In Brazil, there are many managers who focus on quantity rather than quality. They believe that the best way to find a good prospect is to focus on the crowd.
They require dozens or hundreds of calls per day, regardless of the quality or who exactly will receive the call. Without any knowledge of the reality experienced by the customer being approached.
We must also remember that prospecting is the worst part of the sales process for 90% of salespeople. A necessary evil for many.
The reason I wrote this article and recorded the video that is available at the end of this text is to help all professionals who need to find new customers to fill their sales funnels. Prospecting customers is a delicate matter and a real daily learning experience. Here you will learn how NOT to prospect customers by phone and also by other forms of contact such as email or WhatsApp. The points you will see below apply to all these ways of attracting customers.
Read Also: Why is it Important to Prospect Clients Every Day?
The 5 mistakes you should avoid:
1st Mistake: Not researching the Client/Company
Don’t forget to research your client before contacting them. Not researching the client before making a cold call is the biggest mistake you can make.
If you don’t identify the client’s pain points or needs beforehand, you run the much sense for that store to have these promotions of assuming and trying to guess what the client needs.
Dumping information is boring, after all, if the prospect doesn’t need you, what will be their motivation to listen to you?
To gather information about the client, it is worth doing research on websites, social networks, articles or publications about the company. Any information, no matter how simple it may seem, is valid.
Knowing what has happened with the company recently can also serve as a way to find points of connection.
2nd Mistake: Talking a lot and listening little
Let the customer have how to crop and post photos on instagram correctly in speaking. Ideally, the customer should do 80% of the talking and the sales professional 20%.
Don’t be a chatterbox who talks non-stop. Don’t make assumptions; pay attention to what the customer says and how they say it. Listen to what they have to say. People like to be heard, and by doing so, you create a connection with the person on the other end.
3rd Mistake: Not understanding the customer’s real situation
Many salespeople have the habit of thinking they know everything about the market and “assume” that the customer needs a certain product or service. They end up not being interested in making the customer listen because they don’t pay attention to the details.
Even if you know everything about the market, let the customer do the talking. They are the star of the moment and will enjoy being the center of attention.
By listening, you can identify points that may not have been so clear or even specific features of the company. This helps a lot and you will close more sales if you don’t make the mistake of not understanding the customer’s real situation.
Read Also: My Customer Profile Has Changed, What Now?
4th Mistake: Not having a well-defined sales script
Never, under any circumstances, contact your client without knowing exactly what to say or what to ask.
You should have a script with the main opening, exploration and closing questions to ask at the right time. And don’t sound like a tw list or read while you speak.
The difference between a cold call and telemarketing is that the script to be followed in a cold call allows for interpretation. You can adapt the words while maintaining the essence. You can and should be creative. In telemarketing, this is almost always not allowed; questions are always closed with direct answers. Not having a script is fatal; you must always know what to say, and not be a robot.
5th Mistake: Not having a well-defined objective
What do you want to achieve with the call?
A meeting? To present your product?
Be objective and clear, this will save time in the contact and time is the most valuable asset.