Selling Skills for Professionals: Prospecting

Learning Objectives

• To describe the scope and purpose of sales prospecting for professional services.
• To analyze the five rules of selling professional services.
• To develop a branding statement for themselves and their organization.
• To define the criteria for the clients they wish to target.
• To appreciate the importance of client pain points and how to identify them.
• To prepare materials for prospecting.
• To create a cold calling script for prospecting.
• To write a cold email or LinkedIn message to prospects including a strong subject line.
• To discuss the sorts of questions they can use to stimulate client engagement in a discussion.
• To move prospects onto the next stage of the selling process.

Course Description

Selling Skills for Professionals covers high involvement purchases where the commitment is a significant one for the purchaser. This covers relatively expensive business investments, but also purchase agreements that the purchaser feels will have a significant impact on their business – for example engaging an accountant or a lawyer, or a management consultant, and so on.

With a high involvement purchase, the client typically will consider a range of alternatives; will review a variety of information sources; and will evaluate product and service attributes in detail. This means that there is a relatively high barrier to surmount to get the potential client’s attention. A solid approach to prospecting and a well-structured sales process can increase that conversion rate and enhance your success in securing clients who will remain with you for the long term. 

The speaker Ross Maynard in this CPE/CPD marketing webinar will cover prospecting, that is identifying potential future clients and making the initial approach. 

Overview

• Agenda for selling skills for professionals

  4 mins
• People buy emotionally, not rationally

  12 mins
• Branding yourself

  18 mins
• Defining the criteria for your prospects

  29 mins
• Preparing materials for prospecting

  43 mins
• Making the approach

  63 mins
• Moving prospects to the next stage

  79 mins