Page 19 - SpectrumOctober2018

Sales Professionals

3. Call high 7. Be ready to respond to objections
Seek out prospects who have the authority to make an order. You have to be prepared to handle them immediately.
Potential customers may have read online reviews of your
4. Be disciplined product or service, or compared features against those
Keep an up-to-date prospects list, where you gather offered by competitors. Assume he or she has done research
information about each prospect including their needs, and be ready to respond to any concerns or reasons to resist
their level of interest in your offerings, the date of your last buying.
conversation and proposed future steps. Group prospects
into categories: Excellent, average or weak leads. This will 8. Ask for a next step
help you adapt your strategy and follow-up efficiently. Every time you have a telephone call or face-to-face meeting
with a prospect, you should propose a concrete next action.
5. Be systematic about generating leads If you’re not closing the sale at that point, ask if you could get
You need a structured approach to meeting your sales together again and continue the discussion. This is how you
objectives. Make sure you’re systematically generating know whether you can take this further or you’re just wasting
sufficient sales prospects on a weekly basis. You or your your time and energy.
sales team should have specific targets for the number of
prospects you need in the pipeline at any given time. 9. Ask for referrals
Recommendations from satisfied customers build your
6. Manage your time diligently credibility and increase your trustworthiness in the minds of
Pull the weeds from your garden. Identify leads who will prospects. Referrals shorten the selling cycle and enhance
never buy from you and focus your energy elsewhere. the chances you'll get the sale.
Article courtesy of BDC (Business Development Bank of
Canada) www.bdc.ca

18 www.cambridgechamber.com
Fall 2018