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The Value of Good Prospecting

Good prospecting is a rarity. If you prospect well, you can stand out in a way your competitors won't. You'll shorten your sales cycle. You'll get to the point faster with more prospective customers than you have before, and faster than your competitors do. Your ideal customers will be saying, "How can we work together?" rather than, "So what's your price?"

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

I've covered what's wrong with prospecting before. And I've also provided a FREE solution. But I have to tell you, the records show that you folks don't click over and follow that free course from someone else who's not associated with me, ie. I have nothing in the game in sending you over there. It's simply great stuff.

The Effective Prospecting Course I Share For Free That No One Gets

Yet almost nobody hits that link.

Why?

Is the idea that you're going to have to learn something, do some work, actually go through a course to be able to prospect well too much? Or did you not see the link because it's at the end of the article? Curious.

Anyway, I signed up for a free accountability program from another sales trainer who I respect. It offers to accelerate your results through the rest of 2022, the final three months of this year. I wasn't struggling, but I do always want to be better. It's been about a week and I've already:

1 - made a new series of videos on effective prospecting, as my daily video content creation per the program

2 - hit a personal best in closing six five figure sales in one day.

And my prospecting & qualifying method, as outlined in this video series, is responsible for a lot of that result.

Here is the playlist. Keep coming back to it because I'll be adding more videos, sharing more prospecting tips. As people have pointed out many times over the years, my stuff isn't some idea, some unproven concept: it's based on trial and error and real results in the sales world over the past two decades. (Man, when I think back to the late 1990s, after I got out of college and was in my first bizdev job, just how little I knew about selling...and that nobody trained me on anything beyond technical features of the products!)

Good Prospecting Training Videos Playlist

 

The first video alone will show you the difference between the spam-a-lot outbound leadgen machine, "throw spaghetti against the wall and hope something sticks" method almost everyone has adopted and something that looks, sounds, smells and is treated differently by the prospect.

Why Is Bad LeadGen So Rampant?

Why do you think it is the automated spamming outreach method is used so often? Is it because "that's what everyone else is doing" and so that must be the way you do it? Is it because people are afraid to be human beings, and want to hide behind that automation? Then you have something to blame, right? Must be the email deliverability. Must be that headline. Must be the message content—too long, or too short. Must be anything but YOU, the person ultimately responsible for your performance.

What if, instead of (Option 1) spamming 1000 attempted connections with automated tools over an afternoon...

...using the same bland and personality-less outreach message aimed at all those undifferentiated people you probably know next to nothing about other than "They are in X industry"...

...you (Option 2) focused on 30 leads you personally pre-qualified, who are likely to be receptive to your message because of where they're at and what situation they find themselves in...

...and your intention was to start a genuine dialogue with them as individuals, not immediately whip your offer out and shove it in their face?

I can tell you from personal experience that the second option, applied consistently and not as a one hit wonder, gets you much better results over time. Just like the results I experienced, closing six high ticket offers in a single afternoon.

It is not because I am such a great salesperson. Or that I always know exactly what to say. It is because I chose my prospects and hence where to put my effort carefully.

You Can Have An Effective Outbound Lead Generation Method In Place Today

Get started on that playlist! Apply what you learn, apply it consistently, and watch what happens.

What if your employer uses the automated mass outreach approach to generate leads for you?

No problem! Use the same methods on the leads that you're given. Filter them quickly. Qualify for those indicators I teach you in the videos to look for that show you this is likely to be a good lead. Follow up using the process I demonstrate.

Just about everyone in the online marketing world whines that "If only I had more leads" they would be so much better off.

This is a lie. A falsehood. Generating increasing quantities of poor quality prospects that lead to no engagement will only waste the time and energy of the front line salesperson.

You don't need more leads.

You need good prosecting in place to bring you a manageable number of better leads you can personally engage with.

This isn't something I've made up. I've been talking about it and building my process for many years.

>> If you're ready for the full version of what is explained here, including Challenger Sale instruction, how you should think as a founder beginning to operate your business, what to give your new hires to train them up quickly on effective selling, then get Sales On Fire <<

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Commission for Appointment Setters?

Commission for Appointment SettersCommission for appointment setters is a common question when setting up the sales processes for new organizations.

"What is the best commission model when hiring a sales person to sell digital marketing services to small businesses?" was asked on an expert platform I'm a member of.

The asker went on to explain that the owners of the business will handle the consultation and closing. So it wasn't a "sales" role...it was phone prospecting...appointment setting.

I've set up agencies for commission sales teams in the management consulting field.

Issues with Commission for Appointment Setters

[I wrote the following in 2015] Finding people to work entirely on commission was possible pre-2008, but nearly impossible after 2011. The level of skepticism, coupled with people holding PhDs and psychiatry degrees realizing they shouldn't be trying to duck into being telemarketers until their practices pick back up, lead to a huge drop-off in the number of candidates.

I also hired firms specializing in finding commission sales candidates, and they were unable to provide me more than a couple of resumes of people who did not stick. To be fair, this was in 2012-13 and their situation may have changed by now.

However--with the minimal buy-in, loyalty and typically abysmal investment in training the hiring company provides, it is in my opinion not worth traveling down that path.

The candidate doesn't really have a reason to stick around. Any time a regular wage job is put in front of them, they'll jump. And most never wanted to be making calls in the first place.

I know several business owners who run "boiler room" type operations and they are constantly juggling and struggling with staffing. Callers go to lunch and don't return. They don't show up. And this is when paying the callers a wage! From my perspective, it wasn't worth the hassle.

Perhaps you'll find someone who has the commitment, the drive, the energy and the talent to be a good commission appointment setter. As far as I'm concerned, that would be like winning the lottery.

Two more thoughts.

First, to attract someone into a role like this, you really have to be paying an hourly rate. I'd skip commission entirely. Your retention will be much better, depending on how well you screen candidates.

Second, if you're going the commission route, the rate has to be big enough to be worthwhile. Yes, maybe 5% IS an appropriate *percentage* of the sale to give an appointment setter--but is it a significant-enough amount of *money* to be worth the person's time?

You'll have to figure this out with your own numbers and see if a person can really make a livable wage out of your numbers.

After all, they don't get paid unless the owners do their job, too. If they don't sell, the setter doesn't make anything. Personally, I would not want to hand my financial fortunes over to someone else like that.

Is Your "Game" Rigged for the Setter to Fail?

Can the setter really make the number of dials necessary to succeed?

Let's say your service is priced at $5000. 5% of that is $250.

I don't know what the livable wage is in your area--in NY and LA it's going to be much higher than, say, Portland, OR or where I am in Wilmington, NC--but let's say the setter needs a good $2500 a month to scrape by.

That's $2500/250 = 10 sales.

10 SALES.

Not 10 appointments set.

We still have to back into that number.

Now if you're the owner, or the person doing the selling, how good are you?

Most people overestimate their competency level. They believe they're going to close almost all of the prospects who come their way. Not so!

Not even half.

Let's say, generously, 1 in 3.

Maybe your setter does a bang-up qualification job (Secret: that's what you're really paying them for) and you really can close 1 in 2. But let's go 1 in 3 and I still think that's generous.

So now your setter has to bring you 3 X 10 = 30 leads every month.

An Overlooked Factor in Commission for Appointment Setters

How long's your sales cycle?

Hadn't thought of that, had you!

Will Your Setter Survive Month One?

That means you're going to have to back out the final of these 30 leads to the date that leaves enough time to finish that cycle before the month expires and our poor setter runs out of time to make their revenue target.

See what I'm saying?

What this translates to, in English, is your setter's probably going to have a pretty bad first month.

Why?

Because they're filling the funnel.

Unless they go nuts, like aiming for 60 or 90 or 100 leads to cram into that funnel, the odds of enough getting through the sales cycle and closed and paid so they can be paid is low.

So let me ask you this:

If you work hard for a month and at the end things look terrible and you didn't make the money you expected--despite your effort being "on target"--

how do you feel?

Like you want to quit, right?

Unless you want a rotating door of setters, I strongly suggest you set up the equation to it supports your hire and gives them the time and financial reward they need to succeed. Which means they HAVE to survive through to that second month...keep putting in the effort, and seeing the good results appear.

Number of Dials Needed to Earn Commission for Appointment Setters

Back to the math...

To get those 30 leads (and remember, that is when the sales funnel is FULL, and your setter is continuing to load more leads into it to keep it full, and you have many prospects at various stages of the pipeline--not just at the beginning), how many people does your setter have to call?

We know, on average, that only 1 in 4 prospects dialed will be ready and available to talk today.

So 30 X 4 = 120 is your setter's ultra-basic, bare minimum number of dials. And really, I bet it will end up being double or triple that.

Does your setup, and your setter's situation, support them being able to make those dials?

And remember, this is with a decently mid-ticket offer of $5000. If your price is actually lower, the number of leads and dials are going to be much higher.

These calculations will of course vary depending on your situation. My intention here is to give you a sense of what's involved and where the perils are.

Just remember: Dials >>> Leads >>> Sales

2021 Update:

The original post was written in 2015. The current update for commission for appointment setters as of 2021 is this... the same rules apply. An organization I did some work for recently hired a returning-to-work mother to do what I would call luke warm calling—the calls were not cold, but they were not quite warm, either. Lead reactivation was the focus. She was highly skilled and "overqualified" for the role. Also, she had little phone experience.

The Outcome of This 2021 Appointment Setting Hiring Decision

I was not much involved in this decision and provided some scripting assistance. The fact is that she did not last one day in the role. No better example of the principle, "Perception Is Reality" than this has come up in the past while: to her, these were cold calls. She was not prepared for what she perceived as the loneliness of the role. The takeaway for you in 2021 is: filter for people who understand what they're getting into here, and like it. Do not take people who come along, even if they look good from a skills point of view. "They'll grow into the role I imagine at a step above this one" is not something to bank on. And the simple math we discussed above continues to apply.

>> Jason Kanigan is a worldwide authority on cold calling. Want his help? Visit the corporate services site here. <<

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How Much Time Should You Spend Prospecting?

How Much Time Should You Spend ProspectingHow much time should you spend prospecting? Nearly any sales trainer you ask will answer, "More than you are now." And they're right. But in a quantifiable number, what does that mean?

[first published April 9, 2014]

Two approaches spring to mind. One is more scientific than the other, but they'll both work.

An Easy Approach To Answering How Much Time Should You Spend Prospecting

First, an easy-to-apply system of dividing up your time depending on the maturity of your business. Prospecting is the act of picking up the phone or going to networking events or doing anything that can directly get you into a qualifying conversation with a prospect. Fulfilling is doing the work you promised to do so you can earn your revenue. Marketing is writing free reports, setting up autoresponder systems, sending direct mail, and anything else that is passive in its approach to attracting prospects to you.

Maturity Prospecting Fulfilling Marketing
New (0-12 months) 75% 15% 10%
Established (12-24 months) 50% 30% 20%
Mature (24 months+) 35% 35% 30%

Surprising? Consider: in the beginning, no one knows you exist. You have yet to develop the reputation as "The person to talk to about X." No referrals will be coming in.But 12 months into the business, should you survive, the situation will have started to turn. People you have never directly spoken to will have been sent to you by someone who heard about your business from a past customer. You will get some orders more easily; it won't be necessary to spend as much of your time prospecting.

However, you can never, ever, cut prospecting activities out entirely. You must always be talking to new people.

And in the beginning, what else do you have to do? Don't stop just because you got an order.

Keep filling the funnel.

"How do I do that?" Get the 10-year-proven SALES ON FIRE - Module One program that teaches you how to prospect, qualify and close...for just $1 with this special offer!

The Precise Method for Determining How Much Time Should You Spend Prospecting

Second, we can determine the number of dials we must make to reach our revenue target. And it will always be more than we had vaguely thought. A lot more. But that number will come down as we move forward. We'll become more competent, and sales will come in from referrals, direct marketing, talks and other lead generation methods.

We covered the exact method for figuring this out in How To Succeed In Sales.

You'll be shocked to learn that hitting your revenue target will likely require 5 hours of your day at the beginning. Again, though, what else are you doing? You don't have projects. Marketing is passive and slow. It won't get you the conversations you need to make sales and earn that revenue. Waiting around will only produce month-end panic and, sooner or later, failure.

How much time should you spend prospecting is based on the maturity of your business. If you are well-known, have great brand awareness in your marketplace leading to a ton of inbound leads, are receiving a bunch of referrals every month, and have money in the bank to cover upcoming expenses, then you can afford to ease back on the prospecting gas pedal. Otherwise, slam that pedal to the floor and it's Full Speed Ahead!

2021 Update on How Much Time You Should Spend Prospecting

Reality hasn't changed for prospecting activity in the seven years since this post was first published. Whether you're a business founder or salesperson, you must commit to finding and developing your own leads. You cannot rely on magic thinking or the company to do it for you. Not taking responsibility for prospecting will lead to an empty funnel. And failure to focus enough time to it, which is always more than you think or would rather be doing, will result in the long term failure of your business or role.

Many people believe their employer will provide enough leads. But we have seen over many years the constant mismatch of prospect leads provided by the marketing department with the requirements of the sales department for what makes a qualified lead. Frankly, we have discovered marketing leads hidden under the keyboards of salespeople at their desks: not a fit, and pushed away.

The salesperson is running a mini business-within-a-business, a founder of their own destiny just as the founder of an entire business is. You cannot leave lead generation and filling your funnel to chance. Set enough time aside for prospecting starting today.

>> Jason Kanigan is a sales force developer. Get the proven SALES ON FIRE - Module One program and LEARN HOW TO COLD CALL EFFECTIVELY AND SELL with this special offer for a whole $1 (You won't believe how crazy it is) <<