Self-Prospecting - Pt. 2 - FIND SALES!
Feel like every sequel has to have a tag line. Feels like mine proves I'll never have a career writing tag lines in Hollywood.
When we last left Planet Self-Prospecting, we were discussing why it was so critical to invest real time into it...and the results it produced. Today's mission is straight forward; WHERE CAN WE GO TO FIND THESE LEADS?
Fine, I'll stop with the sequel stuff now. Here are important places to go and be conscious about in your efforts to mine leads:
GAMES!: In my trainings I often ask reps to picture themselves as Cutco knife salespeople. Imagine there was a convention of 20,000 people who needed knives all showing up to the same place, all wearing Cutco knife t-shirts and jerseys, and yelling their heads off. With what level of ferocity would those door-to-door warriors take knowing that they wouldn't have to knock on any doors for months if they attacked this correctly? That's the desperation a #sportsbiz sales rep needs to take into game nights. Our fans are there, we don't know most of their names, and MANY paid WAY too much money to get there. Find them!
Other Teams Games: Don't go to another team's game in your town without also being on the hunt. Write down the names of the sponsors. Walk the suite level and write down the names on the doors. If they tag the seats, write the names of the businesses down. When they thank the groups in the house, write those names down, too. If they spend money on sports, they'll spend money on sports. Don't look at it as the other team beating you there, look at them as having done a lot of heavy lifting for you already.
Networking Events: I wrote a whole article on this, needless to say, I'm a huge believer in networking events. You just need to do it proactively while you are there, and make it a consistent part of your sales process. Remember, you will always have the coolest brand in the room. That's the opportunity.
The Internet (B2C Division): Social media! Your fans are connecting with your team online. They are responding to news on Facebook, posting pictures to Instagram, debating with their friends on Twitter, writing reviews on Yelp, etc. Write the names down and run them through your database. If they are taking time out of their lives to speak about your team...they are absolutely worth chasing. Just remember to respond back through that social media channel/post...otherwise it's super creepy.
The Internet (B2B Division): I've got a column coming on this in 2020, but you can do more than just see who you should be calling on the internet. Are your parents in construction? Look up all the local construction companies. See that your local business magazine just released their top places to work? Reach out to their HR departments to congratulate them. See that a business is new to your area via social media posts? Show up at their doorstep to welcome them. Be consistent prospecting B2B online, and you'll be consistent selling B2B. Don't wait for your team to give you leads in this space.
Walking Around: The best investment a rep can make is in their teams gear. Even if you get a lot, get more. Wear the polo on the golf course. Wear the workout gear to the gym. Wear the jacket while you're taking your dog to the dog park. Wear your team's pin on your business clothes. On Friday nights when you go out...wear normal crap, no need to rep the team then. Otherwise? Your team is awesome, your team's brand is awesome, people think your job is cool Put yourself in position to benefit from that as much as you possibly can. I've closed multiple deals that started at the golf course, multiple deals that started while walking my dog, and one of my biggest that started on-line at a Subway. Give yourself the chance. Your commission check will be MUCH larger than that shirt was.
Use Your Situation: I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Your brand is cool in your city. People want to talk about it. At a restaurant? Introduce yourself to the GM. At the dentist? Casually drop that you work for the team...and your team works with other dentists. At anywhere where they have their business cards up front? TAKE ONE! There's an existential quote that says, 'Where you go, there you are.' Super deep, right? Well turn it into a business opportunity and it'll have WAY more meaning for you. Try, 'Wherever you go, take or leave a business card.' Not as catchy, but will produce way more money for you.
One of the challenges of self-prospecting is self-prospecting itself...as we learned in part 1. Hopefully you can see from these bullet points that the challenge isn't how difficult it is...it's just that you have to be consistent with it. This quote from one of my favorite authors, Weldon Long, is everything. One of the biggest challenges I've always had in my career was consistency. Super high highs, super low lows. The more I learned to be consistent in my approach, though, and do efficient things that consistently generated sales, the more successful I was. Self-prospecting is FAR more efficient than anything else you'll do in sales...you just have to make the effort to do it. Because as Weldon Long also says...
