Prospect Profiling: Agree on the Best Targets First
Although the word “profiling” may have a negative connotation in some capacities, profiling in sales is not only permissible, it is paramount to success. According to Merriam Webster, profiling is defined as “the act or process of targeting a person (or organization) on the basis of known traits, tendencies, characteristics or behaviors”.
A successful sales organization knows all about targeting customers; understanding who they are, what goals they are working toward, what industry wide challenges commonly prevent them from achieving their objectives, and what motivates them to buy. These “traits, tendencies, characteristics or behaviors” facilitate an understanding of how a company’s product or service aligns with the marketplace and provides a sustainable business model for success. In a business setting, targeting may work for Marketing, but on the streets, reps need the specific criteria to go out there and win.
Identify the Criteria to Increase Success
Have you fine-tuned the profiling expertise of your sales department? It’s not hard to define your target audience at a high level, but have you taken a granular look at who the ideal buyers are in your market? Who are your reps calling on? Are they picking out prospects randomly from an organizational line up, or do they know whom they are trying to identify? Have you profiled the roles of those who can actually make or influence a buying decision in your industry or market? Do you understand what they’re trying to achieve, what challenges they may be facing, and how to align specific nuances of your product or service directly with their particular roles? The profiles of the roles of each person at the decision maker level may only be slightly diverse, but a rep’s clear understanding of the individuals, carefully profiled, can make all the difference in their success.
Ready, Fire, Aim Won’t Work; How We Help
Our Sales Process Definition Workshops provide an opportunity to collaborate with our clients, utilizing research and our joint industry experience and expertise, to sharpen an organization’s profiling aptitude. Together, we document the profiles of the compulsory decision makers and buying influences required to facilitate a sale with Marketing and Sales leadership. We help pinpoint business objectives, needs, problems and challenges of the decision makers and those in a buying influence role. Next, we help our clients carefully determine how specific components of their products and services align with their particular targeted audience profile. In a messaging session, we help build a customized strategy for the rep to use when preparing for a conversation with the target audience.
Decrease the Cost of Sales with Clear Targets
Putting profiling strategies into practice speeds up the sale by providing valuable tools for reps to help them deliver a focused and consistent message, which qualifies the prospect sooner, shortens the sales cycle, minimizes defeat, and keeps the reps on their beat closing more business and doing what they do so well. Profiling? Not only permissible…a powerful strategy for success.