The Power of Preparation

It seems so simple so obvious, yet in the midst of a busy day it is easy to go into auto dial mode. There are metrics to meet, you go from one call to the next trying desperately to actually reach a live person in a virtual sea of voicemails. When you do reach an actual live person are you really prepared? What have you done to ensure success on this call? The tools are there, some more obvious then others, but a few minutes between calls can mean the difference between really engaging with the prospect and being hung up on and an opportunity lost.

Linked in-look at the profile do you have any common connections? How is the profile written, what is the language like? Scroll all the way down to the bottom sometimes there are important morsels of information there as far as interests and groups. Has the person published any articles?

Google – Has the person participated in any events published anything? Has the company been in the news?

The company website – Some websites are a wealth of information, some less so. Look at the company news, you may find other contacts here. What is their mission, how does what you have to offer align with that or help them achieve it, or help them reach their business goals. What projects have they worked on are they working on. I try to have the company website up when I talk to a prospect.

There are many ways to find information, but the point is you need to understand who you are talking to and what their needs are. If you go into a call focused on what you want rather than on what they need you chances of success go down dramatically. Once you have the information you have the tools to ask the questions to get your prospect to open-up and talk. Once you get them talking your chances of success increase exponentially.