Selling to Banks Blog

Ten Tips for Sales Prospecting

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In my last post, I outlined seven tips to improve sales prospecting results. These were focused on gathering sales intelligence on target accounts and important decision makers in those accounts.

Here are some more tips:

1. Call in to the IT department to find out if there are any projects related to the business issues you have identified or the market space your company is in. This will tell you two important things: a) your target executive probably initiated the project and funding; b) you can be much more specific when you email/call them, especially if the project has a name you can refer to;

2. Create something unique and very relevant to catch the attention of executives. Remember the Annual Report, 10K and the quarterly earnings transcript? There will either be a theme, strategic business goal, initiative or something else that is unique you can identify that you can align with your product or service. 

They key here is to come up with a subject line (for an email) that piques their curiosity and gets them to open it and read it. Here are three examples of subject lines that have been successful: 

- "Your response to Jim Smith about margins" (Jim being an analyst from the earnings call)

- "The goals in your 10K"

- "Your competitors are doing it" (this one always works well - if you have case studies or stories about their competitors)

The subject line should be no more than 30-35 characters, shorter if possible so it can be seen easily at a glance on mobile devices. The email should be short (no more than 100-150 words). You have to prove this was not a form letter sent to many recipients. Best to send on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning before 8 am - your chances of them reading it will be better.

Without referring to your product or service specifically, your call to action should be related to offering ways to help address the business issues or challenges they face - this can be a meeting, phone call, sending them a case study, etc. It is important to not pitch your product at this point.

The key objective is to get them to respond to your offer to help with a quick reply.

3. After sending the email, phone the prospect the next morning before 8 am. You want to avoid the admin screening your call.

One of three things will happen:

- You will get the executive on the phone. Great! Ask them if they read your email about (subject line) and why you felt it would be important for them, showing you did your homework. This is your chance to engage, be positive about how you can offer ways to address their challenges. Keep it to 3-5 minutes, ask them for a meeting or to reply to your email;

- You get the executive's voicemail. If it is their voice and not their admin, leave a specific message that begins immediately with the issue(s) you have discovered and how you have helped others/their peers solve them. The message should refer them to the email subject line, and be no longer than 30-45 seconds. Close with your phone number, letting them know you will call back;

- You get the admin, they came in early. Leave them a specific message for the executive to look for the subject line of your email and have the admin schedule a meeting if he/she is interested in meeting. Don't depend on the admin, call back until you get to the executive. Switch your calling to after 5 pm if mornings don't work.

Good luck in your sales prospecting!