Do you want your prospects to beg for your help?
Well, not begging on their hands and knees, but having them come to you, knowing they’ve found the person and company that can help them and that they’ve chosen you to help them even before you talk to them.
Studies have shown that roughly 70% of buying decisions are made prior to a prospect talking to a salesperson/business face-to-face—and this number is growing every day.
If you’re asking what can you do to stop begging for business and have prospects beg you, then keep reading.
One of the reasons why people typically don’t beg for your help is because they’re afraid to make a purchase and then regret it. Also, most people hate being sold to.
BUT HOW DO WE CHANGE THAT?
How can you entice someone to beg you when you feel like all you’re doing is selling them something?
That leads me to these eight recommendations.
8 guaranteed ways to get prospects to beg you to help them
Prospects that Come in as Inbound Marketing Leads
When prospects come to your business as inbound marketing leads, you’ve set your business up for them to beg you to help them.
Once you’ve identified an inbound marketing lead, your helpful marketing and sales can guarantee they come to you. They’re in essence raising their hands and saying, “Yes, I have an acknowledged interest. I can use it, I’m interested in it, and I want to know more about your product or service.”
Within the larger inbound-marketing methodology, a prospect will be introduced to your level of experience, knowledge, and ability to help them with their problems. An inbound marketing lead will be nurtured and come to your business when they’re ready to buy, rather than you having to chase them.
“Adopting an inbound strategy doubles average website conversion rates, from 6% to 12%” (source)
You are an Expert
Being publicly seen as a topic expert or the go-to person in your industry will position you as an educator rather than someone trying to sell something.
Who receives most of the questions about your company? Sales.
Who has the answers to the questions prospects have? Sales.
Who is best positioned as an expert in the areas of your prospects’ problems? Sales.
Therefore, one of the most important strategies you can implement in selling is an educational strategy. But to do that, you must be an expert in your field and position yourself and your sales teams as such.
A Harvard Business Review article states, “Being an expert just doesn’t happen to you. You’re responsible for your own development.” (Source)
If you’re uncomfortable with the “expert” label, remember this: Being an expert is relative. In other words, if you know more about something than someone else, to them, you’re an expert.
Be Confident You Can Solve the Problem
In Selling with Intention, author Mentjes poses the question, “Would you rather buy from someone who is confident they can solve your problem or someone who just wants to get to know you better?”
Most of the time, prospects really need to hear how you can solve the real problem, the real pain that they are experiencing. Both products and services solve very specific problems.
To uncover the problem, you need to make sure you’re asking the right questions.
Typically, you’ll know what questions to ask if this is something your company has done well in the past.
When you’re confident you can solve your prospects’ problems and display that knowledge publicly, prospects will come to you for help.
Consultative and Helpful Sales Process
To be a consultant and have a helpful sales process, you have to talk to prospects about their questions.
Asking them a lot of questions about how they conduct their business, what processes they use, and how their problems impact them and their company.
Before you try to help, gather information about how they operate and see what you can learn from them.
Follow these three simple principles:
- Listen
- Teach
- Qualify
Focus on Good Fit
When you focus on a good fit for your own benefit, it will only result in unhappy customers.
However, when you want to help them find the right solution for their needs, even if that answer happens not to be the one you sell, you’ll truly be searching for a good fit.
Prospects will beg for your help if they’re a good fit for the problems your business solves.
A good fit is mutually beneficial. Ask yourself if their business will benefit you as well. That may sound contrary to what I’ve been saying so far, but hear me out.
If the transaction isn’t right for you or your company, you’ll be less motivated to help.
Immediate Need
The immediate needs of today’s prospects are complex. They’re often confusing wants and needs, making it difficult to identify true, immediate needs.
To identify immediate needs, use smart-form fields and progressive profiling throughout your lead-capturing process.
Platforms like HubSpot allow you to replace previously captured form fields with a new set of fields when a user accesses another form on your site.
Leads will provide a little more information about themselves with each form submission, including how you can help them achieve their goals and whether or not they have an immediate need.
If a person meets the criteria, then he or she can be considered a prime prospect for your help, and you should actively and aggressively direct your sales and marketing efforts toward helping this person.
A conversation at the right time and at the right stage of the prospect’s buying journey will create an opportunity for him or her to ask for your help.
Be observant.
Far too often, you are thinking about what you have to offer and sell rather than just listening to the needs of the person you’re talking to.
You can learn a lot by simply watching what others are doing and saying. Being observant sets the stage for identifying a prospect’s problems.
This takes practice. Here’s what I do.
Whenever I’m in a store, I pay attention to how people try to sell me products. I make note of ads and sales processes that stick with me. I don’t hang up when I receive marketing calls. Rather, I listen to how the product or service is being offered. The idea is to learn by listening and observing.
Conclusion
As anyone can tell you, being helpful is a big deal to us here at Uhuru, and our goal is always to identify the right solution based on the needs, goals, size, and constraints of the organizations and brands we work with. We also follow the ways listed above. This is why people want and “beg” for our help.
It’s Your Turn
What methods are you using?
Peter
