{"id":1115,"date":"2019-05-03T08:53:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T12:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.comblog\/3-prospecting-issues-that-should-keep-you-up-at-night\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T19:38:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T19:38:50","slug":"3-prospecting-issues-that-should-keep-you-up-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/3-prospecting-issues-that-should-keep-you-up-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Prospecting Issues these should keep you up"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Sleepless<\/picture>\n

Many sales people \u2013 and some sales leaders \u2013 will admit they struggle to get access to senior decision makers within \u2018Must Win Accounts\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Mindset<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Skills<\/span><\/i> to reach out effectively to these executives are often assumed to be in place, and sales reps often won\u2019t bring it up as they don\u2019t want their leaders to know they need help. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sales organizations believe this skill is \u201cmagically\u201d developed in-house by osmosis, or that they are already getting these skills by employing experienced sales people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on 20+ years of \ufb01eld work and hundreds of client engagements, I have come to the conclusion that there are <\/span>3 Issues that sabotage your sales force\u2019s new business prospecting efforts:<\/b><\/p>\n

#1: Your messaging is 180 degrees backwards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve hired some great sales people. Experienced sellers with proven track records, or energetic inside salespeople in their \ufb01rst or second job. And yet for some reason, they\u2019re taking a long time to ramp. They aren\u2019t able to get enough meetings with senior decision makers, so a lot of your opportunities and proposals don\u2019t convert into wins. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why your sales people are wasting their time talking with people who aren\u2019t Executive Decision Makers. Your messaging and value proposition is backwards, perhaps even broken.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how this plays out in most sales organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

What you do is put your salespeople through an on-boarding program \u2013 if they\u2019re lucky.<\/span><\/p>\n

The onboarding program is often headed up by product marketing who talk about \u2018us\u2019. Our products, our solutions, our target market, our value proposition. It sounds like this;<\/span><\/p>\n

WE help companies to\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

WE are the most effective\/cost ef\ufb01cient\/fast\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

WE are the market leader\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

STOP \u201cweeweeing\u201d on potential customers. They don\u2019t like it!<\/span><\/p>\n

Your company and salespeople are not the hero. The customer is. Your customer is looking for an expert, a guide. Rarely will true Decision Makers respond to this kind of message, it\u2019s mostly the tire kickers with no authority to buy.<\/span><\/p>\n

What you and your salespeople should be focused on is talking about THEM \u2013 your buyer, your customer, what trends and challenges impact them, how others like them have solved these challenges and achieved their goals. It\u2019s not about your company, product, service or solution\u2026 it\u2019s about them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most sales people have never done the job of the person they\u2019re expected to sell to. They don\u2019t know what a VP or a CEO\u2019s job is, or what their buying motivations are.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, you\u2019re telling them to go prospect and sell to those people, armed with nothing more than internally focused product marketing information, an Ideal Customer Pro\ufb01le (ICP) and a value prop that\u2019s all about you.<\/span><\/p>\n

If they\u2019re experienced sales people, you expect them to know how to write messages and prospect to senior executives. It\u2019s kind of an unwritten rule that nobody asks about, isn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

And if they\u2019re new to sales? Well, you expect them to \u2018\ufb01gure it out\u2019. Learn by osmosis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack of a customer focused value proposition is one of the greatest inhibitors of prospecting success.<\/b><\/h3>\n

What you need to do is \u201cbe intentional\u201d about this critical part of the sales cycle \u2013 teach them about your prospective customers \ufb01rst. Most sales organizations aren\u2019t and don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

What concerns does a Senior Executive vs a Line of Business leader have? What\u2019s a \u2018day in their life\u2019 look like? How are they measured, what are the trends impacting their market, what challenges do they face, how are they currently addressing those challenges? What opportunities could they be taking advantage of\u2026but they\u2019re not? They\u2019re doing this, when they could or should be doing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

When your salespeople really grasp and understand your customers, <\/span>then <\/span><\/i>tell them how your products, services or solution links back to your customers\u2019 issues and helps them improve their business.<\/span><\/p>\n \"58%<\/picture>\n

And then show and teach your salespeople \u201chow\u201d to communicate this in writing AND in conversation to decision making executives at your prospects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, most companies never do this.
\n<\/span>And that\u2019s why time to ramp is so slow, sales cycles are long and why 58% of opportunities end in no decision or are lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales people are spending their precious prospecting and selling time, writing and talking about your company to mid-ranking managers who defend the status quo.<\/b><\/h3>\n

So, do your salespeople and yourself a favour.<\/span><\/p>\n

Go beyond \u201cdrinking the kool aid\u201d and only exposing your sellers to your product marketing information.<\/span><\/p>\n

On board them with messaging created from your buyers\u2019 perspective. <\/span><\/p>\n

And arm them with the written and conversational mindset and skills to sell \u201cbeyond their pay grade.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be glad you did. Transformational sales results will be achieved.<\/span><\/p>\n

#2 Your salespeople are prospecting and selling too low<\/b><\/h2>\n

Your greatest threat to sales success isn\u2019t your competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the status quo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Status quo is the internal inertia your sales people face with your potential clients. It\u2019s the way potential customers are running and doing business today. Business as usual vs introducing a change (your offering).<\/span><\/p>\n

Are your salespeople prospecting and talking to people who can say \u201cyes\u201d? The people who can mobilize internal resources and create or have access to budget?<\/span><\/p>\n

According to The Chasm Group, 85% of budgets are already spoken for on existing initiatives<\/b><\/p>\n

Too often sales people waste their time prospecting and trying to sell to mid-ranking executives who are \u201cinvested in the status quo, can\u2019t say yes, but can say no.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And, even if they are working with a mid-ranking exec who wants to drive change\/improvements, the mid-ranking executive probably can\u2019t push the deal up the chain of command.<\/span><\/p>\n

This graphic summarizes the core motivations of functional and strategic executives and their ability to spend\/buy.<\/span><\/p>\n \"Change<\/picture>\n

When I show this graphic to salespeople I get groans as they have an \u201caha\u201d moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many realize that they are wasting their lives \u2013 as they spend most of their time prospecting into and trying to sell to mid-ranking functional executives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quite simply, the motivations of the mid-ranking executive is to operationalize and execute \u2013 not to introduce change or buy (unless triggered\/directed to by a senior executive).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"95%<\/p>\n

<\/picture> If, as research shows, as much as 95% of buyers are in status quo and mid-ranking executives\u2019 motivations are to execute\/operationalize and not introduce new behaviour and process change (aka your offering) \u2013 then why do most sales leaders and their sellers focus their time and energy on such low probability activity? This shows up as lots of activity\u2026but few opportunities in the pipeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

What difference would it make to your business if your salespeople were prospecting and speaking to executives who are open to and interested in new ways of growing and running their business\u2026and who create budgets?<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to loosen the grip of the status quo, sales people need to prospect into people who are motivated to change, to impact top and bottom line \u2013 because that is what selling is \u2013 it\u2019s changing from one state to another.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who is motivated to make improvements to their business and open to change?<\/span><\/p>\n

The executives of the company. The C-Suite\u2019s role is to look for new ways of doing things that will give them a competitive edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where top sales performers start their engagements. The top down approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the proof of this approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a CEO or Sales Leader reading this, ask yourself this\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

If you wanted to do business with another company, would you reach out to a mid-ranking executive with a Manager, Director or even a VP title?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer I get from most leaders is because they know that decisions to do \u2018new\u2019 and \u2018different\u2019 are made at the C-Suite level, and those decisions are made fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, then why are you letting your salespeople prospect into mid-ranking execs where they have low probability of success?<\/span><\/p>\n

Research from SBI shows that as much as 58% of deals end in \u2018no decision\u2019. You\u2019re wasting your salespeople\u2019s lives and putting your company\u2019s growth at risk if you allow them to prospect and sell too low.<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 Your salespeople (and sales leader) have never been taught how to WRITE prospecting messages to C Level executives<\/b><\/h2>\n

How many of your salespeople can start a sales cycle with the CEO or another C Level executive? If you are an executive or sales leader reading this, think back in your own career.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did anybody ever teach you how to WRITE a letter, email or LinkedIn Inmail to a CEO, President or C Level executive \u2013 that compelled them to begin a conversation with you?<\/span><\/p>\n

I only ever get a few hands raised to that question\u2026This is an \u2018\u2018invisible elephant\u201d in most companies I\u2019ve ever spoken to or worked with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most sales people have never been taught how to write executive level prospecting emails, letters or LinkedIn Inmails\u2026they are left to \ufb01gure it out on their own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor do they have the mindset or con\ufb01dence to write and \u2018go high.\u2019 And yet, that\u2019s where decisions to change are made \u2013 as executives are focused on new initiatives that drive growth or ef\ufb01ciencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ability to write effective prospecting messages helps salespeople get appointments with the right people, at the right level at target accounts in minutes, hours and days\u2026not weeks, months or never! Consistently.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this delivers transformational increases in pipeline and sales results.<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about Matt Conway\u2019s methodology, visit his website at https:\/\/www.matthewconway.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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