February 27, 2024
So you’ve identified a lead on the Sella platform. Small talk on the likelihood of your AFL team reaching the finals will only get you so far... here's 5 tips to ace that contact call and improve your lead generation.
Nearly 57% of B2B prospects and customers feel that their sales teams are not prepared for the first meeting (Hubspot).
You need to build and develop a relationship and, for it to be successful, it needs to be personal. Basically, you need to genuinely engage with them without interrupting their day, but the aim is to attract them to engage with you. Think bees to a honey pot.
What you pitch needs to fit seamlessly into their business goals and philosophy. This is personal, people. They’re humans, not robots, and you need to engage with them. Collaboration is the key and to collaborate you need to communicate in their business language and offer solutions to their pain points.
Energise the conversion of your platform leads into actual paying customers by adopting our Top 5 Tips for nailing your first contact call!
1. Take a Dive
Background research into your prospective client isn’t important: it’s crucial. 88% of missed opportunities were caused because sales couldn’t find or leverage internal resources.
Deep dive into online sites like LinkedIn or HubSpot to do your homework and get as much relevant background information on the lead as possible. Professional networks like these can be rich sources of information and are an easily accessible means of building a prospect profile; how are they connected to others in the industry? Are they linked to contacts you already have? How is the information your leads already share useful to you?
Use LinkedIn’s company search to find leads for SMB through to large corporations, and go to their company pages to search out internal employee listings to relevant contacts and information and request references through existing client contacts.
2. Drop the pitch and loosen up
By dropping the sales terminology and approaching each communication more like a conversation than a sales pitch, it’s likely they’ll be more receptive.
You need to be authentic, be aware of their business problems, be able to offer real time solutions and constructive suggestions to solve their business dilemmas, offer strategies to grow and develop their business ideas, so you need to be aware of their business background, its scope, and its potential pitfalls.
Be aware of the way you deliver your message; your tone and body language need to convey enthusiasm and confidence.
3. Know your stuff
You need to know the benefits to their business of the service you’re offering before they do, so the more awareness you have of the issues they need to solve and how you can help them do that, the closer you are to closing the deal.
The 2 Qs - Qualitative and Quantitative research. Know relevant information, statistics and content to share that with them in discussion.
Know five key characteristics of the people you want to connect with. Understand what it is that they want or need and the business challenges they’re dealing with. They are an invaluable source of information, so ask lots of questions too.
4. Knowing your audience
Relevance is key. The best sales pitch in the world will not succeed unless it’s addressing a need or solving a problem. Sella’s Freelancers will deliver you an excellent range of contacts, but unless you speak the lead’s language you’ll never get to second base. Get a handle on the business, their strengths, their needs, the individual’s history with the business and tailor your pitch and message directly to their needs.
5. Invite them over
Signing a sale will achieve one goal, but nurture that relationship and it has potential to deliver ongoing results.
Build a rapport; you may share an interest in Scandi Noir or the latest Rugby World Cup results. As long as you’re genuine, fostering a shared interest enables both parties to learn from each other in a mutually beneficial way. It’s an opportunity to gain insight into their business and the client’s business experience and contacts. For you, that’s a Win:Win.
For more information about how Sella’s freelancers can provide you with a constant stream of potential business leads, contact https://sella.io/freelancer/
