Performance in business development is double or nothing:
While some struggle to reach decision-makers and are turned away in 15 seconds, others make appointments without difficulty.
Yet they have the same telephone and the same level of knowledge as their contacts! At Modjo, we've analyzed thousands of prospecting interactions to identify what differentiates the best from the rest.
What comes out of it?
6 essential learnings for your teams to perform and have an efficient prospecting!
In the age of"scalability", also called "scaling up" for those who are intimate with it, of automation tools and of the over-solicitation of decision-makers, many are the unaware who neglect the good old methods.
You know my passion for direct calls. When properly applied, and with a little practice, cold calling is a formidable technique!
1. Adopt the right introduction.
The famous "Am I bothering you? " vs. "Sorry to bother you."
Primero: We are always busy and systematically disturbed. If you were to disturb reallyyour interlocutor would not have taken the time to pick up. This question is therefore not necessary.
Second: Unlike many of the solicitations your prospect receives, you are soliciting him for a good reason.
- If your solution is of no use to me, yes you are.
- But if your solution can help me reach my goals, which I slave over all day, then you are welcome!
Thirdly (yes, thirdly): By asking this question, the first signal you send is: "I am probably not a priority for you". However, if you allow yourself to contact a person on their direct line, it is because you consider that you should be a priority. Keep this mentality.
2. Stay focused on the objective of your prospecting.
Your goal: make an appointment. That's all it takes.
When we analyze the duration of calls that resulted in an appointment, we distinguish 2 things:
- Successful calls last on average 2x longer than unsuccessful calls.
⇒This is due to a whole host of factors that reduce the duration of unsuccessful calls: wrong callers, or already in contact with one of your colleagues, not available at the time, etc.
- Calls that last "too long" (more than 3 minutes on average) are not successful either.
⇒ Efficiency is lost, the caller is scattered, and the caller tells his life story. If the prospects contacted have positions of responsibility, they will often seek efficiency. The best method: be brief, concise, efficient.
3. Mastering your pitch on the fly.
Perhaps the only time in your sales cycle when salespeople should send their best monologues!
Here is an example of the structure of a prospecting call leading to an appointment:
There are 2 phases
- A phase of exchange with the prospect (blue/green alternation) which represents the dialogues.
- Long green blocks, symbolizing the monologues of the salesman.
These blocks are pitches that you need to master on your fingertips. They are replicable on every call and must be perfectly practiced so that they can be adapted naturally to your prospects.
Straight to the point:
- Monologue #1: Who are you?
- Monologue #2: The benefits of your solution
- Validation : Appointment booking
💎 Tip #1: The slightest hesitation causes you to lose credibility. Managers are strongly advised to provide his or her teams with complete examples of these little pitches that will emerge regularly.
💎 Tip #2 : Listen back to your pitches to understand what works and what doesn't. Iterate on it until you find the wording that hits the mark! (cc: Sales Analysis with Modjo)
4. Explain the purpose of the call.
"Because" - or the equivalent of the arm wrench for your interviewer's brain!
I insist on this, because many psychological studies attest to the fact that giving your interlocutor's brain a justification multiplies the acceptance rate.
❌ "I saw that you work as Head of Sales, and I just ..."
✅ "I'm calling you because you work as Head of Sales, and I just happen to ..."
Calls that start with a reason are 2.3x more likely to result in an appointment.
5. Don't let the prospect talk (or almost).
If your prospects are monopolizing the floor ... that's not good! Again, this is only valid in cold calling (not in other phases of the sales cycle).
The more your prospects talk, the more time they will have to find and develop excuses for not accepting an appointment. You need to be brief, quick and efficient.
6. Validate a battle plan with the team.
Concentrate your forces at the right time! This doesn't mean that cold calling doesn't work in other time slots, it just means that some times are better than others. We have observed that the time slots that work best are those of "transition":
- In the morning before arriving at work: 8:30 - 9:15 am
- Lunch: 11:45 - 12:10 and 1:30 - 2:00
- In the evening from 6 pm
💎 Bonus: It may seem counterintuitive, but it turns out that scheduling appointments on Fridays is particularly effective. Go figure out why!
Conclusion
The beginning of prospecting is difficult: a lot of effort and few results. But once mastered, the number of opportunities is multiplied. The team must be put in the best conditions. With a dedicated support and the appropriate tools, the increase in skills is assured ;)
That's the whole point of Modjo :
- Allow the manager to base his coaching on extracts from real negotiations with his teams
- Allow salespeople to replay their own calls and iterate their pitch, while analyzing the best practices of their colleagues.
Best,
