Masterful Prospecting for B2B Sellers

A 3-Part Framework for Persuasive Selling

If you've ever struggled to sell in a way that gets your prospect to take action, keep reading.

At some point in their career, every successful salesperson can look back to a definitive time where they chose to sell differently.? Likely, this came at the cost of their pride and 10-20 lost deals.?Likely, they felt stuck and that what they were doing was borderline slimy.

The fact is — selling is hard.

And persuasive selling adds an extra layer of complexity. Because the trick is in the context…, you don’t actually do any of the persuading at all.?

To think that we’ve ever really had the ability to persuade anybody at all is selfish.?

You cannot make decisions for others.??

As a matter of fact, this is exactly how your prospects will make decisions.?

You pass their BARRIER OF TRUST to solve a specific problem.?

This means that they believe you are best fit to solve the problem.

Nobody picks the Doctor whom they trust second to operate on their knee.?

Even at 1/2 the price.

You likely exhibited a high level of knowledge or expertise, and did a decent job at displaying empathy, understanding and expertise.

You likely did a good job of repeating the customer’s pain to them, in their exact words.?

You’ve given them reason to want to avoid pain, likely with evidence of how not solving this problem has worsened this pain for others, along with the before and after pics of those who have chosen to go with your solution.?

Bravo.?

It’s like night and day, and they can feel it.?

They can see their new life when they look at those glossy before and after pics.?

?

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I love a good acronym.? Sorry, not sorry.? It’s how I can easily group things together in a way that my brain, and now your brain, can remember.??

It's a process I started using back in 2021 on LinkedIn when my team had 22 cold callers and cold emailers working on behalf of over 40+ Software Companies around the world.? We made over 5,000 cold calls per day, so there was plenty of game tape to listen to in order for me to have the PROBLEM that was worth SOLVING.? I found that our callers got stuck after the introduction.

“Hey, ((first name)), Steve here with MAGNETIC.? I’ll be brief.? (Insert garbly goob slightly apologetic, slightly unrehearsed back and forth)."

Cold calling is tough!

It’s an absolute bear.

I've had some aces on my teams, and listening to what a few of them were doing started to resonate with me deeply.

It was reflective of the type of approach I had used successfully for over 20 years.???

It’s a reliable framework that creates conversational flow vs. hard sales tactics.

It's based on psychology and 3.5+ years of data.

Quite simply, it is the most agile and repeatable model available worldwide today.?

Yes, I'm that confident.

Why?

Data.

Introducing the 3P Framework: My Approach to Persuasive Selling

The 3P method for outbound sales, (applies to content as well, we will get into that), was trademarked in 2021, shortly after I rolled it out to my team of 22+ SDR’s. And put simply, this is a powerful framework that has immediate results.??

It gives you a simple structure to follow to ensure your conversations are clear and compelling, and most importantly — that you end your calls with a path forward, actionable next step, or clear call to action for your prospect.??

3P stands for problem, proof, persuasion.

There is only one thing, YOU don’t do the persuading.?

You’ve taught yourself this entire time that it is you who needs to do the selling.? If you have some magical juju available where you words can hypnotically force somebody to make a change, then I’m all yours and my method is dust.?

Until then, let’s continue.??

1. Problem

State the problem that your prospect has back to them in THEIR EXACT WORDS, and ask 4-5 probing questions to peel the onion back more and personalize their problem vs. applying vague marketing speak.??

Their experience is personal, so make it personal or you will lose their trust quickly.

2. Proof

Proof that you’ve solve this exact problem for others.??

This is truthfully where the sale is made or is dead in the water.?

What matters most might surprise you...

Can they see themselves in the stories you are sharing?

BE BOLD

I oftentimes will even imitate the person’s voice in the conversation when telling the story.? People love stories.? Keep the brief, and ensure they are rehearsed using a storytelling framework.? People who go on and on, they are a selfish and insecure dime a dozen and make terrible sales people. Be confident, be bold.??

Persuasion: This is where most people have it wrong.? Hell, I had it wrong for decades.? You don’t do any of the persuading. Think of it like ChatGPT.? You can prompt the living shit out of it and get some pretty amazing results.? Prompt your customer.? Give them the words that they need to adopt to close the deal. Let them join your world, and sure, meet them in the middle to pull them through, but it is they who decide to take that step. ?

If you pull them, you will both regret it later.

The 3P Framework allows you to navigate conversations that otherwise can be full of anxiety and uncertainty, for both parties.? It gives space and and room for both parties in the conversation to have a strong sense of agency, cutting to the point without following the typical cold call scripting BS that so many people are teaching on LinkedIn and other platforms these days.??

Why the 3P Method Works

The 3P?method works because it focuses on your prospect specific problem, rather than applying vague assumptions.??

By using their words, you are confirming with them that you understand them.? People love their own voice and their own words.? To a large degree, this is psychology and flattery.? It works.

Sharing a story as proof helps build an emotional connection and makes your message extremely personable and relatable.? If not, well then, you know it’s not a fit.? There is no second story that needs to be told.? On to the next.??

Offering a solution and presenting this new world to them helps you position yourself as a sherpa who can help guide your prospect down the path ahead.??

You end with a simple summary and question.

“In summary ((first name)) , you are currently doing _____, which is causing this ____.? It sounds like if that’s not taken care of, it could even get as bad as _____, and nobody wants that.? It sounded like you found some commonality with the story I shared about Customer ABC, and unless you think it’s a terrible idea, I think we should get you on the right side of life asap and put these nightmares to rest.? What, specifically, would stop you from wanting to make this change, ((first name))?”

Your Call to Action - Putting 3P into Practice

Ready to start using the 3P method in your own prospecting?

Here's a simple exercise to get you going by staring with the first P = PROBLEM:

1. Write down the problem your solution solves.? 10-seconds or less.??

2. Now, go to youtube, reddit, google, type that in and start researching this but use your prospects words.? See what they are talking about.? See what solutions they are using today.? See what’s not working.

Then, keep refining.??

Research it for 2-3 hours over the next week without any of your marketing slides or playbook language.

You won’t get this right at first.?

And that's ok. You've been taught to do this the wrong way, or likely, not taught at all.

I've got you.

Next week, we will navigate to the 2nd P, which is the PROOF.?

Then the following week, PERSUASION.

That is the stories of your customers and the transformations they went through once they implemented your solution.??

PS - If you want to get a head start, interview 3 of your customers and ask them what their world was like before implementing your solution and what it was like after. Hit record, use it, word for word.

If you want me to train your team on 3P, I'm available for 2 engagements Q2 2024.

3P is the foundation of how my agency approaches messaging and content development and we ghostwrite for 16 Executives across the globe today. If you'd like my team to work with you to develop your brand, authority, and gross revenue, Let's chat.

Peace,

Steve