Sometimes when you are prospecting you can be doing many things very well, yet there is one weak link in the chain and you are not getting enough meetings.
You are only as strong as your weakest link. Properly evaluating what you are doing correctly and where you need to put your focus is key to getting all the steps right and getting the results you need.
Let me share an evaluation and the visualization technique I used to solve this particular problem.
A coaching client called me with these weekly stats. How would you evaluate them?
Calls – 331. Low of 30 beginning of week to consistently hitting 80 a day by the end of the week.
Conversations with decision makers – 36
Qualified callbacks – 7
No’s- 28
Meetings scheduled – 1
What is the issue?
Calls? No. Definitely in a zone of activity that is reasonable and she is having a good amount of conversations so we can eliminate that.
Calling the wrong people? Not an issue here. She carefully profiled her buyers before calling and we are very confident that a high probability pool is being called. NOTE: Very commonly, this issue is at the root of poor productivity. Calling too many of the wrong suspects. Always rethink this and double check this if you are having a results issue.
Getting people to pick up the phone? Nope. 36 conversations with decision makers. She is getting through.
What is the core issue she needs to focus on? She diagnosed it herself. “I’m not giving people enough reason to meet with me. I need to punch up my value.” Correct a mundo!!!!
36 conversations with decision-makers, 7 “quality” call backs (not blow offs) and only 1 meeting set.
Here is the visualization technique I used when I had a tough campaign, was cranking out the calls and having the conversations but not enough were falling into the win column. I would imagine my decision-maker balancing on a pole. Just a slight wind one way would push them over to the “No, we are all set,” no meeting side. Yet a breeze the other way would push them over to the “Um, OK, I’ll meet,” side.
The words I chose to use is what would “blow them over.” I would rip out the weaker words, put in stronger benefits, move benefits to the front, put in some specific numbers, increase clarity, improve the credibility statement, be more industry specific, drop more powerful names. I would punch up my script so that when I was delivering it it would generate a wind sufficient to “blow them over” to the “OK, I’ll meet,” side.
Dumb? Probably, but that is what I had in my mind when. The decision-makers were teetering on the edge and my words needed to “blow them over,” so that I would book more meetings.
This coaching client has zeroed in on the real issue. Because she spent just a little time being setup correctly, picking the right lists and learning how to get decision-makers to pick up the phone she is doing a lot of things very well and has properly diagnosed the weak link in her chain.
She can now focus on that and she will win.
Many times people working very hard on prospecting don’t know what parts of their process are working and what parts need to be improved, so they continue to work hard floundering around with little to show for their efforts as they don’t know which issues to focus on.
If you or your team could use help diagnosing the real issue or crafting messaging that “blows them over,” contact me to discuss your situation and some options.
