Your potential clients are inundated by emails, unsolicited messages on social media and cold calls. They have become better than ever at ignoring unwanted messages.
Here are some recent real numbers from the front lines of selling that sales expert KD Dorsey just shared. These metrics show how cold approaches have become less effective even over the last four years (and this decline has been going on for a couple of decades.)
Phone call connect rates (i.e. the percentage of people answer their phone):
2020: 12-17%
Today: 3-4%
Email open rates (and these are for well-written emails):
2020: 50-60%
Today: 25-30%
Response Rates to an email sequence of 4 emails (again well-written emails):
2020: 10% -> 8% -> 6% -> 4%
Today: 5% -> 4% -> 3% -> 1%
You can see from the above numbers that if you are relying on these approaches, you will need to work 2-4 times harder this year just to stand still at 2020 levels. And with generative AI taking hold in the sales and marketing professions, these numbers will only get worse, as more emails are generated, and buyers get even more inundated with unsolicited messages.
Take a more intelligent approach
Some experts suggest the only solution is to do more: send more emails and make more cold calls but who has the extra time to do 2-4 times more work just to stand still?
I believe salespeople and business owners can take a more intelligent approach. An approach that focuses on building and leveraging human relationships to get much better results than the cold metrics above.
In the next couple of posts, I am going to share some tactical tips on how to build more relationships quickly, so that your Rolodex becomes a major asset that you can leverage to grow your business much more effectively than the cold calling crowd.
Here’s the first tip. If you want to meet a large number of potential customers or partners quickly, find the events they go to and work the room!
Go to conferences for coffee
Too many people waste a lot of time and money going to conferences and in-person events.
Go to the conferences and live events where your potential customers and referral partners go. Just because you are not speaking at the event, or have not spent thousands of dollars on a booth, does not mean the conference will be a waste of time.
I have generated some of my best business results from conferences and events during the coffee breaks! That’s when the real payoff from attending happens!
There are often large rooms full of new people available for you to meet. If you’ve targeted the event appropriately, there’s a good chance your next customer or referral partner could be standing next to you trying to get a cup of coffee.
If you look around a room of people at an event, you will see people in groups, but you will also see some people on their own, often gazing intently at their phone or coffee cup. The truth is nearly all these people would rather be talking to someone than reading what is on their phone, but they don’t have the confidence to go up to a stranger and introduce themselves. These people need your help. It’s time to say hello.
It can feel a bit like diving into a pool to approach a stranger but keep in mind that feeling will only last a few seconds. As with diving into a pool, a few seconds from now, the water will feel warm.
Once you’ve gone over and said “hello”, say the person’s name, if it’s one of those events where people have name badges. If it’s a professional event, the best thing is to go with after that is “What do you do?” (Yes, the “grandma in the elevator” question).
The answer you get may not be grandma-worthy but now is not the time to judge. Be patient and let the person explain what they do–even if it takes a few minutes. Ask questions to clarify anything you don’t understand–this shows you are listening.
I like to ask my new contact who their ideal clients are. And then how they meet those people. I do this to see if there’s anyone I know that might be a client for them or a referral source.
People generally love this question. Very few people ask this question and yet it’s why most of us are attending the event in the first place. Asking this question will generally make you stand out and be memorable.
Summary
- Your future customers are getting better (and better) at ignoring unsolicited messages.
- You could do 4 x the prospecting work to stand still, or take a more intelligent approach.
- One way to build new relationships quickly is to go to conferences, or events, where your target audience hangs out.
- Coffee time at conferences is game time! Jump in and meet people. It will likely help you both—and you will enjoy the event more!