How to Talk to Prospects You Consider “More Professional”

I read an email from James W. recently that made me go back to something my mentor shared with me. He writes:

“I’m having a real problem walking up to approach professionals. Maybe I’m a little self-conscious because I did not go to college myself. Sometimes I just find it hard to approach anyone. And it’s not like I just started in this industry.”

James, I understand where you are coming from. My mentor didn’t go to college and that can be intimidating. Read more about his story here.

But I want you to know something – Just because you didn’t spend a fortune on an education doesn’t mean you aren’t a professional. The people that are intimidating you have a distinction from you – a professional degree. But that doesn’t make them better or worse than you. Just a bit different.

Here’s something else I want you to know – they’re just people. With real problems and real dreams and real wants and needs.

I think if you will start looking at people as people and not suits and letters by their names, you’ll be less intimidated and a lot more successful.

That’s the first step. The second step is going to require some work on your part – getting inside their heads. Obviously, you can’t gain the same professional knowledge of their career (they did get a degree in nursing or engineering, for example). But you can begin to understand what makes them tick. How they make decisions. What they like to do.

With these three keys, you can approach them confidently and professionally.

So, how do you find out what they like, how they make decisions and what they like to do?

• Start talking to people. It starts with conversations with people in general – Please read the training articles on how to talk to strangers. These resources will help you understand how to talk to people in general.
• Ask your prospects what they do for fun. This can be an ice breaker and can give you great inside information on what they do with their time and find entrances into common ground conversation. What do I mean by “common ground conversation”? It’s simply connecting with your prospect on something you both know about or are interested in.
• Use common ground conversations to learn more about their decisions. Let’s say your prospect is into running and nutrition. You may sell nutritional supplements that benefit runners. Ask about what he or she takes or mention that since you’ve started taking an interest in supplements, your race times are faster. That’s going to spark more common ground conversation.
• Ask the prospect about what they enjoy in their work. Listen for key phrases such as “working with people” and “helping others learn about XYZ.” That’s solid gold in finding common ground with a prospect.

These little tidbits of conversation have nothing to do with who has more degrees or who is considered more “professional.” It’s about you being interested in another person and possibly finding a way to help them with a need or want.

I hope this helps.

Your Turn

What do you do in a situation where you are “outranked by degrees?” Tell us about it in the comments below.

Action Item: Educating yourself on proven techniques can help you improve your level of professionalism in prospecting. That’s why I did 3 conference calls on  Hot Prospecting Tips. All you have to do is register for Simulcast 2013, send me an email to ambitfirstclass@gmail.com , SUBJECT LINE: I’m registered for Simulcast 2013, in the body of the email type your first and last name; then I will send you the link.This is a fast way to overcome the three most common problems in building your Ambit business – getting prospects to talk to you, getting prospects to want what you offer, and qualifying prospects.