Thursday's Thoughts - Who the heck are you?

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Some peoples' version of an intro

Today's Thursday Thought - Who the heck are you? Maybe better asked, "Who are you and why should I care?" A lot of people assume this is the first thought that goes through the mind of the person on the other side of a cold-call, and you'd be 100% right, but you'd only see a part of the picture. The fact is that even if you have a referral that you're following up on (internal or external), if you're following up on a lead that left their information at a Conference, or even if you're following up with the manager of a prospect that gave you their manager's information as the POC you should be targeting, they're ALL wondering the same thing: Who are you, and why should I care?

The Context - This Thursday's Thought comes from a conversation I had with someone who said she was frustrated by people jumping directly into the "business" (mainly the pitch or proposition) part of the call without even introducing themselves, their teammates, or addressing anyone they're speaking to for the first time. I know she's definitely not alone, because I've been on multiple calls like that, and I honestly have no idea why people do that! They definitely don't understand the power of a good introduction, and the fact of the matter is that your introduction can actually close off a prospective sale before you even get to your pitch.

In today's day and age, people are trying to fit in as many activities as possible into their days. Every single minute seems to have something planned, and people don't typically have a part of their daily plan where they sit around and wait to see if they're going to get a sales call (even when they ask for one!). On the off-chance they finally do pick up the phone or that they join the call you've scheduled, the first couple things they're going to want answered are these same 2 questions - Who are you, and why should I care?

Here are a few reasons why you should respect the power of a good introduction:

1. A solid introduction answers the questions we've posed multiple times throughout this post: Who are you, and why should I care? Nobody wants to feel like they're being held hostage on a sales call without knowing that there's any part of benefit to the call

2. A solid introduction shows that you actually care about the person, and not just the sale. If you're jumping into the pitch of the product within the first 2 minutes of a call, you're sending the signal that you're talking to dollar signs, not to a person, and in today's selling world, that doesn't go over well with prospective clients

3. Not having a solid introduction can close off the conversation before it begins. Forbes has a cool stat that says in 2007, it took an average of 2 cold calls to connect with a prospect. Today, it takes an average of 8. 8!! That means you can't afford to waste the opportunities when you finally get people on the phone, so lead strong, and don't let them shut you off just because you had a weak introduction

4. A strong introduction that answers who you are and what your value is will prevent a majority of the flimsiest reasons that people try to get you off the phone. If you've done Sales at any part in your life, you know there are so many training sessions about side-stepping objections. A strong introduction can side-step the most basic of these without any effort, because you're providing your value up front

5. Sales is about product, but most people are willing to buy from someone they like and trust. If you're not introducing yourself in a strong way, you're missing out on your first opportunity to build that trust and rapport with a prospective client, and even worse, you can come across as wasting their time. That greatly reduces the chances they're going to take another call with you in the future

These are just some of the reasons why a powerful and efficient introduction should be prioritized for every type of call. Here's a quote from a Forbes article on introductions that I really enjoyed:

The power of introduction is immense, and introductions in life and in business are often the beginning of something great. It is the social currency of our society and one with tremendous impact, but strangely it is a topic that rarely gets its deserved limelight...However, often than not, introductions are not made in the most efficient way, which is a sad miss on a great opportunity. Warm intros are an optimal method for a great beginning, and can potentially mean huge deals/partnerships/great friendships/relations. It is the fuel of almost any healthy ecosystem. Be warned though, if you mess it up, you will be known for it...and will lose the essential trust for an unforeseeable future, and trust is difficult to win back.

This is an exceptionally powerful excerpt from that post, and I definitely encourage everyone to give it a read. The post goes through 11 steps for a powerful, efficient introduction, and gives even more information on why they matter.

Now, why am I writing this? Because like many of you out there, when I started in Sales, I wasn't given a great training on the power of introductions, and if you had asked me when I was in Sales, I would've said my introductions were good! But now that I look back on it, my introductions were basic, didn't stand out, and didn't answer both of the questions. I absolutely introduced myself and my company religiously, but I never gave them a concrete reason for why they should care to talk to me. In fact, let's take a blast to the past! Here were a couple of my introductions from my early sales calls that I can remember:

When I started - "Hi, this is Bert with _____, how are you today? [Response] The purpose of my call is because I wanted to see if the conversation would make sense to talk about ___. Do you have a few minutes?" - To be fair, this was pretty good for the fact that I'd never done sales before, and it sometimes worked...but that was back in 2015. If I were to take a call and someone started like that, if the 2nd blank didn't make sense, I would absolutely get the person off the call in the fastest possible way, because there was no value for me.

An improved version - "Hi, this is Bert with ___, how are you today? [Response] I'm calling because I've been helping others in (industry vertical) recently with their (product I sold). I wanted to see if that conversation would make sense to have with you as well. Do you have a few minutes?" - Again, to be fair, this was a standard method that we were taught, and it had some success, but still, it left a ton of holes in my introduction, and didn't provide a specific value to the person. If they pushed me off the phone, I wouldn't know the specific reason why.

Now that I'm on the other side of Sales, and I'm being targeted by Salespeople to see if I'd be a good fit for their products, I keep hearing different ways that people intro themselves, and I'll be honest...I absolutely know when they know nothing about me, and I have absolutely no interest in talking to that person. They don't know anything about me, my business, my vertical, my interests, my goals, and what would actually help me, so they're not providing me with any value. It's my firm belief that the day has come and gone for the old-school method of shotgun spraying basic introductions via call blitzes and email campaigns. Though it's nice to show on paper that you mass-blasted or mail-merged 500 contacts in a day, if the return on those is less than 1%, how effective is that strategy truly proving?

So what are our takeaways?

1. Introductions should not be taken lightly. Take the time to make sure everyone knows each other, to make sure they all know who you are, and that everyone knows the value you're giving

2. Emphasis on that last part, make sure you're letting people know the ROI they're getting from giving you 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. That's time they're not getting back, so make sure they know it's being used wisely and efficiently

3. Introductions can make or break a business relationship. If you're not leading with a strong introduction on every call, you can damage a relationship

Selfish plug time! - Strong Introductions can be easily taught, and are a topic covered in both our Communication Soft Skills Seminar and our From Sale to Sales course geared for Sales Professionals. If you're interested in learning more or setting one up, contact us today at sweethartentertainment@gmail.com!

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