1. T
he goal of prospecting is for the sales rep to deliver
a unique proposition that creates enough perceived
value so the prospect will want to meet with the rep.
In this article, I will share seven key concepts (and how to
identify them) that office technology dealership owners
should expect their reps to fully understand and utilize when
pitching to new prospects that will allow them to move the
conversation from the introduction to the discovery phase.
(1) Know how your dealership is truly different from
your competition. Identify your top three competitors and
create “apples-to-apples” comparisons on topics such as:
n Turnaround of a service call
n Investment in employee training
n Your customer satisfaction survey results
n General call response time
n Investment in customer training
n Quality of service
n Increase in uptime
n First-time-fix rate
n Tenure of staff
n Leasing options
n Diversity of products
These are just a few examples. Sales reps should know the
answers and be able to articulate how your dealership com-
pares to your competition.
(2) Give examples of past successes with clients and
how they are applicable to your new prospect. Gather cli-
ent references or “power numbers.” For example, how many
law firms your dealership has as clients. The statement, “We
partner with more than 75 law firms,” is more impactful
than the statement, “We work with many law firms.” This
adds real power to a rep’s prospecting pitch. The rep may
not be able to find this information on his (or her) own,
but you should look at all of your current clients, identify
the similar businesses and provide your reps those “power
numbers” by industry.
(3) Show how the broad spectrum of your dealership’s
technology solutions can enhance your prospect’s effi-
ciency and profitability. A rep should understand all lines
of business within his customer’s organization. For example,
how a law firm accomplishes its business goals and makes
money are completely different from how a church uses tech-
nology to increase donations and communicate with its pa-
rishioners. Reps should be able to recommend the right hard-
ware and software from the suite of proprietary technology
solutions your dealership offers to assist in accomplishing
each prospect’s goals. Understand the biggest challenges and
priorities of your prospects and, most importantly, learn to
speak to them using their industry and executive language.
(4)Knowthespecificcomplianceregulationsthatapply
to your prospect and how your technology can keep your
prospect compliant. Today’s technology solutions must help
keep a company’s base data secure and compliant. A sales rep
should understand and know how these compliance regula-
tions affect the day-to-day workflow of the prospect, and he
should be able to recommend the right technology solutions
that can help achieve compliance for his client. You can assist
reps with this by having a conversation during each weekly
salesmeetingthatincludesadeepdiveintoaspecificindustry
that touches on all aspects of that type of client.
(5) Sales reps must know how to manage their time
consistently so they can schedule five to eight decision-
maker net-new meetings per week. Time management is
critical for a rep, and he must be able to carve out enough
Seven for Success
Key concepts every sales rep should master
by: Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group
30 | ­www.officetechnologymag.com | January 2017

2. prospecting time each and every week
to identify new sales opportunities.
Kingston Training Group (KTG) has
surveyed more than 1,000 sales reps
and there is a general consensus that it
is easiest to reach decision makers by
phone on Wednesday afternoons and on
Thursdays than any other times during
the week. Monday mornings should be
avoided for prospecting calls, but they
are a great time to call customers who
had a service issue the week before. In some territories,
lunch hours are a good time to prospect in person by physi-
cally visiting potential prospects’ locations. Using email
resources like contactmoney.com or Yesware can provide
invisible read receipts, allowing a sales rep to calculate the
best times for emailing. This can also give him visual clues
as to when his prospects open emails.
(6) Understand how LinkedIn is reshaping prospect-
ing. Social media prospecting can no longer be ignored.
Sales reps have to understand how to use this technology
tool, not just to connect (which is really
the “old-school” approach to LinkedIn),
but to research, find contacts and ask for
meetings. There are certain prospects
who will be more open to a conversation
over LinkedIn than any other venue.
Here is one of the best-kept secrets in-
side LinkedIn: To find prospects by title
(even in the free version), start typing a
title such as “IT director” in the search
box on your LinkedIn home page. There
will be a drop-down menu that appears. The second choice
will be “People with the title IT director.” Choose that and a
sidebar will appear on the left-hand side. Scroll down and
choose “current,” and then under the location tab, click the
down arrow. This will allow you to select the “located in or
near” option. Now all you have to do is type in a ZIP code
and a radius and you will have access to all the profiles in
a ZIP code with a certain executive title. Sales reps may
not innately know how to use tools like this to succeed, but
dealership executives should expect them to be able to in-
corporate them when applicable.
(7) Each rep should understand that his sales quota
is the minimum expected sales volume required for the
month. The most important concept a rep must be expect-
ed to live by is that his quota is the bare minimum sales ex-
pectation to protect his territory — not what he is striving
to achieve. The territory that a dealership entrusts to each
rep has been determined to hold enough opportunity to
yield a specific amount of net-new sales each month. That
quota has to be looked at as the minimum amount needed
for the rep and the dealership to be successful. The bounty
comes from exceeding the quota, not meeting it. A dealer-
ship should demand that a rep not only meet quota, but put
repercussions in place for those who fall short.
Successful reps report that sometimes a 40-hour work
week is not sufficient to get the job done. Reps should spend
15 minutes at the end of each day planning what they will
do the following day, as well as be prepared to work outside
the office if necessary, making time for training, mentorship
and practice. It is fair to insist that reps meet or exceed quo-
ta every month and using the above concepts should help
keep them on the path to success. n
Kate Kingston is founder and president of the Kingston
Training Group (KTG). With more than 17
years of success in making appointments with
decision makers, she is a recognized authority
on lead generation, cold calling and new
business development. Kingston can be
reached at kkingston@kingstontraining.com.
Visit www.kingstontraining.com.
The most important
concept a rep must be
expected to live by is
that his quota is the
bare minimum sales
expectation to protect
his territory ...
32 | ­www.officetechnologymag.com | January 2017