The #1 challenge for most salespeople, and small business owners, is getting enough meetings with prospects for their product or service.
Getting through the door to have conversations that may lead to business opportunities seems to be getting harder every day. Today’s big disruptor, AI, may potentially make this situation even worse (hard to believe as the situation seems so tough already!)
For many companies selling a high-end product or service, a meeting is a prerequisite to a sale. A lack of meetings means a lack of sales opportunities, which means a lack of sales and revenue.
Some people think the solution to this problem is “to do more”, send more prospecting emails and make more cold calls. Some of these sources recommend using AI as an engine to generate more and more cold outreach.
I believe this approach fails to fully factor in the moves buyers will take to counter this tsunami of AI-generated spam. We do not want more emails or voice mails from sales reps. We have been trained that most of this outreach is low value and a waste of our time.
Be a generous networker
My view is that selling high value products and services will once again be built on a foundation of human relationships. Buyers will take calls from people that their friends and colleagues recommend.
To get referrals, sellers will need to build their network. They will need to be devote time and energy into building relationships with people who are not ideal clients but rather potential connectors to clients. In the current model of selling, salespeople only become interested in forming a relationship with someone after they show interest in buying their product (purchase intent–>relationship). In this new model, salespeople will need to invest in other people before they (or their connections) consider buying the salesperson’s product (relationship–>purchase intent).
Sellers will need to become “go givers”, as Bob Burg calls people willing to bring value to the buyer and their network in any way that they can. Only by being generous, will sellers become trusted advisors that buyers want to invite in time and again.
Be a knowledgeable consultant
Sellers will need to share knowledge with buyers to make the time they spend together valuable.
To do so, sellers will need to thoroughly educate themselves on clients’ industries, jobs, and responsibilities. Being ignorant of a client’s situation will lead to sales opportunities lost. A quick review of a client’s Linkedin profile and website will no longer be enough. Sellers will be expected to have done their research using the type of AI tools that are already widely available.
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Try ChatGPT prompts like “I am new to the alternative energy industry and need to learn about it quickly. What are the best books to read?” and “Give me a summary of the book ‘Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air’ by David MacKay in 500 words. Use bullet points” to get you up to speed on an industry quickly. If you want to know more about these kind of prompts email me.
Summary
- In the age of AI, sending more cold emails, or making more cold calls, will not be sufficient to fix the problem of getting enough sales meetings.
- Human relationships will be the key to selling any product or service with a moderately high price tag.
- Salespeople and business owners will need to invest in building their networks.
- Sellers will need to use AI to make them “mini consultants”, bringing valuable knowledge to their clients and network.