Category: Frontline Reps

Best Way to Spend the Fourth of July

by mike

Happy Fourth of July! If you’re looking forward to an extended holiday and want to know the best way to spend it, then I’ve got a suggestion:

Why not spend some of it learning and getting better at your craft of sales?

Why not come back to the office after the holiday better than you left it? Better than the other sales reps competing with you?

Years ago, I made a commitment to be one of the best reps in my company, to make more money than I ever had before, and to make my job easier and enjoy it more. How did I do that?

I invested time, energy, and, yes, a little bit of money in myself! You can, too!

Imagine how much better you’ll be if you learned a couple of better responses to the brush offs and objections you get day in and day out?

How much more confidence will you have if you successfully overcome the objections that used to frustrate you and cost you commission?

Here is a proven resource—both hardcover book or audible recording—of over 500 proven and effective scripts to help you improve and make more money: Power Phone Scripts!

Imagine: for less than $18 you can suddenly fly past gatekeepers, overcome initial resistance statements from prospects, and qualify leads so you’ll know exactly how to close them!

And all it takes is a little bit of effort, time, and a tiny amount of money.

I sincerely hope you respect yourself, your career, and your future as much as other top producers who rely on this book—and others!—to put them ahead of their competition.

So invest in yourself now! Click this link and use the Fourth of July to FREE yourself from mediocre performance and disappointment.

You owe it to yourself!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Your Prospect Has All The Answers

by mike

Who do you think knows why your prospect buys?

Who do you think knows when your prospect is going to buy? 

Or who they like to buy from?

The answer, of course, is your prospect!

The problem for many sales reps, is that they prefer to pitch and talk at prospects more than they actually ask questions and listen.

Sounds simple, but trust me, it isn’t. To prove this, just listen to a few phone calls of yourself or some of the reps in your office.

That’s why the top reps are in the habit of asking more questions than they are of talking at their prospects.

A great technique to develop is to get to a question as quickly as possible. Use or adapt the following opening to get your prospect to open up and reveal the answers to the questions above:

“Hi _______, this is ______ ______ with XYZ company. How’s your Tuesday going?”

[Listen here and react accordingly . . ]

“_________, briefly, I’m calling because we do XYZ, and after reviewing your website (or LinkedIn page), I have a quick question for you: How do you get involved with that there at your company?”

This can be adjusted to:

“_________, briefly, I’m calling because we do XYZ, and after reviewing your website (or LinkedIn page), I have a quick question for you: How does your company use XYZ there?”

You can adjust this further to fit your product or offering, but the point is that you’re getting to an engagement (and qualifying) question immediately, and you’re letting your prospect reveal the important information you need to know—or need to know to determine the next direction or question you’ll ask.

This may seem like a subtle approach, but it’s the proven one if you want your prospect to tell you the answers you’re looking for at the beginning of this blog post.

Try it and begin finding ways to let your prospect tell you what you need to know—remember, they have all the answers anyway!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How NOT to Follow Up on an Email

by mike

I hope you’re not making this common mistake when following up on an email you sent:

“I’m just calling to see if you got the email I sent you?”

While this may sound like a reasonable way to follow up after sending an email, do you see how you’re providing your prospect with the perfect stall?

How many times you hear:

“Ah, when did you send it?”

Or

“I haven’t had time to look at it yet.”

OR

“Who are you again?”

If any of these blow offs sound familiar (and I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own), recognize that you are to blame for them because of how you’re following up.

The best practice way is to assume your prospect received it and even glanced through it. Here is a much better way of following up:

“I’m sure you received the email I sent on (date), and probably went through it a bit. Question: How do you see our services matching up with what you’re looking for?”

You can adjust this to fit what it is you’re selling, but the point is not to give your prospect an out, but rather, to assume they received and read through it.

Try using it this week and watch your engagement level rise!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Handle the Email Blow-Off!

by mike

What’s the number one blow off prospects use these days? “Can you email that to me?”

If you think about it, that’s the perfect stall. They aren’t saying no, and it implies they might be interested . . . but face it—they rarely are.

Not only is it hard to get prospects back on the phone, when you do, you usually lead off with the ineffective opening line of: “Did you have a chance to review that email I sent you?”

And you know how that goes: “What email? Can you send it again?”

The solution? Be prepared with a good script and a good strategy.

Try this: Be prepared with an initial email template written in advance (it can be generic or it can include an initial quote of services) and have it ready to send at a moment’s notice.

And then when a prospect blows you off with, “Can you email that to me?” use the following script from my bestselling book: Power Phone Scripts:

“I’d be more than happy to do that—where would you like me to email that?” 

[Take their email down and then email them your information right now.]

“Okay, it’s on the way to you. What I’d like to do right now is take a minute to get an idea of what’s important to you, and then I can direct you to that part of the information when you get around to it.  Let me ask you:

“How do you get involved in ordering/handling/working with the XYZ?”

OR

“From a needs standpoint, how motivated is (your company/department/are you) to change/fix/replace/buy XYZ right now?”

OR

“What would you need to see in the information I just sent you for you to become seriously interested in making a change in how you’re handling XYZ now?”  

If you follow this strategy, then you’ll be ready to side step the email stall and get right back into qualifying! How great will that be? Try this technique yourself and watch as you begin qualifying real buyers, or disqualifying those who just want to get you off the phone…

And if you’d like more scripted rebuttals to this and many other objections and selling situations, then pick up a copy of my new, best-selling book on phone scripts. You’ll get over 500 word-for-word scripts, questions, and phrases to help you open and close more sales starting today!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Handle, “I Want to Think About It.”

by mike

Ah, the amorphous, “I want to think about it . . .”

At first glance, this seems hard to handle because it’s not really an objection, rather, it seems more like a stall. Because of this, it fools many sales reps who think that perhaps after a week or two the prospect might actually buy. But they rarely do.

Make no mistake: this is almost always a “no” disguised as a “maybe.” What you need to do is find out what’s behind this objection and whether or not you can compete with what the real objection is.

Here’s what to say:

“Just out of curiosity, how many other offers are you going to be comparing my offer with?”

[“I want to think about it” means they most likely have a better offer somewhere else. You’d better find out what it is.]

OR

“Are you going to be thinking about the price or the (service, offer, product) that I’m offering?”

[Listen here to what they’re really going to think about.]

OR

“To be honest, whenever I say I’m going to think about something, it usually means I’ve already made a decision to go with another option. Be honest with me, is that what’s happening here?”

[If it is, try to get them to elaborate and compare that other offer to yours.]

Questioning this objection is much better than saying, “Okay, when should I call you back,” which is what most sales reps say.

Like my suggestions from the last two weeks, try this the next time you get this objection, and see if you can have an open, honest discussion with your prospect. That’s the only way to win a sale.

If you’ve found these rebuttals helpful, why not invest in a book of hundreds of other proven responses to the objection you or your team faces every day? Click here and get better tomorrow!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Handle, “Your Price is Too High”

by mike

Based on how successful my last blog was on handling the objection: “We’ve Already Got a Vendor for That,” I thought I’d give you another proven response to help you overcome the objections and resistance you get daily. In this case, “Your Price is Too High.”

The reason this is such a common objection is because your prospects have figured out it’s the best way to get sales reps to drop their price! And most do!

Top performing reps, however, know better . . .

They know the “Price is too high” objection is just another smokescreen. And they handle it using any of the following scripted techniques:

“Compared to what?”

[Listen here! Don’t rush in to answer…]

OR

“Besides price, what’s important to you?”

[My personal favorite]

And the old Stan Billue technique that takes courage, patience, and finesse to use (but it’s SO effective—and fun to use!):

“Oh?”

[Then remain completely quiet and let your prospect tell you what the REAL objection is!]

Once again, the price objection/smokescreen is just that: a smokescreen hiding the real objection. Unless you question it and get clarification, your only fallback is to lower your price! And that rarely gets you anywhere.

Try these the next time you get this objection and watch your sales and conversion rate soar!

If you’d like 10 more, proven responses to this objection, click here and invest a few bucks in yourself.

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Handle, “We’re Already Working with Someone.”

by mike

I don’t know why sales reps still have trouble handing this typical blow off. They know it’s coming; they get it daily or weekly, yet many still struggle to handle it effectively. . . .

The way to not only handle it, but to overcome it is to be prepared in advance with a proven, scripted approach. Like this:

“I’m sure you do, and that’s why I’m calling you today. I know it makes sense to have several vendors you can check pricing and availability with, and having another supplier in your back pocket is only going to help you, right?”

[Get buy in here before you continue . . .]

“So let me email you some information so you’ll have it in case you need it. What’s a good email address to send this to?”

[Now take it down, and then move into qualifying!]

“Just so I’m prepared in case you do need another option, what kind of . . . “

Now ask questions, try to engage, and take your prospect as far as they’ll let you!

You see, the value of having a proven response in your back pocket is that it allows you to move past a prospect’s initial resistance. That’s what most blow offs are!

The next time you get this objection, use the script above and watch how much more effective you become as a sales rep.

If you’d like ten more proven responses to this blow off and hundreds of more scripts, click here.

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Overwhelmed With Your Goals? Do This!

by mike

Happy New Year!

Overwhelmed by all your “to-do” goals? If so, then take a tip from Brian Tracy and do this:

Make a list of your top ten goals for the year.

Think about what’s most important to you in the different areas of your life and write down ten things.

Next, prioritize that list so that the most important goal is number one.

Then: throw away the other nine goals and make a commitment to making that number one goal a reality in the next twelve months.

And once you’ve made that commitment, ask yourself what one action you can take today, right now, to begin reaching that goal.

When I heard this, my first thought was, “Yeah, but what about the other nine goals?”

He explained that despite our best intentions, most goal setting starts strong, but by March it slows down, and by the summer most—if not all—goals have been abandoned.

That’s why identifying one goal, the most important and most impactful goal, is a better way to go.

Think about how much your life will change (and the lives of your family members) if you reach this number one, most important goal.

If your goal is to become a top producer in your industry and double or triple your income, think about the impact that will have on your family. Think about buying that new home, or providing for your parents, or allowing your wife or spouse to stay home.

If your goal is to finally write that novel, think about how your life will change when you finally accomplish that this year! Think about the weight off your shoulders now that it is a reality rather than just another dream.

If your goal is to lose weight, get in shape, and get off your medication and live a longer, healthier life for yourself and your family, think about the long-term rewards achieving that goal will bring you! (And think of the consequence if you don’t.)

Whether or not you agree with Brian, I’m here to tell you that it’s more impactful for you to hit the most important goal in your life than it is to set ten and not hit any of them…

Ask yourself: how good would it be if you actually reached your most important goal in 2024?

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Three New Year’s Resolutions for Improved Sales

by mike

2024 is just around the corner. What are your plans to make this your best year in sales ever?

Here are three things I did all those years ago that changed my sales career, and my life, forever:

#1) For the first ninety days in 2024, make a commitment to listening to at least ONE call a day. Listen for three things:

  • What you did well—do more of that!
  • What didn’t go well.
  • Ways you can change what didn’t go well (script out a better response) and then use that on your very next call.

If you follow this simple strategy, you’ll improve every single day. And that will change your career—and your results.

#2) Set a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goal. Write it down. Begin visualizing how earning all that additional income will impact your—and your family’s—lives. Invest in books/audios/YouTube videos that teach you The Law of Attraction, and begin changing your consciousness.

If you don’t change the inside, then the outside won’t change.

#3) Invest in, study, and use the scripts in this book. When I invested in CDs on better sales techniques years ago, a huge lightbulb came on and my career really took off. Whether it’s my material, or someone else’s, do yourself a favor and study and learn how to get better.

Remember, if nothing changes, then nothing changes.

I hope this has inspired you to invest the time, energy, and a little bit of money into yourself and your career.

Believe me, you’ll forever thank yourself that you did.

All the best for 2024!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Avoid this “Ghost” of Christmas Future

by mike

Do you remember Dicken’s book, A Christmas Carol?

While reading this this December, it reminded me of an encounter I had that was a chilling reminder of the bad “Ghost of Christmas Future” I narrowly avoided all those years ago. Here’s what happened:

I was on my way to consult with a new client one day when I stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. A city bus pulled up outside and a bunch of people got off.  One guy—mid 40’s, tall and lanky—started walking towards the Starbucks, and when he entered the store, I recognized him from many years before when we were both struggling inside sales reps trying to sell investments over the phone.

After I got my coffee, and he got his, he came up to me and said, “You’re Mike Brooks, right?”

“Yes” I said.

“Hey, we used to work together!” he said.

“I remember,” I said. 

He asked me what I was up to these days, and I told him I had become a consultant in inside sales, and that I was off to work with a new client.

I asked him what he was up to and this is when the chill hit me. He said he was starting a new sales job today, and then he rolled his eyes as if to say, “And this one will suck, too.”

We walked out of the store together, and said goodbye and went our separate ways. He went to wait at the next bus bench, and I got into my Mercedes and drove away. 

As I sipped my coffee and listened to the tunes in my plush car, I thought about how different our lives had turned out and wondered what happened to make them so different. As I did, I knew exactly what it was. 

During our time together, the owners of the company brought in a sales trainer, a guy named Stan Billue, to motivate us. Stan spoke to us for an hour about what makes the difference between the top money earners in sales versus all the other sales reps. 

He said that you have a choice to either commit to learning and using proven scripts and sales techniques that would double or triple your income, or you would just keep doing what you were doing (ad-libbing), and then you’d just keep getting what you had been getting. 

Stan said: “If you are willing to do what most sales reps aren’t willing to do, then soon you’ll be able to enjoy the things, the lifestyle, and the future that most sales reps will never be able to enjoy.”

I was sold. This other guy wasn’t. 

I invested in Stan’s training program, “Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.” I committed to learning, practicing, and doing what he suggested. My sales and income soared. 

The other guy thought what Stan taught was just a bunch of old sales techniques that wouldn’t work for him.

He thought he knew better.

He didn’t believe in using scripts.

“I’ll sound like a telemarkerter,” he said. “I have to go with the flow because each prospect is different,” he persisted.

He didn’t believe in putting in the time, energy, or money to get better.

So he didn’t.

Fast forward to our Starbucks encounter. Over 20 years had passed between that Stan Billue talk, and I realized, that seminar was the moment I made the decision to change my life.

When this guy showed up that day, he was the Ghost of Christmas Past that could have become my Ghost of Christmas Future. 

My life has changed because of my commitment to investing in other sales material, and then learning and using it diligently. My life is infinitely better because I did, and I have no doubt that had I not invested, learned, and used proven selling techniques, it would have been me that was taking a bus to my next, new job.

It sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

The moral here is that you, too, can avoid the Ghost of Christmas Past from becoming your future. There are a lot of great sales training books, CD’s, and courses you and your team can take advantage of to get better. Visit my store to get some ideas.

But do something, anything, to avoid this terrible fate. You’ll be awful glad you did!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today