“From one salesperson to another…”
“I think we both went to the Digital Marketing conference a few weeks ago?”
If you can find a point in common, it’s an excellent foundation for further conversation.
Let’s say you want to discuss tools for scaling up an ecommerce business. You might start by talking about your own experience with launching a site and all the details that have to be sorted out: polishing brand visuals, researching the legal need for a reseller certificate, optimizing inventory and so on.
You don’t need to go on at length. The goal is simply to form a shared connection that you can build on to create mutual trust.
Don’t go over the top, either. Something like “I saw you mentioned your cat on LinkedIn. I’m a cat person too! Here’s a pic of my gorgeous kitties…” is unlikely to go down well in a professional setting.
7) Surprise!
As you’ll have noticed by now, what all of these tips have in common is the element of surprise. That’s crucial. The key to grabbing someone’s attention is to interrupt their patterns, which means presenting them with something unexpected.
So let’s finish off this list with full-on shock and awe tactics. Present your prospect with a statement or thought so stunning that they can’t help but be intrigued:
“How would your business cope if there were a global internet blackout that lasted a month?”
“What if I offered you a partnership marketing opportunity that could boost your quarterly revenue by $5 million?”
You might need to give them a definition of partnership marketing, but you get the point. Pose a question or introduce an idea that’s so huge it has immediate impact. There’s no better way to get yourself heard.
