Sales Tips – Look for Trigger Events – Trigger Events in the context of selling appears to originated from Jill Konrath. A trigger event can come in many forms, such as a strategic initiative, a change of direction or focus from a company board. Which could create an opportunity to approach a prospect and as Konrath alludes. It could also earn you as a informed sales professional, the ‘price of admission’. Change is in the air and you could capitalise on that opportunity to help facilitate change.
If you decide to email the prospect, try and incorporate the trigger event, or soundbite in your email subject line, or a veiled insinuation.
A compelling trigger events can be a sign of a successful opportunity!
By researching pre telephone conversation you are searching for a piece of information that you can use within an email or phone call to gain the prospects respect and get noticed, as Konrath suggest, it could earn you the ‘price of admission’.
Think about their pictures – What’s in it for them? How do you keep somebody on the phone and grab their attention? Well, think about your value proposition and incorporate your proposition into the company research or trigger event research you have found.
Analyse ‘their pictures’ and carefully craft your value proposition or value statement.
David Malone of the Sales Institute of Ireland defines a value statement as ‘a clear statement of tangible results a customer gets from using your products or services. It focuses on outcomes, stresses the value of your offering, talks about action, metrics, movements’. Think about percentages, numbers, progress.
Send a LinkedIn request to your prospect in preparation for commonality conversation on the next call or meeting. Check out your prospects LinkedIn profile and see if you can find some commonality. If you have something in common with someone, you have a better chance of being liked. Remember, people still buy from people!
To summarise, deliberately insert language from your prospects website, thinking of their business, their customers, their photographs, researching LinkedIn, keeping an eye out for a trigger event. Always remembering the best sales executives pose the most questions and utilise their internal CRM more often.
Remember, if you need help with any aspect of your Sales process, consultancy, lead generation (digital and traditional), metrics, motivation, etc. Reach out, send me a mail (diarmuid@digitalsales.ie) or give the team a call.
Diarmuid Haughian – Business Development Director – Digital Sales
Dip. International Selling, Cert. Digital Marketing, MSc. BITS, MA Career Guidance
