3 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself in Order to Personalize Sales Messaging

Salespeople must first consider themselves in the prospect’s shoes. When you have purchase authority in your organization, and the marketplace is made aware, you receive solicitation calls and emails throughout your day, every day. Those who differentiate themselves by messaging you the right way, at the right time, with the right information are the ones who earn the meeting.

Answer these three questions before calling a prospect:

Who do I know that knows my prospect? The late sales master, Chet Holmes, said, “You can get to anyone if you’re determined.” Now that that’s out of the way, find out who you and your prospect both know.

The six degrees of separation theory proves this as true, and technology enables you to research how you’re connected, so get to work. Once you identify your mutual connections, do you have enough credibility and rapport to contact that connection and ask if they’ll broker an introduction?

Why must my prospect hear from my company and me at this very moment? Your new offering just hit the market, your webinar will feature these special guests, your company just reported significant year-over-year growth, and you just saw your prospect present at last week’s conference. So what?

Unless you share insights about your prospect’s business, along with answers they need now, your company, your offering, and you don’t matter. Work hard to uncover several reasons why they must hear from you at this moment in time.  

Who influences my prospect? Salespeople who influence the influencers are cooking with gas. Studies reveal 91% of B2B buyers are influenced by word-of-mouth when making their decision. Where are you in the ecosystem? How involved are you, and how much value are you adding to your prospects’ circles (like associations, local meetups, or online industry groups)?

Practice giving, giving, giving, then asking. Have a positive, systemic impact when you’re selling, and ensure your customers talk about all you and your offering has done for them.”   

This guest post was authored by Ralph Barsi, Senior Director, Global Demand Center at ServiceNow. For more tips on sales personalization, download our free eBook.