Business Skeptic

 You have got to qualify people so you spend your time making money and not educating and entertaining people.

There are two basic rules to qualification:

1.        Qualify High. This means you need to speak candidly and directly with the people that can actually make decisions. They are busy and won’t waste your time. So if you ask them a direct question, you will get a direct answer. You might not like the answer, but at least you’ll know and can move accordingly.

2.        Ask the difficult questions. Many sales people shy away from asking the difficult probing questions (what I call poking them in the eye) and accept vague “kind of optimistic” responses. They are concerned about “offending” the prospect. If the news is bad you want it direct and as soon as possible. Unfortunately, people are nice and don’t like to give bad news, so you have to probe for it. Ask the tough probing direct questions. You would rather have bad news than waste your time. This is about your income! Just do it.

Remember there are two winners in a sale. One is the person that wins the deal and the other is the competitor that got out earliest, and didn’t waste time on a deal he couldn’t win. He moved on to a new deal he could win. Coming in second is going broke.

Ok you did your cold call prospecting and now you have a meeting with the executive (your first date). The following is some guidelines for that first conversation.

Rule 1. Get to the point. Do Not Waste Their Time. Executives are very busy. Forget the niceties and chit chat. Thank them for their time and get out a strong and succinct value proposition. The primary characteristic that got the executive the job is their ability to judge people. You are being judged by someone that has a very short first impression window. You need to grab that opportunity and convince them that you belong there and you are valuable to them. Don’t fumble around or try to “break-the-ice”. Get to the point. Also don’t be surprised if they are very direct; bordering on rude. They are just determining if you have the “stuff” they can count on to deliver.

Rule 2. You have to give in order to receive.  Simply stated, you can’t go in and start pummeling an executive  with questions. You need to provide them with a strong value proposition (What your company does better than anyone else).

Here is a value proposition  I use.

FirstRule is a New Customer Acquisition Specialist. We help companies grow sales in the most important way possible, through new customers and aggressively taking marketshare. We will increase lead generation and conversion by 3 to 4 times and more than double your sales productivity. Most important, we install the systems, procedures and train your organization to become a tribe of A+ hunters.  

Rule 3. Explain and validate your value proposition with an example. The example helps to clarify what you mean by the value proposition and gives them a relevant example that they can relate to their operation. What I try and do is attempt to figure out their business model and how the executive is measured ahead of time. 

It is important to stress that this is a specific and relevant example of how we execute on our Value Proposition. It is not trying to sell that specific solution and don’t be pulled into selling that solution immediately by the prospect.

Rule 4. Don’t Try and Set The Hook Too Early. You goal is not to try and sell the first “need” that comes up. Your goal is to get as much information about their business model, how the executive is measured and the urgent priorities. It is important not to focus on the example as a sales opportunity. It is a validator. If the executive is not opening up other pain areas, you can use another relevant example of a different competitive transformation.

Rule 5. You close them on a Sequence of Events. Basically you are closing them on a next action and follow-up. As you identify pain points and close on follow up the executive will often try and delegate downward to those people that are tactically responsible for the pain area. Agree that you will follow up with the subordinate, but make it clear that you will get back to the executive regarding your findings and how your company might be able to help. You want to establish that you work with the executive and are a peer.

Rule 6. Reaffirm the sequence of events in a thank you email, reinforcing that you will get back to him / her personally. In you thank you email, reiterate the sequence of events and remind the executive that after you and your team have had time to evaluate the situation, you will get back to  him.

Rule 7. You can qualify tough. Ask tough and direct questions. Executives are the best people to qualify. So be direct and to the point. They will tell you straight if something is important enough for them to move and when.