TLDR: Use current events in your prospects industry to get that meeting, drive FUD, and/or even speak to potential growth.
No one likes sales people. We are gross lizard people that harass our prospects and can’t take no for an answer. Prospects rarely listen to us, unless we have a great relationship with them. However, sometimes we can deliver impactful information that helps break through the noise. Some of that information is of current events that can drive your prospect to “jump.”
FUD
Think about it, if you see your neighbors house get flooded, wouldn’t you buy flood insurance or do something to prevent that from happening to you? That’s how prospects act often. Share information of a potential breach of a competitor or another company in their industry to illicit a response. That is what sales people often call FUD selling. FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Build FUD with your prospect to get them to act in your favor. You can discuss risk factors or even just the potential unknown of gaps you may have identified in their ecosystem. Taking things farther, you can even look at their competitors annual reports and 10k’s to review risk factors and identify if that risk factor was addressed prior to such a breach and the identified negative implication it would have on the business. Use that as a perfect use case as to why your prospect needs your product.
Growth
When selling, you’ll get the technical win then you need to get the business win. The technical win boils down to “can you do what we need you to do?” The business win is the when the CFO and the C-suite get involved.
- Do we have the money for this?
- Can we get a better deal?
- Is this worth the investment?
- What is the potential ROI here?
Are some examples of general questions asked by the finance team. So how do you use current events to influence this team or the previous to help you get the business win? Look at other customers in that industry that have implemented your product/service. If they are publicly traded they will have reports readily available. Track the dates as to a year before they purchased and see their risk factors & growth factors, then a year after and see their risk factors & growth factors. Track the difference.
Provide your prospect with an anonymized report that shows the ROI of that customer and state that this could be you as well.
