Commercial prospecting: 6 tips for canvassing

Performance in terms of business development is double or even zero:

While some have trouble reaching 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! So, at Modjo, we analyze thousands of prospecting interactions from our sales activity to identify what stands out from the rest.

What comes out of it?

6 essential lessons your teams need to learn to perform and prospect effectively, thanks to targeted and relevant sales actions!

In this age of evolution, automation tools and over-solicited decision-makers, many people are unaware of this and neglect good old-fashioned methods in favor of other strategies (mailing, social networking, etc.).

You know my passion for direct calls. Correctly applied and with a little practice, cold calling is one of the most formidable sales techniques!

1. Adopt the right introduction.

The famous "Am I bothering you? " versus "I'm sorry to bother you."

Primero: We're always busy and constantly disturbed. If you were to disturb reallyyour interlocutor wouldn't have taken the time to answer. This question is therefore unnecessary.

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.
• But if your solution can help me achieve my goals, to which I'm enslaved all day long, then you're welcome!

Troisiemo (yes, troisiemo): By asking this question, the first signal you're sending is: "I'm probably not a priority for you". However, if you allow yourself to contact someone on their direct line, it's because you consider that you should be a priority. Keep this mentality. It should be part of you and guide your sales policy.

2. Focus on your prospecting objective.

Your objective: to make an appointment and start building the loyalty of the prospect (or who knows, the future customer!) from the very first contact. That's all there is to it.

When we analyze the duration of calls resulting in appointments with new customers, we can distinguish 2 things:

• Successful calls last on average 2 times longer than unsuccessful calls.
  ⇒This is due to a whole series of factors that reduce the duration of unsuccessful calls: wrong callers, already in contact with one of your colleagues, unavailable at that 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 the story of his or her life. If the prospects contacted are in positions of responsibility, they'll often be looking for efficiency. The best method: be brief, concise and efficient.

3. Master your pitch on the fly.

Perhaps the only time in your sales cycle when salespeople should send their best monologues!

Here's an example of how to structure a prospecting call leading to an appointment to start the famous sales process:

There are 2 phases

• An exchange phase with the prospect (alternating blue/green), representing dialogue.
• Long green blocks, symbolizing the monologues of the salesman.

These blocks are terrains that you need to master at your fingertips. They can be reproduced on every call and need to be perfectly honed, so that you can adapt them naturally to your prospects, if only to develop the beginnings of an effective future customer relationship, who knows!

Get to the point:

• Monologue #1: Who are you?
• Monologue #2: The benefits of your solution
• Validation: Making an appointment

💎 Tip #1: The slightest hesitation makes you lose credibility. We strongly advise sales managers to provide their teams with complete examples of these little pitches that will emerge regularly.

💎 Tip #2 : Re-listen to your presentations to understand what works and what doesn't work so well. Repeat until you find the wording that hits the nail on the head! (cc): Sales analysis with Modjo).

4. Explain the purpose of the call.

"Because" - or the equivalent of a monkey wrench for your interviewer's brain!

I insist on this, because numerous psychological studies attest to the fact that giving your interlocutor's brain a justification multiplies the acceptance rate.

❌ "I saw that you were working as a sales manager/sales director, and I just..."

✅ "I'm calling because you work as a sales manager/sales director, and I've just..."

Calls that begin with a reason are 2.3 times more likely to result in an appointment.

5. Don't let the prospect do most of the talking.

If your prospects monopolize the floor... that's not good! Again, this point only applies to cold calls (not to other phases of the sales process).

The more your prospects chat, the more time they'll have to find and develop excuses not to accept an appointment. You need to be brief, fast and efficient. This approach is an integral part of an effective sales strategy, especially during the canvassing phase.

6. Validate a battle plan with the team.

Concentrate your forces at the right time! This is not to say that canvassing doesn't work in other time slots, but simply that certain times are better than others for achieving your objectives. We have observed that the most effective time slots are those of "transition":

• Morning before work: 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:45 - 12:10 and 13:30 - 14:00
• In the evening from 6 pm

💎 Prime: It may seem counterintuitive, but it turns out that booking appointments on Fridays is particularly effective. Go and find out why!

Conclusion

The early days of prospecting are tough: lots of effort and few results. But once you've mastered it, the number of opportunities multiplies and your customer portfolio explodes. Your team needs to be put in the best possible conditions to stay motivated and effective. With dedicated support and the right tools, you can make sure your sales force stays true to your sales strategy!

That's the whole point of Modjo: ‍

1. Enable sales managers to better manage their coaching (based on real sales negotiations with their teams) by identifying the levers of success, with the help of highly detailed dashboards.
2. Allow sales reps to replay their own calls and rehearse their sales pitch, while analyzing their colleagues' best practices.
3. In short, at Modjo our aim is to perfect the execution of your strategy and continually improve your business performance through accurate information.

Better,

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