For several weeks I had been trying to connect with someone who had expressed interest in sales training for his team. We were both interested in speaking with each other but business just kept getting in the way. We managed to schedule an hour to talk but circumstances prevented us from connecting. I reached out again via direct message on Twitter and suggested a time on Friday.
Friday came along and I hadn’t received a reply from my contact. I was tempted to send him another direct message but chose to call instead.
My goal was to schedule a day and time to have a conversation and I had an appropriate message ready because I expected to get his voice mail.
You can imagine my surprise when he picked up the telephone and I was even more surprised when he said he wanted to talk right away. We ended up having our conversation even though we hadn’t scheduled it.
Here’s the lesson…
Too many sales people rely strictly on electronic forms of communication (I confess that I have been guilty of that too). It’s quick and easy and rejection tends to be easier to deal with.
Plus, it’s less intrusive.
We often think that we are intruding on our prospect’s time when we call without an appointment. And, we are especially if we launch into a self-aggrandizing pitch about our products or company.
However, a telephone call is still a much more effective way to connect with people. Just because you don’t have a scheduled appointment doesn’t mean your customer or prospect won’t take your call. After all, my prospect had not been expecting my call. I know he had a ton of work on his desk–every executive does. And, I know that our 60 minute conversation took a substantial bite out of his schedule. However, he was still willing to talk.
Granted, timing is critical because most executives spend the bulk of the day racing from meeting to meeting. However, if you are fortunate to catch them at their desk they may very well take your call if;
1/ They recognize your name and number on Caller ID
2/ You have developed a level of trust with them through previous correspondence
So what are you waiting for…pick up the telephone and call that hot prospect!
Could your sales team use some motivation? Give me a call and we can discuss a program that will help them improve their sales results while giving them a boost of motivation. Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca or 905-633-7750.
In today’s ultra-competitive business world it is becoming more difficult to stand out from the crowd and impress new prospects. However, there are a few things you can do to achieve this and start increasing your sales.
1 – Do your homework
Before you pick up the telephone and dial for dollars invest a few minutes to research the company or person you are calling. You don’t need to spend hours on this, simply do enough homework that you can speak intelligently about their potential issues.
A friend of mine was cold calling a company and he read through their recent annual report—which was available on their website. During his conversation he referenced a point from the report and his prospect said, “You know more than I do!”
2 – Be punctual
I have heard sales people proclaim, “Why can’t my prospect see me; I’m only 10 minutes late?”
Late is late! You are either on time or you aren’t.
If you say you will call someone at 2:30 make sure you follow through. Allow plenty of time for travel when meeting face-to-face with prospects. Road construction, an accident or other unexpected delays shouldn’t cause you to be late.
Key decision makers are too busy to wait for you so be punctual and on time. It’s a little thing but it makes a big difference.
3 – Get to the point
Don’t waste a lot of time on small talk or social chit-chat—unless your prospect initiates this type of conversation. Instead, get to the reason for the meeting. Your prospect will respect you and you will stand out from your competition.
An effective to open is to verify the time available, “Mrs. Prospect, when we spoke last we allotted 60 minutes for today’s meeting; is that still good?” This ensures that you and your contact are both on the same page with respect to scheduling.
4 – Recap
Just before you launch into your sales presentation, recap your understanding of your prospect’s situation, problems or concerns. This bullet-point summary demonstrates to your prospect that you have a handle on their issues and captures their attention immediately. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to modify the presentation of your offering if your prospect’s situation has changed since your last conversation.
5 – Focus on them
Instead of talking about your company, your client list, your products and services, how long you have been in business or anything else that focuses the attention on you and your company, concentrate on showing your prospect how your offering will help them and/or their organization.
Prospects are not interested in hearing the self-puffery details that your marketing department so desperately wants you to share. They want to know how you can help them solve a potential problem. The more your presentation focuses on this, the longer you will your prospect’s attention and the greater the likelihood you will move the sales process forward.
6 – Don’t overstay your welcome
Unfortunately, many sales calls and meetings go into overtime which disrupts the decision makers’ already jam-packed schedule. I have personally been on the receiving end of sales call that was supposed to take 30 minutes but quickly stretched to 40 and would have gone on longer had I not cut it short.
Just because you have 60 minutes allotted for your meeting does not mean you have to use it all. You can impress a prospect by wrapping up early and giving them a few minutes of “free” time. You will never hear a prospect say, “Wait…we had 60 minutes scheduled for this meeting and we’re only at fifty. Keep talking for another ten minutes.”
These six steps will help you impress your prospects and stand out from the competition.
What others can you think of?
Looking for a keynote speaker for an upcoming sales meeting or conference? I deliver high-energy, impactful presentations that get results. Here is a video clip of one of my presentations: http://bit.ly/ef5P5l 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca
When you make contact with a new prospect—either by telephone or in a face-to-face meeting—you have an extremely short window of time to connect with them. If you fail to achieve this they will quickly tune you out. Here are several things you can do to lose your prospect’s attention in the first five seconds of the conversation:
1. Start a telephone conversation with, “Hi, how are you?” 2. Open your conversation by introducing yourself, your company and what you do. 3. Make small talk about “stuff” you see in their office (awards, plaques, photos, etc). 4. Give them an overview of your products and services. 5. Explain how your product or service will benefit them. 6. Tell them what other companies you have worked with. 7. Show them the awards and accolades your company product has received. 8. Give them a brochure that outlines your key products or services.
Unfortunately, most sales people fail to effectively open the sales conversation with a new prospect. Most of the sales calls and meetings I have been subjected to over the years have started with one or more of the above. However, the moment your prospect senses that you are trying to sell them something that they don’t need or want they will tune you out and look for a way to disengage or disconnect from the call. They don’t care about you. They don’t want to know about your company. They don’t want to listen to you talk about your products or service. They want a solution to a problem. They want to know how you can help them improve their business. Here is how you do that.
Focus your attention on the prospect!
It may sound simple but most sales people don’t get it. They still believe that selling means talking at great length about their company, their product or their service. However, truly effective salesmanship is all about asking the prospect the right questions and demonstrating that you can help them solve a particular problem or issue. That means you need to direct ALL of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about your company or your offering.
If you are making cold calls you can accomplish this by modifying your opening statement or voice mail message. State a specific problem they are likely facing (based on your experience or research). For example,
“Mr. Big, if you’re like other companies in ABC industry, I suspect that you (fill in the blank with the problem). If this is the case, call me at 800-555-1212 and I might be able to suggest a solution. By the way, it’s Kelley calling and my number is 800-555-1212.”
This also applies to face-to-face meetings as well.
When you meet with a new prospect for the first time, the last thing you want to do is to start blathering away about your product or service. Instead, open the conversation by asking, “Mrs. Prospect, many of our clients are currently experiencing (insert the problem here). How does that compare to your company’s situation?” This demonstrates that you are knowledgeable of their business and/or the industry and it gives your prospect the opportunity to tell you about their chief concerns.
Over the last fifteen years I have learned that most people will tell you anything you want to know providing you give them a reason to do so. Launching into a product demo does not achieve this but showing interest in their business does. The key is to develop and ask high-value questions.
Several years ago I worked with a company who regularly participated in industry trade shows. I observed them at one show and noticed that their sales reps simply talked about the products that people showed interest in. Not surprisingly, their closing ratio was low because in most cases they gave information that was not relevant to that prospect’s situation and that they talked to people who had little or no motivation to buy. After some training, they began asking people a few high-quality questions to determine the people who had problems, challenges, and were seriously interested in their products. They were instructed to let “tire-kickers” look around and focus their time on people who had pressing concerns. At the end of the show their sales were slightly higher but they also had a list of highly-qualified people to follow up with and many of these individuals ended up buying from my client.
Here’s the bottom line. The more time you spend talking about your product, the less inclined a prospect will want to continue that conversation. The more you focus your attention on their situation, their problems and demonstrating how you can help them improve their business, the more you differentiate yourself from the competition.
You only have few moments to connect with a prospect so keep it brief. Keep it focused. Keep it about them. And you will keep their attention.
What do you do when you call a new prospect and they say something like, “Call me next week?” The way you handle this request will influence your results.
First, it is essential to recognize that this request is often a brush-off. To test if the request is legitimate, I recommend that you attempt to pin down a specific day and time to call back. If your prospect is vague and says that any day is fine it is likely an attempt to get you off the call.
However, you can test this further by asking, “What day next week works best for you?” If they give you a specific day, narrow down the time by asking, “What time is best for you?” If you are fortunate enough to get an approximate time, make one more attempt to secure a specific time by saying, “I will call you at 2:15 next Tuesday. Will that work for you?”
If you get a positive response, you are more likely going to connect with that prospect, especially if you ask them to mark that time in their calendar and follow up by sending them an appointment via email.
Most sales reps would rather endure a root canal than make a cold call. Cold calling can often be grueling so many reps procrastinate. And as they delay, the thought of dialing becomes more and more onerous. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you follow these 15 simple tips:
The 1 hour sprint - Treat the cold calling not as a marathon which is tedious and grueling but rather as a sprint. Devote a good solid hour to calling then stop. An hour is manageable and achievable and not nearly as discouraging as the thought of four hours of cold calls.
Set a goal. Having a 1-hour sprint is great but tie it with an objective. For example, you might have a goal of a minimum of 30 or 40 attempts. This will help ensure that you stay on the dialing track and not idle away the time with other activities (see #7 for more info).
Schedule your cold calling. Sit down right now with your calendar or planner and schedule that 1-hour sprint EVERY day for the next three week. Consider it an unbreakable appointment. This will create discipline and reduce procrastination.
Fish where the fish are. Are there better times than others to reach your target market? You bet there is and that’s when you should be calling. Executives, for instance, are easier to reach early in the morning, say, from 7:00 onwards. Wake up early and start dialing. You’ll increase your success almost immediately.
Do it first. If your target market doesn’t have a particular time that’s more effective than another, then schedule your cold calling for first thing in the morning. Do it first. Get it finished so that it doesn’t linger over you like the sword of Damocles.
Create a Master List. Don’t fiddle with your data base flipping back and forth from screen to screen. Get a list of 30 prospects. Put their names on a pad of paper with their phone numbers. Begin at the top and start dialing. Go down the list. If there is no answer, don’t leave a message, go on to the next name and number. If you get through the list with no answer, start at the top of the list and begin again. This creates speed, rhythm and focus on productivity.
Be prepared. Duh! Be prepared and organized. Have your opening statement prepared ahead of time. Don’t shilly shally and shoot from the hip. Know what you want to say. Practice it if you have to. Have any job aids you might need in front of you. Have a pen that works. Clean your desk of clutter and distraction. Do all this before you start your 1-hour sprint.
Call and only call. Don’t use your 1- hour sprint to make copious notes, stuff envelops, send a fax or compose an e-mail after a call. You’ll use up precious minutes. Stick to your hour of dialing and stick to the goal you set (see #2). After you’ve done your dialing you can go back and update information.
Reward yourself. You’ve heard this one before: if you do your solid hour of dialing, give yourself a reward. Maybe it is a triple grande latte at Starbucks. Whatever. Something.
Create a competition. Misery loves company. If you have associates, get them to cold call with you at the same time. Have contest for dials, connects, presentations, leads or sales. Buy a small trophy and award it to each other on a daily basis. Have fun with it.
Make a commitment to someone else. Publicly state to a co-worker, boss, friend, significant other or whoever that you WILL do 1 hour of cold calling at a given time. Ask them to ask you how you did. Telling them you didn’t do it will make you feel embarrassed and sheepish which means you’ll want to avoid it at all costs. (Thus, you’re more likely to pick up the phone and get it done).
Track results. Keep track of your dials, connects, presentations, leads, sales and revenues. Make a chart on a sheet of paper. Use little ‘sticks’ to record your results. This is easy and take .67 seconds per stick so it save time. Over time you can create a predictive model. If you have a boss, it’s also a great way to provide feedback on lists or offers.
Avoid the Dementors. In the Harry Potter books ‘Dementors’ are creatures that literally suck the life spirit from people. Whiners and complainers are like Dementors. Avoid them at all cost. They’ll drag you down and eventually your drive and spirit will be depleted.
Hang out with winners. If there’s someone who is good at cold calling, or at the very least, is disciplined about cold calling. Sit near him or her. Feed off their energy. Compete with them (see #10). Their drive and spirit is infectious.
Don’t be a wimp. You know what’s real easy? Quitting. It’s real easy to quit. Don’t be wimp and stick to the plan and follow the tips here. Give these ideas a chance. Your revenue and your job may depend on it. So don’t quit. Be persistent.
Cold calling doesn’t have to be as miserable as we sometime make it. Follow these tips and you’ll create momentum and the process will not be so taxing. It’ll be easy, faster and more effective. Just do it.
