One of the biggest issues that sales professionals are dealing with these days is the inability to get prospects to respond. “People aren’t answering their phones, people aren’t responding to my emails, people aren’t returning my phone calls, I waste lots of time on social media with nothing to show for it.”
All of these issues are symptomatic of a bigger problem that we’ll discuss in this podcast.
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Is it harder to reach people these days? I’d have to say no. There are more ways to reach people now than ever before. Phone, email, text, Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, snail mail, in person, you name it. So reaching people isn’t really the problem.
Is the problem that people aren’t as responsive as they used to be? Maybe, but from everything I’ve seen, the level of responsiveness is directly related to the first point… the fact that there are now so very many ways to reach people and so many people doing so.
We’re all bombarded!
Our email inboxes are inundated. Our social media feeds are packed wall to wall. We respond to as much as we can, but eventually we realize that it’s nearly impossible to respond to everything. So it’s entirely possible that people are still responding, they just might not be responding to you, right now, via the channel or channels you’re using at this very moment.
What about the problem that millennials and members of Generation Z just communicate differently? Well, many of them DO communicate differently than baby boomers did (and do.) But is that really the problem? I don’t think so. Particularly if millennials and members of Gen Z are becoming the target audience.
Look, in my opinion, it is completely unproductive for a salesperson to complain about the way that any prospect (or group of prospects) responds or doesn’t respond to our communications.
You can think of it as rude. You can think of it as disrespectful. You can think of it as unprofessional. But none of those thoughts — judgments really — will help you or your prospect in any way, whatsoever.
In fact, the only thing that WILL help you, is learning how to communicate in a way that gets a response.
I refer to this as Monetizing Your Message: Crafting Communication that Sells.
It doesn’t involve whining, or second guessing, or judging. But it does involve creating a clear path that the right people — meaning the right prospects — will be willing to follow to become a client of yours.
And that path is going to need to be far more interesting, engaging, compelling, and beneficial than the bulk of the bland, boring, self-serving “content” that most people are putting out today.
Before we go any further, it’s important to understand that:
1. You won’t get a response from everyone. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Many unresponsive prospects simply aren’t worth reaching. They may be uninterested, un-engaged or otherwise unqualified. So don’t view unresponsiveness as a major problem, unless it becomes the rule, rather than the exception.
2. You don’t have to continue getting poor results in this area. And the proof is that not everyone is experiencing this problem in the same way or at the same level. Some are really struggling with it, while others barely notice it at all. So it doesn’t have to continue the way it is. Which brings us to…
3. There are specific things you can do, right now, to increase response and get people to be more likely to engage with you. You can begin today to start walking people down your success path.
Start by looking at the messages you’re currently putting out to the world on Facebook, Linked In, Pinterest and Twitter. What are you currently saying to people via email, phone calls and in your voicemail messages? How are you saying these things? How do you think they come across to your prospects? And how do you think they might come across if the people you’re reaching are also bombarded with communications coming in from all angles, the same way you are?
Will they view it as helpful, valuable and informative? Or as needy, desperate and repetitive?
Ask yourself objectively, “Would I respond to this message if someone else was approaching me the way that I’m approaching them?” If not, why not and what would need to change?
And even if you would respond to it, that’s not ultimately the point. The point is that they need to respond to it. So if they’re not, ask yourself, “What could I say differently that might be more likely to get a response?”
Over the course of the next few episodes, we’ll continue this discussion about how to Monetize Your Message. If you have a specific question you’d like to have answered on this topic, just go to asktopsecrets.com and let me know what it is. I’d be happy to address it in a future podcast.
Bottom line is this: Communication is changing. If you’re not changing with it, you’re dead in the water.
If you’re new to the industry and need to get grounded in the essentials of promotional products sales, visit us online at topsecrets.com/gettingstarted. If you need to get clients now with no distractions and no excuses, visit topsecrets.com/tsca. Or, if you’re a smart, focused, independent distributor doing a reasonable volume of sales, join the AIM SmartEQP community today at SmartEQP.com that’s SmartEQP.com.