Grabbing a prospect’s attention and keeping it long enough to secure their interest is often the most challenging part of a sale. But once you make that connection, the rest of the sales process can flow smoothly, as most people want to do business with someone they feel understands them.
Today’s hyper-competitive markets mean if you want a prospect to pay attention to you, you must work faster, harder, and smarter than your competitors. Here are some of the best ways to do it.
- Dive Right Into a Prospect’s Problems
Only 13% of customers believe a salesperson can understand their needs. That’s incentive enough to address your prospect’s pain points at the outset. Instead of jumping right into your sales pitch, use your precious first 30 seconds to get a prospect to talk about their business.
By zeroing in on their challenges and growth opportunities, the more engaged they’ll be in the conversation. It also lets them know you care about what concerns them most. You can then segue into how your product or service can solve their problem.
Takeaway: The more you tailor your sales pitch to fit their business, the more engaged a prospect will be.
- Tell a Story of What Their Future Looks Like Using Your Product
The fastest way to hold someone’s attention is to tell them an interesting story they can relate to. Everyone loves a good story—more so if they’re the story’s hero. Using the information they’ve shared about their current challenges, weave a tale of what their business will look like if they adopt your solutions.
Don’t focus on what you offer; have a conversation about how it can benefit them. Helping a prospect visualize a better future thanks to your service or product keeps the attention where it belongs, on the prospect, which naturally makes it engaging to them. Will your service make employees more efficient? Can your product help them save money?
For instance, you can paint a picture of more engaged and satisfied employees now that they use your software. Or talk about how they can reduce their transportation costs by using your new, lightweight shipping containers.
Takeaway: Give prospects a vision of a better, faster, more efficient company, and you’ll definitely grab their attention.
- Offer Actionable Advice
The “law of reciprocity” can be a valuable tool for getting more sales and referrals, as it compels people to respond to a kind or helpful deed with something in return. So, if you make specific recommendations or suggestions of how they can improve a current approach, they’ll naturally want to return the favor, especially if your advice is practical. You can also take this opportunity to highlight once again the gap between the prospect’s “before” story and the “after” story your product or service will create.
Takeaway: Offering help can get and keep a prospect’s attention and motivate them to return the favor.
- Get (a Little) Personal
Don’t spend time telling a prospect about your business and your life. Ask them about theirs. A little curiosity can go a long way in winning over a prospect. Plus, it gives them a chance to shine. Example questions might be “I don’t fully understand what you do; could you explain XYZ?” or “I was reading your company’s website and had a question about ABC.”
Another good idea is to look at a prospect’s LinkedIn profile before connecting with them. You can reference things you have in common and also make specific suggestions of how your product or service is a good fit for what their company does.
Dale Carnegie once said, “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Most people respond positively when a salesperson refers to them by name, as it’s the greatest connection to their identity and individuality. It’s also one of the easiest ways to get someone’s attention and make them feel respected.
Takeaway: Strike a balance between friendliness and professionalism to make a good first impression and build rapport.
- Keep It Simple
You might have numerous selling points you want to cover in your sales pitch, but overwhelming a prospect with too much information is never a good idea. Why? Studies show that information overload can lead to feelings of anxiety and powerlessness, neither of which you want your prospect to experience.
A good sales pitch is a brief, optimized presentation that acknowledges your prospect’s problem and packages your offering in simple terms.
Takeaway: Less is often more. Keep your pitch short and catchy to get and keep attention.
It Isn’t What You Say—It's What They Hear!
Many sales reps see sales calls, video or otherwise, as an opportunity to showcase their product or service’s advantages. But selling isn’t about presenting prospects with a list of benefits; it’s about the thought process you create in your prospect’s mind. And though their attention span is growing shorter every day, you can still grab and keep their interest with the proper techniques.
If you’re ready to learn how to make more high-quality contacts with your prospects more often, 3D2B can provide you with inside sales, appointment setting, and lead qualification services that close the sales gap.
Book a consultation today to learn more about all we do.
Call us at +1 813-320-0500 (US) or +39 06 978446 60 (EMEA) or contact us online for help meeting your sales goals.