Quick question, whats the difference between researching a prospect and procrastinating a sales call?
We’re huge nerds about helping sales reps do their jobs with a sense of empathy and context. But we also believe in the power of efficiency.
Too often, sales reps waste their time digging up esoteric facts and details they don’t intend to ever use. Research by itself is not “sincere selling” – it’s the application of contextualized information that builds trust and rapport. You don’t need as much information as you think you do – so don’t get caught in the quagmire of data.
Your background research should find 3 pieces of contextualized information, regarding either your prospect or the company, which actually you intend to use in an outbound phone conversation. Three bullet points, that’s it.
And it should be done in 3 minutes.
It’s called 3×3 research and it was introduced to us by our good friend Steve Richard, the co-founder of the award-winning sales training firm Vorsight.
How can you do this? For starters, check out our JobChangeAlerts product (free & paid) and news engine. You can also use Twitter, LinkedIn, your prospect company’s webpage, and Google news.
Happy Hunting.
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[...] failure to research your customer is not acceptable. Try the 3×3 research methodology or these 3 browser searches before each call. The payback will be well worth [...]
[...] to say “something about them, and not about you”. They refer to pre-call research as 3X3 research. The concept: find 3 pieces of research information in 3 minutes. You can use quotes, info on new [...]