How to Get
Your Prospects' Attention
Last night my wife and I attended
"The Drowsy Chaperone", a musical comedy from which I can
provide a strong lesson for salespeople. The show starts
off with the "man in the chair" saying something like, "I know,
you hope the show will be good" and "you probably hope it
doesn't run too long" and "you hope it's going to be funny".
The audience just eats these lines up because that's exactly
what they are thinking at that moment. They're hooked in the
first 10 seconds.
That is exactly what must happen
on your sales calls. Your prospect must be hooked in the
first 10 seconds and you can do that by saying things you know
they will agree with. This is the essence of the Positioning
Statement.
For instance, if I had to make a
cold call, right now, to you, I would say, "I help salespeople
who feel like they're working too hard and selling too little."
Chances are, you would relate to that comment and decide to
listen to my next question. You're hooked. Then, if
I give you a couple of examples of the people I help, you're
likely to share. It might sound something like, "most of
the salespeople I help were either not making as much money as
they hoped or they didn't have enough quality opportunities in
their pipeline. Again, chances are, those two examples
would resonate.
What can you say, about the
problems you solve, that you know your prospects will agree
with?
Just refer to your copy of
Baseline Selling, which has an entire chapter on Positioning
Statements. You can also refer to your copy of the
Baseline Selling Field Guide. One of the 24 Exercises in the
Field Guide helps you create Positioning Statements. And,
as you might expect, we'll devote some live time to this issue
at the Boot Camp on May 8 and 9.
How
to Become a Sales Superstar