Most people I speak with hates sales.
The fear of rejection is the blocker for most, making it impossible for them to even reach out to prospects - and the sad thing is…
… Not reaching out and getting a rejection has the same outcome → no sale.
Reaching out is without a doubt the biggest differentiator when doing sales. The goal should be to speak with as many people as possible.
But how do you get started?
I used the following approach to land my first client, and it is what I use today to keep track of dialogues and prospects:
Make a list of prospects
Write a standard + a personal message
Reach out like crazy
The coffee chat
Always be closing
The approach
Make a list of prospects
Lists are seriously a powerful life hack. It helps you with structuring everything that you have on-going and will be a game changer for reaching out.
I created a Google Sheets and just started naming all my prospects.
For each person I noted:
Company / employer
the priority (based on likelihood of buying),
a status (contacted, in dialogue, etc.)
comment (if something else is relevant to add)
It is difficult to remember everybody, so I went on my LinkedIn -> My network -> connections, and then just browsed through each and everyone and added them to my list if I thought they might be relevant to speak to.
I was not picky. My only selection criterium was ‘are they buying consultants now or in the future’. After a few hours I had +75 prospects to reach out to.
Feel free to copy my prospect template here
Write a standard + a personal message:
The next step is to compose an honest, personal, short, and direct message that you can send. You will probably not nail it the first time, but the good thing is, that you can easily iterate on the message every time you send it out.
This is one of the messages that I send:
_______________
“Hey Prospect – I hope everything is well!
Would you be up for a coffee and a catch up soon?
To be completely honest, my startup is shutting down, and I am therefore starting on a new adventure as a freelance consultant, and I am out scouting for cool projects.
I really enjoyed working with you and Company X on the Cloud Strategy and would love to hear more about the organizational change that you recently implemented – sounds like a great move.
Anyways, looking forward to hearing back from you!
All the best,
Palm”
_________________
The above applies the following principles
Be direct:
Clearly state what you want in the very beginning of the email. E.g., ‘A coffee chat and a catch up.’
Background:
Tell them why you are reaching out in. E.g., ‘I am starting a new endeavour and going freelance + looking for projects.’
Personalized:
Tell them why you are reaching out to them specifically. E.g., ‘Had a great time working with you earlier’
Standardized:
The first part of the message is standard and the same few lines that I sent to everybody at the time, the last part was personalized for every person I wrote to.
Reach out like crazy
Next up, is all about the grunt work of reaching out. There is not much to it but to do it.
Take your list of prospects, sort on priority, and then just get cracking.
A few things to keep in mind:
Reach out to at least 20 people a day
Track the status in your prospect list
Continue until you have too many dialogues on going for you to handle
If you’re not getting the output you want from reaching out, then double the input
Make a goal for how many rejections you can get – the important thing is to reach out
The coffee chat
Some dialogues will die, others will lead to the famous coffee chat.
The purpose of the coffee chat is to get a meeting with the prospect and have a good catch up.
And to have a good catch up you need to prepare:
A good story:
Prepare a good story for why you are ended up where you are – A tip is to go from struggle to optimism. E.g., I failed with my startup, and now I am super hyped to go freelance as a consultant.
Personal questions:
Stalk the person’s socials and get a feeling for whether something cool has happened in their life. E.g., if they have been traveling recently or just got a kid – ask them “how’s life, been traveling lately?”
Professional questions:
Same as above, research the company that they work for, ask about their strategy, their plans and their issues.
Hypotheses:
Ensure that you have some hypotheses going in for issues and challenges where you might be able to help and be prepared to come with some ideas for fixing them.
A few tips for the coffee chat:
Remember to make the conversation enjoyable. Do not stress the meeting and keep it casual – it’s not an interview, consider it a friendly catchup.
If they have issues that are intangible or not structured, suggest a free 2 hour working session to structure the problem and help them make a high-level plan and approach. The rule of reciprocity will make them feel obligated to give something in return.
Always ask if they have someone in their network that they think you should meet and speak to. By the end of the day, they might not be the right person to speak with, but they might know the right person.
Always be closing
The results will come if you keep at it.
Suddenly, you will have a prospect that has a project that they need your help with, and then all focus should go to close that project.
Depending on the project, do whatever you can to convince them that you are the right person, here’s some tips.
You have done it before:
Show them your work and/or project credentials showing that you have experience with exactly this
You understand the problem:
Quickly structure an overview of the problem, e.g., using an issue tree
You have a proven approach:
Make a few slides showing that you know what steps that needs to be considered as part of the project.
You have a plan:
Provide them with a high-level project plan outlining the activities and timeline required to deliver
You are ready for negotiations:
Always be ready for negotiations. Good idea to have a clear idea on your pricing, how you can scope/descope various items, how to deliver over a shorter period etc.
Finally, you will end up with a statement of work, the actual contract for the project, covering the scope, storyline, deliverables, prices, etc.
Be as helpful as possible with shaping it and make sure that it covers what you have agreed and is something that you feel comfortable delivering.
Nothing to it but to do it.
The approach listed here is just one way of selling. It works for me, and I am happy with it.
It’s not overly complex and it focuses on just reaching out and getting in dialogue with as many people as possible.
And if it doesn’t lead to immediate sales, often you get an opportunity to engage and grow your network.
My final recommendation to you is just to start reaching out, how you do it and how much can change going a long, but there is no better time to start than now.
Very helpful n practical. Easy to implement. Thank you very much.
Hope you don't mind me sharing my story here too:
https://www.richardmillington.com/p/how-i-got-my-first-clients?utm_source=publication-search
Mine was far more about luck than your approach here.