Tag: Sales Tips

3 Things You Should Stop Saying in Sales

by mike

I have listened to thousands of sales calls over the years, and I spend the majority of my coaching and training hours listening to sales calls even today. And I still hear the same mistakes….

Here are three things NOT to say if you want to become more effective at opening and closing more sales:

#1: When speaking with a gatekeeper and they ask if they can tell the prospect who is calling, don’t:

  • Just say your name (“John,” or “John Davis”)—and then nothing else…
  • Say your name and company name
  • Say your name and company name and then start pitching the gatekeeper…

Instead, respond with: “Absolutely! Please tell prospect’s first name, that John Davis is holding, please.”

#2: If you’re speaking with a client and you’re asking if they need to order anything, don’t say:

  • I’m just calling to see if you need anything today?

Instead, change the question to make it assumptive. Ask: “While I have you on the phone, what’s on your white board that you’ll be needing soon?”

You can adjust this to fit your product or service, but always change “Is there anything” to “What are you looking for…”

#3: When you are scheduling an appointment to follow up, don’t use the generic:

  • I’ll call you in a month to follow up…

Instead, you should ask the prospect when a good time to follow up is. AND, make this ask assumptive. Try: “When would you like me to check back in with you?”

By asking the prospect when you should follow up, you’ll be able to gauge their urgency and assess their buying rhythms. If they tell you 6 months, then suggest you’ll check in with them in 3, just in case something changes.

Little tweaks like this can make a huge difference in your overall sales results. Remember: practice doesn’t make perfect; it just makes permanent.

Only practice of perfection makes perfect.

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 Struggle Less, While Making More Sales

by mike

Jeffrey Gitomer tells a great story about how he once bet a client his entire training fee on whether there were more than eight objections their sales team got on a regular basis.

The client, sure their sales cycle was more complicated and therefore required more advanced closing techniques, considered the bet: If the sales team could come up with more than eight standard objections, then Jeffrey would do the training for free.

If there were eight or less, then the client would pay him double his fee…

After the client thought about it, he declined Jeffrey’s offer, and then he polled the sales team, and here were their common objections:

#1: Too expensive (don’t have the budget)

#2: Have to get approval

#3: Need to think about it

#4: Going to use their old vendor

#5: Need to get several quotes

#6: They needed a different solution

#7:

#8:

Turns out, this company’s “complicated sale” had just six objections they got 90% of the time. It’s a good thing (for the client) he declined Jeffrey’s offer!

And this is the key to how you can struggle less and close more business.

Because your product or service also has a set number of objections (usually under eight), the easy way to make more sales is to script out two to three responses to these recurring objections, memorize them, and then use them each time you get into one of these selling situations.

This will GREATLY reduce the work you do, and it will lead to you closing (more easily) more business.

This is the real “secret” to becoming a top producer at your company or in your industry.

Make it easy on yourself and do this exercise today. If you need some help with your scripts, then click here. You’ll find over 500 proven scripts you can start using 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

Close More Sales with this Training Program

by mike
Teamwork concept. People working with new startup project in modern loft. Life in office.

The dog days of summer are quickly approaching…

Why not use them to upgrade your team’s selling skills so they can hit the third and fourth quarter hard?

Check out our best inside sales training available on the Internet: On-Demand Training!

Here’s an example of a training tip that you’ll learn, and that I used, to handle a frustrating objection I used to get all the time: “The price is outside of our budget.”

If you get this objection—while closing or qualifying—then the worst thing you can do is try to answer or overcome it.

Why?

Because 80% of the time this objection is just a smokescreen hiding something else. And until you find out what’s really holding your prospect back, you’ll just go around and around in circles.

Sound familiar?

So here’s what you need to do: Isolate the objection before you attempt to overcome it.

Here’s a simple technique that will allow you to do just that:

Whenever your prospect says, “That price is outside of our budget,” simply respond with:

“And besides price, what else is holding you back?”

And then hit your MUTE button and listen very carefully for the real objection—or objections—that are holding your prospect back.

The reason this technique—among others you’ll learn in my on-demand training—took my sales career to a new level is because by using it I avoided talking past the close and chasing what wasn’t even the real objection!

It forced me to listen rather than ad-lib poor sales techniques—perhaps some of the things your team is doing right now…

And it taught me to identify what the real objection was, so I could focus on that. And only when I understood what was really holding my prospect back did I begin to close more sales.

And your team can too. Use this technique the next time you get the price objection and watch as you get more control over the sales process and uncover the real reason(s) your prospect isn’t moving forward yet.

And if you’d like to learn even more proven techniques, including how to:

  • Eliminate call reluctance
  • Glide past gatekeepers
  • Prospect more effectively
  • Qualify prospects more easily
  • Deliver killer presentations that lead to more closed sales
  • Overcome objections
  • And much, much more!

Then give your team access to my award winning inside sales training!

Sign up here!

Just remember: The sooner you invest in your team and your company, the sooner they’ll close more sales and consistently make more money.

And isn’t that what you wake up in the morning trying to do 5 or 6 days a week?

Invest in sales team 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

One Difference Between Top Sales Reps and You

by mike

Each time I work with a new company, the first thing I ask for are recordings of both their top two or three sales reps, and then recordings of everyone else.

And each time I do, I immediately identify one thing that the top reps are doing that the other reps aren’t.

I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and things have remained constant during that time: top sales reps are better for many different reasons (personality, work effort, etc.), but they all share this one thing.

And it is…

They are assumptive.

Most sales reps beat around the bush and are timid, hesitant, and resistant to taking control of the call.

In other words, they often ask for permission, rather than be assumptive.

An example is how most sales reps open their calls. When greeted by the receptionist, they’ll ask:

“Ah, would it be possible to speak with Dave Anderson?”

OR

“Is Dave Anderson available?”

What these approaches have in common is they are passive, and they give the gatekeeper control of the call.

Top reps, on the other hand, are assumptive. Given the example above, this translates to:

“Hi, Dave Anderson, please.”

OR

“Hi, could I speak with Dave, please?”

OR

“Oh hi. Could you connect me with Dave, please?”

While this may not sound like a big difference, IT IS.

There are many other examples of this (too many for this limited blog post), and if you would like a book full of them, then check this out.

Otherwise, listen to your own recordings and see where and when you give control of the conversation to the prospect. Chances are, you do it much more frequently than is good for your sales results….

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

NFL Schedule Released this Thursday—Are You Ready?

by mike

Are you ready for some football? Ok, it’s a little early, but this Thursday, May 12, 2022, the NFL releases the season schedule!

As I thought about the teams currently in mini-camps, I thought about the coaching staffs. I thought about all the professional athletes who are still being coached, day in and day out, by coaches.

You’d think that after peewee football, high school football, college programs, and even years in the NFL, that the players would know by now how to play football. I mean, why do they still need coaches?

And that led me to think about sales teams and individual producers. I have the privilege of working with a lot of companies, coaching and training and scripting their sales process, but for each company I work with, there are thousands who go without ongoing coaching.

And, unfortunately, the result shows.

If you are a sales manager or business owner with an inside sales team, you need to offer each player on your team daily and weekly coaching. Here are three ways to go about that:

#1: Once a week, go over a recording with each of your reps and offer positive suggestions for how they can improve on their next call. Then, listen to their calls the next week and see if they’ve implemented the changes you tasked them with.

This is like football teams watching film of practice and games. No NFL team (or any other professional) could improve without constantly critiquing their performance.

If you are an individual sales producer, then grab a buddy and listen to each other’s calls on a weekly basis. This is the single most important thing you can do to improve.

#2: Make sure your team has a playbook and is drilling, practicing, and using the plays in it. Your playbook is, of course, the best practice scripts you have developed to help your sales team handle the objections and selling situations they face, day in and day out.

You do have an updated, proven script playbook, don’t you?

If you don’t, then it would be like an NFL team going into the huddle and having the players say, “I’m just going to get open!”

It’s a mess is that what is…

#3: Know your player’s statistics. Know what each rep’s close rate is, how many leads/prospects they generate, and make sure they all know it as well.

Management 101: You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Again, think of NFL players: Every stat is known. Every yard they make, every tackle they make, every fumble or missed ball is recorded and added to their overall score.

And this is what the coaches work on to make them better—and use to gage improvement.

Coaching isn’t something that happens at the beginning of a player’s/rep’s career and then stops.

It’s an ongoing process that results in constant improvement.

I love being a coach to sales reps and companies, and I feel I’m great at what I do. If you or your team are looking for ideas on how to improve, reach out to me: Mike@mrinsidesales.com

I’d be happy to have a discussion with you and offer you some personalized suggestions.

In the meantime, 8 p.m. eastern, the NFL 2022 schedule releases.

Go Bucs!

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

3 Keys to Successfully Dealing with Influencers

by mike

Influencers are key to both getting through to decision makers, and to eventually making a sale. The question is: How do you properly qualify them and get them to influence the sale in your favor?

There are three keys to successfully dealing with influencers, and the better you understand and use them, the more success you’ll have.

They are:

Key Number One: Understand exactly how much influence the influencer has.

This may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many sales reps buy into the, “Well I need to present this to…” and don’t go beyond that to qualify the influencer’s role.

To avoid that, always both assume the influencer has a voice in the decision, and then qualify her/him for that.

Use:

“And how much influence do you have in the final say on this?”

OR

“What role do you play in the final decision?”

Learning how much influence they have is crucial to the overall sales process.

Key Number Two: Make sure your influencer is sold on what you’re offering.

If it’s true that the influencer has to show this or present this to the decision maker, then they had better be sold on it themselves, right?

Use:

“Do you personally think this is something that would work for your company?”

OR

“If the (committee, boss, etc.) asked you what you think, what would you say?”

AND/OR

“And from what you’ve seen, is this something you’d recommend to the (decision maker)?”

Key Number Three: Attempt a trial close.

If they buy in to your question that they are going to recommend it, then ask:

“And do they usually go with your recommendation?”

If you get buy in here, then you can either:

  1. Set up a meeting to pitch the decision maker.
  2. Set a follow up call after they have pitched the decision maker.

Either way, learning how to do a better job at dealing with the influencer will go a long way to controlling the sale, and making more of them!

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

Building Value during the Price Objection

by mike

How many times have you been told to build value when you get the price objection?

Managers tell reps to stress the quality, the warranty, the features and benefits, but your prospects have heard all that before, haven’t they? 

Want a better way?

Often times, services and products are roughly the same, and prospects will buy from the people they like, know or trust. 

What often makes the difference is your enthusiasm and belief in your company and what you’re selling.

Recognizing this, I often use the following script to not only build value in my product or service, but also to build value in the most important part of my product—myself. 

Here’s what to say:

If your prospects say, “I can get cheaper,” or “Well the XYZ company has something similar for less money,” or anything like that, say:

“You know _________ I’m aware of all the other options for this (product or service) and I’ll tell you now, if I thought any of them were better for my clients, I’d be working there and selling those.

“When I got into this industry I did my own research, just like you’re doing now, and I looked for the company that not only offered the best (product or service) but also delivered the best customer service and follow-up. 

“And these are the things you look for as well, right?”

“And after all that, I chose (your company) because they give my clients the best overall value and the best experience. And that means my clients continue to do business with me and refer new business to me as well.

__________, if there was a better product or company for you to do business with, I’d be there selling it. But there isn’t.

“Bottom line—if you want the best overall value, the best results and experience with this (your product or service) then do what I did—choose (your company)—you’ll be happy you did. 

“Now, do you want to start with the X size order or would the Y size order be better?”

This technique builds value in the most important part of any sales transaction—you and your belief in your product or service. 

[BTW: If you didn’t do research into competing companies, then let the prospect know why you did choose your company and what you like so much about working there and offering that product.]

Adapt this script to fit your personality, product, and company, and then get in the habit of using it whenever you feel the need to build more value.

Want 500 more word-for-word 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

Three Scripts to Handle: Email Me Something….

by mike

Be honest: Do you dutifully send an email and then ask when you can follow up when you get this blow off objection?

Believe it or not, over 90% of sales reps do just that.

But top producers are prepared for this common stall/blow off, and they know how to qualify past it. And after learning and using the scripts below, you will, too!

Script #1:

Make sure and have an email already prepared while you’re prospecting. If someone tells you to email them something, simply ask them what their email address is and then send it! Right then!

Simply say:

“Okay, I’ve just sent it to you. Let me know when it pops up, and I’ll show you a couple of links you’ll want to explore later.

“In the meantime, let me ask you…”

And then ask a qualifying question. The point here is whether or not your prospect will:

  1. Give you the time to speak further with them. If not, they weren’t going to open your email anyway. If they will, however, then you know there is a legitimate chance they are interested.
  2. Open the email when they get it. This tells you how cooperative your prospect is, and so how cooperative they will be throughout the sales cycle.
  3. Blow you off with another objection. This is actually great because it tells you that you won’t need to follow up on the email—they aren’t buying!
  4. Allow you to set a definite follow up appointment.

Script #2:

“I’ll be glad to send you an email, but we have several products to offer you, and I just need to ask a quick question, so I know which email to send.

“Let me ask you…”

And begin qualifying!

Script #3:

“I have a better idea: Rather than clog up your email with something you may not even be interested in, let me briefly describe what we have, and you can honestly tell me if it’s something you’d be interested in, OK?”

And then wait to see if this is a real prospect or not.

Believe me, all of these techniques are better than sending an email and then being ghosted for the next month as you try to get them on the phone again!

Try it this week, and watch your leads get more qualified as you put less “wood” into your pipeline. And then watch as more deals roll out of it!

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

Five Scripts You Need to Know by Heart

by mike

In my book, Power Phone Scripts, I talk about the secret of sales.

Yes, there is an actual secret to successful sales, and by following it you not only will overcome failure and frustration, but you’ll make more money, so much more easily, that sales will actually become fun.

Think of that.

And the secret is to be prepared for the recurring selling situations, blow offs, objections, and situations you get 80 to 90% of the time.

All top producers know automatically how to respond to objections like:

“I need to think about it.”

“I already have a supplier for that.”

“We’re not interested.”

And many more.

Here is a quick “cheat sheet” of five scripts/responses you need to print out, study, memorize, and use when you get in the following situations:

“I need to think about it.”

Response:

“That’s perfectly fine—I like to think about things too, of course. Quick question for you if you don’t mind: Are you going to be thinking about the budget for this, or whether or not to even do it?”

“I already have a supplier for that.”

Response:

“Of course you do, and that’s great. I’m not looking to replace them just yet; instead, I just want you to have other options in case things change and you have to start looking elsewhere. Let me ask you…”

Go back to your qualifying questions here and try to engage them.

“We’re not interested.”

Response:

“No worries—you’re still entitled to this information in case something changes for you in the future. Let me ask you: how much (of your product or service) do you currently use on a monthly basis?”

Two things here: #1) You’re trying to engage them and see if they’ll answer your question, and #2) You’re qualifying them for your product or service as well.

“I just don’t think this is for us.”

Response:

“You know, I love to learn. Do you mind if I ask why not?”

And number five may be familiar to my regular readers, but even for you, I have to ask: How often are you using it?

For any objection, stall, or comment you get and don’t know how to respond to, ask this:

“Oh?”

And then hit your mute button and let your prospect tell you how to sell them.

Again, print these out, memorize them, and use them when you get any of the above recurring objections.

If you’d like over 500 more word-for-word scripts, then invest a few bucks in yourself and get a copy of my book: Power Phone Scripts.

Being prepared is the fastest way to double and even triple your sales.

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

One Way to Handle Objections Better

by mike

Want a quick and easy way to handle objections like a pro?

Simply seek out the top closer in your company, organization, or industry, and then role play with them and write down how they answer the same objections that are frustrating you now.

Once you have those responses, simply rewrite them to fit your personality or style, and then practice, drill, and rehearse them each time you get the same objection.

While this may seem simple, it’s one of the things I did once I made a commitment to becoming a top producer. And once I did, I immediately saw how the responses of the top closer in my company were completely different to how I was responding.

It’s no wonder I was struggling and not closing many sales!

But once I recorded a better response, and then made it my own, and then memorized it and started using it, my results immediately improved.

And, by the way, this is also how I help companies improve their sales process as well. If a company has, say, fifteen sales reps, then there are inevitably one or two top closers—and then thirteen sales reps who are struggling.

Do you think it makes sense for me to find the best practice approach in the thirteen who are struggling or by listening to their top closers?

Simple answer and a simple solution for you to get better as well.

So this week, seek out the top producers and model your closing skills after theirs.

If you do, then soon your results will be similar to theirs!

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