Prospecting in a Soft Market

Written by Steve Waterhouse


Yesterday, I worked with a group of wonderful sales people who sell for one ofrepparttar leading companies in their industry. You would all recognizerepparttar 139405 brand. They were complaining (only a little) thatrepparttar 139406 market was soft and that it was affecting their business. I asked them two questions. First, how big isrepparttar 139407 total market for your product? Answer: over $200 billion. Second, for you to be a superstar, how much business would you have to do? Answer $150 million or 0.075% ofrepparttar 139408 market. If their market were to shrink by 25%, which would mean world-wide disaster, a superstar would need 0.1% ofrepparttar 139409 market. In other words, even inrepparttar 139410 worst of situations, there would be 1000 times as much business available as anyone would need to be a superstar. They gotrepparttar 139411 point and they agreed that tough times just mean sifting through more leads to findrepparttar 139412 nuggets.

Prospecting is a necessary part of sales and something that many sales people do poorly. Done correctly, it becomes as much a part of your routine and as important as a great presentation or a winning close. Here are 14 tips you can use to improverepparttar 139413 effectiveness of your sales team's prospecting efforts:

Definerepparttar 139414 type of prospect that is likely to want your offer Separate your list of prospects by size or opportunity. A=big, B=medium, C=small Set individual and group goals for new contacts per day Workrepparttar 139415 A list first. Whales are always better than minnows Minimize distractions and maximize call time Userepparttar 139416 telephone for as much ofrepparttar 139417 selling process as possible Have several good value statements written in front of you Brainstorm common objections (there aren't many new ones) Develop effective counters to objections Work in pairs and coach each other Record your calls and review them (at least your side ofrepparttar 139418 call) Leave value-based messages on voice mail Call early, late, lunch hour, anytime. Keep it up forever! Good prospecting requires skills, persistence, coaching and management support. Done consistently, it can berepparttar 139419 path to dramatic business growth or insurance against slower times.

What do you do now?

Written by Steve Waterhouse


How to help your sales team recover fromrepparttar World Trade Center disaster. by Stephen Waterhouse

The question plaguing CEO's and sales managers aroundrepparttar 139404 country today is, "How do I get my team back to work?" Afterrepparttar 139405 tragedy that has gripped us forrepparttar 139406 last week, what isrepparttar 139407 best way to help our people and companies return to normal, productive life?

For help, I turned to my friend and colleague, Dr. Robert Routolo, whose thirty years of experience helping fortune 500 companies through difficult times makes himrepparttar 139408 perfect resource. Bob suggests that we organize a three step process for helping our people makerepparttar 139409 transition back to normalcy. His three steps, recognition, reflection and refocusing form a structure that will help us help our people, our companies and our nation.

Recognition Bob said, "Every person has been impacted by this tragedy on some level, and as CEO's and managers we must recognize that." We can't ignore what has happened and just go on. We must berepparttar 139410 ones to bring it up, even if it is uncomfortable to do so. Dr. Routolo recommends that you start a meeting by recognizing that each of your people has been affected in some way byrepparttar 139411 events ofrepparttar 139412 last week and that you understand that this has been a difficult time.

Reflection Oncerepparttar 139413 topic is onrepparttar 139414 table, make time for reflection and sharing. Allow a few minutes of silence for each one to think aboutrepparttar 139415 events andrepparttar 139416 losses in their own way. Grief is a personal process andrepparttar 139417 silence respects their individuality. Next, allow time for sharing. Some will tell of those they lost. Others may express their reaction torepparttar 139418 events. For many, telling their story is an important part of moving on. For others, just hearing that coworkers share their feelings will help them know that they are not alone.

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