By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
In order for a prospect to be well qualified, you need to identify the following pieces of information. Try modifying the following questions and adding them to your sales toolbox.
The Need:
“What do you do when _________ occurs?”
“What happens when __________ lacks the ________ to properly ___________?”
“What if _______ continue to drop?”
These are business impact questions. They are designed to uncover the cost of inaction or taking the wrong action.
The Time Frame:
“What time frame did you have in mind for implementing this type of solution?”
“When were you planning to make an announcement about this type of program?”
“How often do you bring all your __________ people together in one place?”
The Availability of or Access to Budget:
“Has budget been set aside for this type of service?”
“Do you have access to budget through another person or another department?”
“At what level or amount do you need additional sign-offs? $10,000 or $20,000? (make a suggestion)”¶
The Evaluation Process:
“When you are comparing different types of ________ solutions, what criterion or factors come into play?”
“What factors do you base your recommendations?”
“Who besides yourself gets involved?”¶
The Buying Process:
“What is the process you go through when you acquire a ______ type of solution?”
“Who besides yourself gets involved?”
“How does your acquisition process work?”¶
The Buyer Types:
There are basically six types of buyers or influencers and each has a specific job to do and each is motivated differently.
Final Decision Maker(s) signs the check.
Motivation: What is the effect on our bottom line?
Evaluator(s) screens out and says no.
Motivation: What is the best solution that meets our needs?
Guide(s) want to help guide you through the process.
Motivation: I like your solution. How can I help you get your solution as the one chosen?
End User(s) are concerned about the effect on them and their job.
Motivation: Will it make my job easier or harder?
Initiator(s) want to look good.
Motivation: How can I show that I did a good job of gathering information?
Purchasing/Legal/Contracts are responsible for negotiating the terms and conditions.
Motivation: How can we get the most favorable terms and conditions for our company (i.e. additional discounts, extra technical support or consulting services, lower pricing, more training or extra sets of documentation, better payment terms, guarantees, etc.)?¶
What types of questions would you ask to uncover this information?
Open ended questions that begin with a Who, What, Where, When, Why or How. These types of questions cannot be easily answered with a Yes or No.
Each of these pieces of information is important to know before closing a sale. It can be real tough to get to the end of a sales cycle only to find out you missed something which could potentially delay or even ruin your deal. Plan your questions in advance and you’ll be prepared to turn plain prospects into well qualified prospects who will buy from you and put more money in your pocket in less time than ever before.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
By Vic Whiteley, Director at SecureServ, Pty Ltd
What can you do to influence a buying decision?
First people follow habitual behaviors and typically have fixed attitudes. However, these habits and behaviors may change when a particular need becomes great enough. We are very much creatures of habit and, despite what we might be tempted to believe, we don’t vary much from our habitual ways of doing things nearly as much as we think we do.
Why do you think that would be the case? The old comfort zone theory! When we move out of our comfort zone, we experience emotional pressure, stress and, often, fatigue. As an instinctive response, we tend to return to our comfort zone at the earliest opportunity.
However, when the need is great enough, behaviors can change. This will happen when a buyer’s perception of a problem can grow large enough to move them towards a decision to buy.
When personal computers were introduced in the 1980′s, they enabled the user to perform financial analysis, word processing, graphics and mathematical functions. These PC’s offered users some of the powers of the mainframe computers of the day, but the overall cost of changing over to PC’s was high and the attitude towards them by managers was generally negative. These managers also tended to downplay their own technical ability, usually deservedly so. Also, many in the I.T. department saw the proliferation of PC’s as a loss of their power and control.
Why did companies wait until the late 1980′s before changing their word processing pools, then wait even longer to buy PC’s and network them for professionals and managers? Their attitude against the effectiveness was entrenched and they waited until their dissatisfaction their perception of the seriousness of their business problems grew large enough to move them towards a decision to buy PC’s.
As the world economy changed, managers were required to provide quick answers about how they operated and address lost quality and increased competition. They needed to gain efficiency and use their resources more effectively.
Once their problems and needs were seen as serious enough, buyers’ attitudes changed and they looked at the issue of purchasing PC’s quite differently. What had once seemed like a luxury became a necessity customers bought PC’s because they saw the solution to their problems as a matter of survival. Their attitude towards PC’s changed, as did their buying behaviors, witnessed now by the situation today: a PC on every desk.
All buying behaviors originate from needs. Even though buyers are sometimes slow to change buying habits, it is your responsibility as a salesperson to uncover their needs and create needs awareness.
Examples of needs awareness questions include:
“What do you do when ___ occurs?”
“What’s the process you go through if ___ were to happen?”
“When you bring new people on board, how do you go about making sure they have everything they need?”
“Who besides yourself gets involved when this type of accident takes place?”
Learn how to use these types of questions and you’ll boost your sales much faster than before.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
Pro-Active Account Management™ (PAAM) involves pro-actively calling your customers or clients on a regular basis (at least annually if not twice or more times a year) to nip any problems in the bud, gain an understanding of potential new business opportunities, gather information about your customer’s current environment, planning process and their buying plans.
Most companies use re-active customer service. Typically companies set up a support line, help desk, chat service or offer an online web form to complete (what a hassle especially when it comes to fixing something simple), which waits for customers to contact them, the vendors with their problems.
Imagine if these companies turned the equation around and had a group of people (i.e. “service reps”) dedicated to pro-actively making outbound “service” calls to all the users of their solutions. The intelligence derived from this type of activity is extremely valuable to all parts of an organization.
I give kudos to those vendors who have a pro-active account management system in place. When I developed the PAAM approach as part of my past sales research career, I generated well over $60 million in additional revenue for numerous major software companies over a very short period of time.
This is How to Create an Account Management Records Update™ (AMRU) Form
If this is information is not currently part of your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System, then first, you’ll need to adjust the following information to fit your into your company’s CRM based upon your company’s unique solutions. When I design these forms they typically run about 5 to 7 pages or 111+ questions created specifically to find money or save expenses. The data collected (usually done over the phone since multiple conversations with multiple people are usually needed), if done correctly, becomes extremely valuable to all areas of your organization especially sales. Read on to find out why.
Your basic AMRU Form should have room to list the shipping, billing and technical contact names, addresses, phone numbers (land and cell), website and customer details (fax number, email addresses, etc.) at a minimum. Depending on the wording of your Agreements, you may also want to find out if there have been any changes such as an acquisition, merger, a change in the leadership or a change in the percentage of ownership. Each of these can lead to sales opportunities.
After preparing to verify and/or collect the basic customer information (which may have changed considerably since they first bought from you), you’ll need to list out how and where your solution is currently being used, by whom and for what purpose. For example, you may find Ron LaVine, who is a part of the life insurance line of business, uses your reporting solution in the Los Angeles office to run commission reports on a 92XX JJJ CPU (Central Processing Unit), Serial Number 123456. If it the investment was $100,000 for the initial solution, finding out the existence of an additional Mainframe with your solution on it, may uncover a hidden $100,000 sales opportunity.
Next you need to list out your solutions requirements for usage. Make a list of all the perquisites for buying any of your solutions. For example, let’s say a customer must have a XX2 or Occcc database in order to use a version of your reporting solution. You know your customer has one or the other or they could not have purchased your solution in the first place.
Let’s also say knew your customer had a XX2 database. However, you didn’t know they added an Occcc database. If you asked and then found out your customer had an Occcc database, you may have just found a potential business opportunity for another sale.
Following your solution’s requirements or prerequisites information you’ll need to list your major competitor’s solutions broken down into different types of sub-solutions that compete with your individual offerings. For example if you offer online collaboration cloud solutions, then you would list both yours and your competitor’s.
Collaboration Solutions: [ ] Your Solution [ ] Competitor 1 [ ] Competitor 2 [ ] Other: ________
Reporting Solutions: [ ] Your Solution [ ] Competitor 1 [ ] Competitor 2 [ ] Other: __________
Finally, your form will need to contain a list of these types of questions to uncover potential sales or expense savings opportunities such as:
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Identifying needs for additional licenses. Let’s say your software is on two CPUs and only one is licensed. You may want to ask: “How many CPUs does our software run on?”
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Finding needs for additional equipment or services. Want to find out plans or needs for additional solutions, then ask: “What are your future plans in the areas of…?”
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Becoming aware of needs for additional documentation. An excellent question to add help embed the usage of your solution if this applies is to ask: “Based upon XX end users, are there any needs for additional user manuals or technical documentation?”
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Locating customer user stories, testimonials, recommendations or case studies. You may want to ask “We are looking for companies such as yours who have successfully implemented our solutions to write a user story or case study. Whom would I speak with in your company to get permission to do this?”
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Identifying and clarifying the customer’s future strategic direction. For example: “Do you plan to stay on the mainframe or move to cloud?”
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Notifying the customer of potential solution upgrades. This is where you might ask: “What version of our ABC Solution are you currently using?” followed by “Are you aware of the benefits of the new upgrade capabilities?” Asking these questions should spark a discussion about the new capabilities or the lack of use of your solution (in the software world this is known as “shelf-ware”) and why.
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Getting phone references. I like and use this phrase a lot. “If someone wanted to speak with someone who uses our solutions and likes them, who would they speak with?” Hint: usually it will be the end or main user of your solution.
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Establishing needs for solution add-ons. “What are you doing in the area of…?” “Are there any needs for ____________ in the ___________ line of business?”
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Finding potential needs for professional or consulting services “Are there any needs in the areas of…?”
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Looking for needs for user education or training “How do you currently conduct your training and are there any needs for additional training?”
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Identifying potential user group attendees or speakers. Try this statement followed by this question: “It sounds like you know a lot about the use of our solution. “Would you be interested in speaking about how you have successfully used our solution in your environment?”
Implementing Pro-Active Account Management using a AMRU Form
Start by locating the main user of your solution and ask them to help you update their records. If they don’t know a piece of information, ask them “Who should I speak with to find out?” Customers will readily provide you with information if you call with the attitude of “I’m calling to be of service” rather than “I’m trying to sell you something.”
For example, have you ever received a call from a car dealership asking what you thought about your recent visit for service? You took the time to answer their questions. Why? Because you are a customer! What if there had been a recall, you sure would want to know about it, wouldn’t you? Why? Because you are a customer.
The same principle applies when you call in to update an account’s records. They feel compelled to help you. If they don’t feel compelled and there is a problem with your company as a supplier, you want to know about it ASAP before they switch to a competitor. This process enables your company the opportunity to can fix the problem and hopefully maintain and then expand the business you do with them.
In fact fixing problems pro-actively makes you, the “service rep”, look like the troubleshooter.
You’ll find when you fix any potential problems, the word tends to be spread around that your company takes care of its customers. Be sure to begin by explaining the reason for your call is to be sure their records are up to date so they, the customer, can receive the service they deserve. Letting them know this reduces the resistance to answering your questions. Let them also know that by providing this information, it will enable them to receive information on new developments and future solutions.
A Few of the Benefits of a Pro-Active “Service” Approach
Although the benefits are numerous, here are eleven of them.
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You can find new business opportunities for more existing solutions, consulting, training, education and sales of new solutions.
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You can cut your communications costs and time by avoiding people who are no longer there.
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The information you find is useful to several areas of your company (accounting, shipping, etc).
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You can identify both short-term and long-term business opportunities.
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Updated customer records, can lead to internal cost reductions which can ultimately add to directly to your company’s bottom line and your profit sharing plan (if you have one).
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Pro-Active Account Management can be used to nip potential customer problems in the bud before they become unmanageable.
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You are able to identify and qualify high level contacts and locate key decision-makers by using internal customer referrals across business segments or divisions.
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You can ask about the evaluation and decision making processes including time-frame and budget for any potential solutions being considered.
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You can enable faster processing and payment of your invoices while eliminating many unnecessary customer paperwork and phone calls.
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Identifying and implementing areas of customer service improvement can increase customer retention rate using Pro-Active Account Management approach.
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You can leverage your ability to increase your amount of closed sales. An AMRU enables you to understand industry and competitor changes and create a competitive advantage for your company.
In Summary
Pro-Active Account Management over the phone using a Account Management Records Update Form is not only time and cost efficient, it can uncover a wealth of valuable data, which when analyzed, can be converted into useful intelligence your salesforce can use immediately to make more sales.
For more information on how to develop and implement a custom designed Account Management Records Update Form for your company, call me at +1-818-991-6487 or send an email to ronlavine @coldcalltraining.com with AMRU in the subject line and your contact details in the body of the email.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
According to Josh Gordon’s book “Selling 2.0 – Motivating Customers in the New Economy”, building trust is ranked by customers as the number one way to motivate and persuade them to buy. Trust ranked ahead of building relationships, selling value, problem solving, adding value, building loyalty and finally competitive positioning. It is important to be well trusted and you should not underestimate the importance of building trust in areas such as aggressive problem solving and missionary selling before the buying even begins. Trust is the assured reliance on character, strength or truth of someone.
One of the biggest factors in building trust is establishing consistency. This means the other person always knows what to expect from you. In addition to consistency these characteristics are also important when building trust.
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Confidentiality
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Listening
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Making the other person feel heard and understood
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Being clear about what is being exchanged in the relationship
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Like-ability of the provider
When you work over the telephone, the only feedback you receive is the sound of the person’s voice and what is going on in the background. You cannot see their face or how their body language changes based upon what is being said. Therefore, it is key, to build trust up front.
Since building trust over the phone disables the reliance on visual feedback, one of the ways you can build trust is to match and mirror the speed, tone and volume of the other person’s voice. If they speak fast you need to speed up your rate of speech. If they speak slow then slow down. The same applies to louder and softer.
People feel comfortable speaking and buying from people they know, like (like means similar) and trust.
Trust is a key factor in how people make decisions. Therefore it is important to understand how to build and maintain trust. The more you understand about your accounts and their unique situations, combined with an establishment of a positive working relationship, the easier it will be to build trust.
Ten Ways to Establish Trust
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People trust people who are honest about the truth even if it is uncomfortable.
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People who look and act professionally build trust.
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People trust people who ask good questions and are willing to listen.
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Trust comes from being able to demonstrate your knowledge or technical proficiency.
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Trusted professionals ask tough, thought provoking questions, while reaching meaningful issues quickly.
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People trust other people who respect their values.
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People trust people who make them think.
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You create trust when you focus on what your accounts are trying to accomplish.
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People trust people have had similar experiences to theirs.
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People trust people who have a genuine interest in what they have to say.
Slick words or trying to impress people with all the features of your solutions do not build trust they fuel skepticism. Being able to have proof readily available in the form of testimonial letters and phone or email references builds trust. Improve your trust building skills and you’ll improve your sales.
Reference: Selling 2.0: Motivating Customers in the New Economy, by Josh Gordon available at: http://amzn.to/11MzUia.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success® – Live Cold Call Training Workshops
How do I motivate myself to cold call?
How do I keep from procrastinating?
“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”
Don Marquis, (Humorist and journalist)
Procrastination is a waste of time, energy and mental resources. So why do so many smart people get stuck doing it? The routine for the procrastination is a recurring loop. For instance, when there is an uncomfortable phone call to be made, instead of picking up the phone at the moment of inspiration and getting the task over with, the procrastinator mulls it over. He will put it on a “to do” list. He will talk about it, worry about it, feel badly about not doing it, and finally, try to avoid thinking about it for a while. He will promise himself he will do it tomorrow, then get so caught up in other tasks, he completely forgets about it.
The more inconvenient or difficult the task, the more procrastinators procrastinate. They will invent creative reasons for delay, while stress and anxiety begin to build. Think about those tasks that we commonly procrastinate on. For instance: filing income tax forms, finishing holiday shopping, or cleaning out the garage. If there is (hopefully) a deadline, most procrastinators will squeak in, right under the wire, much to their short-lived relief.
However, the hasty outcome is often not as well done or satisfying–to themselves or others–as it could have been.
Anxiety, low self-esteem and stress are just a few of the side effects of procrastination. So how can we avoid falling into its trap?
* Set priorities. Make a list of things to be done and number them in order of importance. Do the most difficult one first.
* Use positive self-talk. When the urge to procrastinate occurs, gently remind yourself how much better you will feel when the task is done. Remember the times you have accomplished something similar.
* Replace excuses with rational thinking.
* Release the need for perfection. Just get it done.
* Hold yourself accountable. Make a contract with yourself and tell a trusted friend or co-worker your plan.
*Reward yourself. Praise yourself. Pat yourself on the back when you have accomplished the task. Celebrate!!!
Written by Dr. Evelyn Lee. http://www.drevelynlee.com. The Art of Positive Coaching. To request a coaching session call 818-519-8287.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success® – Live Cold Call Training Workshops
Look at any team sport and ask yourself what happens when the other side makes a move or a play such as a base hit in baseball or a run in football? The answer is the other team shifts in reaction to what has occurred.
However until some action is taken, no shift can be made. If a baseball is hit towards the shortstop he moves or shifts in the direction of the ball. You typically don’t see him move before the ball is hit.
If a running back is running a play off the end of the right tackle you’ll see the linebacker shift in anticipation of where the runner is headed. They shift to where they think the play is headed however if they are wrong they quickly shift again to where the actual ball is.
A similar phenomenon happens on the phone. People ask you questions and you must be prepared to shift. The difference between sports and sales is you can help direct the shift be asking questions.
The person who asks the questions controls the conversation.
Think about it for a minute. If I ask you what you like about blue and you answer it looks good on me. Who is directing the conversation? If you guessed me, you are correct.
Now let’s turn the situation around. There are two possibilities. One is you lead with a statement or question or a combination of both or secondly, you let the other person ask the question and then they gain control of the conversation.
So the conversation might go your way by you asking the first question or making the first statement such as “Maybe you can help me.” “Who is responsible for software? Do you have a CIO or VP of I.S.?”
Or it could go the other way where an executive’s assistant asks you “Why are you calling?” or “What do you want?” Now they are in control. You need to be prepared to handle both situations.
When you ask the questions first, you control the call. If they ask the questions first then they control the call. It is that simple. Your goal then becomes to make a statement and/or ask a question first.
So by now your asking “Ron, how do I stay in control?” It is very easy. Simply stop and make a statement such as “Maybe you can help me” or “Let me ask you a question” or “By the way’. I find “Maybe you can help me” works best since people naturally like to help other people.
When the assistant says, “Why are you calling?” or “What do you want?” You can respond by saying, “Maybe you can help me.” “Who is responsible for software? Do you have a CIO or VP of I.S.?” You have just shifted the direction and taken control of the call.
In large ticket sales you must be able to shift and react quickly to what the prospect is saying. So many times I hear reps on the phone and they are asked a question and are thrown for a loop. Or the other person keeps talking on and on and moves the conversation off the topic.
Let’s say the topic is application development but the prospect begins to talk about systems operations. You can bring the conversation back onto to the topic of application development by saying something such as “I understand what you are saying about systems operations. Now let me ask you a question. How do you handle application development?” Each time you ask the questions, you stay in the driver’s seat driving the direction of the call where you want it to go.
If you ever watch a football or any professional team practice you’ll notice they are constantly preparing for the unexpected.
I believe that in sales we need to be able to do the same thing. This leads me to my point. Sit down and write out questions prospects might ask. Next write out responses to those questions. Then practice using those statements and questions to keep control of the call and move it in the direction you want it to go.
Does this mean you don’t listen to what the other person has to say? Of course not. Instead you base your questions upon their answers and that is what creates the basis of a conversation.
So in summary, when someone asks you a question. Stop and wait for them to finish. Feedback what you heard and then ask your next question based upon their answer.
You’ll find you will be having much longer conversations, which are also more meaningful and which will also lead to more sales in less time.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
HOME PAGE // SITE MAP // STORE // WORKSHOPS // REINFORCEMENT // CLIENTS
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success® – Live Cold Call Training Workshops
Imagine an orchestra playing before you. Now think what would happen if one of the violin players suddenly ignored the what the composer had written on the sheet music started playing another tune right during the middle of another piece. Or what if the violin player kept their instrument aloft and accidentally played a note or two?
What would happen? At the very least, the harmony would end. Why? The person was not paying attention or was intent on making themselves heard.
Now imagine being on the telephone having a conversation with a prospect when all of a sudden instead of listening to what is being said to you, you decide you must start talking about all the features and benefits you feel the prospect must know about your technology. Instead of continuing to listen and discuss what is important to the prospect, you interrupt thinking if only they knew how great your technology is they would buy immediately.
Let’s go back to our orchestra scenario. What happens when a violinist decides to play another piece or accidentally plays a note during the middle of a piece? Similar to the disharmony they would cause, you would probably end up with something equally bad. This maybe the loss of a sale and possibly damaging any future relationship.
The telephone is similar to a violin. It is an instrument. It takes practice to learn how to derive the most benefits from using it. When you learn how to play the violin, unless you are a prodigy born with innate talent, you need to practice following what the composer has written (or in the case of a conversation, listening to what the prospect is saying without interrupting).
This can and is a real challenge for many of us. Why? We like to hear ourselves speak. We like to share all of what we know.
While on the telephone, one of the ways you can prevent this is to place a finger over your mouth reminding yourself that your job at this point is to listen and not speak. This serves four purposes.
One, it is very difficult to talk when your finger is covering your mouth.
Two, it will remind you to listen (and concentrate) more and while speaking less.
Three, you will begin to become conscious of your need to speak.
Four, you will be able to learn how to control your urge to speak.
This is a simple yet useful technique to force yourself to get in the habit of listening.
Using the telephone to make sales requires discipline. Since you cannot see the other person and therefore cannot rely upon visual signs, you must rely solely upon what you hear. Decide to listen. STOP! Stop talking on purpose.
Encourage the person to answer each question in detail by remaining silent. Remember that silence often gives the person on the other end of the line time to think about an answer to your question. If you interrupt them, you may never know what important piece of information they were going to tell you.
Allow them time to think, you will get more information that way, rather than trying to fill in the gaps of silence. Show you are listening by using statements such as “I see” or “I hear you” “Okay” “I understand what you mean” or “Right.” If you overlook this step, misunderstandings can come back to haunt you later.
Have you ever watched an orchestra when a group of instruments are not playing or are not getting ready to play? What do they do? Typically they put their instruments down or away from their mouths. Why do you think they do this? Could it be so they don’t accidentally play a note and ruin the piece that is being played?
Control your urge to speak and you will make more sales. Remember, the secret to listening is to be interested, not interesting.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success® – Live Cold Call Training Workshops
Sales reps should avoid talking too much and listening too little. Using close-ended questions, which tend to kill a conversation with a yes or no answer instead of open-ended questions that extend a conversation because they cannot be easily answered with a yes or no.
Sales reps should avoid not getting people to commit to a yes or no decision rather than a perhaps or a maybe. Get rid of the prospects that keep dragging their feet. Simply ask, “Is there still an interest in [your product or service]? If yes, what’s the next step?” The sooner you know the quicker you can invest your time in those prospects that have an interest and are willing to take action or “move forward”.
Sales reps should avoid forgetting to ask permission to speak or not showing a lack respect for the other person’s time. An executive’s time is one of their most limited and valuable assets. If it is not respected you will quickly find yourself disconnected. Would you want to speak with someone if you were in the middle of an important meeting? No. So remember a little common courtesy goes a long way. ALWAYS ask permission to speak. I happen to like “Is this a good time to speak?” or “Do you have a moment?”
Sales reps should avoid asking too many questions in a row. Too many questions in a row are frustrating because the prospect doesn’t know which question to answer first and the conversation becomes confusing real fast. Remember one question at a time, then STOP! You’ll have plenty of time to ask more questions and the prospect won’t be defensive since they are unable to answer multiple questions at once.
Sales reps should avoid talking over other the prospect’s answer to a question or interrupting while the prospect is speaking. Since most, if not all of us, like to hear ourselves speak, it takes tremendous discipline to remain silent until someone has finished what they have to say. What if the part of the answer that you spoke over was a crucial piece of information? You’ll never know, will you?
Sales reps should avoid calling on people who have no authority to buy. Many reps would rather spend their limited selling time calling upon lower level people who, while they maybe good sources of information, they lack the authority to buy. These people can stymie the sales process by saying don’t go above me and don’t go below me. I am the only person you need to speak with. What happens then? You become in the “let’s talk some more and more or show me more and more” position. This type of scenario will drag your sales process to a halt.
Sales reps should avoid speaking too fast, too slow, in a monotone or without enthusiasm or conviction. People buy from people they know, like and trust and trust means similar to them. Learn to match and mirror the rate of speed, tone and the volume of the prospect’s voice. Listening to a person’s voice mail often provides a clue as to what type of speaker they are. If they speak fast, speed up. If they speak slowly, then slow done. The same applies to louder and softer. As for tone, learn to move your voice up and down and enunciate clearly.
Sales reps should avoid pitching. Pitching is for baseball pitchers not selling. Pitching implies something will be caught yet not necessarily the “right thing or solution”. A good salesperson never needs to pitch since by asking the right questions and listening they know what the prospect wants resented to them and the close becomes a natural conclusion.
Sales reps should avoid leaving their phone number only once and speaking too fast when they leave a voice mail. This means the prospect has to play the message over and over again when it is much easy to just erase it. Make it easy for people to do business with you. SLOW DOWN when you leave a message and leave your phone number twice in a row. The first time you leave your number gives the prospect time to find a pen and the second gives them time to write down the number.
Sales reps, who work in the field, should avoid forgetting to make eye contact. In Nicholas Boothman’s book, How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds, he claims people make “like/don’t like” decisions within the first 90 seconds of meeting someone. This means you must be able to win someone over fast. For you field reps it is a known fact that looking people directly in the eyes establishes you as trustworthy and open. Practice making a mental note of each person’s eye color and you’ll automatically look each person you meet right in the eye.
Sales reps should avoid making selling too complicated. Often it is better to be reminded and return to the basics above rather than to continue behavior, which should be avoided, if you want to be successful in sales.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at 818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
What are the secrets to successful cold calling? Here are eight tactics you can take to become a better cold caller and improve the success of your cold calling and prospecting.
1. Don’t sell right away. Instead, stay in information mode and stay out of sales mode. If you’re in a position to “sell” at your company, then you know it’s not always easy to get the ear of the prospect. The worst thing you can do is to make a cold call to someone you don’t know and without knowing their problems, challenges, needs or pains and then start selling. It’s a turnoff to the person you’re speaking with and ultimately wastes both your time.
2. Find the right person(s). Find the person(s) who is/are responsible for evaluating and/or making decisions about your solution. This is a critical step. How many times do you call someone and they are not the person you need to reach. You have wasted your time and theirs.
3. Do Your Homework. Once you know the correct person to speak with, study their website and LinkedIn (Jigsaw, Hoovers, OneSource, etc.) individual, company and industry profiles. What do they have in common with your customers? Find out and use this information to build a compelling story which will cause them to want to take action.
4. Ask for Permission to Speak. This is a critical step often missed by sales reps. Professional salespeople always ask for permission to speak. If they are on a call or in a meeting they won’t be paying attention to what you have to say. Try “Is this a good time to speak?” or “Do you have a moment? There are three possible answers. Yes, No or Maybe.
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They may say Yes, then you can deliver the opening reason for your call which in the case of a cold or prospecting call is to find out how they do business in your area of expertise, find out what is important to them or what is causing them pain and then setting up a time and date specific action step such as a face-to-face meeting, phone appointment or a web demo.
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Or, they may say No, in which case, either get off the phone, set an appointment to call them back or confirm they are the right person to speak with (We speak with people not talk to them).
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If they say Maybe, what is this about, then you can you can deliver the opening reason for your call.
5. Use open and close ended questions. This may seem old fashioned; however these types of questions still work. Open ended questions are used to gain information. Close ended questions are used to confirm what was said and gain agreement for action. Examples: So open ended questions are used to gain information, right, correct or okay? If I email you an Agreement on Thursday, you’ll have it signed off and emailed back to me on Monday, correct, right or okay?
6. Ask business impact questions. Tailor what you say to what your prospect’s needs, challenges, pains or problems. Seek to find out where are they now, where do they want to be and how do they plan to get there. This is known as the planning process. See if you can bring to their attention through the use of industry related stories about potential needs, challenges problems or pains they maybe currently experiencing now or in the future.
7. Really Listen to What They are Saying. Your focus should be on them and not on the next question you are planning to ask. If you get in the door and speak to someone who cares about what you sell, shut up. Listen to their problems, needs, pains or challenges are. Feedback what you believe they said and then ask your next question based upon their answer.
8. Set up a Time and Date Specific Action Step. This important step is often missed and is the key to ending a good cold call. For example, When would be a good day and time for us to set up a brief 20 to 30 minute meeting to come out and introduce myself and my company to determine if we can be of service to you? It is a “being of service” approach rather than a cheesy, or salesy approach.
In conclusion, the next time you’re faced with a “selling” situation, try to stay in information mode and to stay out of sales mode. Remember “Understanding Comes Before Selling” or how can I sell someone something unless I know there is a need to sell something. Put these three tactics to work and watch the results lead you to your next successful cold call.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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Make these easy tweaks to your sales process to create a huge increase in sales revenue.
By Geoffrey James | @Sales_Source |
Want to sell more? Here are 12 simple actions that you can take today that will increase both revenue and profit.
1. Reduce the number of opportunities you pursue. The more opportunities you’ve got, the more likely you are to make a sale, right? Wrong! If you can’t give each prospect the attention they deserve, you’ll lose sales you otherwise might make.
2. Increase the percentage of time you spend selling. Get somebody else to handle your paperwork, expense reports, or whatever busywork is involved with making a sale. Use the extra time to get in front of customers.
3. Stop buying technology because it’s cool. Smartphones, tablets, and PCs can be important tools–but learning and supporting them can drain your productivity. Only purchase devices and programs that actually help you sell.
4. Think about your solution as a verb. Suppose your company makes glue. If you’re selling “glue” (a noun), you’ll talk about product features. If you’re selling “gluing” (a verb), you’ll talk what your offering does for your customer’s business.
5. Treat selling as a service to the customer. Stop thinking that selling means “convincing” the customer, “overcoming” objections, and “winning” the business. Instead, view yourself as the customer’s ally in solving a problem.
6. Terminate weak engagements–politely but immediately. The moment you find out that a customer really doesn’t need what you’re offering, point them in the right direction, then politely withdraw from the opportunity.
7. Don’t confuse telling with selling. Rather than talking to the customer about what your product can do, ask intelligent questions so that the two of you can discover whether the customer really needs you to help solve a problem or achieve a goal.
8. Hone your lead generation effort. Based upon your own experience, observe who’s just interested and who’s actually buying. Hone your lead generation efforts to find more of the ones who are actually spending money on your offering.
9. Don’t focus on the gatekeepers. Make sure that you’re talking to the real decision-makers, and not just the influencers and sideliners. When you meet a decision-maker, stay in regular communication throughout the sales cycle.
10. Stay on top of your opportunities. Don’t lose track of what’s changing inside the account. Build a short sales plan that documents the process and the players, so you don’t spin your wheels trying to remember who needs what and when.
11. Outflank your competition. Find out who the other guys are calling on, and how they’re approaching the account. Figure out who they’re talking to, what they’re saying, and defensively position your offering to counter their approach.
12. Increase your average dollar value. It takes just about as much effort to cut a $1,000 deal as it does to cut a $10,000 deal. The more revenue you book on each opportunity, the more money you’ll make overall.
Geoffrey James is an award-winning journalist and author of Inc.com’s Sales Source column. Previously, he wrote Sales Machine, the world’s most-visited sales-oriented blog. James has written hundreds of articles on sales and marketing for publications like Technology Marketing and SellingPower, and has helped thousands of sales professionals communicate more effectively with customers. To get column updates, sign up for his weekly “insider” newsletter or his @Sales_Source Twitter feed. James’ newly published book is How to Say It: Business to Business Selling.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
Before you have gotten your first appointment, the need to do your pre-cold call planning homework and collect background information about a prospect’s company really kicks in. While you may not be able to cover all the areas mentioned, being aware of them, can be very beneficial in differentiating yourself from other sales reps that do not take the time to do their homework. Instead, they just call a prospect blindly, “flying by the seat of their pants” and hope they get a result.
The Main Objectives of Pre-Cold Call Planning are to Understand:
Where is the prospect and their company now.
Where does the prospect want their company to be.
How does the prospect currently plan to get their company to that objective.
Start by checking the prospect’s web site and other Internet web sites for information related too:
Alliances
Are any of these organizations, customers of yours?
Are you able to leverage the people in these relationships?
Business Environment or Industry Trends
Look for industry or government potential change or change events* or business drivers such as increasing regulations, decreasing costs, increasing agility or decreasing risk.
Contact Names
Are names, titles, extensions or email addresses of people related to your solution (possibly an organizational chart) available by doing a search either publicly or on their web site?
Competition
Who are their direct and indirect competition?
Are you able to leverage these relationships by demonstrating the benefits and results your prospect may miss by not doing business with your company?
Decisions
Are they centralized in one location or does each location have the authority to make their own decisions?
Do you know who are the real decision-makers and other buyer types?
Distributors, Alliances, Resellers or Partners
Are any of these organizations, customers or in reseller or alliance programs of yours?
Are you able to leverage the people in these relationships?
Investor Relations or Corporate Communications or Community Relations
Are there any change events listed?
Are there any contacts phone numbers or emails listed?
Locations and Employees
How many locations and employees are at each location?
Are you able to leverage the people in these relationships?
Management’s Discussion & Analysis of Financial Condition & Results of Operations from the Annual Report
This information, usually found in a publicly traded company’s annual report, can tell you:
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What are the prospect’s current & future goals and objectives.
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What are the change events that may effect the prospect’s business operations.
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What are the prospect’s current or future strategies.
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Who does the prospect consider as their main competition and why.
Markets and Customers
Who do they serve and what types of marketing delivery vehicles do they use (Such as social media, their web site or direct mail?
Solution Development
What solutions does the prospect offer and how are these solutions developed?
Solution Offerings
How are the prospect’s solutions delivered to the marketplace?
Properties or Locations
Any changes such as expansions or contractions?
Creating an Pre-Cold Call Planning Template
We have already established when you are going after large prospective clients, you need to do some research first. Start by preparing a Pre-Cold Call Planning Template either as a document or by copying the information into your SFA/CRM system. To build this template, you need to:
Copy the Prospect’s Organization Contact Information
Company Name, Address, Zip, Phone Numbers, etc. into your Template. Look for non toll-free numbers. These numbers will keep you away from call centers that often cannot help you,
Copy the Prospect’s Company Management into your Template.
Read the Career Section or Jobs Offered Look for careers or jobs related to your solutions.
For example: technology in use or the people the prospect is hiring for specific projects. Copy this information into your Template,
Copy the About the Company from the Career or About the Company Sections.
These typically explain the prospect’s company mission statement, objectives, values and goals,
Review the Corporate Communications, Press Releases, Investor Relations or Community Relations pages
Look for additional contact information within the prospect’s company. Call on these people if you are having trouble getting into your prospect’s company over the phone. Copy this information into your Template,
Search for change events and articles of interest as they relate to your solution. Search on words applying to your solutions. Here are some examples of change events decision-makers care about most:
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Acquisitions
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Collections
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Competitive Environment Changes
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Compliance with Regulations
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Cost of Goods Sold
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Customer Retention or Churn
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Downtime/Up-time
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Employee Turnover or Churn
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Inventory Turns
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Joint Ventures
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Labor Costs
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Lead Conversion Rate
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Lifetime customer value
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Locations Changes
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Market Share or Percent of Market Owned
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Mergers
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Net Payback Period
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New Funding
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New Hires
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Operating Costs
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Pending or Changes in Government Regs
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Productivity
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Profit Margins
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Promotions
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Return on Investment
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Sales Velocity or Sales Cycle Speed
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Share of Customer Market
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Time to Market
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Time to Profitability
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Total Cost of Ownership
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Turnaround Time
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Waste
Copy these into your Template.
Look at other Networking, Contact Sources, Free and Paid Sales Research Sites.
My favorite is http://www.LinkedIn.com which allows you to do advanced targeted searches on names, titles and companies.
Here are some other web sites where you can find this information:
Use complementary Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts to find and track these events that occur within your prospects’ and clients’ companies. This information will help you determine the main business reasons how and why prospects and clients use your solutions.
Other Sources of Actionable Business Sales Intelligence™
For publically traded companies, read the Management Discussion & Analysis in their Annual Report or go to the Security Exchange Commission’s web site: http://www.sec.gov/search/search.htm to find this information.
Go to Yahoo Finance’s website http://finance.yahoo.com/ to find information about the prospect’s company officers and their main competition.
Key Point – Use your relationships with people at your and your prospect’s competitors, partners, resellers or distributors to lend credibility to your organization’s offerings.
Key Point – Do not spend more time researching than you do actually making calls. Do not fall into the Paralysis by Analysis trap.
In conclusion, do your Pre-Cold Call Planning homework and you’ll be miles ahead of your competition while making more sales and putting greater amounts of dollars in your bank account.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Call Training Workshops®
Are you having a hard time reaching decision-makers, setting up well-qualified appointments, getting past gatekeepers, gathering information or finding if you are calling on an appropriate prospect in the first place? Maybe it seems impossible to get your cold calls returned or you are getting stuck into an endless loop of voice mail.
The big problem today in cold calling on businesses, is it is so hard to get a response. It is a bad situation but it really doesn’t have to be. This problem often stems from sales training where reps are trained to start selling BEFORE they have determined if there is a need to sell. The problem becomes further compounded when sales reps think they are speaking with a decision maker but they really aren’t Add the urge to speak about their solutions rather than to ask questions and listen to the complete answers and all of a sudden cold calling becomes real difficult.
Becoming successful at cold calling requires you switch from the old “If I make enough calls, I’ll sell something” to “If I speak with the person who has the authority and need to buy and if I have the right solution to fit their needs, then they will buy” approach. This approach emphasizes finding the decision-maker(s), using exploratory questions and active listening to gather the information needed to understand who has the authority to buy, if there is a need to buy, and if so, what you should be presenting so the prospect will buy.
Step 1. Establish call objectives.
Your first objective should be to locate what we will call the “WHO” or decision-maker(s). Second, you need to determine if a need exists. Third, suggest a solution based upon the information you’ve gathered. Fourth, ask for and set up time and date specific action steps.
Step 2. Find the decision-maker(s) first.
Before you can find the “WHO”, you must first know how to work your way through the maze of a large organization. It is easy to get sidetracked by someone who says they have the authority to buy but doesn’t.
There are three approaches into an organization. TOP DOWN (most effective) or SIDEWAYS IN or BOTTOM UP. Whatever direction you choose, remember to seek out the “WHO” first.
The easiest one of the three is the “top down” approach using the power of referral from above. Cold calling goes much easier if you always start at the top of an organization and work your way down. It is much easier to work your way downstream then fight your way up stream.
On your initial call, your goal is to discover “WHO” is responsible for making decisions to buy your type of solution. Start with these questions. “Maybe you can help me? Who is responsible for [your solution?]” “Do you have a [ask for the highest level title responsible for the final decision to acquire [your solution]“. Such as, “Do you have a CIO of a CFO?”
This isn’t the time to talk about your solution. Your goal is to find the “WHO” first. This set of questions in order will keep you out of sales mode and help you stay in information mode. These questions will diminish your fear of rejection and build your confidence since people are usually willing and able to answer them. You’ll also find people less defensive and more helpful when they don’t feel like they are being sold something.
You start by calling the headquarters receptionist and after confirming the address, you ask for the name and correct spelling of the CEO (or President, etc.). Next ask to be transferred to the CEO’s assistant.
The advantage of calling the CEO’s assistant is twofold. One is they work and deal with the higher level people (C-level, VPs, etc.) and secondly when they give refer you to the person they believe is the “WHO”, that person or their office’s gatekeeper will usually take your cold call.
The reason for this is it is very difficult for a subordinate to refuse a call coming from a superior or a superior’s office (make sure you tell the truth and say you were referred by the CEO’s office). This fact alone eliminates many of the road blocks such as getting return calls or being put through to the decision makers themselves. Remember you DO NOT want to speak with the CEO or President, you want their assistant.
When you are transferred the first thing you need to say is that you were referred by the CEO’s office (or the CEO if you speak with them).
Using the sideways approach begins with choosing a department such as Investor or Public Relations, Purchasing or Sales. Your objective again is to find the “WHO”.
Finding the “WHO” using the bottom up approach begins by calling on people who work in the mail room, an outlying factory, retail location, or customer service and then working your way upwards.
Remember to be flexible and continue transferring to different departments to maximize the value of each call. The objective is to find a live person who will speak with you and provide more pieces of the selling puzzle.
Starting from the top and establishing the who’s who of the organizational hierarchy eliminates a person at a lower level in the organization from saying don’t go above me, you deal only with me. This is because you can mention all the names of the people above.
Step 3. Ask permission to speak.
From a business perspective, there may be nothing more valuable than our time. Let people know that you respect their time by asking, “Is this a good time to speak?” or “Do you have a few moments?” before using your opening statement. Not only is this a more professional approach, you’ll find people will offer their full attention since you’ve been given their permission to speak.
If it isn’t a convenient time for your prospect to talk, SCHEDULE A FOLLOW-UP CALL and then HANG UP THE PHONE. Why waste their time or yours? If they are busy, you certainly will not have their attention. Make a good impression by being polite and respectful of the other person’s time.
Step 4: Use direct open-ended questions.
Start by using direct questions such as: “Who is responsible for.?” or “How do you currently handle.? Or “What are you doing in the area of.?” or “When do you plan to make a decision on .?” or “Why do you think that is?” Direct questions demonstrate you are in control of the conversation and you know what you are doing.
Avoid using weak questions or statements: “Could you possibly” or “Might you be able to tell me?” or “I’m just trying to find out some information” or “I was hoping to find out” These type of statements imply a lack confidence.
Step 5: Summarize your conversation.
At the end and after any conversation involving action items, summarize verbally and in writing important points and clarify time and date specific next steps. Follow the verbal summary with a written one in an e-mail and then call to be sure the information was received.
Use a Summary Email to help you move forward towards the close of a sale. This email provides a detailed summary of what you heard during the conversation, what it means and what are the next steps to be taken, by who and by when in order to complete the sale.
In this email include:
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Prospect’s Company Background (Describe the past and current company situations).
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Current Challenges or Situation (List the needs, problems, pains or challenges and why they are occurring).
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Timing (Specify the evaluation completion and decision dates you have been told).
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Evaluation Process (Identify who will conduct the evaluation and the criterion that will be used).
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Decision Process (Note who will be involved in making the decision and how will they decide).
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Budget (Establish that budget has been set aside or there is access to budget).
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The Next Step (Layout the process of who will do what and by when).
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A Signature (Include your complete contact information and a tag line explaining the benefits of your solution).
Summary
You can make cold calling easier and more effective by starting at the top and by following these steps.
1. Establish call objectives.
2. Find the decision-maker(s) first.
3. Ask permission to speak.
4. Use direct open-ended questions.
5. Summarize your conversation.
Want to remove fear and rejection from cold calling? View cold calling as an informational puzzle. Your goal is to see how many pieces of information you can get on every call. When you gather information you didn’t have before you’ve gotten a result. If you’ve gotten a result then you haven’t been rejected.
This puzzle approach will allow you to maximize your valuable selling time by calling on the people who can and will buy from you.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Calling Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold call training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
I came across an article in the Investor’s Business Daily about “Selling in a Down Market” and I think it applies to selling in any type of market. It is an adaptation of an article by Cord Cooper where he states sales management has a choice in how to handle selling in a down market. He then goes on to give strategies for properly preparing your sales force.
Make your salespeople your first market.
They must be sold on what they are selling if clients are to be sold too.
Think benefits.
A few of the questions in this section were:
“What is the minimum return our clients need from our products or services?”
“How can we out do that by 50% to 100%?”
“What has been the client’s experience with the competition?”
“What sets us apart?” or “What is our unique selling proposition or specialization?”
Suggestion:
Take some time during a sales meeting to discuss these questions, take notes of the answers, put them in an email and distribute them electronically via email so they can be modified and expanded by people throughout your company. You could be surprised at who comes up with unique ways to help a customer or make it easier for them to do business with your company.
Set service standards.
Define what the best type of customer service is and then measure and deliver it.
Sell your track record.
Get permission to use specific client’s names and documented numerical results to increase your credibility.
Nail it down.
Don’t assume the customer has a clear understanding of the detail
Be sure to go over information and especially contracts in detail.
Work back-to-front.
If your start with a prospect’s budget and vision it is easier to work backward and demonstrate how your product or service will fit their requirements.
Bridge the gap.
Specify the results you want from your sales force, compare them to the current situation, and then center your strategy to bridge the gaps.
Don’t promise more than your organization can deliver.
Promising and not delivering is as bad as hearing complaints and ignoring them.
Use prospects’ names as marketing tools.
Create a seating chart in front of you and take note of their name
Use their names during a presentation to gain attention, control conversations and underscore points.
Realize that past successes don’t cut future deal.
Track client’s post sales shifting priorities and work them into renewal contracts.
Put the customer in charge.
Adapt your company policies to meet the customer’s needs.
The bottom line.
Let your customers be in charge by letting their needs drive your strategy. It worked for Sam Walton the founder of Wal-Mart and it will work for you too.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Call Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
Where to Begin?
Clear your desk and prepare yourself for each call by having everything you need within reach or eyesight. To maximize each call, use a headset, lean slightly forward while sitting in your chair and minimize or remove all distractions around you.
Think of yourself as a sponge. Give your full attention to what is being said by the contact. Listen closely to not only what is being said, and how it is being said.
A helpful tip is to record your conversations to be sure you do not miss any important details. Then play the recording after the call confirming the notes you took based upon what you heard are correct.
When entering a new industry, most people know little, if anything, about the terminology (nomenclature) being used. People in the software industry use acronyms like MVS (multiple virtual storage), VM (virtual machine), VSE (virtual storage extended) or CICS (customer information control system) and it can get confusing fast.
A good strategy to overcome this challenge is to ask the people you speak with, if they have a moment to explain what different terms mean and how the terms relate. Never be afraid to admit you do not know or understand something. Remember to be interested, not interesting, by becoming a good listener.
You can receive a free education worth thousands of dollars just by asking questions and letting people have the opportunity to teach you what they have learned after years of experience in their industry. Is everyone helpful? No. Many people are too busy to take the time to speak with you. Yet there are plenty of people who will spend the time to educate you if you ask politely and show a genuine interest in what they have to say.
What makes your call different from any other type of call is you are truly trying to benefit the account. You do this by using seeing (“I see what you mean”), hearing (“I hear what you are saying”) or feeling (“I understand how you feel”) terms.1 These terms enable your contact to understand the results they can attain using your solution.
You can demonstrate to a contact how to alleviate dissatisfaction with current suppliers; get rid potential problems or challenges while taking advantage of proven solutions. You do this by relaying the benefits your products or services provide along with the corresponding results in terms they can relate to.
During a qualification call, accounts tend to be naturally wary of unexpected calls therefore it is imperative you differentiate yourself from other account executives by respecting your account’s time. Is your calendar handy and are you ready to schedule a phone appointment if the contact you are calling is busy?
Remember to be exceptionally friendly and polite to everyone you speak with in the account’s company. People with influence can come from any area of a company.
How does the person sound when they answer the phone? Are they harried, angry, busy or distracted? It’s a good idea to ask “Am I catching you at a busy point?” If they say yes, then ask when would be a good time to call back and schedule an appointment to call them on a specific day and time. Make a note in your schedule and be sure to place the call. If handled correctly they will feel obligated to spend at least a minute speaking with you since they agreed to the appointment or if they don’t want to make an appointment they may give you 30 seconds to a minute to briefly explain the reason why you’re calling.
If you practice these TIPs (techniques, ideas and processes), while making your calls, your can increase your success. People like to speak with people who can establish credibility by speaking on the same level as they do rather than above or below them. My experience shows, people, when asked politely for their time, and have granted permission to speak with them, enjoy speaking with someone who has a genuine interest in listening to what they have to say.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
Where to Find New Business
Finding new business can be a snap, if you know where to look and what to do with the information you find. Using the telephone along with publicly available information, you can turn data into dollar
Understanding the importance of the “fact finding step” in the sales cycle, is key to making more sales. We need information resources to enable us to determine who is responsible for decision making, where an account is now, where they want to be and how they plan to get there.
It is easy to mishandle this part of the sales cycle in an eagerness to sell. Finding data about a shift in the way an account does business is not enough. Understanding the potential effects of the change is key to finding revenue producing events.
Show Me the Money
Look for accounts in your territory who:
* Acquire, merge or joint venture with another company,
* Have been acquired by another company,
* Add additional equipment or hardware or facilities,
* Announce a change in staffing requirements or business, practices due to expansion, restructuring or relocation,
* Receive contract awards,
* Mention cost cutting initiatives,
* Outsource certain services to concentrate on core businesses,
* Are embarking on new projects,
* Issue an IPO to raise operating capital for buying more assets,
* Spin off a division into a new company with new ownership,
* Maybe affected by pending legislation or regulations.
Turning Data into Dollars
Once a change occurs, ask yourself these questions. “How can my products fulfill a need or challenge as a result of the change?” “What additional services can my company provide to lessen the impact of the shift?” When the change effects a company who is your customer, ask yourself “How can I expand the use of or prevent the replacement of my services?”
For instance, you read an account plans to expand their operations. When companies expand or restructure, typically the management re-evaluates human resources and capital assets to decide what stays, what goes and what’s needed. When preparing your sales strategy, keep in mind the big picture. An enterprise wide sale is far more valuable than an individual business unit sale.
Different Ways to Create More Sales
1. Assembling a plan showing how the effects of the change relate to the benefits your products and services provide can position you for a sale.
2. Taking note of changes or trends that may affect both you and your account’s industries will make you sound intelligent and increase the odds of a sale.
3. Looking for stories about accounts using your competitor’s products and applying that application to your offerings is another way to make more sale
4. Keeping your account records up to date allows you to invest your time locating who is responsible for and capable of making a buying decision.
5. Finding and calling up users of your competitor’s products is a way to replace or augment existing products. Be sure to explain up front, you are looking for ways to improve your product
* What do you like about their products or services?
* Is there anything you dislike or have found unsatisfactory?
* If you had a wish list, what features would you like to see their product have?
Assuming your service provides missing features and benefits your competitors do not offer, you have yourself a potential sale.
6. Calling your customers pro-actively and assuring them of continuous service provides an opening to
* Find out more about an account’s future strategic direction.
* Expand and cement contact relationships,
* Uncover potential evaluations, projects or initiatives,
* Locate the main or new users of your products,
* Gauge customer satisfaction and nip potential problems in the bud before they become unmanageable,
* Offer consulting services, education or documentation,
* Inquire about other business units that may need your products,
* Provide greater customer service, making difficult for competitors to replace your product
Understanding the effects of change can present an opportunity to persuade management to invest in new products, services or technologies.
Free Sources of Business Sales Intelligence
An account’s sales literature,
Employee telephone interviews,
Competitor user telephone interviews,
Online and hard copy business and finance publications,
State and federal government agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget or the General Services Administration (GSA) (Using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain your competitor’s GSA schedules),
Classified advertisements,
Visit the SEC website,
Other suppliers who service your prospect’s account.
Finding information is easy. Systematically connecting the shift effects to the benefits your products provide, is the challenge. Correlating specific benefits to specific contact wins will place you in a position to watch your sales climb.
However, you must act upon the change, before your competitors do. Change is constant and change creates sales opportunities.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
Top Sales Executives Work Smart
Top sales executives recognize their time is precious and finite. These sales representatives know their primary job is to identify and call on the most profitable accounts first. Examining their current customer base and finding the common characteristics or demographics (gross sales, number of employees, industries, etc.) top salespeople know in advance what types of accounts where they make the most money. They separate their accounts by time zone enabling them to make the best use of their phone time throughout the day.
Once prioritized and sorted, top sales executives use their sharp questioning and listening skills to reach the decision maker and determine, with reasonable certainty, whether or not a business opportunity exists within an account. When a business opportunity is found within a department, business unit, location, joint venture, affiliate, reseller or partner, these successful sales reps always remember to set up specific action steps or a SALES M.A.P. (Mutually Agreed upon Process™) with the individual or individuals who influence the buying decision. Then they politely yet persistently follow up on these action steps through completion. Knowing how valuable their time is, the most successful salespeople do only those things they cannot delegate to someone else.
Top Sales Executives Think like Business Owners
Top sales executives adopt an attitude that they are in business for themselves not in business by themselves. These top salespeople make decisions upon seeing themselves as the business owner.
Organization and Prioritization of Goals
Top sales executives recognize the importance of organizing and prioritizing their goals. These people get ahead by planning ahead. They have clearly defined lofty goals and self discipline to see them through. Top sales executives are goal getters not just goal setter
Top Sales Executives are Persuasive Communicators
The top successful salespeople are listening for reasons to buy and for ways to sell. Sensitive to an account’s time available to speak with them and enthusiastic in their presentations and these top sales reps have mastered the technique of carefully selecting words for their positive connotations.
Top Sales Executives Are Always Striving for Self-improvement
Always growing, studying, reading, attending seminars, learning all the time, their goal is movement in a positive direction. These salespeople seek out opportunities to perfect their presentations and volunteer for leadership positions so they can stretch themselves as people and professionals.
Top Sales Executives have Positive Self-esteem
Strong, balanced sense of self worth combined with confidence in themselves and a belief in what they are doing are the hallmark of a great sales rep. Enthusiasm, excitement and zeal are elements of their character.
These people do a better job and become more productive by learning, practicing, changing and developing these new habits so they are incorporated and internalized qualities in both their personal and professional life.
Conclusion
First and foremost is the right attitude. You will hear this throughout most sales workshops because the right attitude is the difference between those that give up and those who never quit. There is no silver or magic bullet. Only hard work and persistence pays off.
To become a great sales executive, one must enjoy working with people and have a strong sense of curiosity, great listening skills and the ability to see the big picture. The best sales executives are able to produce results. Pay for performance is the way they prefer to work.
A great sales executive is someone who has a working knowledge of their company’s operations, products and services, and possesses the ability to collect useful business sales intelligence(tm) about their accounts and translate the information into additional sales. They are persistent and tenacious to find the answers to their questions and they keep going until they do.
David R. Bender of the Special Libraries Association sums it up well: “…how many people have the expertise to evaluate, analyze, organize and package raw data-transforming it into meaningful information that can be put to work?”
He goes on to say “…not many, and the explanation is quite simple.” As management expert Peter Drucker wrote in a column for the Wall Street Journal, “There is a big difference between being computer literate and information literate.”
Bender writes, “Drucker explained that for data to become useful information, it must be organized for a task or applied to a decision.” He contended, however, “Few people are adept at determining exactly what information they need to do their jobs, when they need the information, and where they can get it.”
A great sales executive knows what data is needed, where it can be found and how to get it and provide it in a manner enabling them to increase their sales. In striving to become the best, top sales executives focus on creating value for their clients and a sense of pride and accomplishment for themselves.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
HOME PAGE // SITE MAP // STORE // WORKSHOPS // REINFORCEMENT // CLIENTS
TESTIMONIAL LETTERS // MORE TESTIMONIAL LETTERS // QUOTES FROM CLIENTS
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
There have been a great deal of questions in my workshops lately about how to use email in conjunction with leads coming off the Internet. How do you know if you have enough research before following up? How can you use email as an effective tool to create specific follow-up action steps? With that in mind, here is an example of an email I received from a company we’ll call “WeKnowItAll Company”.
Our story begins with WeKnowItAll sending me an email inviting me to access their online company research subscription service free for two days. One of the things I love to do, is to use the WWW for doing research on my competitors, my clients, my client’s clients, their industry and competitors, my prospects, my prospect’s clients and my prospect’s industry and competitors.
The biggest danger of using the Web for research is you can find yourself in “analysis paralysis” and can often end up spending more time on the Internet then you do on the phone selling and generating revenue. My suggestion is to set up a specific set of questions to answer, which once answered should provide enough basic pre-call research. Ron, stop stalling, where’s the list of questions? Hey, relax and don’t worry, the list is towards the bottom.
Now I’m saying to myself, hmmm, free trial for two days. Oh boy, I’m going to have some fun and put this baby through its paces. Let’s see what types of information I can find that is really useful for my specific needs. I set a specific goal for this test. My goal was to identify certain personnel within target prospect companies I’m looking to do business with. I was evaluating based upon two criteria at this point. One was what was the quality of the information provided? Secondly, how easy was it to access that information?
I start using WeKnowItAll online database by myself without any guidance and off the bat I’ve got a log-on problem. Rule number one; if you want someone to try something, without any assistance, providing clear and simple instructions is an excellent way to make a good impression. Finally I’m able to log-in, and the amounts of choices are mind boggling. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of simplicity and ease of use. This site, although very comprehensive it was also very cluttered and confusing.
I found myself going back and forth from one screen to another trying to find where the profiles of company personnel were located. Apparently, depending on the type of company (public or private), there may or may not be personnel information and it may or may not be always located on the same page. In other words you often had to spend a lot of time digging for it.
After about fifteen minutes I started to get frustrated with my free two-day trial and moved on to other tasks. Below is the email I received the day after my two-day trial (or in my case fifteen minute) was over.
In between the person’s statements, you’ll find my comments in [brackets]. Finally you’ll read my email response back to this person with a list of 12 pre-call research questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the email I received after my trial ended…
Hi Ron:
[Do I know you? I've never met you. Wouldn't it be wiser to err on the side of good manners? Change the salutation to "Hello Mr. LaVine"]
I just left you a voice mail message also.
[About what?]
Please let me know when you would be interested in scheduling a demo of the site.
[Why would I want to take my valuable time and schedule a demo of your site since it is not clear to me what value you bring to the table?]
As you may know, WeKnowItAll provides unbiased editorial coverage on over 18,500 large and medium-sized companies. We also show accurate details on each company such as contact names, products, competitive landscapes and financials.
[How would I know this? What's a competitive landscape? Is it a cross-matrix comparing one company's products to another's? Is it a simple listing of competitors, which I can get off of Yahoo's company profiles? Come to think of it, what information does your service provide that I can't get either for free or from one of your competitors?]
We also offer Advanced Search functions that would allow you to search for specific companies or contacts by title, industry, location, private companies, Fiscal Year End, or other means.
[And this means I'll be able to do what? What are the benefits of knowing this information? What will knowing this information enable me to do?]
There are two levels of business subscriptions:
[What are the specific benefits of subscribing? How will it enable me to do my job faster, better, less expensively (cheaper) or easier? What types of increases or decreases, more or less results can I expect based upon testimonials from other of your clients?]
WeKnowItAll Power Plus (all access + unlimited free lead downloads into Excel) WeKnowItAll Total Power (all access)
[If for some reason I don't have Excel, can it be downloaded into Comma Delimited Text Fields (name, title, phone number, etc.) What I really need is a CD-Version. I wonder if they have one.]
Sample WeKnowItAll Profiles: http://www.WeKnowItAll.com
Please give me a call if you have any questions or would like a demo of the site.
[You already let me have a free two-day demo without any kind of commitment. I might give you call, however first I've got to figure out (in this case by myself) how to get the service to work, so don't expect a call. Besides, I don't know your office hours or if there are alternative means to reach you such a responding to this email or calling your cell phone.]
Kind regards,
Ann Smartster 1.888.123.4567 ext. 1234 asmartster@ WeKnowItAll.com http://www.WeKnowItAll.com
[Where is your tag line explaining what you do? For example: WeKnowItAll enables you to easily turn raw online data into real revenue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is my response to her prior email.
Hi Ann,
I have a few questions for you.
2. Do you know who my clients are?
3. Have you determined the industry in which I specialize?
4. What size is my company in terms of gross sales and number of employees?
5. Based upon the size of my company and the type of information I may need, how profitable of a prospect is my company for you? Should you be investing your limited sales time with me? On what types of companies in which industries do you make the most money?
6. Is my company hiring and if so, what types of people for which types of projects?
7. Have you signed up for my company’s newsletter or requested my company’s literature to learn more about what my company does and what is considered important?
8. Did you read in my bio? If you did you would see that I was a past member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals and the Association of Independent Information Professionals. Does knowing that information, help you create some rapport questions to ask me?
9. Are you prepared to show me examples of data gathered from WeKnowItAll on two or three of my clients as examples of the type of data I would have access to on my prospects using different versions of WeKnowItAll?
10. Based upon what I do and the types of companies I target, can you deduce what type of information I’ll be looking for?
11. What are two areas where I could possibly use WeKnowItAll?
12. Since my target market has a demand for your type of service, is there a possibility you can help me to help you sell more of your service to my target market?
I’ll wait for your answers and then we’ll discuss it. You can reach me in my office on Thursday morning when we can set up a time and date to see if there is a fit between our companies.
All the best to you,
Ron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Continued from above…
Set up a specific list of basic questions for pre-call research. Then think outside the box and look at all the possibilities including reseller and affiliate relationships. Maybe you do business with one of your prospect’s clients. Maybe you are affiliated with one of your prospect’s other suppliers.
After you do make contact, remember, at the end of every call or email, there needs to be specific a request that action be taken. For example, here is a request I use quite often in my emails. It works quite well since people enjoy giving advice:
Example:
“Please advise.”
Thanks, Ron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another Example:
“I found an article on one of your competitors; I think maybe of value to you. Your assistant gave me permission to fax it to you.
“I’ll call this afternoon to be sure you received it and to discuss if there maybe a good fit between our two companies. At that time, I’ll also be able to provide you with some specific ideas where we maybe able to give you a competitive advantage”
All the best to you,
Ron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another Example:
Hi Mr. Smith,
As we discussed, you are looking to hire more reps in the Business Intelligence /Information Management space. We also agreed that our selling philosophies a rather identical.
Your main goal is to teach your reps how to hunt effectively and ferret out opportunities in short order. Your reps are dealing with customers and resellers. I have an article from Software Magazine that I will fax to you. You may it of value to you when you go to cost justify the sales training to your management.
Since you need to have another two people on board before we can finalize the training dates, I sent you a list of web sites where you can find sales reps, sent the job criterion you e-mailed to me out to my job seekers list. I also sent you two possible candidates.
You have people in both Reston and Denver and all will be in Denver the week of September 9th before two weeks of ABC University. We spoke of setting up a two-day class during the week of September 9th.
You mentioned you need to run this by Tim, Dan and then Andy for budget approval. Attached is a sample Agreement with a fee schedule for your review and signature.
I will follow this email with more specific details about the live sales call-training workshop, which you can read at your convenience. This will include comments from people who mentioned they wished they had this type of training prior to their product training.
I look forward to speaking with you on Wednesday, September 28 at 8am PST when I will call you at: 303-555-1234 to discuss the next steps needed to put a live sales call training workshop in place for ABC.
Please call me at 818-991-6487 if you have questions before then.
All the best to you,
Ron
The Lesson…
Don’t send emails asking me to call you or to do something, unless you have provided information or topics of value specifically related to my company. This type of information may include insights you want to share about my clients, prospects, industry or competitors that would be worth me taking my time to discuss.
Separate yourself from the rest of the reps who do no homework and then expect that their products and services alone will generate sales.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
HOME PAGE // SITE MAP // STORE // WORKSHOPS // REINFORCEMENT // CLIENTS
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
When speaking with someone over the phone for the first time, we do not have the luxury of visual cues therefore it becomes even more important to make a good impression using our voice.
Yes, your voice is a sales tool and how it is used over the phone can often make the difference between getting the sale or losing it to a competitor. In their book “Put Your Best Foot Forward, Make a Great Impression By Taking Control of How Others see You” Jo-Ellan Dimitirus, Ph.D. and Mark Mazzarella devote a whole chapter to voice alone.
The key point of the chapter is this. People dislike irritating, harsh, loud, quiet or boring voices and are attracted to deeper, more vibrant, energetic, clear and moderately paced speech. Similar to a car radio if the signal is static-filled or unclear, we change the station. If the signal’s crisp and clear, we listen.
To build a voice that sells requires learning how to send out crisp and clear signals and that takes practice. Here’s an exercise for you to do just that practice.
Pickup a digital recorder and then once a day for a week set aside 15 minutes to pick-up the daily newspaper and read aloud and record the stories on the front page in your normal voice. Next, read the same material only this time, read it with confidence, authority, and credibility just as an anchor on the evening news. How do you sound?
Remember you can control the emotion (up and down), volume (loud or soft), pace (fast or slow), tone and pitch (high or low) and accent of your voice. Your goal is a voice that shows controlled emotion, a lower pitch, has a moderate pace and has a standard accent for your country. It requires conscious effort however in the long run you will have developed a voice that sells.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
HOME PAGE // SITE MAP // STORE // WORKSHOPS // REINFORCEMENT // CLIENTS
TESTIMONIAL LETTERS // MORE TESTIMONIAL LETTERS // QUOTES FROM CLIENTS
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FREE INFO // ABOUT US // FREE SALES TIPS E-ZINE
By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
Don’t try to sell the Operator: be polite yet respectfully persistent while finding who the right person to speak with is.
Get an internal transfer: the number will come through as an internal transfer and the person will pick up.
Offer to call back: ask when is convenient for them.
Random names: type in a couple of letters, wait for the system to come back; the system will supply other names and their extensions.
Department directories: listen for all menu choices as other departments provide additional points of entry — perhaps they might need a solution from your company.
Best times to call: before or after their ‘gatekeeper’ arrives/leaves – execs will pick up their own phone after hours. Or try them on the hour in between meetings.
Make note of the time you were able to reach the person: typically you can reach them again at the same time.
Change the digits: people in the same department have similar extensions; change 1 or 2 of the digits and ask to be referred or for the correct extension.
Get the main number: use the Internet to find other numbers of points of entry.
Make an error in the extension: ‘I was trying to reach x, maybe you can help me, is Tina within eyesight?’ People like to help each other.
Listen to complete message for additional choices, names and numbers.
Build rapport more quickly by teaching yourself to regulate your voice to gently match theirs.
Practice: call yourself and leave a message. How do you sound? Practice until your voice sounds smooth and melodic. Remember people cannot see you they can only hear your voice.
Use your headset: open your mouth wide and carefully pronounce every word. Do not hold the phone on your shoulder as this tenses your throat and makes you talk from one side of your mouth.
Tip: buy a digital ‘logger’ for example at http://www.coldcalltraining.com/home-page/store/ (last item on the list). Record your conversation, replay for yourself and/or your manager. It can eliminate the need to take notes at the time of the call; you can focus on what is being said.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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A Telephone Is A Two-Edged Blade For Sales Negotiators
By Dr. Jim Anderson
What’s your mental picture of a typical sales negotiation? When you close your eyes do you see a lushly carpeted board room with a large oval table in the center and padded leather chairs all around it? If so, then in most cases you are sadly mistaken.
An amazing number of sales negotiations occur over the telephone. Everyone has one and in fact in this day and age of mobile phones we all seem to have more than one phone. Given that by using the phone you can reach someone directly at almost any time, phones have become an important tool in negotiating sales.
However, as with any tool, a phone can be a danger to any negotiator’s hope of success. Using a phone to negotiate can be quick and easy, but that’s actually part of the problem. I’m not telling you to not use the phone, I’m just saying that you need to watch out when you do. Here are some of the things that can go wrong when you use the phone to negotiate a sale:
1. Deal / No Deal: Because you can’t look the other side in the eye when you are negotiating with them on the phone, it’s entirely possible that you may conclude the call thinking that you have a deal when you really don’t.
2. Can You Hear Me Now?: What you think that you are saying is not necessarily what the other side is hearing. However, since you are on a phone, there is no way for you to realize that they have gotten the wrong message.
3. What Did You Say?: Often when we are negotiating on the phone, we are out and about. Although we may reach agreement, it won’t count until such time as we write it down. That may be hours later and what we write down may be different from what we agreed to.
Once again, the phone is a powerful sales negotiation tool; however, you have to be careful how you use it in order to make sure that you don’t get burned.
Have you ever used the phone as part of a sales negotiation? Did you have any communications problems? Were the problems on your side or on the other side? When did you first realize that there was a problem? How did you finally resolve this problem? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thinking.
Dr. Jim Anderson has spent over 20 years negotiating everything from small sales with individual owners of companies to large scale military project contracts with teams of sales negotiators. He realizes that unless you are a lawyer or a Mergers & Acquisitions banker, you probably don’t think of yourself as an everyday negotiator.
In today’s work environment you can find yourself in negotiations with a vendor, another department, or even a state or local government official very quickly.
Unless you know what to do (and what not to do!), you can quickly feel overwhelmed.
In this blog, “The Accidental Negotiator“, Dr. Anderson offers his insights on how to develop your negotiating skills so that you can close more deals, make more money, and have more satisfaction.
Get more information on both Dr. Anderson and sales negotiating at: www.BlueElephantConsulting.com. Oh, and if you want to follow Dr. Anderson on Twitter, he can be found at: http://twitter.com/drjimanderson
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Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
This is a list of 18 common mistakes sales reps make:
01. Talk too much.
02. Listen too little.
03. Ask the wrong types of questions at the wrong time.
04. Use close-ended questions instead of open-ended and vice versa.
05. Forget to ask permission to speak.
06. Talk over other people’s answers.
07. Call on the wrong people who have no authority to buy or influence the decision.
08. Speak to fast due to fear or because they feel uncomfortable.
09. Focus on their products rather than solutions.
10. Speak in a monotone or without enthusiasm or conviction.
11. Use a lot of wishy-washy words in a row like, could you possibly please, denoting a lack of confidence.
12. Don’t identify themselves, their company or what they do properly.
13. Leave their phone number only once and speak too fast.
14. Forget to spell and grammar check their writing.
15. Speak too slow sounding monotonous and boring.
16. Forget to ask for contact details (Name, Title, Email, Ext. Reports to, Boss’s boss and Assistant.
17. Forget to set up a time and date specific action step.
18. Forget to be polite to everyone including assistants.
You can eliminate these mistakes by seeking first to understand and then be understood.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
Using the phone successfully to market your products and services to potential new clients often requires you to navigate through a labyrinth of people to find the correct individual(s) who can provide the information you seek. Whether for pre-sales research or to determine who has the ability to acquire your products and services, here is a quick summary of proven techniques for achieving these objectives.
Know the purpose of your call in advance. Before placing a call, have a clear and specific objective or purpose of what you are trying to achieve. Prepare a list of questions that need answers prior to your call. This will help you stay on track and meet your objective.
Purchasing, Investor Relations or the CEO’s office are all good places to begin when you don’t have a contact within a company. Calling into multiple departments in a company or organization can not only provide the information or person sought, but also give a unique overview of how a company’s internal processes work. This can be useful information if further calls are required to
the same or similar companies. As these individuals are usually very busy, have a short direct question prepared, such as “Who is responsible for evaluating [insert your product/service]?” This makes possible for either a quick or detailed answer.
Take advantage of the corporate hierarchy. When being referred from a higher level person (such as the President or their office) to a lower level person, use the higher person’s name or office to lend credibility and importance to your request. For example: “Mr. Smith’s office referred me to you.”
Always ask for permission to speak. After briefly introducing yourself and your company, ask for permission to speak, before explaining the reason for the call. Do not speak with people who do not want to speak with you. You will not have their full attention. Getting permission first is the polite thing to do.
Set up a telephone appointment. If the person sounds busy, make an appointment by asking a directional question “Do you have a pen handy? Follow with “When would be a good time to schedule a two minute call to see if my company can be of service to you?” Nail down a specific time and date and follow-up with an e-mail reminder.
Listen to what is going on in the background. When a phone or distraction occurs in the background, politely inquire whether that situation needs to be dealt with and offer to be placed on hold. This shows respect for the other person and is greatly appreciated.
Use open ended questions such as Who, What Where, When, Why or How to gain information and closed ended questions such as Do, Are, Correct, Right or Okay to confirm what was said and gain agreement for action.
Practice the Q/A/F/Q technique. Ask a Question. Wait for an Answer. Feedback what you heard to be sure you have a clear understanding of what was said. Then ask another Question to direct the conversation into the area where you want it to go. The person asking the questions controls the direction of the call.
Keep track of your phone menu choices. If you get stuck in one department, these choices will enable you to go in a different direction and reach a person (any live body) who can transfer you to the department you need.
Finally, and most importantly, is to remain polite yet persistent in your quest. By remaining polite and persistent, you will find the person who has the information you seek.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
The challenge is to reduce the gap between your actual performance (inside the comfort area) vs. your potential performance (outside the comfort area).
____________________________________________
Outside the “Comfort Area” – Potential Performance
____________________________________________
(Gap)
Inside the “Comfort Area” – Actual Performance
(Gap)
____________________________________________
Outside the “Comfort Area” – Potential Performance
____________________________________________
The Japanese have a term for this called “Kaizen” or the implementation of continuous incremental improvement. Simply put, this is doing what you are currently doing but learning new ways to expand your ability to do it better.
Applying this to yourself, you might look at the two of the basic skills for successfully conducting business over the phone. They are the Planning Arena and the Account Qualification Process. These skills have a number of components with room for incremental improvement once you decide to move out of your “Comfort Area.”
Areas for improvement in the Planning Arena might include looking at how you:
Set your call objectives,
Prepare yourself before beginning a call,
Maximize your energy during the day,
Determine the intervals between your calls,
See yourself achieving your goals,
Examine your current pattern of making calls,
Handle your weaknesses once they’ve been identified.
Account Qualification area improvements may include:
Examining what are the common characteristics of your most profitable or and “ideal prospect”,
Preparing questions to find these characteristics,
Planning how you can create a good first impression, build trust and credibility,
Expressing your confidence in a relaxed manner,
Matching and modeling the speed, volume and tone of what how your contact speaks,
Following the 80/20 rule of listening (this rule says we need to invest 80% of your time listening and only 20% speaking).
IMPROVING YOUR “COMFORT AREA” FUNDAMENTALS
“Comfort Area Fundamentals” include improving your:
Abilities,
Education & Knowledge,
Achievement Orientation.
An incremental increase in the “Comfort Area Fundamentals” allows you to expand the way you operate and will, if constantly put into practice, lead to greater performance. This is why it is important for you to consistently focus on and practice improving the “fundamentals” so it becomes easier when you find yourself outside your “Comfort Area.”
Abilities
Ability is defined as the power to do. Will your future be a series of goals you’ve set or a series of accidents? You are a problem solver not a peddler or a pusher. What I hear, I forget; What I see, I remember; What I do, Becomes a Part of Me. Being the best is not as important as doing your best.
Education and Knowledge
Napoleon Hill in his book Laws of Success (published by Success Unlimited in Chicago, IL. And available through ), defines Education as “the development from within, of the human mind, through unfoldment and use”. What are some specific ways to increase your Education & Knowledge? Setting aside time to read about your industry and your account’s industry has always been a wise investment. Paying attention to the news (the Sales Intelligence Report Email Newsletter is an excellent source of concise news ) and pointing out items that may have an impact on your client’s business shows you care about them and the challenges they are facing in their businesses.
Listening to audio cassettes and reading books by successful sales executives is a “sure-fire” way to strengthen your knowledge on how to use the “Comfort Area Fundamentals” to their greatest advantage. Attending user conferences, industry specific events and going through sales training classes on a regular basis also adds to your reservoir of knowledge.
Maintaining an Achievement Orientation
Maintaining an Achievement Orientation requires you remember that action follows thoughts so think great thoughts and focus on the positive. Think of yourself as successful and well thought of and doing more than you are asked to do. Help others as you have been helped and you will be rewarded with the success you deserve. You are what you think. Your attitude determines your altitude.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
As Dennis Miller would say, “Now, I don’t want to get off on a rant” but why have corporations and businesses made it so hard to do business with them? Are they trying to drive business away? In an age where customer loyalty is a prized plum, it never ceases to amaze me to what lengths corporations will go through to aggravate and alienate their customer base.
As I say in class over and over, it is not always the big things that make the difference. In fact, quite often, it is the little things you do or say or how your company operates that sets you apart from the competition and wins you the big deals. It maybe better service, friendlier people, attention to detail, greater accessibility or a better attitude.
Ease of use ranks high on my list when doing business with someone. When companies make it hard or un-enjoyable for me to do business with them, my first thought is “Where else can I take my business?”Where else will my hard-earned dollars will be appreciated and I won’t have to go through a war zone to get simple things done?”
For example, the bank I currently use allows you to bank online. I enjoy using the electronic bill pay feature. I can pay my bills from anywhere in the world. Here’s the catch. I have a business account and a personal account however they cannot access each other (this bank actually has a separate web site for each). This means for me to pay bills using each account, I would need to pay for two bill-paying services. Does this make sense? Of course not and yet it occurs.
Example number two. There is a next-day shipping company whose service I really enjoy. What happened? I closed one credit card account and opened another. The billing department automatically charged me $10 Declined Credit Card charge without notifying me rather than contacting me and asking why my credit card was not working; I called up customer service (at least three times) and explained the situation. I gave the person a new credit card number and requested that they make notes in their customer service system. They did and they told everything was fine and taken care of. Wait a minute, I just opened my mail and there’s another
REPRINT OF ORIGINAL statement showing the same charges and that the bill is now overdue. To cut to the chase, I ended up calling the headquarters and explaining that because the people in billing could not access the notes from the people in customer service, his company nearly lost my account over $10.
Ron you’re saying, $10 is no big deal. You’re right however if you calculate the lifetime value of a client and then multiply by the number of clients you maybe losing due to what I call disconnects within a company’s product and service delivery system, the potential dollars lost rises dramatically. The person at corporate was smart (probably why he was working in the executive offices). He simply asked, “What do we need to do to fix the problem?”
I replied, “Reverse the charge, take down my new credit card number and say I’m sorry. That’s it. That’s all. Nothing fancy.” I also mentioned that if this is happening to me, I wonder how many other clients are being affected by the same situation. He said he’d make a point to check on their notification and CRM systems.
Do you know why I went to all this trouble to bring my business back to a company whom by all rights and means did not deserve it? It is because of the guy who picks up and drops off my packages. He always has a friendly smile and a happy hello. I like people like that and enjoy doing business with companies who employ people like that. He doesn’t know it but it is his behavior that saved his company at least one client and possibly many more.
In closing, as a sales rep or any member of a company large or small, ask yourself every once in while, “How easy is it to do business with your company?” “Are there disconnects in your company’s product and service delivery system (this includes a review of all departments, not one or two)?” “How easy is it to return something?” “When’s the last time Sales asked Marketing for some data and it fell through the cracks or vice versa?” “How well do your departments share information internally?”
Sharing internal information is a very important issue in corporations and maybe why Customer Relationship Management has become such a hot topic that is being looked at very seriously. Studies show over and over again, it can cost 7 to 8 times more to get a new client as it does to keep an existing one. So keep your existing clients happy by making their experiences or points of contact with your company as enjoyable as possible.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Ron LaVine, MBA and President of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc.
Cold Calling System for Sales Success – Live Cold Calling Training Workshops®
DO match and mirror the speed, tone and volume of the other person’s voice.
DON’T speak in a monotone.
DO call for a specific reason such as to provide some information of value.
DON’T call just to check in.
DO go the prospect’s web site first to see if they fit your ideal prospect profile.
DON’T randomly send out expensive (your time, material costs and postage) literature.
DO tell the truth even if you do not have the answer to a question at that moment.
DON’T try to fake like you know the answer to a question you don’t.
DO ask for the business.
DON’T assume you have it until the paperwork is signed.
DO use good manners.
DON’T assume an air of familiarity.
DO speak clearly and slowly when leaving a message.
DON’T mumble your message.
DO leave your name, company name, area code and phone number twice in a row.
DON’T leave your name and phone number only once.
DO get the person’s name right before speaking with them or leaving a voice mail.
DON’T mispronounce their name.
DO use direct questions or statements such as “Maybe you can help me.”
DON’T use wishy-washy phrases such as Might you possibly please tell me some information?”
DO write down an assistant’s name if they provide it to you.
DON’T ask for their name and put them on the defensive since they might think you are going to get them in trouble.
DO develop different forms of marketing materials such as a one page Key Benefits fax cover sheet.
DON’T rely solely upon printed literature.
DO leave a voice mail for of “What’s In It for Them” compelling benefits.
DON’T leave a voice mail to see “if they might be interested in what you have.”
DO listen to and concentrate on what’s being said.
DON’T let your mind wander.
DO identify all the buyers and influencers.
DON’T rely solely upon one person who may leave for another job.
DO be polite yet respectfully persistent.
DON’T give up after one or two calls. Studies show it takes 5 to 8 contacts to get on a prospect’s radar.
You can use this content in your own publications.
Please include the following reprint permission…
This article is reprinted with permission from Ron LaVine’s “Sales Tips for Success” complementary e-Zine. Ron LaVine, MBA is President and Founder of Accelerated Cold Call Training, Inc., an Oak Park, CA live cold calling training company. Get two FREE Reports, plus the FREE e-Zine, Sales Tips for Success by clicking here. Learn more about Cold Calling for Sales Success On-site, Virtual, Individual or Group, Live Cold Calling Training Workshops® by calling me, Ron LaVine at +1-818-991-6487 by clicking here. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
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By Edrie Greer, Ph.D., Global Knowledge Instructor
Introduction
To get what you want in life, in work, and in play, requires constant negotiation with a variety of people. This involves basic communication skills, such as active listening and attention to non-verbal cues, and a clear understanding of your goals, as well as the objectives of your negotiating partner(s). To be truly effective, however, you need to know more. You should be able to communicate persuasively during the process of negotiation. Many situations you’ll face as IT managers and employees will require you to effectively negotiate to a mutually beneficial (win-win) solution, including:
1. Responding to staff members’ requests for promotions, salary increases, and other employment perks (as well as negotiating your own)
2. Negotiating with vendors for their best possible products, services, and prices
3. Convincing your team to do what you would like them to do
4. Working with external and internal clients on contracts (such as Service Level Agreements) that provide the quality services and equipment they need but in a manner that allows you to use your resources optimally
5. Persuading supervisors to buy additional equipment, accept your budget proposals, try a new idea, etc. In order to be successful in these instances, you must master the persuasion process, which will enable you to deliberately create the attitude change and subsequent actions necessary for persuading others to your way of thinking. In other words, you have to be able to “sell” your ideas in order to make changes in your favor and, in a win-win situation, provide the other side with a fair deal. This entails a process that can appeal to the intellect using logical and objective criteria, as well as a methodology that positively engages the emotions of the negotiators. The result of a successful negotiation is that all parties should believe they got a good deal.
The Six Laws of Persuasion: an Overview
Persuasion is the ability to influence people’s thoughts and actions through specific strategies. To become adept at this skill, you must first understand some basic principles, called the Laws of Persuasion. These six laws by themselves are neither good nor bad, but describe how most people respond to certain circumstances.
Psychologist Robert Cialdini wrote the seminal book on the Laws of Persuasion, titled Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, in which he discusses the prevalent methods of marketing. Even though you may not wish to believe it, a great deal of psychological research indicates that human beings are quite predictable in terms of behavior in response to certain stimuli, such as ads. This is why marketing and advertising are highly successful enterprises—by and large, consumers respond to most ads and commercials by buying the products and services they promote. By understanding persuasion laws, you can control how much others unduly influence you, as well as how to use them to your benefit during negotiations.
How To Use the Six Laws of Persuasion during a Negotiation
The laws work because they provide shortcuts to making the countless decisions people face every day as they look for information to reduce the complexity of life. If you can apply these laws in specific situations to your benefit, then your influence over others increases significantly. Some of the best masters of the art of persuasion in negotiation are highly successful salespeople who do their best not only to make the sale, but also to meet the needs of their buyers.
Here are Cialdini’s Six Laws of Persuasion:
Law of Reciprocity
Human beings, in general, try to repay in kind what another person has provided to them. If someone gives you something you want (or perhaps didn’t “realize” you wanted), then you will wish to reciprocate because you now feel obligated. Examples of this Law include the address labels you receive in the mail from various non-profits requesting charitable contributions. Even though they are a minor, unsolicited gift, sending them has increased contributions for non-profits many-fold, because people feel compelled to return the favor. Giving free samples to potential customers is another way in which this Law is used by successful salespeople.
Law of Commitment and Consistency
People like to be (or at least appear to be) consistent in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Once they have made a stand, they tend to stick to it and behave in ways that justify their earlier decisions, even if they are erroneous. If you make a commitment to a cause or product, however small, it then becomes easier to be convinced to increase it. This is especially true if the commitment changes your view of yourself in a favorable way. This is why salespersons attempt to get customers to agree with them multiple times. After saying yes so often, it is almost impossible to say no when it comes time for the close or direct request for the sale.
Law of Liking
When you like someone, or believe that they are “just like you,” you are more inclined to want to please them and, therefore, purchase whatever they are selling. This is how successful salespeople operate; they establish rapport by demonstrating how similar they are to their potential buyers. For example, they note that they are from a comparable background as you, or even better, they are people you know—your friends. As for those in-home sales parties, the kicker comes when your neighbors provide the testimonials for the product. You don’t want to disappoint them by not purchasing, do you?
Law of Scarcity
If you are not sure you want to buy something, the minute it becomes “the last one available” you tend to have second thoughts. After all, this must indicate that others are purchasing it, and you might not be able to get another one quickly, or at all, if you decide you want it later. So you take the bait to buy a popular item that others won’t be able to get. At least that’s what you think.
Law of Authority
This is the law that uses celebrity endorsements or “expert” testimonials. When people you admire promote a product or service, if it’s good enough for them, then it’s good enough for you. And if you use it, then you might even develop similar characteristics to your heroes, such as good looks, wealth, or fame. That’s what the advertisers are counting on.
Law of Social Proof
Why have TV sitcoms used canned laugh tracks for years? Producers wouldn’t employ them unless they actually are successful in eliciting audience laughter and, subsequently, higher ratings. Part of the reason you laugh along anyway in spite of your annoyance lies in how you decide what is socially “correct” behavior. If you don’t know exactly what to do, you rely on others around you (or the virtual TV audience) to help you find the way to properly react. You think if others are engaging in a specific behavior, it must be the proper thing to do. Hence, you laugh in spite of yourself, or if you’re told that “everyone is buying this product or service,” even without evidence, you may think you’re missing out if you don’t comply or conform and get it for yourself.
Using the Laws of Persuasion
As mentioned, in any negotiation, all parties should arrive at a conclusion that makes them feel like they got a good deal, especially if an on-going relationship is involved. (Note: a “good deal” is not always the same for everyone; negotiators often have different criteria by which they judge the success of their bargaining outcomes.)
Often when dealing with “tough” or “hard” negotiators, you encounter manipulative tactics that use the preceding Laws of Persuasion. So how do you successfully negotiate around these ploys? First, you can discuss the rules of the game. When you recognize that the other side is using one or more of the Laws of Persuasion, you can either directly note it, or simply steer the conversation to a more objective solution. And for the ultimate in law prevention, you can set preconditions ahead of time that will preclude such strategies by using only logical principles as a standard process in the negotiation.
Negotiation strategies using the Six Laws of Persuasion include the following:
Law of Reciprocity
Limited disclosure/confession of the real reason for a negotiation stance, such as “this is all the money we have,” can provoke a concession from the other party. (This is often seen in salary/promotion negotiations.) Concessions in general follow this “tit-for-tat” rule (the lower the “value” of the concession on your part, of course, the better). You can also use this law to appeal to fairness. For example, if the other party manipulates the physical environment by requiring that your team sits facing the sun, at the next meeting they should reciprocate.
Law of Commitment and Consistency
An example of this tactic would be using a series of questions to conduct the step-by-step close. Dale Carnegie, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, called this, “Get the other person saying ‘yes, yes’ immediately.” This occurs when one party asks the other side to2 make a number of “small” decisions that lead to only one obvious conclusion: to accept the general concession. You could employ this principle by asking a potential client if she values quality in your product or service. Of course the only answer would be “yes.” Then you could follow with a question that begs the obvious: “We’d love to provide you with this product/service, but if we don’t get the resources we need from you (i. e. sufficient money) and quality suffers as a result, would you still want it?” How can the prospect say “yes” to poor quality? This tactic makes it easier for you to ask for additional funds.
You might also see an example of this ploy when lowballing (intentional last-minute additions to what was originally a low price) occurs. Unscrupulous vendors might attempt to make you psychologically “invest” in a product that you initially believe costs less.
Law of Liking
This law is often seen in the strategy of “good cop, bad cop,” where one person in the other negotiating party is clearly opposed to your objectives, but it appears that another of their team members is “on your side.” This causes you to identify with and trust the “good” team member, so you may find yourself agreeing to the other team’s concessions and goals instead of your own. You can see this in situations where a salesperson “battles” their supervisor to get you a “better” deal (of course this was the result they wanted in the first place). You might also apply this law to establish rapport up front when you are negotiating with your own superiors or teams.
Law of Scarcity
The more time you spend with a salesperson, the more commitment he or she has to make the deal. If you are under no time pressure and the other side is, you have the upper hand.
Law of Authority
Vendors often quote vague authorities to sell their wares, “Experts say our product is the best.“ But who are these experts? What are their qualifications to make these claims? Do they have a vested interest in selling the company’s products or services? In addition, use this Law to establish your own credentials/credibility early in the negotiation.
Law of Social Proof
This law works when you draw on testimonials from satisfied customers or clients (unscripted ones are best) to encourage new prospects to buy your services and products. The law also can be used to convince your supervisors or staff that their counterparts in other divisions or companies are following similar suggestions to yours. People want to feel like they are part of an established community that already knows where it is going.
Ethical Issues
Persuasion can be used for good or ill. In an environment that seeks to follow ethical rules, it should only be used to make lives better. Manipulation occurs when you exploit or deceive others solely for your own gain. This does not result in a win-win situation.
Summary
Being adept at persuasion is often the missing key to success in the workplace and your personal life. If you give people what they want via the Six Laws of Persuasion, they’ll most likely return the favor. And when you recognize that you are being manipulated, you can call the other side on their tactics and counter with an appropriate strategy. This will lead to a more effective way of achieving the goals of all negotiating parties.
Learn More
Learn more about how you can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and sharpen your competitive edge. Check out the following Global Knowledge course: Communication and Negotiation Skills. For more information or to register, visit www.globalknowledge.com or call 1-866-925-7765.
About the Author
Dr. Edrie Greer is President of Learning, ETC, Inc., which provides Educational, Training, and Communications services to organizations. She brings more than 20 years of experience in adult education, instructional design, educational technology, instructor development, and media production to her work. Dr. Greer holds a Ph. D. in the Sociology of Religion from the New Thought Theological Seminary, a Master of Science in Continuing and Vocational Education and a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sources
Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Pocket Books, 1936.
Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: William Morrow, 1993.
Fisher, Roger and William Ury. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Hogan, Kevin. The Psychology of Persuasion: How to Persuade Others to Your Way of Thinking. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1996.
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