Halloween is almost here so let's talk about the 'bloody' business of sales prospecting. I'm referring to the sometimes frightening ways you speak to sales prospects over the phone to hook their interest in your product. Does it feel like a 'horror show' at times? Do you choke under pressure? In general, are you making a 'bloody' mess of things, and scaring away your best prospects? 

Salespeople tend to scare off their prospects because of their overuse of the ‘elevator pitch’ to get conversation started with prospects on the phone. Often times, the ‘elevator pitch’ can have the same frightening effect upon prospects as yelling BOOOO!

To avoid spooking your prospects, try asking them some qualifying questions first to determine if they are ‘bleeding the need’, and qualified to buy your product. If you’re a gold caller you already know that the focus and the attention questions work best to connect your prospect to the problem, or the ‘bleeding’ that you prevent, and to close for more of the prospect’s attention to discuss how and where you can apply the tourniquet to stop the ‘bleeding’ altogether. 

When speaking with sales prospects it may not be in your best interests to tell them everything about the benefits of your product until you have figured out where the 'bleeding' problem is coming from. When prospects ask you questions about your product, don't be so quick to answer their questions right away. Take your time, and use your gold call script to find the open 'wound'. Get your prospect to 'bleed' with a problem by asking them your gold call focus and attention questions.

Getting your prospects to share their problem with you is like getting them to 'bleed' for a solution. The more 'blood', or problem you find, the greater the sense of urgency on the part of the prospect to find a solution. And the more you can get your prospects to 'bleed with the need' the better your chances of getting them to focus upon what you can do stop the 'bleeding', solve the problem, and close the sale. Now that's the best 'bloody' part of all!