I Came Across Your Profile and Noticed We Both (Checks Notes)...

Tell me if you get this about 100 times a week…

Selling is not that hard.

It’s a simple formula.

Ready for it?

Are you sitting down?

Okay.

Here we go.

Find a need. Fill it.

Find a need. Fill it.

Find a need. Fill it.

Find a need. Fill it.

“But Wes, if I’m doing outbound prospecting, how do I know who has a need?”

Great question.

Here’s how NOT to find who has a need: Send them inane communications.

“Ahhh, Wes, what does ‘inane’ mean?”

Okay, here’s another way to NOT find who has a need: Use big words or industry jargon, because…

It also makes you appear to be a pompous ass or a know-it-all, and that’s rarely a good idea.

“Great, Wes, so now I have some ideas on how NOT to prospect. Can you give me something to actually DO to fill my pipeline?”

Yes.

“Ahhh, okay, Wes. Are you saying I need to be a mind reader? Do I ask to see their palms or what their zodiac sign is?”

Bless your heart. You found this post just in time.

When you’re prospecting, you start with an educated guess.

When I sold for a tech startup, we had a few main verticals:

• Healthcare

• Manufacturing

• Financial Services

Within companies in those industries, the CIO was the best initial point of contact, but I’d also reach out to IT directors, who could bring us in and be our internal champion as he ran it up the flagpole, and CFOs since our solution was more expensive, yet it had a better ROI than their typical technology.

By knowing the benefits of my offering and how three to five different levels of users within the organization could benefit from it, I opened with either a question or an interesting, demonstrable fact that they were probably struggling with daily.

For example, let’s say I’m selling a CRM and reaching out to C-level executives at SMBs in a specific industry in which I’ve had success.

I might reach out with:

Now compare that opening to what I received this morning:

You only get one chance to be deleted into oblivion for all eternity.

Don’t focus on closing, like all the goo-roos tell ya and sell ya.

Focus on the opening because you can’t close someone who never gives you the time of day.

Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.