Prospecting

Prospecting Transcript

[00:00:00] Sarah Noel Block: Hey everyone. Today we are going to talk about the sales process. We have already done so much to be able to make it easier to sell using content marketing. With content marketing, you are able to take people through that sales process, educate them on their problem, and help them understand how to solve that problem.

[00:00:22] Sarah Noel Block: The next step is, They have decided, okay, I can't fix this problem on my own. I need an expert. So they come to you. Now you need to understand how to get them from a hand razor, from lead generation into signing the proposal and becoming a client. So stay tuned. What does a successful sales process look like?

[00:00:49] Sarah Noel Block: So let's go over what you should be doing. When you are selling to anybody,

[00:00:59] Sarah Noel Block: lucky [00:01:00] for you. You've already done a ton of the legwork around sales. So much of it has already been done on previous modules, but let's get into the five step sales process. So just to give you a little preview, the five steps are prospecting.

[00:01:25] Sarah Noel Block: Discovery calls, proposal objections, and the follow up. So that's what we're gonna go over today. First is prospecting. customers own the sales process. They're going 90% of the way through the sales process before ever reaching out to you. So they might know they need help with content creation or they need help with their finances or whatever you might do, but they aren't [00:02:00] coming to you yet because they don't wanna be sold to until they've already decided that you are the solution.

[00:02:06] Sarah Noel Block: And that's why content marketing. So you've identified your ideal customer and their journey as part of this experience. through your content journey or through your content strategy. And the next step is looking at those customer profiles that you've created and identifying what accounts you wanna go after.

[00:02:31] Sarah Noel Block: So when you're identifying who you should be prospecting, ask yourself these questions. How do we meet them? What channels are they on? These are things that you're going to find in the content strategy. You already know who your ideal customers. what customer you have had the most success with. Who has been the most profitable?

[00:02:56] Sarah Noel Block: Now that you know who they are, you need to know what channels there [00:03:00] on. How do you find them? What role do you need to target? Can you identify any specific people you can reach? LinkedIn is a great way to do this, so you should probably know what role is the one hiring, or what role is the one that influences the buying decision.

[00:03:22] Sarah Noel Block: Now, make a list. Go through LinkedIn, look up those roles within the industries that you want to work in, and make a list of people that you want to reach out to.

[00:03:36] Sarah Noel Block: now you need to know what is it that would make them feel successful? What would make that engagement successful? So you need to understand, one, their problem. And two, what would success look like?

[00:03:54] Sarah Noel Block: So next, when you're prospecting, you need to send a personalized email or a [00:04:00] dm. Do not be salesy, , I cannot emphasize this enough. Don't be salesy in this initial. Outreach. You want to be a person, be human, and just have a conversation with them. Try and build rapport with them in that initial, meet, especially if it's a account that you really, want and you're not doing.

[00:04:22] Sarah Noel Block: Cold outreach because for lead generation purposes, for example, because you need to close really quickly. You're trying to build a relationship right now. So do that . Don't try and sell immediately. Build a relationship. Next. Do you know anyone who can recommend you or refer you to that person? Look at your connections.

[00:04:45] Sarah Noel Block: Do you have anybody that you actually truly know that can connect you with the person that you want to be connected with? An introduction? A warm introduction is the easiest way to get in with them. [00:05:00] and are you showing this person your expertise? So is your personal brand built up enough that they can look at your LinkedIn profile or looked at your website or Google you and say, this person can solve my problem.

[00:05:17] Sarah Noel Block: If not, you really need to be working on that because it's, the first thing people do is, okay, so so and so referred this person to me. Let's check them out online. Let's see what they're about. And when they do that, they're gonna go to your website, they're gonna Google you, they're gonna go to your social media profiles and see who you are, what you're about.

[00:05:42] Sarah Noel Block: So if you don't already have a personal brand established, get to. And then the last thing, and this would be the last step in prospecting, invite them to a webinar that shows your smarts and also has to do with the problem [00:06:00] that they likely have. This is an a amazing way of selling to them without selling to them.

[00:06:07] Sarah Noel Block: It is what I usually, what I highly recommend you have as. Middle to bottom of funnel content piece to be able to convert leads to customers. And my own webinars have done this so many times because they can go to that webinar, ask questions, get to know me, understand my personality, and also learn from me so they can see, okay, this girl, she actually knows what she's talking about and it makes the biggest difference.

[00:06:40]Sarah Noel Block: It's an amazing way to. The close the gap between a Prospect two or a lead to a prospect