Guest Post: The Prospecting Rut

Guest Post: The Prospecting Rut:

No doubt about it, prospecting can sometimes get boring, and  certainly depressing. You don’t get the responses you want, and sometimes it  seems like all you do is leave voicemails and send emails.
It’s time to change  up your prospecting approach with some different personal attraction  strategies. Get prospects to notice you. Distinguish yourself from other sales  reps who only call or send emails.
Warm up your prospects so they’ll want to take your call.
There are five  personal attraction strategies you can use to keep things fresh for  yourself and your prospects: email, letters, postcards, personal networking and  of course, phone pursuit. As you switch up your prospecting, contacts will  start to notice you.
They’re seeing you everywhere they turn. How can they not  pay attention?
Here are just a few essential aspects of personal attraction  and how to get the most out of it.

Email Prospecting

For many contacts, email is the preferred method of  communication and you’re probably already using it. But wait–are you using it  as effectively as you could?
Utilizing email in lead generation isn’t always as simple as  you might think. You’ve got to consider the glimpse factor, for example. Your prospects are going to decide  within three seconds whether or not they want to open, archive or delete an  email. What are you going to write to grab their attention and make it worth  their while? How will you get them to accept an appointment with you?
In The  Sales Magnet, I go into detail about ways in which you can improve your  email lead generation. Queuing follow-up  emails and eliminating attachments are just two examples of how you can  increase your success rate. The more proficient you become with email  prospecting, the better your results will be.

Personalized Letters

The Internet has made it easier than ever before for sellers  to communicate with their prospects. In many ways, though, there are aspects of  the Internet that have taken personalization out of the process.  Personalization is still important, and is a staple in any successful prospect  attraction toolkit.
Letters, postcards and personal notes may have seemingly  been replaced by email, but they definitely still have their time and place in  your lead generation efforts. A personalized note sent during a lead generation  campaign may be noticed when an email  would otherwise be ignored. That note may mean the difference between  prospects taking your next call or avoiding you.
Just as with emails, personalized letters need to be staggered  carefully to be most effective. Make them lumpy to increase your open rate. Engage  prospects in a way that will make them feel special without being too over the  top.

Personal Networking

Social networking via the Internet is one of the best  advancements for sales people! Look at all the great information you can  assemble to personalize your comments, calls, letters and emails. Of course,  it’s not a replacement for in-person networking which can dramatically improve  your success rate in prospecting, but social and personal networking support  each other as prospecting strategies.
Being seen locally  creates name recognition when you call, email or write, and vice versa.  When prospects meet you in person, they exclaim, “oh I know you!” from the  emails, calls and notes they’ve received. And, if they’ve seen your picture in  an article or social comment, they may even recognize you before you say hello.
No matter where you live, there’s a solid chance that you  have a wealth of networking opportunities at your fingertips from Chambers of  Commerce to coffee shops. Many sales reps have stopped networking because they  deem it ineffective. Put it back into your prospecting tool kit and go be seen.
Break out of the prospecting rut and use different personal  attraction strategies to get noticed. Then once you have those mastered, start  using some digital or collaborative attraction strategies to be even more  visible to your prospects.
There are many ways to use personal attraction strategies to  boost your lead generation results. Check out the incredible free resource  library in The Sales Magnet  Tool Kit that I’ve created to get you out of your prospecting rut. And,  read the first chapter of my new book, The Sales Magnet for free here: Free Sample Chapter.
If you’re looking for more ways to use collaborative  attraction strategies, expand your lead generation and fill your pipeline with  hot leads, get my new book The Sales Magnet: How to Get More Customers  Without Cold Calling available at Amazon.com now. Read the first  chapter for free here: Free  Sample Chapter.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert  and author of the award winning book “Selling Against the Goal” and president  of KLA Group.  Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and  exceed revenue objectives in the Small and Midmarket Business (SMB) segment.  Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association  events. To find out more about the author, read her latest  articles, or to subscribe to her newsletter visit www.klagroup.com or call +1 303.741.6636.

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