Prospecting 4 Wealth

Setting the appointment  for any direct sales associate  should be the number one priority.  As stated in this NETWORKED BLOG  “If you don’t have anybody to tell your story too…Then nothing else matters!” 

One of the common mistakes I make and many seasoned associates will make whether it’s Retail, Direct Sales or MLM is forgetting the whole point of why your talking to this “Suspect”.  All you need to do is set the appointment. When it comes to a sales process where you have to develop your clients outside of building a list or having them walk through the door the first step has to be the appointment.

Let’s help define this a little more by breaking down what a prospect is from what a suspect may be. A “Suspect” is somebody you feel may be interested in yor information and you are going to approach them, call them , market to them to see if they respond in a positive manner.  A “Prospect” is somebody we have engaged and we now know they do not have our service or product (and this is key)  ..and are willing to listen to that information.  So a “Prospect” by definition is somebody you have already set an appointment with,  have presented too and or has told you they are interested and want more information. The “suspect” is the person we are engaging for the first time to set that appointment. 

Many, many people entering and even those already working in the field of marketing and sales get all “keyed up” over prospecting and setting that appointment.  I know I have tripped up many times including  just yesterday where I have let the possibility of a sale come before the importance of setting the appointment.  Once we grasp the idea of what we are doing everyday while chatting with friends, going to the store, making the calls and dealing with existing clients the appointments should come to you almost naturally. This is a mind set however…You have to go into the day with a goal of “I’m going to set X amount of appointments today. Yes, this includes the easy ones that call you directly wanting time with you or those that walk into your office or store front. They can just as easily walk out!  Engage them – Ask the open ended questions – Close the Appointment.  ” Sure, I can help you with that Bob. Let’s go over her and look into it”  Bazinga!  You just set an appointment!

When making those phone calls through the day keep your focus on why your making the call…is it to sell them something over the phone?  YES! Sell the appointment!!  Use a Script to keep things on track. Have a calendar ready with available time slots set aside. Give them an option to meet with you Thursday @ 3:00 or Friday @ 11:00.    – The phone will be a lot easier to manage when you focus on the one product “The Appointment” instead of worry about the “NO” you may get and never get the chance to present the actual product or service. Remember they are just a suspect at this point and your calling or engaging in conversation to see if they may be a prospect… Nothing more, nothing less.

Learn to Earn!

Jeff Beeman

The following post is going to be an ongoing weekly series to get up and running full steam with online marketing!

How many people have gotten excited about marketing online and then were not able to figure it out or just plain got frustrated by the whole thing?   A lot! I don’t know what the exact statistics are but I’m guessing upwards of 80% probably quit before the first full month is out. Sometimes before the first week is over! Many just move onto another product or service trying to find that Silver Bullet!

In fact a lot of the online “Guru’s” are counting on you doing just that.  Buy the  miracle product once and then only a few stick around long enough to see it though, then they end up buying another one and another and so on. Some Will…Some Wont…Next! Along with that many depend on  selling  a lot of the low $$ items so that you don’t even bother asking for a refund. Great racket huh? 

Well there you, got a complete turn off to online marketing right?  That does tend to be the mind set of a consumer and to be successful in any business online or off you have to have the mind set of a business owner or seller. No you do not want to take on a greedy attitude  of taking advantage of people but, you are in business and you need to sell your product or service…Right?

So, the first step in  developing a successful online marketing program is developing a product or service that has real value. Will this product truly do what it says it will. Now should somebody purchase it and then decide not to use it as it was designed to be used well that’s not something you control.

Second Step is developing a true Business Plan to market the product. This tends to be the dull mundane numbers and planning parts of the business that many fail to accomplish. This is the grind it out  part where yo have to track your results test and test again so you figure out what works best for this paticular product. Everything has to be looked at and written down. Your budget and how much time you really have factor in along with what will be the price point and ROI.

Take the time to work the business plan out and don’t be afraid to ask for help if your a newbie. This is a crucial step that when skipped will put you into a quick tailspin of buying the next big deal and being disappointed over and over again. Get a plan, stick to it but be flexible enough to know when something isn’t working and it’s time to tweak it a bit here and there.

Now you have a product and a the start of a plan but there are all these options out there for marketing online – How do I choose what’s best.  And what he flip is all this  SEO, OPT IN, PPC, MLM stuff ??? Well lets take a sec and sort some of it out.

You can go to Google for just about any info these days so don’t be afraid to take a few minutes and just read. Now to get a few things sorted out you have to find what works best for you through the business plan and testing the waters. If you try to use all the services available at one time you will be overwhelmed and washed out in just a day or two. The overload of information along with distractions are numerous and unrelenting!

As you build your plan a place to start is the actual website or sales page. Is it a site already up and running for you or do you need to have one built? Having one built means you will need hosting services and a domain name along with what ever fees to actually build the site.  (Side note: You always want a domain regardless of replicated site or self hosted.)

After the primary web page is decided on we need to look at bringing traffic to it and that is where a large part of your business plan will come into play..How do I advertise and what kind of budget should I expect? Social Media has become the billboard of the Internet these days and for the most part it is FREE so take the time to learn about the following :

Face Book, Twitter, Linked IN, Stumble Upon, RYZE, Digg and The Warrior Forum – And this is just scratching the surface!  Think about how a targeted marketing plan can tie all of these together so your message stays consistent and we will dive into more on this next week! 

Learn to Earn!

Brought to you by Life Insurance Selling.com

prospecting, patrick henry, Dani johnson, selling, seller, marketing

Successful sellers have one thing in common….the ability
to effectively propspect. Sellers who consistently generate
qualified leads will make more sales and recruit more people
to their organization.

Prospecting is where selling starts. Selling is just not
selling your product or service, it is also selling yourself
as a person of integrity and a person others would like to work with.
Prospecting is the direct contact with a person that you want to possibly
have as a client or customer or business partner.

Prospecting involves taking the time to qualify or get to know the person to discover
their needs or situation and determine whether your product or service will meet those
needs and offer a solution. Prospecting and qualifiying is a process and can take time so
do not forget about continuing to build your pipeline so you always have
a fresh stream of people to qualify and talk with.

Sellers who do not achieve the success they desire fail to keep their
pipeline full of prospects. They need to be involved in opportunities to meet others.
Chamber of Commerce events, a booth at your local county fair, joining groups online,
Social Media places such as Facebook or Twitter are all ways to meet others and
start building prospecting relationships.

The successful marketer is seeks ways to improve themselves through
personal growth and development as well as professional training and skill
development. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways attenting group
seminars or training courses, online webinars, college classes,
books and one-to-one training.

One such company, Patrick Henry International offers books, trainings and
methodologies for prospecting and selling. Visit their website at: http://www.patrickhenryinc.com
to learn more about their 4 core training programs and to get a listing of Patrick Henry Hansen\’s books.

Dani Johnson is a renowned motivational speaker and author.
She has a great story and has changed thousands of lives
through her trainings and teachings. Personal growth and
development go hand and hand with successful prospecting and
business success and DaniJohnson is one of the best. Visit
her site: www.danijohnson.com to see the free tools and resources
she offers and also check out her list of live seminars held across the country.