Ask the Sales Doctor - Total Selling Systems

Warren Wechsler's
Ask the Sales Doctor

Approaching a New Prospect

Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Some restrictions apply to the use and distribution of this information. For more valuable materials, visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com. All materials and content © Warren Wechsler, 2001 – All rights reserved.

Dan Seaman from Minneapolis, Minnesota writes:

What is the best sequence to use when approaching a new prospect? Should I mail a letter of introduction, send information on my company, call first and then mail a letter? It's all so confusing.

Warren answers:

You know, Dan, I'm really happy that you sent that question in because you're right. It is incredibly confusing, especially in light of the fact that as we talked about earlier on the show, in the new business area and this whole concept of prospecting for new business, you're going to get rejected so many times anyway, and you have to keep track of so much to be successful…This is actually a really, really good question. In fact, Steve, what is Dan going to receive for asking this great question?

[He'll receive a copy of your book autographed The Six Steps to Excellence in Selling.]

That's right. He's going to get an autographed copy of my book, The Six Steps to Excellence in Selling. OK, Dan, I'm going to answer your question in a number of different ways. The first thing is to make sure that you're targeting the right person. You said in your question, "Should I call first and then mail a letter? Should I send a letter? Should I mail information?" The answer is that it all depends. But the first decision you have to make is who in the world are you targeting at that company. My research has shown that up to 50% of initial calls are actually made on the wrong person, somebody who either doesn't make the decision, can't make the decision, won't make the decision, or doesn't have a need. So what I usually do is I call companies up and I say, "Here's who I am, here's the company I represent. The reason I'm calling is I'm trying to find the person why buys blank, purchases X, whatever." And I also say, "This would be the person, that if your company was going to make a change, would be involved at the highest level. If your company was changing strategy, this person would be involved in this type of decision."

Now the reason I say it that way, Dan, is that I want to make sure that I'm aiming high enough in the organization that even if the person turns out to be too high, they're going to refer me to the person in the organization who is at the appropriate level. So make sure you're targeting the right person, but don't be afraid to aim a little bit high.

As far as "should I mail a letter of introduction, shouldn't I?" I've been asked this question I can't tell you how many times at the seminars I conduct all over the country on selling skills. And the answer is so simple. Here's what you do. You have a list of prospects. Let's say there are fifty names on the list. I hope you've got more, but let's say you've got fifty. Maybe you have 500. Take fifty names that are similar in everything. Similar in size, similar in geography, similar in the level of decision making you're aiming for. Take fifty names if you can, if you can find fifty very, very similar prospects. And here's what you do. Take your best letter of introduction, your fanciest corporate materials, and mail information to half the names on that list. And then, the other half, don't send anything. Wait 48 hours, longer if you're sending them out of your direct marketing area. In other words, if you're in Philadelphia and you sent all of them to Philadelphia, wait 48 hours. If you're in Philadelphia and you sent them all over the country, wait 72 hours because it's going to take another day for the mail to get there. Anyway, you get the point.

On the day, that is, either 48 hours or 72 hours from the time you sent the letter and the brochure and all that other stuff, pick up the phone and at the same time call one from column A and one from column B. One from column A and one from column B. At the end of all fifty of those approaches, look at the results. And see, was it better for me to mail information and then call? Or did 99% of the people not even see what I sent them? If you do it this way, Dan, you'll know exactly what you need to do. And you'll know if you should spend your company's money and send out information.

OK. The other thing is you said, "Should I send out information on my company?" Let's remember one key fact - and anybody who's out there in marketing, don't take this the wrong way - people buy from people. People buy from people. So don't use your company's marketing materials and flyers and corporate brochures and line…

[Side one of tape ends]

Most people don't read it.

Another thing I'll say to you is instead of sending out letters, if you can capture people's email addresses on the front end of those conversations…I have found that these days people who don't respond to phone calls and won't look at mail, absolutely, if they see something in email that doesn't look like junk mail, they'll open it up and look at it. And amazingly enough, they'll respond and either tell you they're interested or send you to the right person.

Dan, I hope that answered your question. It's a really good question. A lot of people ask me this in my live seminars, and I'm really happy that you sent that through email. By the way, Dan is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it's cold and windy most of the year. I hope you're enjoying that spring is coming soon, Dan.

This was a partial transcript from Warren Wechsler's weekly radio show. Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com Also, listen to Warren's weekly radio broadcast Wednesday's at 4:05 - 5:00 pm Central time, on KMCD-AM 1570AM. Shows are broadcast live on the internet at http://www.warpradio.com/asx/KMCD-AM.asx