Now just to clarify – I did say “PROSPECTING” call – not a closing or recruiting call. I wanted to be absolutely certain you understand the difference between the two. Actually recruiting someone into your team is a little more challenging, but for me – I find prospecting a really simple and fun exercise.
1. Call as soon as the prospect shows interest. Don’t put it off! If someone has registered from a website, call them as soon as you are notified. If you are talking to warm market, schedule a time to discuss/audition/interview (whatever you like to call it) inside of the next 24 hours. It doesn’t even matter if the prospect is still on your site if you call. You look professional and are communicating on a subconscious level that you take your business seriously.
2. Start out like you’re calling a friend. Always start with “Hey, is that John?” The person on the other end of the line is just busting to know who you are. If it’s not John, the person answering the phone is also more like to get John if he is there and you have asked “oh, sorry – is John there?” Sometimes people will ask who is calling and you always reply “It’s Fiona here, I’m getting back to him” or “I’m calling him back.” It sounds more less like you’re a telemarketer calling from a bank. You’re starting out friendly and that’s what makes friends. This is a business of building relationships, not sounding like a salesperson or telemarketer.
3. Show genuine interest in your prospect. You can start by using the prospect’s name as much as possible without sounding ridiculous! I got this from “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Now I know this book was written a long, long time ago – but the fundamental principles remain. Firstly, everyone’s favourite subject to talk about is themselves and secondly, the most sweetest sound to a person’s ear is their own name. So ask them heaps of questions to get them talking about themselves.
4. Never interrupt or worse still start talking about yourself. Your prospect doesn’t care about you! They care about them and what you can do to help them solve a problem that they have. That is why they have responded to either an ad or a conversation you have had. They want a problem solved, so always have that in the back of your mind. This isn’t about you – it’s about them!
5. Use the world “qualify”. People like to think they belong to some sort of exclusive club and by using this word, it’s like a psychological trigger. All of a sudden they really WANT what you are going to send to them because they truly believe that they are receiving something that others are not. “Great John and thanks so much for sharing so candidly about what brought you to my site today. You definitely qualify to receive the information so I’m going to go ahead and send that through to you straight away.”
6. Make it really simple for your prospect for view your business presentation. Don’t make them jump through too many hoops. People these days want everything done yesterday! So just send them an e-mail with a link to click on and a recorded webinar starts. Or they dial a number to immediately access a webinar/teleconference. Or you present face to face directly. Whatever way you present, make it simple and easy to access. They are, after all, assessing whether or not they will be able to do the same with their prospects so this is a really important part of the process. You don’t want to lose them here.
7. Lastly, always make an appointment to follow up. Never allow them to say they’ll call you when they’ve looked at it because THEY NEVER WILL!!! You are running a business and this is a business of appointments. When booking the follow up appointment always given them 3 options – a morning, afternoon or evening and generally don’t give them more than 48 hours to review the information (otherwise they will forget). You project professionalism and you are also surrepticiously dictating the terms to them too. You are showing them a system that works and has done for many, many years. Don’t budge on this one.
So there you have it – my 7 keys to success in getting all prospects to look at my business opportunity/presentation. The only reason I wouldn’t get someone looking is because I disqualify them myself and I would only ever do that if I felt their attitude wasn’t up to par. It’s rare but it happens.
Watch out soon on my site here for my 50 Golden Recruiting Questions E-Book which I have decided to make FREE! It will be replacing my Top 10 Secrets report and MP3. So stay tuned!!
For more hints and tips on life results, success strategies, law of attraction methodologies and how to achieve goals and the life you really want, like our Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/SerendipityLifeCoaching