If you lead the sales effort for your company, you’re often trying to start conversations with prospects who you’ve never met in-person. Making those connections over the past couple of months without face time at trade events, trade shows or drop-ins has been twice as hard. How can you convince people to be interested in your company, let alone take your cold call?
If you want a prospect to be interested in talking with you, start telling secrets.
I’m not talking about sharing private information or violating someone’s confidence. I’m talking about the valuable knowledge your company has but would never share on its website (out of fear that your competitors will see it).
Think about it. If you have an idea that would be valuable to your competitors, the odds are that customers and prospects are also interested. I’m always surprised when clients keep valuable ideas guarded until a competitor talks about it first, only to enter the conversation in second place.
Try this.
- Get your leadership team to agree to unveil one of its valuable “secrets.”
- Ask your marketing person to write a few paragraphs that will convey the right message to customers and prospects.
- Share the content as an ice-breaker for reaching prospects.
Remember, the goal is helping, not selling.
