The Key To Reaching Decision Makers

How badly do you want to reach your prospects? When salespeople tell me they can’t reach someone I ask, “How badly do they want to reach them?” If their loved ones were being held hostage and all it took to earn their freedom was to reach that person within one business day, do you think they would find a way? Of course they would. I could tell you story after story of salespeople who were not hungry enough reach their prospect and many stories of those who were. I can think of one man in particular who tried to get into an account for months but got nowhere. The account was reassigned to another rep and he had a meeting scheduled by the end of the first day. What was the difference? Desire! The new rep used email and phone calls to the main number, direct number, dialing the direct number +/- on the last digit and asking if the person he needed to get a hold of had an assistant. Pretty simple but work and determination paid off.

I once had a client who wanted to reach the CEOs of the Fortune 50. They tried everything but without success. I said give me 10 names and let me try for a day. I had 4 appointments scheduled by the end of the day. What was my secret? I found their letter to the shareholders on their website and identified an issue that was important to them that I knew my client could solve. Then I picked up the phone asked for their assistant and said, “Your CEO said this was an important issue in the letter to the Shareholders…is it really or was that just marketing fluff” (in a light hearted way). When they said it was important (always) then I asked if it was important enough to schedule a five minute phone appointment and did. It was very simple but the difference was that my self-talk was “I can reach anyone” and I was hungry to make it happen.   

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I get a lot of calls from salespeople who ask me about different techniques and sales methodologies. Many of the reps are looking for ways to become top producers and want a roadmap for success. What many reps are missing is a framework on which to determine where to start the journey. So let’s discuss that framework so you can determine how to become more effective or a top producer. You need:

1) A strategy whether your company provides one or not. The strategy includes researching your market, determining what makes you unique and how that can help your market. Also it includes your ideal client profile and a way to go after prospects that fit that profile. All of this is based upon research from your prospects perspective…not yours. All of you phone calls, meetings, sales and marketing efforts focus on and reinforce that strategy.
2) Strategic activity that stays focused on your ideal client and fills the pipeline. Many salespeople fall short here because they don’t do enough activity or it is the wrong type of activity. I have seen study after study that top performers do 2 to 3 times more strategic activity then the average rep.
3) A sales process that helps qualify or disqualify prospects. It doesn’t matter if you are doing a transactional, consultative, solution or enterprise sell you need a process. The more decision makers and influencers the more complex the sale becomes. So you will need to combine a strategic selling map with a consultative selling model.
4) The skills to be effective at selling. That includes asking questions, listening, presenting, closing, objection handling, negotiating and understanding buyer styles to name a few.
5) Knowledge of your industry, products and services, prospects challenges and trends so that you are actually seen as an expert who can contribute value to their business.
6) The mindset that allows you to engage like you are a doctor not a poker player engaged in games and deception.
7) A burning desire to be successful. In the book The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles makes a compelling argument on why you have an obligation to your loved ones and society to become wealthy. Every top performer I know not only has goals but a burning desire to be wildly successful.

So there you have the roadmap to become a top producer. The ball is in your court… how badly do you want to reach the top?