Whale Hunting

The people on this forum that know me, are aware that I'm tightly focused on a specific industry niche.

So I'll respond by saying that I do not 'presume' - I know exactly what their problems are even before I know who they are. And yup, I definitely do have the best solution that I've been able to develop to this point to solve those problems for them. That's why, when I start communicating with these people in my niche, they pay a h*ll of a lot of attention to me and what I've got to say.

For me to be at the other end of this sales equation, receiving an email or a phone call from a 'consultant' spewing some sort of useless value proposition, and offering to study my situation so that a diagnosis or recommendations can be made is an absolute waste of my time - worse than spam. Not knowing in advance, the problems and the challenges of my industry immediately labels you as a newbie with no credibility.

Your analogy of the doctor is completely wrong.

Talltom1

Funny you mention doctors. Today I was thinking about a sales slump I was in a few years ago. I was feeling really down. I went to a shrink.

I said, "Doc, things are bad, I'm feeling suicidal. What should I do?"

He said, "Pay me in advance."

I hear what you are saying, and it makes sense. I think of it as a doctor who is trying to see a very important client who is too busy to visit her. She studies his life and work to get a handle on his medical condition. She finally gets in to see him.

By doing lots of homework about the patient, she knows what to put in her medical bag. (Do they still have those?) After meeting with him, he argues with her--he's fine. But she knows medicine. She has studied his situation. He's not fine.

She already knows he smokes too much, drinks too much, needs a wisdom tooth removed and wants to battle his receding hairline. Upon meeting him, he is amazed how prepared she is.

Yes, he wants to quit smoking, cut back on the Scotch and Waters, and take care of that tooth. But he doesn't care about his hairline. What he really wants is surgery to remove the bags under his eyes. Can she handle that? No, but she knows a specialist and will schedule the surgery.

He is relieved. He feels more in control of his life (Belfort). She persisted in seeing him and had a very good idea of what he needed. After talking to him, she wasn't totally accurate, but the only way the patient revealed his desire to get rid of the bags was he felt like he was in the hands of a pro. He could trust her.

...OK, lots of holes in that analogy but I ran out of steam. You get the gist.

Because this approach entails lots of homework, I only do it for bigger fish. I still go after a range of accounts because I want to have a full business outlook/education, but super-preparation will win the big ones.

Yes, you should know what they need.

Article refuting your very mentality: Norm Brodsky on Identifying Outstanding Salespeople | Inc.com

I know a guy who has a mortgage company... I know his pain points. I know what he needs. He strongly disagrees. He wants to do something, what he's been doing (just more of it and for less money).

I can help him with that... but I don't think he'll achieve his stated goals... though it might get him a 10-20% extra business.

So, yes, it helps if you know all you can know ahead of time. But they still have to want it. And, if they have 10 pain points but only want to work on 3 of them? How do you know which 3 without a bit of consulting?

You are right. My experience is you won't get the chance to talk to them, set an appointment or have a meeting without showing tremendous preparation up front.

Consider it this way from Jill Konrath's "Selling To Big Companies":

"Don’t Expect Them to Tell You about Their Business

Again, this is a time-related issue, compounded by the ready access everyone has to information about their company. Corporate decision makers expect you to get yourself fully grounded about their business, industry, market trends, objectives, customers, competitors, and challenges—prior to initiating contact.

The reality, unfortunately, is that you can only learn so much when you’re on the outside. They know that. As long as you do your homework and research their company before you call or meet with them, they’re okay. But you’ll totally destroy any credibility if you don’t do that. Corporate decision makers won’t take time to educate you in more depth about their firm until you’ve proven your willingness to invest your own time first."

Konrath, Jill (2012-06-13). Selling to Big Companies (Kindle Locations 500-504). . Kindle Edition.

Holy crap!!! Is that for real or are you making a joke?

Joe, you always bring a smile to my face.
And your pearls of wisdom - are golden.

Thank you.

It seems to me that the two sides are doing the same thing (well, the ones who know what they're doing) but use different words to describe what they're doing and/or emphasize different parts of their process.

As regards the mortgage broker, he's my brother, 1 year older: he knows everything I know, but better. He was born knowing everything I know, but better.

Hard to help him.

Learning from your niche will give you the typical problems that you can solve for those prospects. Then you can lead with those in your marketing or prospecting, and sort In or Out by those who acknowldege having those issues and those who do not. Once you ID those key problems though, the majority of businesses in that niche DO have them. I'm sure you've seen me recommend niching down and doing this process in many previous posts.

Most people, however, never take the week or two to begin badly, prospect, and find out those reasons (people will just tell them to you if you talk to enough of them in the niche).

However, walking in and going BAM! "I have the solution!" when you have not confirmed that they have the problem is going to lead to presenting to unqualified prospects. And doing that leads to wasting your time. Talking to people who don't have the budget or need for your services. Or buyers using you for a free education, and then disappearing to find what you offer at the lowest price--now that they no longer need you.

You can use these typical problems effectively to start conversations. Then the prospect can begin sharing with you some of the truth of what's going on in their world. Some trust is the only way you're going to be able to sell today.

Let me show you something. I study sales for a living. A company called CSO Insights just released their 2014 sales performance optimization report. Their top five barriers to sales are listed as:

1. "salespeople aren’t getting enough qualified leads,
2. are having significant difficulty in effectively conducting needs analysis to qualify opportunities,
3. are not able to effectively identify and access decision makers,
4. are struggling with competitive differentiation,
5. in a sales cycle that has lengthened, with more decision-makers involved."

What do these barriers, which are actually symptoms of problems, actually reveal the problems salespeople have are?

1. salespeople don't know how to prospect
2. salespeople don't know how to qualify
3. salespeople don't know how to reach decision makers
4. salespeople don't know how to start conversations effectively, or position themselves
5. salespeople don't know how to identify all the stakeholders in a decsion, the buyer's decision making process, and/or meet the individual needs of the key decision maker plus all the stakeholders.

What a surprise, these are the very things I've been saying for years that salespeople don't know how to do.

If you (that's a 'general' you, not a 'specific' you directed at anyone in particular) barged in and succeeded in selling with some kind of presentation, my experience and the evidence tells me that you succeeded by accidentally matching up what you offer with their problem. Unless you know exactly why they hired you, you don't know why at all. That's a plus for getting in the game and getting in front of people, but it isn't the most effective use of your time, is it.

Damn. That's the wisdom attained by the age of 93? That's it? That's all there is????

Either I don't have anything left to live for or you're a slow learner.

Frank, we must be too dumb because we never read that study and got Puma and 10 #1 consumer retail brands as clients.

No referral. Never heard of us. No website.

Now the keep calling my company to buy.

Got to the decision makers on the phone.

Best,
Ewen