Caryn Kopp Shares The Best Way for Salespeople to Open Doors, Ep #229

How can a salesperson be a door opener? How can you nail lead generation and prospecting? What do you need to focus on? In this episode of Sales Reinvented, Caryn Copp shares some of her award-winning process—including touching on the 5 Planks of Door-Opening Success. If you’re ready to take your prospecting and lead generation skills to the next level, do not miss this episode! 

Caryn Kopp is the Chief Door Opener® and Founder of Kopp Consulting’s award-winning Door Opener® Service. Caryn’s company lands executive-level prospect meetings for their clients using the skills of experienced business developers and superior sales messaging. Kopp has 2 trademarks in Sales Messaging, she co-authored the best seller, Biz Dev Done Right, she is a top 50 Keynote Speaker and had her first cold calling job when she was 11! 

Outline of This Episode

• [1:04] The difference between prospecting and lead generation
• [3:04] Why are both important to the sales process?
• [5:04] The 5 Planks of Door-Opening Success
• [9:51] The attributes of a great salesperson
• [12:05] The skills salespeople need to develop
• [14:02] Caryn’s top dos and don’ts of prospecting 
• [17:10] Why you must be diligent with note-taking

The difference between prospecting and lead generation

Caryn points out that lead generation used to be anything to do with inbound lead generation and prospecting. The terms were used interchangeably. Lead generation has become more of a marketing term. It’s associated with sending out mass emails and getting people to raise their hands. The hand-raisers are then supposed to be sorted. One segment gets a phone call from sales. The others go into a drip campaign to lead them to be hand-raisers or influencers in the future. 

Prospecting is choosing a group of prospects that need to know about you and approaching them. It may start with an email, a phone call, or an introduction from another customer. You’re engaging in a proactive activity to lead to a conversation.

Lead generation softens a prospect so salespeople are contacting people who already have familiarity with the company, service, or offering. Caryn has done outsourced executive-level “door-opening” for over 20 years. They can get the right meetings without lead generation. But it’s more effective with lead generation.

The 5 Planks of Door-Opening Success

Caryn uses lead generation to create awareness with narrow groups of prospects and their influencers. If those leads aren’t ready for a phone call, there needs to be an automated drip campaign to keep them engaged to convert them to being hand-raisers or being influencers. The 5 Planks of Door-Opening Success leads to successful prospecting. If you aren't getting in the right prospects’ doors, you have a problem in one or more of the 5 planks. So what are they?

• You need the right target: 25% of prospects don’t belong on the list. You must choose prospects who feel a sense of urgency (navigating a trigger event), will pay for your services, and find you to be the right solution for them. 
• Plan what you’re going to say. What will get a busy executive to clear their calendar for a meeting with you? Especially if they already have a vendor for the solution you offer. They need to feel like it’s the best decision they’ll make all week.
• Have answers for objections. You will get shut down if you don't nail the 3 P’s of prospects’ objections: pre-think, prepare, and practice. What objections might you face? How do you prepare the answers? Can you have answers ready in a split-second? 
• You need the right door-opener. Some people are great at having a meeting and closing the sale (hunters). Then they are others who are intuitively great at opening the doors. 
• You must execute. Are you the right person to make the calls? Emails? How do you grow the relationship and make a difference? How much time are you spending on generating new revenue and prospecting? An hour or two a week doesn’t cut it.

Caryn believes if you focus on developing and becoming an expert in these 5 planks, you’ll be more successful opening doors, getting leads, and closing sales.

The attributes of a great salesperson

Caryn emphasizes that being successful with prospecting and lead generation takes a certain kind of person. You can get training and be better than you are, but you may never love it. Some people have the DNA for sales. Caryn finds these salesmen and women to have an insatiable curiosity for people. They have the ability to be fully present in conversations. They can pivot without being shut down. People that don’t possess that skill may get a prospect on the phone, but they can’t get to the outcome. It’ll be entered in the CRM as “the prospect wasn’t interested” but it might mean they can’t hold their own in a conversation. They are also maniacally methodical. They have to want to put time into this—which not everyone wants to do. What are the top skills to develop? What are Caryn’s prospecting and lead generation dos and don’ts? Listen to learn more!

Why you must be diligent with note-taking

When Caryn was doing door-opening for other companies, there was one prospect at a pharmaceutical company that shut her down—but not because she wasn’t interested. They were reorganizing and no new vendors were being considered. She wanted to hold off for 6 months. During their conversation, they ended up chatting about a dog she adopted who was afraid of its water bowl.

Caryn kept diligent notes. She sent this prospect information throughout the 6 months to keep her warm. Right before the 6 months, she hopped on the phone and asked her how her dog was doing. Her prospect couldn’t believe she remembered that detail. It solidified their relationship in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Caryn’s client got the meeting and the business.

The moral of the story? Take copious notes, review them, and make every phone call and email meaningful. Every touchpoint will either build a relationship or ruin a relationship. Lastly, never miss a follow-up. Set a task reminder and be consistent. Be a constant quality presence in your prospect’s life. To hear the rest of Caryn’s thoughts on prospecting and lead generation, listen to the whole episode! 

Resources & People Mentioned

• BOOK: Biz Dev Done Right

Connect with Caryn Kopp

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