Author: Chris Heiler
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With today’s technology and “big data” at our fingertips you wouldn’t think it’d be so difficult to source and sell to your prospects, whether that’s a homeowner, HOA board, or facilities manager.
Yet, with today’s hyperconnected buyer being so much more savvy (and isolated, I would argue) compared to the pre-Web2.0 consumer of only a decade ago, earning their attention is no easy task.
We talk and work with dozens and dozens of lawn and landscape companies across the country who face this challenge day in and day out.
With this in mind, I want to introduce three technologies that will enable your sales people to approach prospects in a more purposeful and contextual way, helping them get their foot in more doors and, ultimately, close more sales.
We use all three of these every single day here at Landscape Leadership. It’s led to a more effective sales approach and more dollars on our bottom line. Each can do the same for you.
Personalized video
Are you tired of calls and emails that go unanswered? Or fighting gatekeepers for access?
Wrangle your prospects’ squirrel brains using personalized video.
Simple tools like Wistia’s Soapbox or Vidyard’s GoVideo connect to your inbox and allow you to quickly record a personalized video using your computer’s webcam, then embed the recording in your email.
Skeptical? Ask our very own Chad Diller how well this works. Seriously, email him. He’ll probably respond with a personalized video for you.
We’ve both been amazed by how many cold prospects Chad has been able to connect with using this approach.
Context is the key. The video must be personable and relevant to your prospect.
Sales document management
In this article’s intro I said I wanted to focus on technology that will enable your sales people to approach prospects in a more purposeful and contextual way.
PandaDoc is software that allows you to do exactly that, along with many other things, which I’ll expand on in a future article. But, for now, let’s focus on “context”.
PandaDoc creates “trackable” proposals and quotes. After you send a proposal via email you’ll be notified when your prospect or customer opens and views it. Of course, the same is true when they sign it digitally.
That’s context. Now you can avoid awkward emails like this:
“Hi Bob, it’s been a few days. Just wanted to follow up about the proposal. Did you have a chance to review it? Did you even get it?”
Oh no! Maybe it’s in his spam folder!!
Lead intelligence
Not all leads are as engaged with your company or show the same interest level as others.
Consider these two prospects:
Prospect Patty
Patty has visited your website three times over the past 10 days, viewing 23 pages in total. This includes viewing four HOA-related blog posts and the image gallery featuring the HOA properties your company manages. She also downloaded your 12-page HOA Maintenance Guide (in exchange for her name, email, and phone).
Prospect Perry
Perry viewed three pages during a single visit to your website. Within three minutes he converted on your "Request for Proposal" form.
How would your sales team respond to each of these? In our experience working with dozens of landscaping companies, most would follow up with Perry yet ignore Patty. That's the wrong approach.
Based on the lead intelligence available, Prospect Patty needs to be followed up with immediately, even though she has not yet reached out directly to request a consultation or proposal. She’s all over the website and clearly interested in your HOA-related content.
This gives your sales person the context necessary to follow up with her in a purposeful way.
Prospect Perry, on the other hand, requested a proposal. “Hot Lead”, shouts your sales rep.
After five hours creating a proposal and chasing down Perry on the phone, he realizes his hot lead also requested proposals from 10 of your competitors.
Should have just called Prospect Patty.
We use HubSpot’s sales platform to gather this lead intelligence. The screenshot below shows the website activity and lead intelligence of one of our contacts in our CRM.
Wrap up
These tools and technology will never be the reason your team succeeds in sales. But, lacking purpose and context in your approach will increasingly be the reason you fail.
You don’t want failure. Seriously, is there anything worse than hearing a sales person grumbling about “how the leads suck nowadays” and how they “can’t get in touch with anybody”?
Our sales enablement program gives you the technology and the training for your sales team to thrive in today’s Web2.0 world. Schedule a meeting with us today to learn more about implementing our program with your green industry company.
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