Here’s a fast fact: 50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting. (The B2B Lead)
Now I know you probably already have a dedicated time within your daily schedule for active prospecting. But are you as productive as you could be? As an ad sales coach, I often see sales reps squandering real opportunities based on a lack of organization and not creating enough relevancy for their clients.
Below are 5 ways you can be more effective in your prospecting:
1. Have a thorough prospecting process in place.
Become your own CRM expert and let the system help you with your organization. You can do pre-call client research, use email templates and voicemail templates, test subject lines, and track call patterns.
2. Be relevant and specific — it changes everything.
52% of email recipients consider a message spam when it isn’t relevant to their needs, even if they know the vendor well. (wsj.com) Spend sometime crafting the perfect email that will resonate with your prospects. For example: “Hi Kevin, before I emailed you, I did some research on (name of company) and I really like what you are doing with your Facebook contest.”
3. Send subject lines that drive open rates.
Here are 5 successful subject lines: (Feel free to add some of your own!)
- May 29th?
- New idea for you
- Quick note for you
- Have you considered this?
- Competitive edge over X (insert prospect’s competitor here)
4. Create email structures that increase response rates.
Capture their attention in the subject line, then connect on something that interests the client. Only then do you propose a call or meeting time. Finally, most advertisers are very busy and don’t want their precious time wasted. Respect that, and end with that. Here are two examples:
- Subject line: May 29th?
My email: “Hi, Kevin. Before emailing you I researched your company and love your FB contest. Very cool. Could we chat for 10 min on May 29th? We offer some competitive intel reports that I think will interest you. I promise not to waste your time.”
- Subject line: New idea for you
My email: “Hi Kevin. I saw online that your company recently won the TD Barrett award for innovation. Congrats! Are you familiar with our monthly competitive intel reports? These reports are a fresh new way to keep you informed and engaged. Love to chat with you for 10 min about this. I promise only 10 minutes! I promise not to waste your time Kevin.”
5. Call at the perfect time.
According to Grasshopper Research, phone calls are 10 times more likely to lead to sales. You may think the best times to call in your day might be 10am and 2pm. But those are the worst times. Why? Because most corporate meetings are set for 10am and 2pm. Instead, think about the best times for your client to receive a call. Studies show 11:15am and 4:15pm are optimum times to connect. (And make sure you call in your clients’ time zones.) Also think about the best timing to send emails to your clients.
Finally, polite persistence is the key to moving the sale forward. Always follow up and work your finely-tuned prospecting plan!
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About Ryan: Ryan Dohrn is an award-winning ad sales training coach, a nationally recognized internet sales consultant and in international motivational speaker. He is the author of the best-selling ad sales book, Selling Backwards and the President and founder of Brain Swell Media and 360 Ad Sales Training, a boutique ad sales training and sales coaching firm with a detailed focus on ad sales training, internet consulting and media revenue generation.
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