Morris Binder makes a good point, “…always put yourself in front of the decision-maker, it saves a lot of time.”
The first goal of a telesales/telemarketing call is to speak with the prospect who will be the most captured, swayed and motivated by your message (for our purposes today’s message is about digital contact management). This prospect will understand the business pain that the solution will resolve and have some authority or influence in the budgeting process. Common titles that meet this criterion include IT Director, Operations Director or anyone who would benefit from the solution but is the leader/director of the department or division, also known as the dream prospect (i.e., target contact).
With this individual your message is being heard and understood. As a result the prospect is able to champion your product as “the solution we desperately need”. This prospect is the clear winner, but you may not always be so fortunate to reach this person on the first try. Sometimes you may have to present to someone who understands the solution but does not have budgetary influence or vice versa. This may be an issue of the list you have or that you are following up with everyone who stopped by your booth at a tradeshow.
In the event that you can’t reach a prospect of dream status you must present to the prospect you have, which may mean starting at the bottom. We have a policy: No prospect left behind; many diamonds have been found in the rough.
Bottom of the chain strategies:
The idea here is that the message goes up the chain of command, not down (similar to complaints). Pitch your way to the top. The burning question is how does this relate to an objection? And, more specifically the budget objection. Often, when a prospect does not understand the benefit of the solution you will hear the budget objection. Why? Most people can’t argue with a budgetary limitation and that is the quickest way to get you off the phone. After all, you aren’t giving away your solution for free.
Prospect gives budgetary objection, but you suspect he does not truly understand the benefit of the solution: Tell your prospect that while budget may be an area to tackle down the line, your concern is ensuring that they understand how digitizing their customer database will remove the paper-mess management aspect of his daily routine, which is currently keeping him from running his reports on time and often keeps him in the office past closing.
The key here is not to assume that you are being given this objection just to rush you off the phone. If you are told that budget is an issue and continue to pitch, you may be closing the door on your own foot not to mention making yourself an annoying orange. To avoid this blunder, ask when planning will be done for the next quarter or fiscal year. If you get the old, “I’m not sure” then you can assume they are simply putting you off. If they give you a timeframe, by all means continue.
Prospect does not have budgetary involvement: pitch to the pain they are experiencing and how the solution will meet their needs. Give them the cost-benefit info that you want them to pass on to their superior. Ask for the name of that superior and follow up.
Prospect only has budgeting involvement (e.g. CFO): explain how much their situation without the solution costs them, “Without a digital prospect management system your workforce spends 2 hours every day just organizing, filing and managing paper.” If you get “buyoff” from the CFO you can ask for a referral back down the chain to the prospect who will understand the company’s pain. Nothing starts off a call better than, “I was referred to you by John Smith, your CFO. He is interested in X solution and asked me to contact you.” You’d better believe you’ve got their attention now.
Stay tuned next week for…Budgets: The Almost Deal Breakers.
