Understanding what business executives want to accomplish and then showing them how you can help them achieve those goals creates value. Start by researching the market and the company you’re pitching. Know what their corporate values are and read their annual reports and the news page on their website. Subscribe to Google Alerts to stay on top of breaking news and trends that affect your target market and specific prospects. When you call a potential client to educate him about an issue that he may not even be aware of yet, you position yourself as an expert in his industry and stand a much better chance of getting an appointment.
When you’ve connected with a prospect, uncover his needs by asking high gain, open-ended questions to give the executive a chance to tell you what’s important to both the company and him as a buyer. Starting with “Can you tell me about…” is a great way to start discovering opportunities. Continue with open-ended questions such as “How are you dealing with that now?” or “When will you be budgeting for that purchase?”
Show value after the buyer answers each question by explaining how your product or service can solve the issues he’s facing and how you can build a partnership with him to accomplish his goals. If he needs to reduce expenses, you need to clearly demonstrate how you can do that. You can also provide insight into problems that your prospect may not even know he has, leaving him feeling that the time you spent together was worthwhile.
When you consistently help your clients achieve their goals and provide value that positively affects their bottom line, you will be a valuable asset for those companies as well as the buyers.
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar