News

In this candid interview, Jeffrey Seders, an insurance broker based in California, relates why he has partnered with Professional Prospecting Systems for 6 years to help grow his insurance business!

Q: How long have you been working with Professional Prospecting Systems?

More and more B2B companies are outsourcing the job of setting appointments. Instead of having their sales reps make cold calls and fill their own schedule, they outsource to a B2B Appointment Setting specialist firm.

A recent project highlighted the importance of Lead Nurturing and getting more appointments.

To provide some background, PPS started incorporating Lead Nurturing via email into the projects we do last year We use an AppExchange Product called Lead Follow Up and as we accumulate email addresses from the calls we make, we then put the person into the Lead Nurturing campaign and the person gets an individualized email each week after that (we typically run on a 20 week cycle.)

Solving the business process problem at the top of the sale funnel.

Getting more b2b appointments

It has been a while since I've had time to write posts. We have continued to help companies of every type get more of the right activity going to solve their challenges at the top of the sales funnel.

If you believe the old truism that "companies fail because of a lack of sales,"  then you know how critical it can be to keep deals coming into your sales pipeline and that means prospecting.

We take a systematic approach and coordinate people, systems and content to get the job done.

From the Desk of Joe Prospect

How do you get your prospects to trust you?

 This really is the million dollar question.  When it comes right down to it, selling is all about getting your prospects to trust you.

So what makes me trust you more than the next guy who is selling your product or service?

From the Desk of Joe Prospect

The Battle for Your Prospect’s Mind

A couple of brilliant advertising guys named Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a book in 1981 called Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. They explained that all products and services end up occupying a  position in our minds. We put a label on everything. Smart companies  position themselves exactly how they want to be thought of by their  prospects.

Whatever your business is, if you do not create a unique position in my mind, I will think of you as an accountant, or insurance broker, or printer or whatever profession you are part of. I will see you as being the same as everyone else in your group. Whatever associations I have already formed about your group, I will attach automatically to you. If you  are an accountant and I think of accountants as expensive, confusing or  interchangeable, that is who you will be to me. Unless you create a unique  position for your company in my mind. If you are a janitorial company and I  think that all janitorial companies do a great job in the beginning then start  to get sloppy, that is what I will think of you. Unless you do something in  your marketing to establish yourself as being different from your competitors.

You have to create the position you want for your company or your prospects will do it for you and you may not like where they choose to slot you. You don’t want to be stuck with the impressions formed on your prospects by the rest of your herd I have fixed ideas about everything. If you were to ask me about any type  of business, I will tell you what I think of them. You must be aware of  the impressions, good and bad, already made on me by your competitors –the other members of your herd. And then you have to rise above them and  set your company apart from your crowd.

Choosing your position is tricky because you have to decide which  segment of your prospects you are creating the position for and how you are going to establish your position in your marketing.

Your position must be short and simple. If it is confusing or complicated  I will not work to get it, I will just forget it.

Another critical thing about a position is that you have to stick to the  same position or you will lose all the marketing points you have scored with your original position.  If you vary your positioning in your marketing messages, you will leave me thinking “Who are these guys anyway?”   Stray from your position and perish.

In order to gain the position you want in the minds of your prospects, you will need to plant that message firmly in all of your marketing communication. Then repeat it, over and over and over again. Never move away from your core position. You can vary the content of your marketing messages but your main positioning must remain absolutely consistent.

Think very carefully about what you want your position to be and how  you are going to express it in your marketing.

Don’t let me just lump you in with the rest of your herd!

FROM THE DESK OF JOE PROSPECT

I get hundreds of calls every year from salespeople trying to book an appointment with me.  You have probably been one of them.

It may surprise you to learn this, but some salespeople do actually succeed in booking an appointment with me.

FROM THE DESK OF JOE PROSPECT

Here is the picture that comes into my head when I receive a call from  a salesperson trying to book an appointment with me. I see myself sitting at my desk going through the obligatory ‘rapport building.  Then I see myself suffering through a sales pitch that goes on a lot longer than it is supposed to. Then I know I will have to fend off The Close and pry the sales rep out  of the chair and push them out the door.

FROM THE DESK OF JOE PROSPECT

Previously I told you that if you want to get an appointment with me you have to tell me what you are going to do for me without telling me how you are going to do it. And then you tell me you only need 5 minutes of my time for the appointment so I feel the process is going to be relatively painless.

FROM THE DESK OF JOE PROSPECT

Trust in sales is critical and it is made up of several things. Previously I mentioned “consistency” as being one of the key components you need in your marketing to get your prospects to trust you.   You have to be in front of your prospects on a regular basis so they come to trust that you are a stable long-term company.  And your marketing message has to be consistent so you don’t confuse your prospects about what you stand for.