Tag: Cold Calling Scripts

Top Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Producers (Part Eight)

by mike

In Top Characteristic Part Eight, we’re going back to cold calling and qualifying to reveal an important skill all top producers possess:

Top Characteristic Part Eight: Treat all gatekeepers with courtesy and respect.

If you have to make cold or warm calls to prospects, then you probably have to deal with your share of gatekeepers. These can be receptionists, office managers, assistants, etc. No matter what role they have, whoever stands between you and your prospect is someone you have to deal with first.

Most sales people struggle to effectively deal with and get past these so called “gatekeepers.” And the majority of the time, the problems they have they bring on themselves. The reason is because most sales reps treat these people as obstacles to get past by using tricks or by acting authoritatively or by being downright rude. And you can imagine how that goes.

In addition, many sales people simply don’t understand some basic rules in regards to how to speak to gatekeepers, and so they create their own problems by giving incomplete information which just triggers the gatekeepers to do their job and keep them away from the decision maker.

Here is a common mistake:

Rep: “Oh hi, is Mr. Jones in?”

Gatekeeper: “Can I tell him who’s calling?”

Rep: “This is Bob.”

Gatekeeper: “Bob who?”

Rep: “Bob Smith.”

Gatekeeper: “With what company?

Rep: “The XYZ company.”

Gatekeeper: “Will he know what this call is regarding?”

Rep: “Ah, it’s about his (whatever the rep is selling…)”

Gatekeeper: “Has he spoken to you before?”

Rep: “Ah, no……”

Once a sales rep gets into that kind of dialogue with a gatekeeper, they will rarely win. Over and over again they will get turned away.

The way to fix all this is easy: Always give your first and last name and the company you’re calling from right away. And this is crucial: always end with an instructional statement like: “Is Bob available please.”

And by the way that’s crucial, too: always be polite and use please – two or three times.

Here’s an effective opening:

Rep: “Hi could I speak with Bob please?

Gatekeeper: “Can I tell him who’s calling?”

Rep: “Yes please, please tell him that (your first and last name) with (your company name) is holding please.”

If you do this right and with a smile in your voice, you’ll avoid 80% of the screening that you get now. Guaranteed.

In addition, if you don’t know a contact’s name, use the “I need a little bit of help, please,” technique. But always wait for them to respond before you ask for it:

Rep: “Hi, I need a little bit of help please.”

[Now pause long enough the gatekeeper to respond]

Gatekeeper: “What do you need?”

Rep: “I need to speak with the person who handles your _________. Who would that be, please?”

This is very effective if again you say it with a smile in your voice.

Last technique: Speaking of a smile, always put a BIG smile on your face right before your prospect (or gatekeeper) picks up the phone. It does wonders for how you project your attitude and opening line.

And, don’t be afraid of building a little bit of rapport with the gatekeeper as well. Ask them if they’re happy it’s Friday, or how Monday is going, or if they’re glad it’s hump day. Ask about the weather. Anything to be personable and to show them that you value them as people rather than just an obstacle to get around.

The bottom line is that top producers know how to interact with gatekeepers and know how to gain their trust and get them on their side. By using the techniques above, you can now begin doing that as well.

Top Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Producers (Part Six)

by mike

Top Characteristic Part Six is difficult for many sales people to develop and practice, yet it’s one of the most important of skills to cultivate. And it is:

Top Characteristic Part Six: Learn to build rapport before, during and after a sale.

While most people think that sales people have the “gift of gab” and can seemingly talk to anybody, it’s not that way at all. If you don’t believe me, just listen to a few of your own recordings or those of your teammates…

The truth is, knowing how to honestly and naturally build rapport with someone takes a lot of skill, practice and patience. Unfortunately, most sales reps are in a tremendous hurry to get their pitch out and so they treat many prospects as an obstacle to go through to get a sale.

This is a big problem.

Years ago, my first sales manager (my older brother, Peter), taught me an important lesson. As I rushed through a pitch to qualify and then tried to close people, he told me that I was missing out on the most important thing – connecting with and treating people with respect and with genuine interest.

He told me, “Michael, these are people you’re speaking with. Treat them as such and you’ll go much further than you are now.”

It took a while for me to lower my guard and overcome my fear of rejection, but as I got more successful, I began to develop a genuine interest in the people I was speaking with. Once I remembered that they had lives, responsibilities, fears and goals just like me, it made talking to them, rather than at them, so much easier.

And once I did that, it was much easier to build real rapport.

You’ve probably all heard the saying that people buy from people they like, know and trust, right? When selling over the phone, learning how to develop genuine rapport will help get someone to like, know and begin to trust you.

There are three areas that you can learn to develop rapport: before (during the initial qualifying call), during (during the close or presentation), and after (once your prospect becomes a client).

Here are some tips on how to build rapport during all three stages:

1) On the prospecting call. This is perhaps the hardest time to do this because your prospect doesn’t know anything about you other than that you’re a sales rep trying to sell them something. This is when their defenses are the highest.

The way to build rapport during this phase is to concentrate on relating with them right in the beginning – before you start pitching. You do this by asking any number of things like how the weather is (“Is it still over a 100 degrees there?”), or by asking how the new conversion or transition is going, or if they’re super busy now that it’s Monday, or if they’re relieved that it’s Friday. Find some common ground and build some rapport around it before you launch into your pitch. Your goal is to try to build a connection before you put your sales person’s hat on.

One good way to do this also is to develop a touch point plan of leaving voice mails and sending emails if you’re not able to reach someone right away. By leaving a carefully constructed series of messages beforehand, you can start your conversation by asking if they received your messages and if they’ve had a chance to read them yet. If not, then build rapport as above before you go into your pitch.

Building rapport this way takes a little practice, but if you truly become interested in each and every person you speak with, they’ll feel it and you’ll separate yourself from all the other sales reps just trying to sell them. Believe me, this will pay dividends…

2) Build rapport during your presentation. Most sales reps are in a hurry to get through their pitch so they can see if a prospect is going to buy or not. This is not only bad technique but it is also rude.

Top producers, on the other hand, continue their interest in their prospect and concentrate on having a conversation throughout their presentation rather than making their pitch a monologue. The way you do this is by putting lots of tie downs, open ended questions and even trial closes into your presentation. Your goal should be to check in with and involve your prospect in a conversation rather than give a pitch.

An example of this is by checking in with your prospect after you’ve given a benefit or explained how something works. Asking things like, “How would that fit in with what you’re doing,” or “Would that help you?” is a good start.

Using open ended questions is good, too. Instead of asking, “Are you with me?” you should ask, “What questions do you have for me so far?”

By building rapport in this way, you also begin getting an idea of how interested or engaged your prospect is. The more engaged they are, the better your chances of advancing the sale.

Spend some time this week to rewrite your demo or presentation giving your prospect opportunities to acknowledge, engage and ask lots of questions. The more rapport you can build during the close, the better.

3) After the sale. Many sales reps are surprised to hear this, but aftercare of a new client is just as important as getting one to begin with. Most sales forget a client once their check is in, but top producers know that right after a prospect has purchased is the best time to either up sell them or get a referral.

And the way you do this is by once again having a conversation and expanding upon your rapport. Get in the habit of calling your new clients a week or so out just to see how they’re doing. Offer any assistance and continue to develop a relationship with them.

If you have a chance to offer an additional service or product, do so. If not, then have your referral script handy.

Also, consider drip marketing to your new customer by using a greeting card system such as Send Out Cards. The more you can “touch” your new client, the stickier they are going to become and the more likely you’ll be able to do more and longer term business with them.

In conclusion, building rapport seems to be a lost art for many sales people. This is why most people (yourself included) hate getting calls from sales reps. But top producers know the value in treating people with respect and with genuine interest.

By doing so, you can not only develop a long and loyal customer base, but you can begin to enjoy what you do more as well. Sounds like a win/win to me.

Top Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Producers (Part Five)

by mike

In today’s ongoing series of the “Top Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Producers,” I’m going to give you a powerful way to open your closes. This is a technique that top producers use all the time, but that most sales reps are afraid of using.

If you do this right, however, you’ll have the confidence to ask for and get the sale the majority of the time. It is:

Top Characteristic Part Five: Requalify your prospect at the beginning of your closing presentation.

Let’s start with how most sales reps give a closing presentation or demo. Most sales reps get a prospect on the phone and then go through a long winded presentation, seldom checking in, and then at the end vaguely asking for the order with a weak statement like:

“So what do you think?”

A client of mine once described his sales team as “spraying and praying.” They “sprayed” a long presentation, and then at the end “prayed” the prospect was onboard and wanted to buy.

If that’s how you’re doing it now, then you know how sick of a feeling it is to finally ask for the deal (and usually be turned down).

Top producers handle this in a very different way. First, top producers get much better quality leads out because they follow Top Characteristic Number Four of fully qualifying their leads.

Next, when they get a prospect back on the phone, before they jump into their demo or presentation, they take the time up front to requalify their prospect so there are no surprises when it comes to asking for the sale at the end.

What they are requalifying for are things like decision making ability of the person they are pitching, the timeline for making the decision (especially using a trial close like: “And if at the end you like what you see today, is this something you can move forward with?”), and any other qualifying areas that weren’t covered during the qualifying call.

Here is a list of some sample questions you can ask at the beginning of your presentation:

“I know you mentioned last time that you were particularly interested in learning about ________. Is there any other area you wanted to see today?”

AND

“You mentioned that you were the one who would decide on something like this – is that still the case?”

AND

“I know you said you wanted to find a solution as soon as possible, so let me ask you: if this is everything you’re looking for, are you prepared to move on this today?”

AND

“You know ________, we talked about the range of investment being between $10,000 to $50,000 depending on which program you went with. If you do like this today, what kind of commitment are you thinking of making?”

AND

“I’m happy we have some time to go over how all this works and let me ask you: If after you see all this you agree this is what you’re looking for, is this something you can give me the go ahead to put to work for you today?”

If some of these questions seem daunting to you, it’s probably because you haven’t been thoroughly qualifying your prospects to begin with. You may be more used to the “spray and pray” model.

I’m here to tell you that you’ll close more deals, avoid more frustration, and confidently close more deals if you begin requalifying your prospects up front.

The benefits of doing this are many. To start with, if you find that a prospect isn’t going to make a decision at the end but rather has lots of concerns or objections already, then you can adjust your pitch accordingly. You can shorten it or ask for their main interests points and address those first. Then after you’ve answered any questions, you can begin overcoming some of the obstacles or ascertaining if this is a prospect who is ever going to close or not.

If you find that most of your prospects aren’t going to make a decision at the end of your presentation, then you can go back to your qualifying script and put in more definite questions so you get better qualified leads for your next closes.

On the other hand, if you find out that your prospect is indeed ready to go, then you can use more tie downs and trial closes during your presentation and then confidently ask for and get the sales sooner.

Either way, you’ll know where you stand at the beginning of your pitch and what you’ve got to do to win the deal.

Take some time this week to restructure the opening of your presentation or demo and put some of the requalifying questions you’ve read above. Or, adapt some of your own. The more you ask these kinds of questions, the stronger of a closer you’ll become.

And one last note: Don’t be afraid that you’re going to scare off buyers by doing this. Know one thing: buyers will respond to these kinds of questions. Only non-buyers will give you trouble, and wouldn’t you rather know up front who is going to buy and who isn’t?

Top Ten Characteristics of Top Sales Producers (Part Two)

by mike

I’d like to thank many of you for your emails and comments regarding last week’s ezine article on the first characteristic of making a commitment to doing whatever it takes to be a top sales producer.

For those of you who are committed, you’ll find your sales and confidence will instantly go up when you practice the next characteristic:

Top Characteristic Number Two: Learn, practice and then automatically deliver the best responses and closes to 90% of the selling situations you run into day in and day out.

This is absolutely huge. The strange thing is though: 80% of sales people simply won’t take the time or make the effort to do it.

I’ve always said that the best thing about sales is that 80 to 90% of the objections, stalls, put offs and situations you run into day after the day are the same. The blow offs you got yesterday, are the same ones you got last month and that you’ll get next month – and next year.

Think about it: how many times do you hear this when you prospect or cold call:

From the gatekeeper:

“Will he know what this call is regarding?”

From the prospect:

“I wouldn’t be interested.”

“We already have someone who handles that.”

“Just email me something.”

Do any of these sound familiar? Of course they do! And I’ll bet you could add another five or seven, couldn’t you?

And how about when you close a sale? How about:

“We just aren’t ready to make a decision yet.”

“I’m going to have to talk to my partner/spouse/committee.”

“Your price isn’t in our budget.”

Are these sounding familiar? Of course they are! And, once again, you could easily come up with about five or seven more.

And here’s the point: There are only about seven or nine objections or stalls per selling situation per product or service. You keep getting them over and over and over again!

Now here’s the problem: Most sales reps don’t take the time to develop, script out, and then practice, drill and rehearse the most effective responses until they know them backward and forward and can deliver them automatically like a pro.

Instead, 80% of sales reps (and sales teams!) choose to ad-lib a different response – or worse, an ineffective response – each time they get one of these repeatable stalls or objections. This makes them uncomfortable when they get resistance, makes them give up easily, and makes them not want to cold call or call people back to close them (classic phone resistance).

It makes their sales lives a living nightmare…

The top producers, on the other hand, have taken the time to develop, memorize and then deliver effective responses to these objections, and so they easily handle and overcome them. They are not afraid of getting resistance, instead, they’re prepared for it. Knowing what’s coming and being prepared for it enables them to listen to what their prospect is saying, allows them to question the objection and find out what is really holding a prospect back.

And this makes them confident. This allows them to stay in the game and overcome stalls and objections when other sales reps fold and go away. This allows them to persevere and get the sale.

In addition, it allows them to do their job easily and without stress because they know in advance what’s coming, and they are prepared for it!

It’s like with the objection of: “I’m going to need to ask the boss.”

Eighty percent of sales reps handle this incorrectly by saying something like: “Well, when should I call you back?”

By doing it this way, they simply create a stall, and then they worry that when they finally do hear back from the prospect, the answer will be, “Well, the boss doesn’t want to do it.”

How many times does this happen to you?

A top producer, on the other hand, handles this very differently. She would say:

“I understand and let me ask you something. If your boss likes this and tells you to do whatever you think is best, based on what we’ve just gone over, what would you likely do?”

This is called isolating the objection, and based on what the prospect then says, the top producer will take the next effective steps.

This is what I mean by knowing what’s coming in advance, and then being able to effectively, confidently and easily handle it.

And that’s your assignment for this week. Start by making a list of all the stalls, put offs and objections you get with your sale during the various stages of contact. Then commit to learning, scripting and then practicing the best responses to them.

Once you’ve found the ones that work (and I recommend you script out three or four responses for each objection), spend the time practice, drill and rehearse those best practice responses until you can deliver them automatically.

I’m reminded of the importance of this when I recall an interview with Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins. He said that his players practice each move, each technique over and over again until they are automatic.

He said that if his players get into a game situation and have to think about what to do next, it’s too late. He said they had to be able to respond instantly, automatically with the best technique in every situation they get into.

It’s the same with you and sales.

If you are willing to do this – again, what 80% of your competition won’t take the time and effort to do – then soon you will enjoy closing more sales, making more money, and living a more confident and successful life as a sales professional.

The Three Times to Handle an Objection

by mike

Most sales reps hate getting objections. When they get them, their hands start to sweat, their heart takes the elevator down into the pit of the stomachs, and they start wishing they had gotten that graduate degree and avoided sales altogether.

This is how most sales reps react when they get objections, but not the top producers. Top producers view and react to objections very differently. To start with, because top producers thoroughly qualify their prospects up front they generally uncover and deal with many objections during the qualifying stage. Objections like, “I’ll have to show this to my partner,” and others are already known and dealt with.

In addition, top producers have taken the time, long in advance, of scripting out two or three different rebuttals to the objections they get, so when they do get them, they know exactly what to say to overcome them. In other words, they are rarely caught off guard, because they know what to say to deal with them.

Third, because top producers know what the objections or stalls are likely to be in advance, and since they are prepared for them with solid scripts and techniques to overcome them, they are able to take advantage of the timing of “when” to handle an objection. Unlike most sales reps who feel they have to handle an objection the moment they get one (and hence instantly lose control of the call), top producers realize that they have three options as to when to handle an objection. They are:

1) When it comes up. Again, because top producers know what to say and how to effectively deal with objections, they have the choice of handling the objection when it comes up or of postponing it for later.

The first choice may be to handle the objection when it comes up. This is usually good if the prospect is rejecting a product or service at the beginning of the pitch because they haven’t been through all the details (features and benefits) of the pitch yet.

The way to handle this is to use a script, of course. But the key is to handle the objection and then move back into the pitch. An example would be if a prospect objects to the price at the beginning. It might go like this:

Prospect: “This is out of our budget – the price is just too high.” (Or any other objection.)

Rep: “You know, it might seem that way now, but the price actually breaks down to about $2.00 per (lead, incident, etc.), and when you look at it that way, it becomes very affordable – especially when you see how much time and effort it saves you. Let me just show you a couple of things…”

In this example, the rep answered the objection but instead of checking in with the prospect to see how the close landed, they instead kept control of the call by continuing on with the pitch.

2) The second option to handling an objection is to postpone it till the end of the pitch. This is ideal if the prospect seems willing to keep listening but is stuck on an issue or two. The important thing is to acknowledge that you heard the objection and promise to handle that at the end. It goes like this:

Prospect: “This is out of our budget…,” (Or any other objection.)

Rep: “I can understand that but let’s do this. Before you make any decision on this, let’s talk about all the things this can do for you first, and then you’ll be in a much better position to decide if this is worth it for you. I even have some payment options that might make the decision easier for you as well.

But first, let me show you this…”

What you’re doing here is delaying answering the objection and thereby retaining control of the call. The nice thing about this is that by the end of your pitch, many times the prospect won’t even bring up the objection at all! You’d be amazed by how often that actually happens once you begin using this technique.

In addition to this, if you know what the objection(s) are at the beginning of the pitch – or in the middle – you can begin pitching and building value around the known problem area (objection).

Postponing answering the objection like this is a great way to get your pitch in, keep control of the call, and prepare yourself for what you know might be coming at the end.

3) The third time to answer an objection is…never! That’s right. So many time prospects will test you and try to put you off with many questions, stalls and objections that it’s just best to not respond at all. Here’s how you do that:

Prospect: “This is out of our budget…” (Or any other objection.)

Rep: “Some of our clients felt like that until they heard about…” (Now give a benefit or two and keep pitching).

This way you’ve acknowledged the objection but you remain positive and so sold on your solution that you let your enthusiasm drive the call – and often times your prospect’s mindset. It is said that enthusiasm sells, and that’s true in many cases. The problem with most sales reps is that as soon as they hear an objection they start to give up.

But by acknowledging, remaining positive, and continuing on with your pitch, you can often override any initial objection and get further into your pitch. In fact if you’ve done this before, then you’ll often find that the prospect changes to a different objection the next time they bring one up!

These three times to handle an objection also work for questions as well. The important thing to remember is that it is up to you as to when to break your rhythm and deal with an objection. The whole point is that you must remain in control of the call.

Try using the techniques and scripts above during your upcoming week of pitching your product or sale. You’ll be amazed by how much easier your sale becomes – and how many more deals you’ll get.

Voice Mail: 5 Proven Techniques That Get Your Calls Returned! (Part Two)

by mike

Last week I gave you the first Three Proven Techniques to help you increase your chances of getting your calls returned. Now let’s look at the final two:

Proven Technique Number Four: Combine your voice mails with an email campaign for maximum effectiveness. The number one law in all marketing is repetition. That’s why Coke-a-Cola still buys millions of dollars of ads every year.

It’s the same with getting your prospects to notice you. The most effective way is by using a two month long campaign that goes like this:

First: Try to reach someone for a couple of weeks without leaving a VM.
Week One: Leave one VM and follow it up with an email that same day. Then leave a second VM that same week.
Week Two: Send email #2, then leave a VM at the beginning of the week and on that Friday.
Week Three: Send an email at the beginning of the week and at the end. Leave a VM in between.
Week Four: Send another email on Tuesday, and leave a VM on the Thursday.
Month Two: Send either one email or leave one VM per week for four weeks.
Also: Call in between and don’t leave a message.

Anytime between week two and three, one of your emails needs to be the “Should I Stay or Should I Go” email. If you’ve not heard of this email, then your return contact rate is about to go up by 60%! It goes like this:

Your subject line is: (Prospect’s First Name) Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Body of email:

Dear _________,

I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You don’t have a need at this time or you’ve already chosen another company for this.

2) You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet.

3) You’ve fallen and can’t get up, and in that case please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you…

Please let me know which one it is because I’m starting to worry.

Honestly, all kidding aside, I understand you’re really busy, and the last thing I want to do is be pain in the neck once a week. Whether your schedule has just been to demanding or you’ve gone another direction, I would appreciate it if you would take a second to let me know so I can follow up accordingly.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind Regards,

If you’re smiling from reading this, so will your prospect! Again, this is a high percentage email that gets a response about 60% of the time. Compare that to your current results.

Proven Technique Number Five: If your VM and email campaigns don’t work, then consider going that extra mile – as a top producer once said, “The extra mile is never crowded.” Even though a prospect may not be in the market now, as we all know, things change. And when they do, you want to be top of mind so they’re thinking about you when they are finally ready.

The most effective way to do this is by sending physical greeting cards. And the easiest way to do that is by using a company I use called Send Out Cards. (You can learn more about them here: www.SendOutCards.com/mrinsidesales )

I’ve been using SOC for years and they have made me a lot of money in sales to prospects I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t been drip marketing to them regularly. I love SOC for many reasons including:

1) It’s extremely affordable to send a high quality card with a real stamp
2) It’s easy and fast – you create the cards in advance and they send them automatically without you having to do anything!
3) You can build “campaigns” so you can send cards at any interval you choose (and you can build lots of campaigns).
4) Every card is completely customizable – you can choose from 15,000+ of theirs (and include your own message) or you can completely create your own with your own images.
5) It’s highly effective. In fact, did you know that the number one salesperson in the world – according to The Guinness Book of World Records – is a guy named Joe Girard? He was a car salesman and he sold an average of six new cars EVERY DAY! How did he do it? He sent a card to every customer and every prospect every month (and one for Christmas), 13 cards in all.

Joe was so successful, that people had to make appointments with him to buy a car!

The good news is that sending physical greeting cards works in your business as well. And www.SendOutCards.com/mrinsidesales can make it easy and effective for you.

So there you have it: The Five Proven Voice Mail Techniques to get your calls returned. Follow them and you’ll be much more successful than you are now. Don’t follow them and, well, you already know how that goes…

Voice Mail: 5 Proven Techniques That Get Your Calls Returned! (Part One)

by mike

If you’re struggling to get your voice mails returned, then you’re not alone. Industry stats show that less than 10% of voice mails to new prospects are returned. Because of this, finding the right voice mail message, and knowing a few proven techniques, can be the key to not only making contact with those hard to reach sales leads, but also in developing relationships and getting new accounts.

Here are five proven techniques that give you the best chance of getting your voice mail messages returned:

Proven Technique Number One: Don’t even leave a voice message! Sounds strange, huh? Well the truth is the best technique to follow when trying to reach a prospect for the first time is to persevere and call five or seven or even ten times first before leaving a message. Your goal is to catch them picking up the phone and having a conversation rather than leaving multiple unreturned voice mails.

Try calling at different times in the day, and even several times on Friday. Fridays are the most relaxed days and most people are getting ready for the weekend instead of gearing up for the week. The worst day to leave a voice mail? Monday.

One caveat: For those of you who are worried that when you do finally catch someone who picks up the phone and is upset that you didn’t leave a message (yet they saw you called several times), be prepared with a good script! Something like: “I didn’t want to bother you with several voice mail messages, so I decided to just try to catch you instead. Anyway, I’m glad I did….”

Persevering in this way is the best way to actually get someone on the phone and because most sales reps won’t do it, you’re going to be way ahead if you do.

Proven Technique Number Two: You must script out an effective voice mail message in advance. Nothing will get your message deleted faster than the sound of an unprepared and unprofessional message filled with um’s and uh’s.

As soon as a busy prospect hears that kind of message, especially from someone they do not know (and from a sales person on top of that!), they automatically reach for the delete button. Don’t you?

In addition, you want to make sure your scripted voice mail has these three elements:
1) Put the focus on your prospect – NOT on your product or service.
2) Don’t ever say, “I’d like to take some time to learn more about you…”
3) Leave your number SLOWLY and twice.

As you’ll see in the following examples, most sales reps leave a message that is all about them – this never works. Second, sometimes they think that by wanting to “learn more about how you handle..” they think that they are putting the prospect first. WRONG. All the prospect is thinking is they don’t want to take valuable time to educate you so you can sell them.

And three, the worst technique of all is leaving your phone number so quickly that you force your prospect to replay your message over and over again just to get your phone number. Yeah, right, like anybody is going to do that…

Here is an example of what to do and what not to do:

Proven Technique Number Three: Turn a bad VM message into an effective one:

The WRONG way to leave a VM (and unfortunately, how most people do it):

“Hi this is (Your Name) with (Your Company), and we offer shipping supplies and packaging for all your shipping needs. The reason I’m calling is to learn a little more about your business and to find out more about your shipping needs and see if we can save you some money. If you would call me back at (888) 555-1234 that would be great. Look forward to hearing from you soon.”

This message checks all the “do not do” boxes I’ve listed in technique number two. It’s all about the caller; it wants to take time from the prospect so they can “pitch” more, and the number was only left once.

Here is the RIGHT VM to leave:

“Hi (Prospect’s name) this is (Your Name) with (Your Company). We offer discounted shipping supplies and packaging, and if you’re like most companies we work with, then you’re probably paying too much! Our clients save between 10 to 15% each month and get better service guaranteed. To find out how much you can save, just give me a call at (SLOWLY Leave Your Phone Number.)

Once again, my name is (Your Name), and my toll free number is: (Leave Number Slowly Again). If I don’t hear back from you in the next couple of days, I’ll reach out to you again. If you’d prefer to be taken off our list, or if you’d prefer to get some information by email, just give me a ring and leave me a message. Talk to you soon!”

This VM is effective because first of all it is focused on the prospect and what’s in it for them (10 – 15% savings). The phone number was left two times slowly. But the magic technique was:

You gave your prospect a way out! You let them know that they can simply call you back, leave you a message (so they won’t have to speak with you nor be pitched when they call), and they can remove themselves from being called by you again if they aren’t interested! This is good for you, too, as you won’t waste your time with uninterested prospects.

One note: If you find the above message too long, then edit it! Script your VM the way you like it and then use it consistently. In fact, spend some time now reworking your existing voice mail message so that conforms to the rules above.

Techniques number four and five will be revealed in next week’s article!

Features and Benefits versus Knowing How to Sell

by mike

I had a landscaper install a new sprinkler system the other day, and as we stood under the warming sun waiting for his crew to set up he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a sales trainer (this is the easiest answer as for some reason as soon as I add “inside sales” to anyone out of the industry, they have no idea what I’m talking about).

He immediately made the mistake that most companies and managers and even sales reps make when he next said, “Product knowledge is what it’s all about. You have to know your products.”

When I corrected him by saying product knowledge takes second place to qualifying a prospect and discovering unique buying motives, he seemed genuinely confused. I explained:

“Most companies spend hours, days and even weeks training their sales reps on each product and service, and then about a day (or a couple of hours) on how to sell them. This results in a knowledgeable sales team that is quick to list features and benefits until the cows come home. This creates a lot of conversations, but not a lot of sales.”

“What should they be doing?” he asked.

And that’s when I asked him how he would go about selling me a pencil.

He thought about it for a while and then launched into – you bet – a list of features and benefits about a pencil.

I let him go on for a while until he was out of ideas (you can only talk about the color yellow and the use of an eraser for so long), and then I asked him: “What if I don’t even use pencils?”

That stumped him.

And that’s the whole point. Most sales reps sell just like he does: leading with features and benefits sure that if they just say the right one or ones, in the right order or combination, then prospects will eventually see some value and say, “Ah! I’ve got to have that! Thank you so much for calling!”

As Dr. Phil would say, “How’s that working out for you?”

The proper way to sell a pencil – and your product or service – is to first qualify for need and unique buying motives, and then match up the appropriate features and benefits to fit those defined needs.

So using the “how to sell a pencil” analogy, it doesn’t begin by pitching the attributes of a pencil, rather, it starts by uncovering the need for one (or for a thousand). It begins with a series of questions like:

“How do you use pencils in your facilities?”

“How many pencils do you go through in a month? A year?”

“Who orders the pencils?”

“What’s important to you in a pencil?”

“How many pencils do you usually order at a time?”

“Where do you get your pencils from now?”

“Why do you get them there?”

“When was the last time you compared suppliers of pencils?”

“If you were to change suppliers, what would be important for you in the next vendor?”

“Besides yourself, who makes the decision to order pencils?”

“How about in your other facilities?”

And on and on… Now, I can just hear some of you thinking, “But Mike, a prospect isn’t going to sit still for all these questions!” Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I’ll tell you now, non-buyers won’t sit still, but most buyers will. And that’s a clue as to who might buy from you and who won’t.

The bottom line is that you can’t sell without knowing if there is a need and interest. And if you get some of the answers above, then you’ll know exactly how to pitch and how to sell.

If you don’t, you’ll just go through your list of features and benefits and when you get to the end, you’ll cross your fingers and hope someone buys.

I don’t know about you – but that’s a horrible way to make your way through life in sales.

How to Build Instant Rapport with “C” Level Executives

by mike

I was asked by a client to make some cold calls into an upper “C” level suite to set appointments for his outside sales team, to show the inside team how it’s done. His inside team first of all had trouble getting these busy people on the phone, and then getting past the first paragraph of their script before getting cut off.

I had listened to these calls and immediately recognized the problem: the reps weren’t taking the time to immediately assess the prospect’s mood and connect with them, therefore they were coming off like sales reps — and the executives who they did reach weren’t having any of that…

If you call into the upper “C” suites, here is what I did (and you should be doing) to connect with and give yourself a chance to have a conversation with them.

1) First of all, before you leave a voice mail, try calling three to five times to try and reach them first. Vary the times of your calls, and on same day and on different days, to see if you can reach them.

I have done this for many years and it’s amazing how lucky you’ll get if you just persevere.

2) When you do get them on the phone, immediately assess their style of communication by how they answer the phone. Are they in a hurry? Are they a driver? Or, are they laid back? Relaxed and at lunch?

It’s crucial that you match their pacing and their energy or else you’ll just telegraph that you’re a sales rep who is going to waste their time.

For example: When one COO answered the phone, he was short and somewhat demanding. I immediately said: “John, thanks for picking up the phone, I’ll make this brief…” Then I went into a two sentence value statement and asked him a question. He was appreciative that I didn’t begin reading a sales pitch at him and gave me a considered answer to my question.

3) This is important: If you find someone who seems somewhat laid back or at least not in a hurry to bite your head off, then connect with him by talking about something else – briefly – before you pitch him.

For example, I called into a company and the hold music was the rock song, “Sweet Home Alabama.” When the prospect picked up the phone, I immediately complimented him on the hold music and asked him if that was his personal choice. He said it came with the phone system and we talked about the song briefly. Only after that did I tell him who I was and begin my pitch.

This technique also works well with subjects like the weather (is it hailing there, too?), and the day of the week “I hope Monday is treating you O.K.” or “I don’t know about you, but I’m happy it’s Friday…”

By the way, it’s always best to lead off with these kinds of rapport building techniques before you announce your name and company name. If you announce first, then you’ve put the “salesman” target on your forehead and it’s too late. But the key is you must have the right personality to do this with. If you try this with a driver, your call will end right there…

4) Be absolutely prepared to overcome the “I wouldn’t be interested,” blow off. You must have an effective comeback to that blow off memorized and be ready to rapid fire it off, because if you get that from a “C” level exec, then you’ve got a nano-second to recover.

I like something along the lines of: “That’s fine and I’m not trying to sell you something today. Instead, I think I have an alternative solution for you r (XYZ), and just want to find the best way to show it to you – believe me, you’ll be happy you learned about it…”

5) “Briefly” is a word that gives you the best shot of giving your next couple of sentences. Try: “_________, thanks for taking the call, briefly, what I’m calling you about is….” And then make it BRIEF. Get to a question quickly to either engage your prospect or give him the chance to tell you he’s still not interested or he’s not the right guy/gal, etc..

The point is to engage your prospect – not talk at them.

6) Let your prospect talk! After you’ve got your two sentences in (better make them good!), it’s time to let your “C” level executive talk. DON’T interrupt. Hit your Mute button. These guys and gals are used to talking and to having people listen. If you do that, you’ll gain their respect and they’ll give you a chance to speak when it’s your turn (usually).

The point of all these tips is that you have to connect with your “C” level exec and meet them on their level. You can’t just go into your pitch at your own speed and expect them to politely listen. They won’t.

But if you follow the above techniques, you’ll at least separate yourself from all your competition who is calling them, and you’ll have the best chance of actually connecting with them and having a chance to get your value statement across.

How to Overcome the “We are Handling That In House”

by mike

If you are trying to set appointments for an outside sales team, or even if you’re trying to generate leads so you can do an over the phone demo later, then you know all about put offs and stalls. While I’ve previously discussed the common ones like, “I’m not interested,” and “Just email me something,” there others that are somewhat harder to overcome…

One of the more frequently encountered objections is “We handle that in house so we don’t need you.”

Many sales reps are taught the normal, “old school” approaches of things like:

“That’s fine, but when was the last time you did an apples to apples comparison to what it might run you if you outsourced that?”

OR

“But if I could show you a way to save money, then surely you’d want to know more about it, wouldn’t you?”

While either of these responses can be used effectively in the right situation, there is a better way to handle this objection. What you want to do is offer value in your visit or demo, and then leave it up to your prospect to decide if it’s worth taking your call or visit any further after you have.

Try the following rebuttal (obviously, customize this to your particular service or product):

Objection: “We handle that in house.”

“That’s fine – glad you have a way that’s working for you now. Here’s what I’d recommend you do though: I’d be happy to drop by and show you how we’d go about taking care of that for you, and what our processes would look like.

At the end you may still choose to keep doing it the way you are, but at least you’d have a different perspective on it and you may even find some ways to save money or time. The visit wouldn’t take long and everyone we visit with finds a benefit.

What’s a good time for you next week…”

As you can see here, you’re not pitching necessarily, instead you’re offering to enlighten them as to a better way. What they do after that is up to them.

Try using this for the next couple of weeks and see if you can get past prospect’s natural resistance to setting up a meeting. If you use it consistently, you’re going to set more appointments, open more doors and close more sales.