About 15 years ago, I was at a happy hour with some friends. Sara, one of my co-workers was there and she joined us for a little while. She was engaged in a conversation with my friend Jacob about his love life. She asked him the question we all get: “what are you looking for in a woman?” His answer surprised and impressed both Sara and me: “The first thing is that she likes me.” Most of us, men and women, answer that question with typical, small-talk answers like sense of humor, intelligence, etc. He actually put thought into it and explained: “If she is not into me, why would I invest time with her?”
Jacob provides a great lesson for sales professionals. Most salespeople answer the question of “who are your targeted accounts?” with something like: “the Midwest region” or “the healthcare vertical market”. These aren’t targets and haven’t been given any more thought than the person saying their soul mate is “compassionate”.
If you haven’t defined your ideal client, you’re wasting a large portion of your prospecting time. It’s likely that these prospects will fall within a geography or vertical market, but you need to get deeper. How many employees, do they outsource IT (huge for those selling hosted and managed services), do they have a certain type of board for their access control, etc.
If you haven’t done so already, take 15 minutes and write down as many descriptors as possible. Then, take about 15 minutes to narrow the list to five to eight. Now that you know who is ideal, you don’t have to waste your time with everyone else.
One last note… this does not mean that you don’t respond to those that are outside your description. You should be reactive with everyone, and proactive with your ideal targets.
