Hello!

I was cold pitched in a DM on Likedin yesterday but...
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I didn't get all arsey and go on a rant. I drew a lesson from the experience that you can all use to make more sales.

A familiar story on Linkedin.
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I commented on a post.
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We engaged.
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A connection request was sent by one of us.
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A few questions back and forth and then came an offer to work with the other person out of the blue.
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The thing is the offer was pretty doomed to fail because it had not uncovered any need for me to work with the other person.
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And I don't want you to fall into this trap.
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I give my clients the SPIR formula for transitioning short conversations to calls and clients. If the other person had used that frame work the results may have been different.
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The Framework is this:
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+ Situation
+ Problem
+ Impact
+ Results or Idea offer
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Let me give you an example to bring it to life:
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In a conversation, I might ask: "What's working for you to win new clients?" which is the Sitiuation question.
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And through experience I know there are only a few answers people give me and for this example let's choose "Referrals"
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It's reliant on me to try to uncover known or unknown problems associated with a current course of action. In this case I may ask one of these Problem questions:
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+ Does that provide you with prospects at the right seniority in the business?
+ Does that provide the predictability of new revenue?
+ Does that provide you with the deal sizes you are looking for?
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And it's beholden on me to use my situational fluency to question more around these answers. I could use a simple transition bridge to the Impact like these:
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+ Thanks for the answer, I thought that may be the case. I’m curious – what does that mean for you right now?
+ I hear that a lot. Thanks. I’m curious – what’s the implication if it carries on that way?
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And that conversation can lead to me making an offer. And my offer can be on 2 levels:
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1) IDEAS: Thanks for being so open with me. I have a few new ideas that may help solving that problem. Are you open to hearing them?
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OR
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2) RESULTS: Thanks - I thought that may be the case. I have a few proven systems that will help you get lead generation nailed immediately and then proactively go out and win your next 5 consulting clients [THE GOAL], without relying on a REFERRALS, writing a book or even spending hours pecking away on Linkedin. Would you be open to taking a look?
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In the cold pitch to me yesterday there was no bridge built. No depth to the questions. No exploration.
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Just some situation questions and a pitch when I hadn't even expressed any dissatisfaction.
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Don't be shallow in your questioning skills if you want to increase your opportunities and revenue.
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Question everything.