or video of your buildings and campus—they don’t help you sell, and they copy rather than differentiate you from the competition.
Here’s how to structure your presentation:
Prospects are so accustomed to one-sided presentations that they often request a presentation as an initial meeting. But if you don’t have enough information to create slide 4 (bullet points describing the customer’s situation), you can’t make an effective presentation. So insist on a meeting before making a presentation.
You can do so in a polite but assertive way by explaining that your goal is to provide the optimum solution tailored to the customer’s unique needs. To do so, you need to follow a specific process that places a meeting before a presentation. Insisting on your process rather than defaulting to the buyer’s process differentiates you.
Nonetheless, there are times when the prospect won’t meet with you before a presentation. Some companies have rules for RFPs and about who in the company you can talk to. In this case, your best response is to show up for the presentation but adapt it to follow elements of your sales call structure: Introduce yourself, build rapport, and share your agenda. For example, you might follow a script like this: “Here’s the way we like to work. We take the first 10 minutes to hear why you invited us in and what issues you face. With that information, we can then focus on what’s most relevant and useful to you.”
After selecting your targets and developing your key sales tools, the final step in the new-sales model is planning and executing by pursuing the prospects on your list. Many salespeople like to talk about selling, but when it comes to prospecting, fewer actually do it. Three ways to make prospecting a priority and get it done are time blocking, creating a personal business plan, and maintaining a balanced “pipeline” or portfolio of active accounts.
Time blocking is reserving stretches of time for activities that are priorities. Schedule blocks of 90 minutes to two hours at least twice a week for prospecting. (Three is probably the maximum you can concentrate and be free of interruptions.)
If you’ve done little or no prospecting, consistently devoting four hours a week to it should significantly improve your results. If you have aggressive business development goals, scheduling eight or nine two-hour blocks a week—still only a third of your working hours—will get superior results.
The keys to successful time blocking are:
To efficiently and consistently generate new business, determine how much sales activity it takes you to generate a sale from the beginning of the process to the close. By keeping track of your sales time and activity for each account from initial contact to closing a deal, you’ll soon have enough data to calculate this. With this number, you can determine the amount of effort required to achieve whatever number of new sales you’ve set as a goal.
The typical stages for tracking your time are:
Count the hours backward from a closed deal to the first step to determine how much new-business activity it takes to close a deal. For the purposes of illustration, if your sales goal is 12 new sales, you’d need to:
The better you get at using sales tools such as cold-calling and conducting effective sales meetings, the more efficient your numbers become, and the better your results. For example, if you increased the proportion of cold calls that secure meetings from half to two-thirds, you’d ultimately increase sales.
Besides time blocking to ensure that you follow through on new business development, write a personal business plan annually. The process of developing a plan sparks creativity and big-picture thinking. In addition, it requires you to take ownership of your area of responsibility, whether a portfolio, sales territory, or functional area such as inside sales.
A personal business plan has five components:
Once you have a plan, take two more steps:
Your pipeline is the accounts you’re working on. Spread your sales efforts over many accounts that are at various stages in the sales process so that hitting your sales goals won’t hinge on one or two accounts that could stall. You should have three types of prospect accounts in your pipeline:
It’s natural to focus on urgent accounts, but you should be working in all categories simultaneously. Allocate about a third of your prospecting time to each.
In addition, make sure all accounts are progressing from one category to the next rather than stagnating.
Developing a target list and sales tools such as a sales story are useless without action. To succeed at news business development, you need to make it a priority and create a personal business plan to keep your efforts on track.
How much time per week do you currently devote to prospecting? How could you amend your schedule to time block at least four prospecting hours a week in two-hour chunks?
What are your sales goals for acquiring new accounts? Have you put these goals in writing? How are you tracking your progress towards meeting them? (For example, what metrics are you using to define success?)
Do you have an individual business plan laying out annual goals, strategies, action steps, hurdles, and personal development areas? If so, describe how you could improve your plan. (For example, are there elements of the plan that you could flesh out further?) If not, briefly outline two goals you’d include in your plan, and two strategies for meeting each goal.
What does your pipeline look like? Do you have targeted, active, and urgent accounts? How could you improve your pipeline so that you have accounts in all three categories that keep progressing?
Now that you know how to develop a target list, create a sales story, make effective cold calls, conduct a sales call, and execute news sales, here are a few final tips for sales success:
Finally, don’t believe those who discourage you from prospecting by telling you it’s ineffective or a waste of time. Most of the naysayers avoid it because they’ve failed at it. But with strategically selected targets, the right sales weapons, and a plan of attack, new-business development isn’t complicated.