Just Say NO to the Spray and Pray Method of Selling
When I was in high school, speech club and theater were my extracurricular passions and a critical distraction from all the pains of my high school years. Lessons learned in these spaces were incredibly helpful to me later in life and in my career.
Mr. Kimball, my speech and theater teacher, taught key lessons of active listening as a means to get the audience invested into my often warbled message. Mr. Kimball’s “Diction! Diction! Diction!” still reverberates through my mind as I speak, even today.
This period of time was when I started to think about listening as the most powerful form of communication in my selling process. However, even as I still maintain this value, I am often tempted to fall into the trap of Spray and Pray Selling, where I need to get the same message out to as many people as possible. For sales leaders, the need to track metrics around the number of touches seems common. Frankly, I do not know what anyone ever saw from encouraging voluminous calls and emails as a method for measuring sales performance. The best business development representative I ever knew would consistently set the most appointments but would have the lowest call numbers. Perhaps it’s just harder to measure quality over quantity, which is no excuse for failing to try.
Rather than attempting to Spray and Pray, consider the following:
- Network
With the advent of technologies like hi5, we can start to prospect more efficiently and successfully. In fact, networking is the fastest way to grow a meaningful pipeline, designed to convert more deals and reinforce your word of mouth branding (your personal brand especially) much more effectively. By increasing relationships within your intended field of business, you will be able to capture the attention of those who are eager and ready to work with you rather than falling in the background as noise.
- Attend Conferences
Getting in front of your target audience sometimes requires stepping outside of your comfortable WFH environment and making some moves. By attending conferences where high impact stakeholders will be, you are more likely to grow relationships that will be mutually beneficial. By being intentional about which conferences you plan to attend, you will be able to better leverage this time to grow connections and make new contacts. To find a list of possible conferences within EdTech, follow EdSurge and make plans to attend.
- Deliver Content that is Valuable to Prospective Clients
Lastly, think about the ways you engage and deliver information that adds value to your prospective clients. When I started this From One Founder to Another series, I was eager to offer information that would give peers and those coming into the field insight on how to build a successful business. I was also interested in further developing my personal list of contacts through lead generation. After six months of these bi-monthly articles, I have heard great feedback from colleagues as well as prospects that it “is encouraging to know that someone gets it.” By adding value, you capture a more sincere audience and can focus on building what you do best.
In the EdTech sector, where the needs and challenges of educational institutions vary widely, a personalized and relationship-based approach is often the most effective way to prospect for new clients. Networking allows you to understand, address, and adapt to the specific needs of educators and institutions, ultimately increasing your chances of success in this competitive industry.
From one founder to another,
Ted