Whats a Targeted Selection Process? As related to prospecting, it is a process or system of defining whom you want to call on and performing the due diligence of data procurement to understand who you are calling on and why you have chosen them. It can be as simple as choosing an industry, picking a company name out of the yellow pages, understanding the appropriate level of contact to call on, and investigating a name that goes with the title. Or it can be as complex as an expensive CRM (customer relationship management) system for existing customers, defining market share of your product portfolio and routinely touching the existing base to broaden the revenue pond. But heres whats important to understand. Your Targeted Selection Process is a separate component of your sales strategy. It stands by itself. But it is directly allied with your other Sales performance indicators. The degree of success youll have in the business of sales is proportional to raising and maintaining these success indicators to a level more proficient than the industry norm. And the direction you decide to travel is strategic to the outcome. I call it the Playing Field. Because thats where it all starts its where the game begins. Heres what I mean. There are basically (2) strategies in picking your Playing Field; a Bottom-up approach or a Top-down approach. The following is an example of a Bottom-up approach. A Telecommunications rep initiates a telephone call into a company and asks the question Who handles your telecommunications needs? Guess where they are sent? If you said office manager you guessed right. If you said Head Janitor you werent far off. Is there anything wrong with that? Not really; its legal and a lot of folks out there do it. But lets think through this option as a Business person would. Lets study it as it relates to our sales process and individual Key Performance Indicators (KPI); Conversation-to-appointment ratio, 1st appointment to Proposal ratio, Closing ratio, sales cycle and average revenue per sale. Because these success indicators are gateways that directly affect the outcome of a sales process. Do your KPIs go up or down with a bottom-up approach? Historically, a bottom-up approach promotes a: 1.1st appointment to Proposal ratio to decrease 2.Closing ratio to decrease 3.Sales cycle to increase 4.Average revenue per sale to decrease Bottom line, youll be leaving time and money on the table if you choose this Target strategy. Well revisit the Conversation-to-appointment KPI in a minute. At the other end of the Target spectrum is the Top-down strategy for securing a new Targeted business appointment. Lets say that same telecommunications rep chose this approach in prospecting for new business. The first step in this process is Homework; some due diligence prior to picking up the telephone. Activities like: Gathering a list of appropriate industries Assigning the highest appropriate level of contact to each account; by company size and industry Researching contact name for each appropriate title and account Researching what each business does to exist and prosper That sounds like a bit of work. But what historically happens with a Top-down approach in line with sales performance KPIs? 1.1st appointment to Proposal ratio increases 2.Closing ratio increases 3.Sales cycle decreases 4.Average revenue per sale increases OK. We agree thats a no-brainer. So it all comes down to the 1st and foremost sales performance indicator, your Conversation-to-appointment ratio. Thats simply how many times you conduct a conversation with a target prospect versus how many times you achieve one. And the national average on that KPI is between 4% and 18%; Top-down or Bottom up approach. So it takes 10, 12 or 20 conversations to achieve 1 or 2 appointments. And thats a lot of work. In fact, JDH Group studies show sales individuals spend an average of 50% of their time on prospecting activities, or about 22 hours per week. That leads a sensible person to the conclusion that one needs to focus on efficiencies in Prospecting. And to secure those Competencies one must develop a communication system in line with your business solutions, your Top-down Prospect perceptions and your competitive influences. Not from a product/service angle, thats selling over the telephone. But a communications methodology that lends itself to Business acumen; insight into what is strategic to your target prospects business objectives, what pains they are facing due to recent events or what changes are on the horizon that may effect their current status quo. Next is figuring out how to communicate to your Top-down target the prospective benefits of your product/service in terms relevant to their financial Key Performance Indicators; line items like ROI, IRR and Payback Period. Those are success indicators that organizations rely on to measure progress toward their organizational goals. Its their Scorecard. So lesson number one. When youre addressing a target level that has Budget authority; a President/Owner of a small company or a CFO/Controller of a medium size one, youd better be talking terms in line with what they need to accomplish, not in a sales language creating a prospect perception that youre (1) dont understand their business and (2) are simply trying to make a living. From a 10,000 foot altitude, understand and communicate whats on your Top-down target prospects Front Burner business objectivesnot clear over in the freezer! You can choose not to accept the standard sales 101 playing field. Identify your individual performance components (KPIs) that are essential to your success and develop or seek systems to raise your competency ratios and performance efficiencies. And start your process by picking a Top-down Playing Field and educating yourself to their world. |
