Blog #105 Do I Pass on Meeting a New Prospect vs. The Well You Knows

Most any sales professional understands the necessity of finding new business. It's of little matter what you're selling, be it a complex technology solution or envelopes to stuff, the quest to find new buyers for your product or service is forever thus.

Perhaps one of the most prevalent myths about new client engagement is to qualify potential prospects and quickly determine if a need exists, and if none is apparent, move on. If you had heeded this advice, you would have been contacting prospects and asking probing questions about their current needs or status juxtaposition to the solution you're offering. "Can we interest you in this" or "can we show you a better way to do that”, etc.

We ask, they tell. And what do they tell us overwhelmingly? They tell us they "have no need". They tell us they're "happy with their current supplier", or that they "have no budget". They tell us our “timing is all wrong”, that we should “call back in a few months/years or even never”. And how do we, the seasoned sales executives respond? We say “thanks for your time” and then move on. And so it goes… contact, connect, qualify, get rejected, and move on, repeat. Sales professionals can often fly a little too close to the instant gratification star if what we hear suggests there may not be an imminent opportunity, we're just not interested; we move on.

The challenge in allocating our time is not insignificant. We all want to focus our efforts on endeavours that yield the best possible returns. So while no one wants to try and push water up hill, no one wants to miss an opportunity either.

If in my business I "moved on" each time a prospect provided any of the these or other myriad justifications to not meet, I wouldn't be in business. But how is one to know? How does one determine the authenticity of a request to meet being declined? The answer to this begins with appreciating a prospect’s circumstance. What would lead someone to give a less than authentic excuse vs. engaging with someone that might help drive their business?

The answer lays in what came before you, the countless and endless calls, emails, and God-only-knows-what interruptions to a prospect’s day made by a never-ending deluge of wanna-be vendors, all with little regard to how it feels to be on the receiving end of their “pitch”. A never-ending train of "have I got just the thing for you today!!!"

Prospects are fed up, worn out, and just plain jaded by the sheer number of times their day has been disrupted and promised a bill of goods only to find out that the "goods" were anything but good. They are done, done, and done. They've no more time nor mental bandwidth left to sift through who to trust vs. those merely peddling empty promises.

So, like most nice people, they are polite. They tell you they have no budget or need, or just that the timing is simply bad. They take the high road, and they tell a white lie.

But, and this is a big but. If you can navigate around their excuses and secure an in- person meeting, you might just get the chance to experience something I call the "Well You Knows". What are the "Well You Knows"? It's what happens after, say, 5, 10, or 15 minutes into a meeting when a prospect sits back in their chair, maybe crosses their arms and says… "Well you know, now that we're talking… " . If you’ve been selling long enough, you know what I’m talking about. "Now that we're talking, perhaps I should have a look at your new software" or, "now that we're talking, I think I'd like to get you in front of my colleague”.

It's what happens when the prospect lets their guard down, when a prospect feels you may just be a person they can take seriously, a person they can consider trusting and allowing into their exalted circle of trusted vendors. It's a simple phenomenon that unfolds assuming the sales person doesn't start out with some disingenuous pitch all the while stinking of commission breath. And it can only take place once the prospect relaxes their guard and allows the sales person into their inner sanctum of inquisitiveness and trust. It's a unique opportunity, and it only happens once with any individual prospect.

Alternatively, begin the meeting with some smarmy sales like rant and wham-o, the door slams shut, you’ve just reaffirmed the prospect’s worst fears, that you're just like “all the rest.”

The "Well You Knows” generally only take place in person. It is in person where the dynamic between two people changes best, substantially different from what manifests over the phone, or worse, through a digital exchange. It is only in person that a prospect can look you in the eye and experience “you” in an environment that fosters transparency and better sense of someone’s true character. Once you’ve established good character, you’ll be surprised how quickly the table turns .

When you take the time to establish trust, and allow the prospect to open the door, when you do take the time to meet with prospects that have told you that you'd be wasting your time or theirs, you'll be surprised how often that very same person that said there was “no budget” or “we’re happy with our current supplier" became the very same person that said.. well, you know …

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Blog #105 Do I Pass on Meeting a New Prospect vs. The Well You Knows

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