Sales Challenge:

Marketing has conducted a lead generation program and developed a number of qualified leads for the sales team to follow-up on.  Some of the leads seem very “Hot” and need immediate action. Others basically are prospects that should be buying from us. As a good sales person, you appreciate all the help you can get in expanding your customer base and want to follow up on these leads properly to try to exceed your quota. You know if you do well with these leads the company will provide you with more. What is the best way to deal with the leads you just received?

Situation

Your marketing department contracted with an outside telemarketing agency to call into a list of raw prospects to uncover actionable sales opportunities. You know from experience that all the leads describe an individual at a targeted business, with responsibilities in the area of interest for our product or service offering. Additionally, you know that this prospect has typically spent 10-20 minutes talking on the phone with the prospector and indicated that they wanted to learn more about your product/service.  Now, it’s your job to contact the prospect again and begin telling your story and take this prospect down the road to a sale.

Question

How can you use the information from the initial prospecting call to have the greatest impact on your follow-up call?

Plan

In the first 20 to 30 seconds of your call you want to accomplish the following:

1. Clearly state your name and the name of your company.
2. Briefly (2 sentences or less describe your company)
3. State the value proposition (why do customers deal with you)
4. Say something to the effect “you may recall we spoke with you” (a couple of days ago); don’t wait for an acknowledgement just state the fact and continue. Your job is not to test the prospects memory. Your goal is to have a productive conversation with the prospect and advance this prospect to the next level)
5. State what you hope to accomplish with this call.

In the next couple of minutes:

1. Begin to interview the prospect. (Use the information obtained in the initial

contact, but don’t get into “you said ….. and you said…. This takes you away from your call today and takes the focus off of what you hope to accomplish now. Keep the prospect focused on your conversation)

Conclusion:

Have a plan and a goal for each call you place. Keep your goal in mind throughout the call and direct your energies into meeting or exceeding your call goal.