4. Sales Prospecting Tips: Ignite the Relationship

When it comes to sales prospecting tips, one of the most important things to consider is the initial impression you make upon your contacts.

Step 4: Ignite the Relationship

Sales Prospecting Tips: Effective Follow Up That Gets Fast Results

First impressions are critical. That is why I have developed the "Ignition Message". The Ignition Message is a proven, proprietary way for you to introduce yourself and follow up so that every new relationship you make accomplishes all of these tasks, and more:

• Makes a professional first impression that captivates your reader and sets you up for success.
• Filters every new prospect by taking their pulse to see if they are "Ready, Willing and Able" (RWA) to do business with you right now.
• Takes control of the relationship and places you in a dominant role so that your hottest prospects follow your directions.
• Creates anticipation and set expectations so that your reader looks forward to future communications from you and gives your messages special treatment.

Here's the BEST way to follow up with new prospects that want to buy from you right now

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Businesses and consumers today like to research on the web when they are getting ready to make purchases. That is why it is critical for you to create educational, entertaining and engaging content that they are likely to come across as they perform their research. Of course, as we've shown in Steps 2 and 3, you can gain significant advantages by delivering this valuable content on your own website or blog, which I call your "Home Field".

If you are doing it correctly, the way I show you in ConnectQualify, then your new prospect will request new information from you which activates your "Ignition Funnel" (your Ignition Message, plus a cleverly designed, brief automated sequence of follow-up messages that generates impressive results).

Remember, because these prospects are actively searching for a solution, there is a good chance that they may already be "Ready, Willing and Able" to buy from you, so you want to make sure that you follow up immediately, take their "temperature" and set the tone for the future of your new relationship.

Make a Professional First Impression

People will request information from you in the form of completing forms on your website. The first message they receive from you is so important, that we have a name for it. It is called the "Ignition Message" because it lights the fuse and launches your new relationship like a rocket to Mars!

The Ignition Message also fulfills your promise to deliver them valuable information. If your prospect has responded to a "Lead Magnet", make sure to give them a link to access that information in this message. If your Lead Magnet was a series of videos or messages, then now is the time to introduce your prospect to the first message in that series.

Filter for RWA

Even though you may be meeting your connection for the very first time, it is very possible that they are extremely close to making a buying decision. That is why we immediately take their "buying temperature" or "pulse" to see if they are Ready, Willing and Able to buy from you right now. This ingenious filtering step will help you immediately find your hottest leads so that you can quickly close more sales while letting your automated follow up system professionally take care of those that don't require your personal attention at this time.

The most effective way to do this is by giving them a "Call to Action" in the form of a link to your "RWA Qualifier" page that we discussed previously in Step 3. Be on the lookout for contacts that complete this form and also show other signs of interest such as clicking on links, visiting multiple web pages and reaching out to you with requests for more information. You will see many more examples of this in ConnectQualify for LinkedIn 101 and ConnectQualify for LinkedIn 201.

+ Pro Tip

If: You give your reader links in your Ignition Message
Then:  You can monitor interest and gain intelligence from their actions

Use Calls to Action in Your Ignition Message To: 

• Monitor Interest
• Segment Leads
• Advance Lead Scoring

Advanced Technique: In ConnectQualify for LinkedIn 201 I show you a clever little way that you can use "Calls to Action" in your "Ignition Message" to measure their interest, collect valuable intelligence, segment your leads and even apply Lead Scoring. This "A-List" marketing secret is hardly ever used by the majority of businesses, but savvy companies like Amazon do it all the time because it is so effective at closing immediate sales.

Take Control of the Relationship

Buyers and consumers are looking for help solving problems. They are looking for you to take them by the hand and lead them to solutions.

If you provide them a "Buyers Path", people that are "Ready, Willing and Able" will follow it. Do this by giving them directions, and showing them exactly what to do next.

Make sure that the tone of your messages is polite, but authoritative. Every message must also contain at least one "Call to Action", which could simply be a link to an article or to your "RWA Qualifier" page.

Create Anticipation and Set Expectations

It's critical that your email messages actually get opened and read by your prospects. The easy way to make sure this happens is to create a bit of suspense and drama so that people can't wait for your next message to arrive.

You can create that same sense of anticipation by simply telling your reader what to expect in your next email message (The best place to do this in the P.S. statement).

Of course, creating this anticipation, also sets the expectation that you will deliver on your promise. Fulfilling promises is a powerful trust building action. But not fulfilling promises is a fast way to kill your new relationship. So make sure that you already have your follow up messages ready and scheduled to be sent.

The "Ignition Funnel" is your first sequence of messages to your prospect after they request information. The entire Ignition Funnel should last between 5 and 14 days. A great way to achieve this is to offer a "5 Step" solution as a Lead Magnet and deliver each step one at a time. If you stagger your messages two to three days apart, you'll be in great shape.

There's a good chance that you will find a certain percentage of your new prospects are "Ready, Willing and Able" to hire you, or buy from you, right now!

That's great news because you will gain valuable intelligence that will help you close the sale quickly.

But the majority of your prospects will not be at that stage at this time. They could get their tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. Whenever that happens, you want to make sure that you are right there with a new message and "Call to Action" so that you become only logical solution to solve their problem.

This is the purpose of Step 5 FollowUpForever™ which I will show you in a couple of days.