Archive for January, 2010

If you really want to make it, meaning if you really want to be successful in your business then you need to learn how to go about prospecting. It isn’t enough to simply find customers; you have to find your customers. You have to make sure that you understand who your customers are, what it is they are looking for, how they are going to go about getting what it is they want and where they are going to buy from. There is a right way and a wrong way to prospect. Today we are going to discuss the right way to do it.

First I am going to go over how you should interact with your prospects and then I will cover the right way to prospect. It may be backwards, but most people want to know what it is they are suppose to do and they don’t really spend a lot of time understanding why. I cannot stress enough that you need both. So please, read what you are supposed to do, and then stay tuned in long enough to understand why.

First, you want to make sure that when you are talking with your prospects that you are smiling. Yes, I know… in the internet world the only time you talk to most of your clients is either on the phone or through the email. When you talk on the phone, make sure that you are smiling. Believe it or not the person on the other end of the phone will be able to sense that you are smiling. So smile and be sincere.

Avoid putting words in your prospects mouths. Do not, I mean never ever assume that you know what your prospect is going to say or what they are thinking. The goal is for you find out what your prospects want and need. Let your prospect do some of the talking, you will learn a lot by listening. Also you want to make sure that when you are talking to your prospects that you are asking open ended questions. Meaning that very few of your questions should be “yes or no.”

The other key element you need to remember when you are talking to your prospects, to anyone that you are wanting to do business with… be yourself. There is no point in you trying to be someone else; it isn’t going to help your business. Breathe; think about why you are in business, what gets you excited about it and then talk.

Now, those key elements will help you when you are talking to your prospects. But you also need to find your prospects. Here are three simple steps that you should be implementing and following.

1. Create a Profile of Your Prospect – I don’t mean that you need to collect a bunch of marketing data. What you need to do is think about who your customer is. Think about how they get what they want, and when they are going to want to get it. You want to be there when they are ready, so that you can “save the day.”

2. Establish the Decision Making Process – Now, you have come up with the profile, now you need to decide how their brain works. How does your client go about deciding whether or not to make a purchase? You are also going to have to figure out along the way what types of information is needed for them to make the decision. So let’s say that you are the prospect, and you are going back and forth over your product and the competition… what do you need to see or learn to help push your towards your product.

3. Create the Lead Path – This is the path that you will follow when you are interacting with a lead/prospect. So your starting point is the first contact, and you end with closing the sale.

Follow these tips carefully and you will master the art of prospecting. Which will increase your sales, your profitability and your business.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of LocalBusinessSuccess.com. Local Business Success provides Local Businesses with Tips and Techniques for getting started and/or improving their online business marketing skills. To learn more and INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “Local Business Internet Marketing Success”