15 Ways to Make Sales Prospecting Fun
Hello, people. Welcome to the BBC Youtube channel. Modern sales agencies have a different set of criteria for generating leads; rather than rejecting in order to find success, they now want quality leads. The idea that it takes 10 “no’s” to get one “yes”, is no longer the case.
The only way to hit targets is to find new prospects, which can be tedious, intimidating, and outright discouraging. But in today’s competitive market, sales reps are still tasked with finding leads. If you want more of this content, subscribe to the BBC Youtube channel and hit the notification bell.
By practicing in sales prospecting games, you can overcome the intimidation and boredom of this activity. Here are a few to get you started:
Candy Jar
Every time a prospect says “no,” put a piece of candy in a jar. When you reach 10 pieces, the odds are on your side that you’ll reach someone who is interested in talking with you soon. This way, you can track the jar and watch it slowly fill up knowing that you’re getting closer to reaching someone who wants to talk with you. If pennies aren’t your thing, try putting chocolate chips into jars instead!
Whiteboard Willy
Create a fun whiteboard chart with columns for the days of the week and rows for sales reps’ names. Each day, insert the number of conversations and see who has the most interactions. Give daily prizes to the winners — whether it’s Dollar Store gag gifts or Starbucks gift cards.
Connections
Monitor how many prospecting calls different employees made and determine who connected with the most people, set appointments, or had the most calls happen to them. The loser buys some drinks or lunch for the team. If a set number of calls occurred in a given week, the manager can buy for the team!
Luck of the Draw
With a deck of cards, you write the number of prospects you want to make calls to. Mix up the cards, then place them face down and have everyone draw one. Now call until that number is reached. When you reach your goal, receive a reward.
Ring That Bell!
Ringing a bell can help increase employee efficiency by increasing motivation to work harder and persevere in the face of challenges. We suggest using an old-school bell around the office.
Prospect Take Down
Great role-playing technique. Vocally imitate the toughest prospects you can imagine so that other reps know what it’s like when handling a tough customer.
Improve Acting
Break up the monotony of selling by improv acting for one hour! By distributing a bunch of different feelings and descriptors on index cards, have sales reps choose one. They’ll talk themselves into their chosen feelings throughout the call.
These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. You can get creative with these games in any way that you’d like. Just keep in mind that you want to increase appointment rates.
More Prospecting Games to Play
If you’re consistently hunting, you’re cold calling every week. Here are 3 other prospecting games to keep it interesting.
Partner Up
Create partnerships with one or two reps, either virtually or in person. Make sure to set up appointments for 2-hour blocks of time. If someone sets more appointments, they win small prizes and bragging rights.
Improv Club
Bored with your list? Get a partner and play improv. Share a new list, switch opening statements, and call on prospects. Once you’re done, compare stories.
LinkedIn Cribbage
Grab a cribbage board with pegs and a score sheet for the game board. Divide up the phone prospecting in two ways: calls set during the first hour and LinkedIn messages made during the second hour. Use one side of the board to track appointments from each of these tasks, making sure to alternate over time.
How Sales Prospecting Games Increase Your Success Rate
Your message resonates with your audience, and makes you interesting to talk to. Without careful consideration, you could sound too scripted and lose your edge.
With your daily schedule set in stone, you may not be able to find the best opportunities when engaging with prospects. Just like driving the same route day in and day out, you may overlook key openings on a call.
Prospect games help you stay focused and engaged by keeping your mind on the game at all times. It tightens your attention when other things could sabotage calls, helping you to avoid closing difficult gatekeepers. These attributes are important in a call, as they get past difficult gatekeepers and close more appointments.
Schedule a Cold Call Blitz Day
First, you create plans for your product development and sales teams so you can both develop a marketing strategy. Then, we choose a game for the team to play in order to market your products.
Each blitz day begins with a motivational kickoff, breaks past barriers and is more successful than the last.
At the end of a training call, we will share our observations and extension plans with you to share the success.
Sales success largely depends on routines. There are only so many hours in a day to sell– The more practiced salespeople are at completing everyday tasks, the more time they can allocate to high-value activities like meeting with prospects or learning new skills.
Sticking to the same method of prospecting will not always have an advantage, because buyers may never be discovered through traditional methods. However, if you are considering new innovative ways to prospect for new clients, you’ll miss out on some significant opportunities.
These commenters may not interact with you for being an unknown business or for not being experienced in the field. They might be unaware of their problem, so they’re unlikely to download your content or speak to a salesperson.
Creative prospecting techniques will help you find quality prospects to add to your network. Here are ideas that can spark your imagination:
Create a Website for Referrals
For businesses, it’s important to have a website customers and contacts can use to forward referrals. Bill Cates, a sales referral expert, suggests creating this simple website.
If a salesperson is calling and marketing their product as an investment, the headline might read something like: “With [main value of salesperson’s product], your business can thrive” or “Putting [main value of salesperson’s product] in your company will make you more profitable.”
For those who want to take their branding strategy to the next level, Cate suggests a video introduction. Introducing yourself and explaining why you are passionate about your product can introduce new customers to your brand and thank them for their time.
Ask yourself these questions:
Why am I in this business?
Why do I believe in the work I do?
Why am I with the company I’m with now?
Why am I excited about the company I’m with?
Why am I more excited about this work than I’ve ever been before in my career?
You will want to remind your prospects what to do next. Give them valuable content in exchange for their name and email address, or schedule a meeting with them through a tool like Meetings.
Form Strategic Alliances
Instead of selling to your audience on your own, partner with another company with a similar audience to sell to their buyers too. You’ll each get qualified leads, and in addition to that, you’ll also be able to learn valuable insights on buying trends. Use this technique as a form of co-marketing; both companies will increase sales as they gain information.
If you’re not sure who to target, try identifying the other products your target audience uses before discovering which companies provide those products. Once you have your list of top providers, take a look at their website to identify which subsidiaries they offer.
Suppose you sell accounting services to start-ups. By asking your customers about other purchases they make in the same price range, you could find that they outsource their legal needs. Then, you might reach out to legal service providers and agree to send each other a certain number of referrals a quarter.
With your input, you can help them leave behind up to two months of time and get their legal needs done in only two weeks.
In case you are sure which non-competing companies your customers purchase from, ask these questions:
“Are you considering anything else as a potential purchase?”
“What’s the last product you bought?”
“Where do you plan to invest next?”
“What other challenges are you experiencing?”
“What other needs do you plan on addressing?”
Attend Your Customers’ Events
People interested in your products are more likely to be looking for related products, and events will provide them this information. That’s why events hosted by your customers are naturally a great place to find prospects.
It’s worthwhile to stay in touch with customers after they’ve signed the contract. Reach out to them every 3 months and ask how they’re doing, ask about their experience, offer them your expert opinion, show you care about their company, or connect them with someone that would benefit from knowing them.
With strong connections and consistent value provided, customers are more likely to want to invite you to events. Monitor their website and/or subscribe to their newsletter for event updates. Ask your customer “Is there an event coming up?” If they respond positively, you can grab tickets yourself.
Send Them a Book
Sending someone a book can generally go very well. Corporations, employees, and even CEOs appreciate receiving packages, and many people are only willing to get off their butt to call or email you back if they receive one as well. Lastly, you’re able to demonstrate your expertise by choosing a book that reflects the needs of your prospect.
To use this technique with an individual prospect, identify one to three topics she would likely be interested in. The person might be the director of human resources at a mid-sized software company. According to information we have obtained from similar prospects, she will most likely be focused on shrinking average time-to-hire, improving two-year retention and creating more professional development opportunities. Use these priorities to find a book with relevant advice or case studies. (If you’re struggling finding something, ask similar prospects for their favorite work-related reads or search “[pain point] best books” and “best books for [prospect’s industry].
Send the book to your prospect and include an email telling them why they may be interested in reading it.
Here is a sample template:
Dear [prospect name],
Are you struggling with X, looking to capitalize on Y, or concerned with the Z trend? This book could be helpful to you in this area. I found the specific tip/section/explanation of chapter X especially useful.
Best,
[Your name]
Most mail carriers allow you to request a signature upon delivery for an additional fee. Take advantage of this option by calling or emailing your prospect as soon as you find out the package has been received.
Say something similar, like, “Hi [prospect name], I wanted to schedule a time to discuss the concepts in your book. What are your thoughts on [date and time]?”
If you seem like a pleasant person and they have time, you have a good chance of getting a meeting.
Offer Complimentary Consulting Sessions
When time is one of the most precious resources for salespeople, getting nothing in return might seem unethical. However, it can be a great way to find good-fit prospects.
First, define your ideal customers: The industry they work in, the market they’re located in, and their role. Then you can identify either an issue that’s relevant to many of these companies or one that is unique to them.
In this case, the bio-pharmaceutical salesperson might cover how difficult it can be for research companies to get funding for their projects.
These workshops offer help every step of the way, from setting up a presentation to helping with packaging and more. The time you set for your workshop depends on the size of the issue and what your customers desire from you. If you have few clients, make your sessions longer. For those who are looking for quick solutions, a shorter amount of time works best.
These consultations will let you be seen as an expert in space. When prospects are looking for solutions to their problems, you’ll naturally be one of their first choices.
You can also use this technique to connect with referrals. Tell your current customers you’re providing free consultations on a specific challenge, then ask if they know anyone dealing with that challenge.
Become a Matchmaker
You should try asking prospects if they’re looking to hire new workers or buy more (goods).
Pose the question, “Can you describe your ideal [supplier, employee, partner, customer]?”
Utilize the criteria provided by your prospect to find potential candidates. This will help you build a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with a customer that seems like they were made just for you.
Start or Join a Niche Group
Associating with groups helps prospects find you. For example, if you sell building supplies to local contractors, research groups for local real-estate investors, realtors, contractors, and architects.
If in-person meetings are where you want to attend, make and attend meetings regularly, get to know attendees, and even get a chance to speak at any one of these events. You’ll make important connections with quality prospects that will be more likely to remember you when the time comes for them to cooperate with you, such as when it’s time for you to order some supplies or need recommendations from their business partners.
Online groups are a good way to grow your customer base. First, start with something referred to as a cold outreach. This involves contacting potential customers and not immediately pitching something related to you or your company. Begin by getting to know the people in the group, adding value by answering questions and sharing useful information.
In cases where you are engaged in a customer-to-customer exchange and asking for further information, communicating privately rather than publicly makes the sale more likely. Proactively sharing your message with potential customers is spamming or annoying when it does not produce desired results.
If you have any questions regarding what they clicked “Like” on, choose to wait before sending a message. Make sure what they liked is still relevant, and match the answer to their knowledge level. If not, then just send it as a follow-up without needing to ask what they clicked “Like” on.
That’s it for this blog BBC Member, remember to subscribe to our channel and if you feel like we’ve delivered value please share this blog with ONE person. That’s right just one person as a token of your appreciation for the hard work we put into making content that educates and helps you on your mission of building your own fortune. Remember you can read blog after blog, but it isn’t until you actually take action that you’ll start to see results. See you soon!