Learn the languages of your 3 prospect groups
Business prospects speak three “languages” that you must speak, too, if you want to get their attention.

Lower-level managers are hands-on professionals who speak the language of feature/function. They ask things like, “Does your solution come with training?” and “Where can I see one working?” You need to be conversant in the feature/function lingo you learned during your product training. Say something like, “Our product can do the job 20 percent faster than your current way of doing things because of the XYZ component.”

Vice presidents are interested in one thing: How can you help them to increase revenue or decrease costs? Leave them a message like this: “I'd like to talk to you about a system that has cut inventory costs in organizations like yours by 20 percent.”

Senior managers speak a language shaped by two concepts: market share and market size. Your message to them might be: “The market is growing 14 percent over the next three years. If you adopt and approve my plan, we'll grow the business by 19 percent and take significant share away from competitors.”

Adapted from Knock Your Socks Off Prospecting, William “Skip” Miller and Ron Zemke, AMACOM, www.AmacomBooks.org.