1. What makes you irresistible?
Or why should they pick you as their date? The answer is in your value proposition. Example: our equity management software helps tech startup CFOs save countless hours in managing equity and staying compliant with regulations while keeping finances transparent to investors and all other stakeholders. What CFO would resist?
2. What are your relationship goals?
Imagine love life as a buffet. Would you heap your plate with everything, or would you zoom in on those irresistible items that whisper soulmate in your ear? It’s the same in the business matchmaking game. Cold-calling prospects without even knowing if they meet your minimum criteria is like going on blind dates. Focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) means looking for a relationship that
will last. Given the same Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), winning over the client that won’t quickly churn is what matters.
3. Your attraction force field
If you’re living in San Francisco, would you try to date someone that lives nine time zones away, in Italy? Probably not.
In the world of business, this means you should shoot your Cupid’s arrow at the locations and industry verticals within your range of charm: that’s your Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) defined as the share of Total Addressable Market (TAM) that you can realistically win.
Just remember, your market isn’t always ready for a long-distance relationship!
4. Let’s idealize
Think of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) as your dating pool, categorized into
three tiers:
Tier 1: Your soulmate accounts – they check all your boxes.
Tier 2: Good potential partners, missing a few minor traits but overall, a decent
match.
Tier 3: Everyone else who bears at least a passing resemblance to your type.
Choose your customers based on who’s a good fit for your products and services: look at their industry, geography, company size, revenue, and intent signals.
And always keep in mind any potential deal breakers, like an irrelevant vertical.
5. Who’s your Prince (or Princess) charming?
Just as you wouldn’t take an action movie fan on a first date to a romantic comedy, you shouldn’t target your sales and marketing efforts at the wrong personas. Or, in layman’s terms, if they’re all about Die Hard, don’t make them watch The Notebook.
Identify your ideal persona – the one you want to attract with your sales and marketing magic. Consider their likes, dislikes, quirks, their educational background, and their ultimate dreams.
Putting yourself in your personas’ boots will help you tailor your pick-up lines and offers so they ignite that spark of interest and maybe a little bit of business romance.
6. Your strategy
Now that you’ve laid the foundation of your strategy, share it with the rest of your sales and marketing team and commit to it for a while. Once a quarter, scrutinize how your results compare to your goals. Don’t be shy to give your strategy a little nip and tuck here and there. But reserve radical strategy shake-ups for the times when you’ve gathered enough data to bust your original hypothesis. Remember, a drastic strategy switcheroo without enough evidence is like changing your entire wardrobe based on a groundhog’s forecast!
7. Your wish list
It’s time to get laser-focused and write down your Target Account List (TAL). Think of it as your business’ wish list – a carefully curated catalog of company names that snugly fit your SOM, ICP, and Persona attributes.
Just like penning down a shopping list before you hit the supermarket, this list helps you zero in on what’s best for your business diet. So get your truffle dog out on a stroll and start looking for those good-fit accounts.
8. Game on
Time to kick off your biz-dev outreach campaign. Reach out to the target personas inside your ICP. Picture yourself in a whirlwind of swiping – left, right, left, right. It’s like a business version of a famous dating app. Do your thing and sit tight until someone matches you back!
9. Scored a match? Brilliant!
Now, before you start planning the wedding, it’s time to see if you’re harmonizing or hitting sour notes together. In biz lingo, we call this the qualification meeting. It’s like figuring out if they love
poodles as much as you do. To assist you in your investigation, recruit our trusty sidekick: the BANT qualification framework: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline.
Probe a little, and ask some follow-up questions but remember, it’s a conversation, not an interrogation. And don’t be shy to disqualify prospects quicker than you’d swipe left on a poor soul posing with a tiger in their profile pic. Save your energy for good leads.
10. Nail the date
So, is the qualification chat flowing smoothly? Are their replies sending off potential soulmate vibes? Splendid! Time to slide an appointment into the calendar to dig deeper into their business problems.
Kudos to you, you’ve just unlocked the next level! But don’t rest on your laurels just yet – get back to step 8 and see if you can find some more prospects to chat up and qualify. Consider it your version of speed dating!
11. First date
Picture yourself in a candle-lit restaurant, all ears for your prospect. This is your discovery phase. Your mission: unravel their aspirations and concrete goals with open-ended questions that are more enticing than the dessert menu. Casually drop hints about how you can turbocharge their dreams but avoid spilling all your beans just yet.
Now, as the night winds down, put a leash on your enthusiasm. Don’t try to seal the deal yet; it’s not closing time. Instead, sketch out your next moves. This should include making sure the right folks are invited to the next meeting. In the world of B2B sales, who to bring along for the next meet-up depends entirely on the prospect’s buying habits for similar products. Play it cool, play it right, and you’re all set for date number two!
12. Second date: demo time
For your next moves, you’ve got to mingle with a whole bunch of stakeholders. It’s like playing a “Do You Like Me?” game with them all to see if they agree that you, your product, and your prospect are a good fit for them.
Now, every stakeholder’s a unique snowflake with their professional background and personality. So, try to match their groove and connect the dots between the challenges you unearthed in the discovery meeting and your product’s features.
And if someone throws a curveball your way? Don’t panic! Be as cool as a cucumber and say, “Do tell me more about that”. Chances are, they’re going to disclose the real reasons behind their objection. You’re one step away from turning that objection into your secret weapon.
13. Objection hunting
Remember, some folks are like chameleons, changing their behavior when they’re in a group versus when they’re solo. After your demo meeting, take each stakeholder aside for a little chat. This is your chance to uncover any objections they were too shy to voice during the group meeting.
Found a new objection? Great! Address it head-on and begin warming up for the big finale.
14. Pop the question
Have you two been dancing around each other long enough? If the answer’s a roaring yes, then it’s time to craft that dazzling proposal. It’s akin to sliding that sparkling ring across the table and hoping for a resounding yes! So, suit up, muster your courage, and prepare to ask the big question: will you be my customer?
15. Closed-won or closed-lost? That is the question
The moment of truth is here: it’s either a high-five “Yes!” or a sad trombone “No”. If it’s a no, is it a solid never gonna happen, or a case of just not right now? But hey, even if this round ended in a game over, if you’ve stuck to the strategy and followed the game plan, your sales pipeline should be bubbling with more qualified prospects than a fancy champagne tower. Your next big win might just be lurking around the corner.
