Pt 25 – Tact Is Key

New Business personnel continue to make a name for themselves for all the wrong reasons so a thought piece on this area seemed plausible – just our thoughts and opinion. They may differ from others but we hope they prove useful.

Situations to avoid

Avoid making people look small. When working with the larger agencies we always stress the importance of engaging on the same level and not frightening prospects off with your size. Conversations that immediately revert to “well I’m too small for you” should not happen if, one, you’ve targeted correctly or two, you’ve done your homework beforehand and there is a tangible reason for the call. This is particularly relevant when targeting audiences such as the Fast Track 100. They may be small now but evidently they are growing and rapidly.

Avoid infringing the rights of others. Prospects have a right to protect their domain so going in all guns blazing will only alienate them. Avoid pumping for information and really, if the approach is consultative, they will be volunteering information from the outset. Opinion orientated questions tend to work well particularly if the prospect is struggling in a certain area.

Avoid boosting yourself. There is nothing worse than having a call that starts off with “well we’re working with some of the largest FTSE 100 companies ....”. Not consultative in its approach and not really particularly of interest unless you’re asked.

Don’t teach other people how to do their job. We’ve heard this approach countless times – “I wouldn’t recommend going down that route etc”. Go down the route of bolt on. If you have what you believe to be an opening try the supplementary approach – your service could add further value rather than replace and take the prospect back to square one, something they’ll not admit to but afterwards might consider. They’ll not thank you for it though and they will rarely call you back.

Consideration is the positive aspect of tact. The most obvious area is that initial call. You have not been invited to call them and make a demand upon that prospects time therefore a simple apology for the intrusion before commencing the call will deal with this sensitive area – if they ask for a call back you might have inadvertently warmed the call up on the second run.

Simple reasons to be tactful but we hope they prove useful.

Thanks, as always, for reading.