Drip on Them

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Persistence Of MemoryIt’s often said that it takes 7 or 8 contacts or “touches” before a prospect is ready to buy from you.

The fact is that simply becoming familiar with a name, a face, a logo, or a brand, people grow to feel more comfortable and trusting.

Studies show that we develop preferences for people, places, and things merely because they are familiar. In social psychology this is known as mere-exposure effect or the familiarity principle.

When we are in a supermarket, we are far more likely to buy brands we quickly recognize—even if we have never tried the product before. Advertisers, of course, know this very well. Continue reading →

Are you bragging or complaining? Prospecting assumptions to avoid

Professional Marketing Associates Posted on by

family at the gardenWhen you hear someone say, “I’ve been with my agent for 20 years,” what are they actually telling you? It could be that they have a trusting and enduring relationship, or maybe they’ve just been going along complacently without giving a second thought to the value they have been getting—or not getting.

The meaning behind people’s comments isn’t always clear. And sometimes we assume we understand someone’s intentions, when in fact we misunderstand them. Continue reading →

A story to tell

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Telling storiesPeople would rather talk about their garden than hear about your seeds

Questions and probes are one way to get prospects in touch with their (sometimes latent) business desires. But a subtler, and often very effective way to uncover prospects’ concerns and make your point is by telling stories.

Here’s a sales conversation an agent recently told us about:

Agent: It’s interesting, a lot of times companies like yours get quotes at renewal times to make sure they’re getting the best rates.  But sometimes they discover other issues to address as well.

I was talking with the owner of a small restaurant group. He told me that, while they were doing their annual “price check” a while back, he had mentioned to one of the quoting agents that he’d spent over $20k that year replacing damaged computers when the office was flooded after a window shattered during a storm.   Continue reading →

Questions You Shouldn’t Ask Prospects

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Questions you shouldn't ask prospects4 (Worse Than) Useless Questions You Don’t Want to Ask Prospects

 

Questions are potent ways to engage prospects and foster conversations. But not all questions are useful, effective, or even appropriate. In fact, some kinds of questions will shut things down faster than a DEA agent busting a meth lab. If you’re using any of these, you might find that you’re off the phone and onto the next call before you can even clear your throat.

“What do you know about our agency?”

You’ve got a busy person on the phone, willing to give you a minute of their time because it might have value to their business. They probably don’t care about your agency, great markets, superior knowhow, and all the attentive service you’re ready to lavish on them.  Don’t waste time talking about you, find out about their situation, their needs, their buying attitudes. Continue reading →