Confessions of a Salesman

Becoming an Internet sleuth (also known as The Google Hack)

OK, so you have your Internet lead and you have contacted the prospect to confirm your appointment. What else can you do before your sales visit?

Well, the following tip is one of my favourites – Google your prospect.

Yes, that’s right, search your prospect’s name, email address, home address, etc in Google or indeed any search engine. You will not always find your customer but you’ll be surprised how often you do.

Of course it helps if your prospect has a relatively unusual surname (it’s not so effective for, say, ‘John Smith’).

And it doesn’t just work with a prospect’s name so do a search for their email address or their address or postcode/zip code. Hey, you may even find out some interesting information about your neighbours!

By the way, many email addresses consist of a username other that the person’s name – for example strangeusername@yourisp.com. In this example do a search for ‘strangeusername’ as a lot of people use their email address username as their ID for discussion forums, blogs, etc.

Again, it doesn’t work every time but you’ll be pleasantly surprised how often it does.

Imagine how valuable that extra piece of information might be as you go to visit your prospect. For example, let’s say you have discovered they are passionate about gardening or collecting stamps. You just may do a little research on those topics or perhaps you even already know something about them.

Selling is as much about building RAPPORT as anything else and part of your job as a salesperson is to do that. Without rapport you are unlikely to sell. Having background information allows you to establish that rapport and ‘connect’ more quickly than you may otherwise have done.

Now I appreciate some people reading this might think it is a little underhand. Perhaps it is – but, for sure, if you are not doing this there is a good chance your competitor will.

I am great believer in respecting privacy but we just have to be realistic here and accept that now Internet search engines are here -and in particular Google - it is easier than ever for other people to research you.

Having Google on your side is like having your own under-the-radar secret service department.

Another tip here: if you have a particular interest of your own use Google Alerts to keep abreast of the latest results http://www.google.com/alerts

(You know some of us VAIN people even set up Google Alerts for our own name!)

So if you want to know more about your clients, ask Google!

Winning With Internet leads

The Pros and Cons