Category: Convert Prospects into Clients (Sales)

Sometimes the strength of a great introduction makes the “sales process” quick and painless. Your prospect knows what you do, wants what you have to offer, and is ready to take action. If this does not happen for you with at least 10-20% of your prospects, you probably aren’t securing strong enough introductions.

Here are 5 typical and costly mistakes I see professionals making in their efforts to convert a prospect into a client (and how to avoid them).

I have a colleague who told me that he never pays attention to his competition. He doesn’t care what they do. He just focuses on his business. On the other hand, knowing your competition can certainly be useful.

Here are three views on talking about your competitors for you to consider and apply to your business. You’ll see that they are not mutually exclusive; but can (and should) be blended together for maximum effectiveness.

Don’t you just hate it when a prospect, seemingly very interested in the work you do, suddenly stops returning your calls and e-mails without an explanation as to why? Regardless of the reason why they “froze” in the first place, here are 5 things you can do to thaw out these cold prospects.

Voicemail purgatory! This is a real place, you know. This is where weak, unanswered voicemail messages go to die a lingering death. If you ever leave a voicemail for a prospect that goes unanswered, the harsh truth is that it’s probably because your voicemail wasn’t relevant and/or compelling enough to trigger a response.

Words matter.  Knowing exactly what you want to say in any given situation allows you to feel more confident and create the impact and influence you desire. If you’re looking for some fresh ways to keep the sales conversation moving, and convert more prospects into clients, then click to learn more.

When your prospects are facing the decision to work with you (or not work with you), seeing that others have made that same decision can be very helpful. Sometimes that evidence that comes in the form of social proof, is all they need to decide to move forward to work with you.

If you have prospects, or clients, or centers of influence with a neutral view toward you (if that’s even possible), then the right social proof or piece of evidence can move them into a positive view of you. If they already view you in a positive light, then social proof will strengthen their positive perceptions.

You’re doing everything right – or so you think.

You get introduced to a qualified prospect. You set a 15-minute, get-acquainted phone call. The call goes great. Prospect wants an appointment and say he’ll get back to you with a few dates that work for him.

Then, he goes “radio silent.” This “hot” prospect goes “MIA.” Turns icy cold.

How do you prevent this from happening in the future?

In this Blog, I’ll provide you with 5 strategies to prevent your hot prospects from turning cold.

If someone promoting their product or service asks me “What keeps you up at night?” one more time I’m going to go on a rant. Okay… too late. I’m on that rant now.

STOP asking weak “platitude questions” that don’t further the conversation, provide value, or grab your prospect’s interest.

Our brains are processing thousands of pieces of information every minute. And this, by the way, consumes a tremendous amount of energy. One way our brain attempts to minimize its energy consumption is by always asking the question, “Is this relevant? Do I need to pay attention to this? No? Great. What about this? A threat? An opportunity? And so it goes every waking minute of our lives.

I submit, therefore, that the most important ingredient in getting and keeping someone’s attention is relevance.

Phone calls with prospects should always be mutually qualifying – so therefore there’s a delicate balance between your learning about them and them learning about you.

When you talk about what you do to prospects, you want to make it as relevant to them as possible.

The more engagement you can create before your first call and the more you can learn about your prospect, the more relevant, compelling, and effective you’ll be.

Irrelevance is a deadly poison to be avoided at all cost!