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😳 We’ve all been there.
⏰ You invest a load of time with a potential customer.
😲 Only to find out they weren’t the right fit for your product or service (see my embarrassing story in the LinkedIn post below).
🤔 But, how do you avoid these little buggers and find the right people who will love to buy your products or services?
👀 Read on to learn about the highly effective MAN framework you can use to do just that, plus increase sales.
What is The MAN Framework?
The MAN framework helps you decide the next steps to take once a potential customer has contacted you.
It’s a way of qualifying whether or not you should invest more time in nurturing the potential customer into becoming a real-life customer.
Here’s what MAN stands for.
Means
Does the person you’re speaking to have a budget that meets your pricing?
Authority
Is the person you’re speaking to the decision maker?
Need
Does the person you’re speaking to have a real need for your product or service?
How To Use The MAN Framework
Next time a potential customer contacts you, you need to get answers to the three questions above before committing any additional time to meet them etc.
If you can see that the potential customer ticks all 3 boxes, you know the next step is to take them to the next stage of your sales process (in our case this would be a meeting).
However…
If one of the boxes cannot be ticked, you either need to take action to change it, or let the potential customer know that you cannot work with them.
Step #1 Get them on the phone
Speaking on the phone is a much better way to build a relationship than emailing or messaging.
Simply ask them, ‘when is a good time to call today to discuss this?’
Step #2 Build a relationship on the phone
Don’t dive straight into business. Try and get to know them a bit. Ask them where they’re based, what they do, how they started etc.
The key here is to ask lots of questions about the person and listen.
Step #3 Ask probing questions
To get answers to the MAN framework questions without seeming blunt, you need to ask a variety of questions in a conversational manner.
To help you with this, I’ve developed a set of 9 conversational questions you can ask outlined below.
Over To You
It’s GO time. Next time you speak to a potential customer, use the MAN framework and the questions provided above to work out the best next steps.
How do you decide whether a potential customer is right for you or not? What questions do you ask? Let me know in the comments below.
Daniel Knowlton
Dan is the award winning Co-founder of KPS Digital Marketing who was named #12 Most Influential Digital Marketer on Twitter in the world in 2016 by Onalytica. Dan is a contributor for a variety of key marketing publications including Social Media Examiner, Content Marketing Institute and Jeff Bullas’ Blog. He is also a keen speaker and has spoken at events internationally for a variety of organisations including NatWest and The Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors. Dan has a passion for helping others learn how to get to grips with Digital Marketing and is obsessed with providing value for his community.
