One of my many sales jobs in high school and college was selling ads for the Omaha archdiocese Catholic weekly newspaper.
I had no training, there were no scripts, and very little oversight or input from the sales “manager.” Not quite sure what he did, actually.
Anyway, my initial strategy was to flip through past issues, going back even a few years, and call up past advertisers and basically say,
“Hey, you have advertised with us before. Want to run some ads again?”
Even with that horrible approach, I managed to sell some.
Not enough, though.
So I tried another strategy.
I went to the main Omaha daily newspaper and called on the businesses that advertised there. Essentially the approach was, “Hey, I see you advertise in the World-Herald. How about spending less and reaching a loyal special interest group?”
Again, lots of nos. But probably due to Woody Allen’s maxim that part of success in life is just showing up, I managed to pick up more.
But what I learned after a few months of getting the same dismal results is that simply saying,
“Hey, I see you advertise. We run advertising. Advertise with us,”
was not an effective strategy.
And it’s similar to what a lot of salespeople do today in pretty much every industry.
“Hey, I see you do/buy (product or service). We sell (product or service). Let me tell you what we have.”
Or,
“I would like to set a meeting with you so someone else can tell you what we sell.”
It should be painfully obvious what is wrong with that, I know.
But if so, why do so many still operate that way?
Let’s get back to some fundamentals and discuss a better approach.
It should be painfully obvious what is wrong with that, I know.
But if so, why do so many still operate that way?
Let’s get back to some fundamentals and discuss a better approach.
Don’t Just Find Someone Who Could Buy.
Find a Reason They Might WANT To
Back to my ad sales job in college… I had an idea…
Who was presently advertising to the audience we reached that might want to reach MORE of those people?
Well, Omaha has lots of Catholic churches. And at the time they all had weekly “bulletins” distributed at services.
They listed church and school news, events, etc. And they all had advertising from surrounding businesses. Some smaller, some larger.
Ah ha!
So I visited most of the churches in Omaha and grabbed their bulletins.
Yeah, I was that guy, walking in, taking a bulletin before Mass, and leaving. Lots of snide looks, for sure.
Of course, I was doing it for business reasons. Others did it to show proof they went to Mass.
Anyway...
Then I began calling those businesses.
But this time, I wasn’t just saying,
“Hey, you advertise in the church bulletin. Advertise with us.”
I had possible reasons WHY advertising with us might make sense for them.
For example:
If they had customers outside the couple-square-mile vicinity of the church, our newspaper could help them reach more of the same type of people throughout Omaha.
They had already demonstrated that the Catholic market was important to them. I didn’t need to convince them to value an entirely new audience.
Advertising in the diocesan newspaper could expand their positioning from being a supporter of one parish to being seen by people from many parishes.
Readers had a tendency to patronize businesses that supported the church and Catholic community, all things being equal.
Now I had something more than:
“You buy advertising. I sell advertising. Wanna buy some?”
I’’m sure you see the difference..
Because one of the biggest prospecting mistakes salespeople make is confusing qualification with motivation.
Just because someone uses what you sell doesn’t mean they have a reason to talk to you.
Just because a company uses Salesforce doesn’t mean they want another sales technology.
Just because they ship thousands of packages doesn’t mean they want to talk to another logistics company.
Just because they have salespeople doesn’t mean they want your lead gen services.
Those things might tell you they’re a possible buyer.
Your job is to find information that suggests they might be a probable buyer.
WHY THEM?
Before contacting a prospect, don’t just ask:
“Could they buy what I sell?”
Ask:
“What do I know about them that suggests there might be a reason they would want the RESULT of what I sell?”
That’s a very different question.
And today we have infinitely more information available than I did when I was driving around Omaha stealing…. I mean, taking church bulletins.
You can look at a company’s website, LinkedIn, job postings, press releases, industry news, customer reviews, leadership changes, new locations, acquisitions, technologies they use, and much more.
And, of course, AI can help you find and process that information in seconds.
But here’s where people screw this up.
They find a piece of information and immediately turn it into a pitch.
“I saw you’re hiring 20 sales reps. We provide lead gen services.”
“I noticed you’re expanding into Texas. We provide logistics services.”
“I saw you recently raised $20 million. We help companies with cybersecurity.”
That’s just a more technologically sophisticated version of college-me saying:
“I see you advertise. We sell advertising.”
The research itself isn’t the value.
What you DO with the research to make the result human is the value.
Prospecting research itself isn’t the value.
What you DO with the research to make the result human is the value.
Take the next step.
If they’re hiring 20 salespeople, perhaps getting new reps productive faster is now a priority.
If they’re expanding into Texas, perhaps their existing distribution system isn’t designed for the additional volume or geography.
If they’ve acquired another company, perhaps they’re dealing with inconsistent systems or processes.
Now you have something potentially worth discussing.
Here’s a simple way to think about it:
Observation → Possible implication → Potential value
What do I know?
What have I observed about their situation, behavior, or business?
What might that mean?
What problem, opportunity, risk, inefficiency, or desired result could logically be connected to it?
How might we help?
What specific result could we potentially help them achieve?
Notice the words might, could, and potentially.
You don’t KNOW they have the problem.
You have a “Hypothesis of Value.” (Yeah, I know, big words for me.)
That’s why you’re calling.
Your research doesn’t give you permission to presume.
It gives you a smarter reason to ask questions.
And that’s being others-focused.
You’re not researching someone because you think it is a clever way to wedge your product into the conversation.
You’re trying to understand enough about their world to intelligently explore whether there is something worth talking about.
THE 10-SECOND TEST
Before your next prospecting call, ask yourself this:
“If they asked me, ‘Why are you calling ME?’ could I give them a meaningful answer in 10 seconds?”
Not:
“Because you’re on my list.”
“Because you’re in my territory.”
“Because your company fits our ICP.”
And definitely not:
“Because my sales manager says I need 47 more dials today.”
Why THEM?
What did you see?
What might it mean?
And what result might you be able to help them achieve?
Years ago, it took me driving around Omaha, walking into churches, grabbing bulletins, and studying tiny ads from local businesses to figure this out.
Today, you can uncover more useful information about a prospect in five minutes than I could have found in five days.
Use it.
Don’t just find people who could buy what you sell.
Find reasons why it might make sense for them to want the result you provide.
Don’t just find people who could buy what you sell.
Find reasons why it might make sense for them to
want the result you provide
That’s when prospecting stops sounding like prospecting.
And starts sounding like a relevant business conversation.
AND SPEAKING OF AI...
As I've mentioned recently, I've been doing a lot of research into where AI is taking professional selling. One finding keeps coming through loud and clear:
The biggest opportunity isn't having AI do more selling for us. It's using AI to help salespeople become better at selling.
That's guiding something new we're developing right now. And one of the capabilities ties directly into today's lesson: helping salespeople turn prospect research into possible implications, value, and smarter questions for the call.
Not just finding information.
Helping you think better about what to DO with it.
I'll share more soon.
Go make it your best week ever?
