Stop Leading Your Salespeople Down a Rabbit Hole. Have Them Read This!

How to Build a Pipeline Community of Over 300 B2B Prospects in 4 Months or Less. Every sales professional needs a pipeline community. That is obvious.

Without a pipeline community your efforts will fail – it won’t matter how great your product or service. How do you do it?

Great question.

Most sales people struggle with this. They just want to sell, hoping their training, clever words and great products and services will eventually win them business.

And then, they believe they will leave all the lead generation and marketing to their bosses.

Bad idea.

The truth is your bosses expect you to generate 100% of your leads, right or wrong that’s what they expect. Another truth, no one knows more about your prospects than you and your customers.

“You fail because you don’t have a pipeline community”, and “you don’t have a pipeline community because you don’t know how to fill your pipeline.”

I will tell you how to fix this fast, but first I want to make a few important points.

There are many tactics centered on social media marketing that one could employ, and I discuss this in detail in another blog post. Make no mistake; social media marketing is a hot topic.

This article is about what you specifically need to do every day even while other prospecting social media tools work for you. Social media tools are important but secondary to what I am talking about here.

Listen.

When you show up for work, your priority should be to fill your pipeline community. When you are in your territory, when you visit your best customer, your priority should be to fill your pipeline community. I know others may be telling you closing deals is the number one task. I mean after all if you have someone who wants to invest in your product and services then you should take the money.

Taking the money. Closing the deal is not the issue. Everyone should know this!

What I am saying is if you take the money at the expense of filling your pipeline community while there are not enough prospects in your pipeline considering investing in you and your products and services, you are going to fail.

Let me tell you what happens.

First, you start blaming your company for not supplying enough leads. If the company provides you with leads, you complain that they are not quality leads. You complain there are not enough leads. You may be right. But so what.

Second, you start to say bad things to yourself. “Am I going to make It.”, “This job sucks”, “I am going to be fired”, “marketing sucks” and you begin to have negative thoughts all day, every day.

Third, you become an amateur prospector. Here’s how. Take it upon yourself to start to researching better ways to prospect. That’s good. The problem is you continue to do it. Never developing a plan, and most importantly executing on that plan.

You are stuck in a downward cycle that leads to low self-esteem, Self-doubt, and depression if you don’t turn it around.

You download an email list, send one maybe two email blasts, and you call some of them. Leave voicemails for some, no voicemail for others. Then you skip a day of calling. Start calling the rest of the list, but someone or something distracts you. They want a price quote right now. You take care of it right now.

Fourth, you stop filling your prospecting pipeline and instead, focus on the targets in your pipeline right now. Are there ever enough prospects in your pipeline? My guess is no.

Challenge yourself; are you a sales professional or do you just sell?

Once you answer this question, you will be on your way; it’s not just a question. You need to embody the answer, wear it proudly like an expensive suit. Start acting like a sales professional. Within 90 days, you will have built a qualified pipeline community.

How do you do it? Find your prospects. Realize that no one is going to jump into your pipeline community. You have to choose to build your pipeline community.

The power of a “pipeline community.”

What is a “pipeline community”? It’s a small but dedicated group of your best prospects and customers. Who believe in you, your work, and the type of products and services you represent. Your pipeline community is willing to give referrals and tell others about you.

In your case, the pipeline community is your best prospects and customers. If you do not have any customers now, look to your current prospects. If you don’t have any prospects, then it’s your target list.

You do have a target list. I talk about that in other blog posts.

How to build a pipeline community

Let’s look at how the word, “community” is defined? A quick Google reveals over 340,000 thousand results.

I like these two. 1. A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. 2. A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interest, and goals.

• Attitudes about how to improve business results.
• Interest in improving sales results.
• Goals to improve business results.
• So what does it take? How will you do it?

It will not happen by mere luck or dumb chance. Trust me; I’ve gone down that road more than once.

We all have a unique story to tell. However, most sales professionals who built a pipeline community have used many of the same things. After studying and applying those same strategies, I saw similar results, surprisingly.

I have shared this information one on one with as many sales professional who were willing to listen, and when they took massive action, they succeeded. I am forever convinced; it’s the ideologies, not the personalities that make this work.

Now I am going to share with you the entire process of building a pipeline community and becoming a true sales professional. Listen, once you take these steps, you can use what seems relevant for you, share with your peers and begin your own journey.

Success Begins with Enthusiasm: How to Build a Pipeline Community

 

Those persons who consistently live by the joy and enthusiasm pattern of thinking seem to achieve a remarkable mastery over circumstances. I think the same thing can happen for you.

-Norman Vincent Peale

You struggle unnecessarily for years, watching your peers succeed while you stand still. Emotions begin to get out of control, finding fault with everything these people did.

You become consumed with negative feelings, but you have to get a grip on reality, right now, or your career may be over.

• You won’t become better at prospecting
• You won’t build a pipeline community
• You won’t hit your personal income goals

Make a change, let it all go and focus on what you can control. Don’t let external factors determine your success. Control what you can control: your enthusiasm.

    Tip Number 1: Focus on enthusiasm, not results.

The difference this makes (ultimately)

Nothing will change that is noticeable at first. Just do your work with a little more enthusiasm and passion. But, inside, you transform. Instead of a paycheck or pat on the back, enthusiasm is not critical metric.

If you showed up to help your family, your friends, your company, for love, not money – then you have done your job. If any of you have ever been in the military, you know that soldiers show up for the love of their fellow soldiers above any other reason.

The pressure to perform is gone; you can get jiggy (creative) with it. Suddenly work becomes a lot more fun.

• If nobody ever returned your calls, you will would still sell.
• If you never make the 100 percent club or the presidents club, you will still sell.
• If you never make another commission dollar, you still must sell.

Sales Professionals do that.

    Tip Number 2: Do your best work when nobody’s watching.

But wait a minute; isn’t this post suppose to be about building a pipeline community? It is.

The world loves people living a purposeful life, free from fear, going after their dreams with enthusiasm. We are all inspired by stories of men and women who do their jobs with enthusiasm.

Your life changes when you make enthusiasm your chief pursuit: You begin to feel alive, and willing to die trying.

People will notice.

When you sell with enthusiasm, at first few will notice or seem to care. But keep at it, keep doing the best work you can do no matter how few pay attention.

Over time, the right people will notice. The people who want what you want, feel the way you feel, and willing to do what’s necessary to succeed when nobody is watching.

Why? Because there is something beautiful and powerful about enthusiasm.

    Tip Number 3: The less you care about seeking approval from your pipeline community, the more your pipeline community will be impacted by your work.

Money is important, but don’t sell for the money.

You’ve seen the interviews on TV. Successful entrepreneurs, actors, artists, and leaders talk about why the do what they do. They all say the same thing, “it’s not about the money.”

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.

–Maya Angelou

Until recently, I doubted that statement. But, if one sets out to become a master of their craft, and play their own game, it’s not about the money.

Let me say for the record, there is nothing wrong with money 0r the pursuit of it. There is nothing wicked about wanting large sums of money or being recognized as the best of the best at your craft.

Those things may start out as being important, but it’s not sustainable, eventually they aren’t fulfilling enough.

Eventually, you will have days, week, months, even years when nobody will return your calls, ask for a proposal, or invest in your solutions. The question is will you continue to do your job? Maybe not, if it’s not what matters most to you.

Be yourself, be who you are.

You are enough; don’t try to change your values, or what you represent, just to close a deal. Customers tend to see right through that. Remember this; our work is not the product or solution.

It’s the entirety of effort that goes into each step of the sales process. The enthusiasm you infuse into each step of the process. It’s the stuff you do while nobody is watching.

So, when you are tired, barely able to hold your eyes open, or feel like giving up because no one seems to care, wondering if your bosses are aware of how much you do when they are not watching.

Remember, greatness is simply, something beyond the ordinary. Most people don’t understand what it takes to be great. Someday more people will get it. Eventually, they will be transformed, until then it’s up to you.

    Tip Number 4: Respect the process. To enjoy life and a career of superior quality, we will discover that enthusiasm is an important factor in the total process.

The grind is the reward. No one ever drowned in sweat.

— Terry E. Thompson

If you aren’t good with that, stop reading now. It’s only when you have decided to master this mindset, this attitude, will you have any chance at making it BIG and leaving a legacy.

For you, this could mean admitting that you have excellent skills and selling is your passion, in spite of your fears.

Maybe for you, deep down inside you know you were selling for the wrong reasons. When you are doing something for the wrong reasons, you know it.

You don’t feel right; the pressure was too great. Were you looking for recognition from your bosses, prospects, or customers?

In order to do anything well, you must surrender to enthusiasm, and remember, it is a critical factor in the total process of building a pipeline community.

Next Level

If I left it there, that would be frustrating to all of us. If you’re ready to go to the next level? Here is what I suggest you do:

1. Use your brain for change. Make a decision to change and reject negative thoughts. They move you further away from your goal. When you hear a negative thought in your head, counter it with a positive thought. Dedicate your actions to enthusiastically working at selling the right way, not the prizes.

 

1. Commit to practicing every day. One week at a time, for three days out of the week, only spend 20 to 30 minutes practicing a specific sales skill. It will likely be 100% improvement to your practice schedule today.

 

1. Don’t be afraid to disagree with people. Your customer most likely has enough yes men around her. What they want from you is a unique perspective. A conversation-driven on their values and a clear explanation detailing how working with you will have a positive economic effect on their business, short term, and long term.

Once you complete all three, give thanks to God for the opportunity to sell something that you are enthusiastic about representing.

 

You Need to Do Some Things Before People Will Listen to You

Are you able to get people (other than your family) to listen to your message? How do you EARN attention?

Our ego’s drive us to believe what we are doing is interesting and worth talking about. We believe we are special and unique. After all, it’s right there on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But the reality is, that’s not your call to make.

I see this in people who have succeeded, failed, and everything in between. They believe that just because they work for a particular company or they hold a certain position, the world should honor them with respect and attention.

Not true.

You do not get to decide what “significant” is. Your Pipeline Community does.

Don’t worry about attention again.

I thought this way for years. As a sales person growing more frustrated by the day while no one was listening to me, I failed to understand one vital concept:

Add value, and then add more value.

You likely have felt the same way at some point in your business career.

Here is the truth; the world is full of noise. The way you get people to care is to care about them first. You have heard the old saying, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

They don’t care what great show you saw this weekend, or what joke you can tell – until you show interest in them. After you have done that, you’ve earned their attention, and they may start to trust you and the product and services you represent.

A relationship is a two-way street. It involves two people and is held together by the glue of the message.

Don’t create mediocre work and pander to the masses that contribute to the status quo. Add value. Make it worth the while of your pipeline community.

How do you do it as a sales professional?

Know that contacting prospects specifically about the product or services you represent is insane. Ordinary sales representatives do that, and it will never be enough to captivate and inspire. The harsh reality is, nobody cares about you or your product and services (yet) because you have not earned their attention.

Take a moment and think with me:

What interesting stories should you tell about how you have helped people?

What business problems will you solve for people working with you?

How have you solved those problems?

What struggles have you helped your best prospects and customers overcome that you can share?

It will take a while to make a connection at first, but after a few months, of persistent work, you will see a difference. Your bosses may not see what you see. They will press you to close deals now as if people are seeking you out to give you money. Remember professional selling is a process. The only purpose of the current step in the sales process is to get to the next step.

Too many salespeople miss the opportunity to build a community because they are doing the ordinary sales pitch and skipping steps in the sales process as if that step does not matter.

Get on track with a few things:

1. Start an email list, so that you can constantly engage your Pipeline Community in a conversation.
2. Begin posting to your personal website blog and blogs of your partners about how you have helped your customers improve the value of their businesses.

Review your customers, begin sharing your outcomes, stories, and solved problems in the framework of managed risk, improved efficiency, revenue growth, and reduced cost.

Ask your customers to share your information with their peers via social media. Only if they LIKED them.

Keep the search for new ways to help people, ask questions and share your thoughts along the way. The more this happens, the more your pipeline community will grow strong, and your personal brand will get better.

Adding value means listening first and speaking second.

You may feel like you are failing, but you are learning. Success will come.

You have talents and sales skills; don’t keep them to yourself out of fear. Share them with your world and bring as many as you can into your Pipeline Community.

What the World Needs from You

If I hear one more “expert” tell me that selling is a “contact sport,” I am going to scream.

Friend. Selling is much more that that – it’s an opportunity to engage, educate and empower while building something that matters.

The world is full of people trying to be heard. But most are not saying anything. The world is crowded with businesses just like yours acting like selling is a contact sport. But, few create and deliver anything that is worth our time.

Earn the attention your work deserves by proving you have something to say, that you have something that can’t be missed.

How do you do that? Create something worth paying attention to.

Some of you have been selling a long time with a lot of connections.

It’s not who you know, but who knows you. Right? Wrong.

We all know the right people, they even know of us, but that’s no longer good enough. Connections are cheap. Of course, you know how to add email address and name to your list.

What’s difficult – is keeping people’s attention.

How do you do that? Influence people for the long haul. Do something worth talking about, let people know how you are different, and what you deliver will make a difference in their business and lives.

Do something worth talking about

What’s worth talking about? Talk about your community of customers and the ongoing value they gain by being a part of your community. Start a mastermind group among your pipeline community of customers. Invite them to sit in on product reviews, get their opinions, and thank them publicly. Attend the conferences they attend and invite them as your guest.

Make a difference

Get accustomed to saying, “the difference that makes a difference.” What are the differences that make a difference to your customer? If you don’t know, ask them. You may get a surprise of a lifetime.

“Be the best. It’s the only market that’s not crowded.”

—George Whalin, Retail Superstars

Putting It All Together

Yes, these are some good ideas. But taken by themselves, they are nothing more than – ideas. This work is about action, about creating something epic. So let’s apply everything we’ve learned so far:

• Success begins with enthusiasm, not chasing results. If you love the work, you’ll do good work.
• If you want attention, you need to add value, Help people solve problems.
• Until you create something, you’re just making noise. You need a legacy, a resource, something that people will remember.

So far so good? Let’s break it down further:

First, you need to gather your enthusiasm and value-added ideas and put them on your website, in a letter to your pipeline community, best customers, and employees. Share this information at an event or conference for your customers and best prospects. Summarize your best ideas and thoughts and share them over and over again.

Next, you need to make sure you have a means of inviting people in your community pipeline into an inner circle. Invite people to subscribe to your free whitepaper, or blog via email, so they don’t miss any important information.

Finally, be generous. Give as much away free, as you can. Because at this point in the process the point isn’t to make money its to leave an impact. Get that right and you won’t have to worry about income.

Give everybody, more than they ask for. Over deliver. Incredible things will happen.

Make it worth your while. Go. Create. Earn attention. Be Different. Add Value. Use Your Brain. Grind. Sweat. Start Now. Build Your Pipeline Community.

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