Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Jim Herst.
About the interviewee
After a lifetime of being a B2B marketing executive, although retired, I now seek to aid businesses nationwide with Ways to gain acceptance when seeking an order. I’m Jim Herst, CEO of Perceptive Selling Initiative, Inc. Of many services we deliver, our proven principles enabling salespeople to be more confident as they execute sales presentations is very well received. Success in prospecting is the genesis for a ‘damn the torpedoes’ attitude. Once an appointment is inventively attained, a knowledgeable seller, having overcome fear of rejection, is primed to seek acceptance.
Located in Highland Park Illinois, a Chicago suburb, with one associate, I’ve been fortunate in attracting mid-size closely held companies, providing them content writing of brochures, blogs, sales scripts and have provided in-house workshops in areas of overcoming fear of failure and rejection, as well as showing exact ways to accelerate cash flow. Clients include retailers, wholesale distributors, fabricators, manufacturers, insurance and securities sellers, even a Pawn Broker.
These clients are located throughout the United States with annual sales ranging from two hundred fifty thousand to twenty five million dollars. One constant among them is a realization that by seeking our help they gain the benefit our consultancy most likely has resolved similar problems existing with others. This has enabled our bringing creative solutions that can be modified to assist when what had been a perplexing problem for another now may be applied for successful use when affecting a client’s current need. It often is the prior experiences we’ve had that lets us better help another in need.
What are the best practices when it comes to this issue?
Most success in sales starts with prospecting. Improving that process makes us a hero with our clients. Prospecting is the foundation of door opening. Appointments when strategically achieved gain the greatest attention of a prospect. Watch for news specific to each business on your list. Your source for news is through your sense of your market. News is in trade magazines, the daily newspapers, TV, radio, information learned from others, Hoovers, Google Alerts, etc. Your ‘watch’ is for any activity that is current and appears to require some degree of change within the prospect’s operation. Look specifically for an action that could require a product or service you can provide. At each activity, develop an innovative/creative applicable thought. It is essential that at each observed/learned action you are able to identify and isolate a benefit you can deliver that is appropriate to what you sense your target needs now.
Approach your prospect directly by mail or telephone, always personally directed to whom you know as being the right person at the right level at the place of the prospect. It is absolutely your responsibility to know and approach exactly the right person. Your approach must contain a timely benefit, the innovative/creative application you have thought of and defined so that it becomes a describable assist for your prospect at this juncture. Even better, see if you are able to combine or deliver two possibly compatible assists. This makes your approach even more acceptable. You are to take an incident affecting your prospect and approach him in a timely fashion. Obviously, after a pre-determined time following your initial approach, you will phone, asking for a confirmed appointment. Even if the prospect is located distantly, the approach would indicate your phoned or written proposal. Your follow-up timing is essential.
Getting an appointment can be eased if one first selects who should be contacted and then using current information about that person and/or his/her organization. With such knowledge, creatively approach, using a letter or possibly a phone call, showing how the seller’s process/service/product can be significantly adapted for the prospect’s unique benefit. Here’s an example:
Information I found re your newly acquired (account/product/service/affiliation) sounds exciting for your organization. Mr. Prospect, I’ve worked with others when sudden change required fast decisions. You’ll need efficient packaging for this product, I’m ready to show how such can be designed for you without cost, and be efficiently in operation and on your line within two weeks. I’m (First and Last name) with XYZ Corp. May I come by to show exactly why your money and time can be saved? Let’s match calendars? (Pause) Is next Tuesday at 11AM open? (Or, if by mail: Call me at 123/456-7890.)
Contact Information:
