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Best practices for researching a prospect before I call?
How much time should someone take? What tools should they use? What should they look for?
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4 Answers
Chris I always like to spend a few minutes doing a bit of research before calling someone. I think the reason why this is such an important step for me is that early on in my career, I had a prospect say to me "Do you even know what I do? Do you even know what my company does?" I stumbled and was completely unprepared. As a result, I always research.
I would say I spend 2-3 minutes researching before calling. You don't want to spend too much time doing this because you do want to keep on dialing as many different prospects as possible in your day. I can typically accomplish this by staying organized with the different tools I use for research. I keep one window open with three tabs:
-CRM in one tab
-Linked In in the next tab
-Jigsaw or any other database tool open in the third tab
First I check if the prospect within my CRM system is on Linked in, and typically they have their current title, previous roles and experience listed. This can tell you a lot about the person you are calling into. This will give you even more information to help you tweak your messaging while preparing your intro or pitch for this prospect.
I always check an outside database to search for the prospect and company I am calling, like jigsaw, hoovers, onesource, etc. The prospect might catch you off guard and ask you questions about them and their company, so I always have this information readily available. More importantly though, it will allow you to be more knowledgeable when having a business conversation with the prospect and they will be much more open to speaking with you if you have some knowledge of their business prior to cold calling them.
"How much time?" is a relative question to the type of sales calls you do. If you are high volume, transactional, maybe you wouldn't research. It would just impact your volume. But if you are high level, senior decision maker, big ticket items and your sales calls are high value to you...then take the time needed.
Me personally, I give InsideView a peak to check company backgrounds and history. I quickly scan their website. I find the contact on LinkedIn and see who I know that they know, or anything else of value (school, past companies, Q&A they've answered, update stream). Then a quick google to find blogs or twitter...
Then I'm calling in very prepared. That said, I try to allow my prospects to talk more than I do. It's a buying process now, not a sales process.
Good Luck!
Mike Damphousse
Green Leads
http://www.green-leads.com/b2b-blog/
I can't add much to the research elements Laney and Mike have suggested, but let me take this a separate direction.
Part of the "research" or preparation is making sure you are calling companies and individuals in those companies that have problems that you can solve and that they are likely to be interested in solving those problems.
Make sure you have relevant references and examples that will motivate the person you are calling to want to speak with you.
Anticipate objections they might have and be prepared to answer them. For example, a number of years ago, I called a very senior level exec in a Fortune 100 company. Surprisingly, he picked up the phone. After introducing myself, he replied, "I don't talk to consultants, you have 30 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't hang up." I anticipated that and knew 2 specific issues that were critical to him at the moment, and had relevant references of people he knew and respected and what we had done for them. The call went for 45 minutes, and followed with more meetings, culminating in some very large deals.
Don't leave the call to chance, plan it, research it, remember the Boy Scouts are right: Be Prepared.
As usual David is spot on...
I don't believe that prospects are harder to reach but I do feel they are more discriminating on whom they choose to speak with. One must do do research on the target they are calling,both the company and if possible the individual(s). This can be accomplished in a number of ways. I happen to like Hoovers as a primary source. Understanding the targets culture,mission,decision makers and sponsors can be a huge advantage.
I had a similar experience to Davids. After careful research I contacted the target, was asked why should I do business with you? Was aware of the changes they were making in there Sales Team and the markets they were going to attack and was able to respond accordingly. At the end of the call I was asked how soon I could meet with her and her VP. I said I could be in their city the next day. We set the time had two succesful meetings and they are today a valued on going client.
Always take the time necessary to be proactive and do the research and by the way every time you call a client or target update your research. People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
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