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Sales Tips: 3 Ways to Get Prospects to Pay Attention

Your prospective customers are busy people. Use these 3 quick tips to get them to respond to you.

When you're running your company's sales effort, you can't afford not to resonate with your prospects. Earlier this week, I shared some of prospecting expert Jill Konrath's tips for getting in the door to see a frazzled customer.

As a follow-up, here are some of Konrath's best tips on getting the most out of sales calls with a prospect.

Take Charge of the Next Step

Be a leader; take charge. Say gently, "Let's get this on the calendar" or, "Based on my experience working with other people who are similar to you, one of the next things we need to focus on is this." Lead your prospect forward to the next step–otherwise they get lost.

Most sales people are followers; as a result, they say things like "I'll be glad to get back with you" or "I'd be glad to get this information for you." Yet our customers are crazy busy--they need us to step forward. Say, "You need to bring in these three people and I'll need to get this person from my company involved"--be directive, and move the process along.

You can't just be reactive and hopeful. Nice doesn't work.

Become a Visible Irritant

If a buyer is not getting back to you, you have to become a visible irritant–something that has to get done. Nothing wrong with that–your dentist is a visible irritant. You know you need to get your teeth cleaned, but if you stall, the office will remind you--because it's important.

A lot of people think, "I don't want to pester them." Sometimes it's your job to be a pest. If you believe that your product and services can truly make a difference in their organization, it is your job to help them move forward.

Be Specific to the Decision Maker

You need to get someone's attention, as opposed to selling a product. Don't say, "we sell this stuff or this printing gizmo." Stick to the issues that matter to your prospect. Do your research, get their attention and build that credibility--then they're going to want to talk to you again. When they talk to you, they should say, "Ooh, that's interesting." Products and services don't make them say that.

Visit JillKonrath.com for a free prospecting tool kit: It includes a 45-minute audio on how to sell to busy people, as well as help crafting messages that matter, and 9 tips to get people to call them back. You can also click to get the full interview audio.

Author, speaker and consultant Tom Searcy is the foremost expert in large account sales. With Hunt Big Sales, he's helped clients land more than $5 billion in new sales. Click to get Tom's weekly tips, or to learn more about Hunt Big Sales. @tomsearcy