How to keep your sales prospects tuned in

"I don't know who you are, what your company stands for, and don’t care what you want — so why should I listen to you."

Not too many prospects will actually say that to you, but there’s a very good chance that they’re thinking this.

Ron Stein

People buy for their reasons, not ours. Yet, all too often marketers and salespeople start off their approach to a prospect by rattling off a bunch of points about their wonderful company, product, or service. When you have only a few seconds to get your audience to care about you, this is not the way to get yourself noticed.

To get your prospects to pay attention, you’ll need to go through a series of filters in the listener’s mind. The first hurdle is the preoccupation with whatever’s going on in their life or business. It’s doesn’t matter whether you’re having a conversation over the phone, at a meeting, or a potential buyer just clicked through to your website.

The first thing they hear determines if you’ve got their interest — or not. Learning how to break through the preoccupation barrier takes a little practice. These three tips will make it easier.

• To start, make a statement or ask a question that focuses your prospect on the result or benefit your product or service will give them. When you craft this correctly, it answers, "Why should I listen to you?" For instance, if you offer accounting services, the manager or company owner is probably concerned about identifying unnecessary expenses, so ask a question or state a claim that focuses on that specific need. In this case, you might say, "We have a proven system that pinpoints unnecessary spending and improves cash flow by 20% to 30% over twelve months."
• An initial conversation that’s in-person or over the phone is all about getting attention, building rapport, and gaining the opportunity to get to the next step — perhaps a proposal or an appointment for a presentation. It’s not about closing the deal at that point. Because of this, avoid the use of "you" as it just sounds too much like selling and will immediately turn most people off. Show how you solve their problems by illustrating it through others your company has helped, getting them to identify with their situations, but don’t use "you."
• However, written materials, email, and websites are different — they are "you" oriented because the visitor came to your website or is reading your material for a reason, so they’re in a "How does this help me?" frame of mind. Doing that puts them in the picture and allows them to identify themselves using your product or service. That will help them decide if your company’s offering is for them.

You must break through the preoccupation barrier and have them take notice. Prospects must determine that your solution speaks directly to them, their problems, and their goals.

If you can’t quickly get the complete attention of your prospect, they’ll tune you out and turn off to your message.

» Earlier columns from Ron Stein

Ron Stein is the founder and President of FastPath Marketing (www.marketing-strategies-guide.com). He has more than 20 years experience in sales, marketing, and business development, working positions ranging from salesman to vice president of sales and marketing to CEO of startups with industry leaders such as Motorola, VideoServer, Paradyne, and SercoNet. Ron is a member of the advisory team at the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, a nationally recognized entrepreneurial and startup accelerator for the state of Florida. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or Ron@FastPathMarketing.com