Landing new Clients - The "Warm Doors" Approach

Senior salespeople don't need to be trained on how to sell per se. But when it comes to new logo acquisition, new skills and mindsets have emerged as success factors to business growth. Prospects are consuming market data and industry related insights at a voracious clip, and they expect solution providers to bring value fast. They key is to segment and prioritize prospects where you can have the fewest barriers to entry and add the greatest initial value. 

The most successful salespeople can identify opportunities with a high likelihood of connection and have the insight to react quickly (e.g., first) to capture prospects' attention. At Bill Walton Sales Training we call this the “Warm Doors” approach. Warm Doors prospecting entails several of the innovative prospecting methods being used by elite sales professionals to find and connect with new prospects as well as connections in your personal network. One of the hallmarks of this approach is creating an ideal client profile. This profile is not only critical for you to create your focus, but it’s imperative for your spheres of influence to let them know who's ideal and why. 

Prospecting in sales is still a confidence game. 

Confidence and productivity for the salesperson comes from knowing they’re targeting the right prospect at the right time with the right message. Confidence for the prospect comes from a perspective that the provider can bring unique value. The best prospects are warm, relevant, and qualified according to very specific criteria. But how do we get more of them when we’re the ones targeting? It’s often helpful to look at three elements when embarking on a territory development process: Demographics, “Firmographics,” and VENT.

• Demographics: Demographics are quantifiable identifiers which characterize your lead population (for example title, role, and subject matter expertise).
• Firmographics: Firmographics are organizational characteristics of your ideal client organization (for Revenues, employees, funding level, and/or high referability).
• VENT: “VENT” can help you prioritize your prospects by anticipating and analyzing his or her Value, Event, Need, and Timing attributes.

V: Value: Does this prospect typically see value in working with outside service partners?
E: Event: Is this prospect in a stage of the clinical drug development process we can impact? Are they funded? 
N: Need: Does Certara’s expertise fill an articulated need?
T: Timing: What is your prospect’s timeframe? Does that align with your sales cycle? Their development cycle?

By using these criteria, you should now be able to paint a picture of a group of prospects that project to be a fit. NOTE: For new prospects, you will have to make some educated guesses around value and event, but you can use past precedent for that. 

For more information or to make Bill Walton Sales Training insights a reality for your organization, send us a note at bwalton@billwaltonsalestraining.com.