Prospecting. Where it ALL begins. No sales process can succeed without prospecting. None. Every single product and every single service all require prospecting. Retail and dealerships are no different. Prospecting is one of those things that is just necessary for the sales process. It is the very beginning stage of The Slaymaker Method Rockstar sales process, my own tried, true, and proven method to sell like an absolute powerhouse. To sell as nobody has ever sold before, and how to get yourself worlds ahead of your competitors.
Let’s start with explaining what prospecting is. Prospecting, simply put, is searching out customers. The whole goal of The Slaymaker method is to turn a prospect into a customer, by convincing them to buy your product or service, or whatever it is that you are selling. In a nutshell, prospects are people who could potentially turn into buyers. If you want them to have what you are offering, they are a prospect. If they buy or utilize what you are offering, they are a customer. Understand? Good, because I’m now going to detail what sets The Slaymaker Method apart when it comes to prospecting. After all, I wouldn’t be writing you or have the following that I do if my method didn’t work, would I?
So, you are now saying, “Well, somebody that I want to buy my product, that’s everyone! Kyle isn’t everyone a prospect?!” NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. I can’t stress how important that is. NO. Not everyone is a prospect. Prospects should only be, and are, people who have a need for your product. I know everyone needs what you are selling……but they don’t. If you are selling a fur coat made out of the finest mink you can find, you don’t want to try selling it to the animal rights activist who lives just south of the equator, follow? If you are sitting there saying “But maybe they know somebody who needs my product!” Awesome. But knock it off. I am talking about selling, not networking. Prospecting and networking are two entirely different things. Also, if you are having thoughts of how you can justify everyone being a prospect, just move along. I acted like that early in my sales career and it held me back immensely. Also, I’m not here to sugarcoat things here. I am here to help. Boost your sales numbers so you can have the money to take more vacations with your family. To buy that car you always wanted. To have the life you want to give your wife or husband. We will have a ton of fun along the way, but you have to put the effort in.
Your sales career will be made in this stage of the process. I know it sounds crazy, but believe me when I say this, having an absolute rock-solid prospecting plan will not only make your job exponentially easier and more efficient, but you will start to see a boost to your numbers quickly. Yes, that quick. You start to implement a few of the things I tell you in this entry, and I promise you that you will start seeing increases, both in appointments set and closes. So why is my method for prospecting so great? Simple. Because it is ridiculously TARGETED.
You will put in the work early, at the very beginning, to be sure you are going in front of the right people. Not the people who want your product, but the people who NEED your product, even if they don’t realize it. Think of the prospecting stage of The Slaymaker Method as profiling. You are going to spend a good bit of time creating as specific a profile as you can that describes your ideal buyer. From there, you are going to break these profiles down into categories and dedicate a day of the week, or month if you have a boatload of categories, to going after the folks in these categories. Nope, not that easy. You will then break those categories into sub-categories. Think of the sub-categories as the differences within, for those that have taken any college-level communication and culture courses. So here is what it will look like, with a hypothetical product.
Product: A chiropractic adjustment
Good fit: People who do manual labor
Category: Construction Workers
Sub-Categories: Bridge Workers, Road Workers, Roofers, Masonry workers, Brick Layers
So, on Monday, you are committed to targeting construction workers for your prospecting times. You are prospecting from 9-2, for example, and you should work like this:
9: Call on bridge workers
10: Call on road workers
11: Call on roofers
12: Call on masonry workers
1: Call on bricklayers
Surely, there has to be more than just schedule making. Of course, there is! Remember, you have already created a painstaking profile of your potential buyers. Everything you can find out about them. Go deep. I know that construction workers are a really good fit for this specific chiropractic adjustment. I then take these categories and I start thinking of all the different ways my product or service can help these subcategories, and I start being able to tailor my icebreakers to get these sub-categories to meet with you. While the Slaymaker Method icebreaker technique is a whole ordeal in and of itself, it should be considered during the prospecting and profiling portion. I will be following this entry up, at some point, with an entry on the icebreaker, specifically. I have tons of fun with icebreakers, but that is only because of the confidence I have in The Slaymaker Method, but because I know I did my job during prospecting. This prospecting profiling and scheduling with be a HUGE gamechanger for your numbers if done correctly. There are many more nuances to the profiling and targeting, but those are secrets that currently only my customers are privy to.
Another really important aspect of prospecting is tracking. You need to be able to easily track who you are talking to when you spoke to them, and what the next step is. If you are selling without a tracker, just quit. If your manager is on your ass to use one, use it. This is one of those lessons I learned too late in my career after I had left money on the table. Once I used a tracker, it was a huge boost. I found myself not missing calls, never, and I mean never, missing a follow up with a customer, and I found my revenue and closes significantly higher each month. I do have a tracker that I use and give to each of my customers, but I have a basic one available, for free, if you want to give it a shot. Like my customers know, though, you have to ASK FOR THE CLOSE, or in this case, just subscribe to our email list on our homepage, and you will be able to request a basic tracker template. Remember, though, even though I am referring to it as “basic,” the results from using it are anything but.
How much prospecting is enough? There is no definitive answer to that, as everyone’s markets and prices vary. You may find yourself a sales superstar and only need 4 or 5 deals to be above quota, or you could be a beginner and need 15. So many variables come into play. So many. The only real answer I have for how much prospecting you need to do is that you need to average your commissions with your quota and go from there. Some months it will be less and some months it will be more. By utilizing The Slaymaker Method’s prospecting tips and tricks and the basic prospecting tracker, you will see growth quickly, but don’t forget, there is so much more to do if you want to achieve ROCKSTAR status.
I don’t often speak on mindset, as I have a pretty interesting view on it, and I believe that the process has to be in place or your mindset won't do anything. That isn’t to say mindset isn’t insanely important, because it is. Mindset can make or break you, just like your process will. I am going to speak on mindset in sales and entrepreneurship in later entries, but for now, I just want you to remember that you have to be EXCITED to succeed and have the work ethic to match. More on that later!
-Kyle
