Prospecting? Do not sell ... Say waah?

I tweeted last Thursday about a common challenge all revenue-generating professionals face ... Successfully booking meetings with prospects that might not have interest, or an immediate need, for your product or service. Did you see it?

Not surprisingly, most prospects don't wake up each morning and think, "gosh, I can't wait for a salesperson to contact me today." But as sales professionals, we have a job to do; SELL! And we can't do that unless we're getting in front of as many prospective customers as possible.

Your challenge, as a sales professional, is to find common ground with your prospects. Or to ask them for a favor ... when done right, everyone usually wants to help someone out.

• For industries that have trade associations, try communicating with prospects about that trade organization and call to ask them if they'd be open to sharing their successes/failures navigating it. Position it more like a mentorship request, than a sales call.

• Position a request for coffee (not a polished meeting ... just having coffee) to learn about your prospect's new or updated job title/responsibilities. Be celebratory! And do it outside of anyone's office. Think neutral ground.

• Selling into the C-Suite? Request the opportunity to learn from your prospect. "Could I buy you lunch and pick your brain on how you've learned to make smart business decisions?" Most people enjoy talking about themselves...

• Give something away! Believe it or not, in a former role, I would gift Thanksgiving Turkeys to some of our key customers and prospects. It was the perfect icebreaker to get a meeting during a challenging time of year for selling. Be creative! ... Picture or it didn't happen? Bam!

The moral of the story? Don't attempt to book meetings solely on selling your product/service. Understand what would make your prospect agree to face time, together. That's all you should be focused on. The sale will come after you've built a trusted and credible relationship.

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