Don’t beg for appointments, get invited in.
Unfortunately, the pressures for sales people to get in front of prospects is demanding. Most sales people will do almost anything to get in front of prospects, even begging for an appointment such as “I’ll be in your area on Wednesday morning and I just want to drop some information off.” You think you have an appointment, but when you get to your destination, they are either not in, won’t see you, or they completely forgot you were coming.
A more efficient way to sell is to spend your face time with prospects that are actually interested in your product or service. This requires disciplined prospecting. Think of prospecting as a sorting exercise – you aren’t trying to convince anyone to see you, you’re just sorting out those that have an interest from those that don’t.
When talking to a suspect – someone who might be a prospect, or might not, spend your time discussing their situation rather than your product or service. For instance, if you sell magazine advertising, ask about the demographics they need to reach and how well their current advertising mix is achieving their goals. Then, if it seems like your product or service might be interesting to them, ask them if they’d like to invite you in some time for a discussion of how you might be able to help them.
Get the prospect to discover why they should see you. The chances of the prospect keeping the appointment is high because you didn’t beg but were invited in.
