How effective are you in managing your time in your sales prospecting and sales effectiveness?

I was running a sales training course last week where the attendees were making live cold/warm calls to prospective clients. One of the things that struck me is the influence that working in a team environment has because nearly every person had fallen into the same bad habit.

Cold Calling Habits

The habit was opening the call with a weak and meaningless statement that robbed them of their impact. This is not unusual within a company and I generally find that teams very often adopt one or more of the following weak terms:

• “Hi John, you don’t know me” — There is nothing worse than this for  flagging up that this is a sales call and that you have  not prepared. You might equally say something like “Hi John, Its raining outside”

• “I’m calling to introduce myself” — I once coached an IT sales person around using the telephone to set appointments. When we examined his last 10 calls it was clear he was upset about the  apparent lack of  success. After all 10 calls in and no appointments. I pointed out, however, that he was 100% successful. He had made 10 calls with the aim to introduce himself. He did and the other person thanked him and then left the call as quick as possible.

• How are you? — Generally despised by everyone in every sales training I have ever given yet the most common offender. Unless you have an existing relationship with the person then do not use this line. You might be asking with complete sincerity but the other person is likely to think – “Here we go, another useless sales call” and then switch off.

What weak opening lines have you and your companies fallen into. Id love to hear from you.

To make the best possible approach when cold calling (or warm calling) use the 3 step formula ‘OVQ’

Cold Calling 3-Step Formula ‘OVQ’

O – Opening

Don’t be too clever here. Just aim for the quickest and most human connection possible while still developing a conversation. Try one or more of the following:

• Hi, John Jones?  – Clear and straight to the point.
• Hi there, I was wondering if you could help me? — Everyone likes to be asked to help, it’s part of the human psyche. The answer you get will also give you an idea about the type of person you are talking with. “Shoot, you’ve got 20 seconds” will tell you a lot about the day orthe  direct personality style of this recipient!
• I’m not sure if this is relevant for you — This works really well for two main reasons. Firstly, from a psychological point of view most people will be engaged and will either listen to see if it is relevant or they will think “I’ll decide if it’s relevant, not you!”. Secondly, it is far removed from the typical cold calling approach where the person rings up and dives straight in with “Have I got a deal for you!”

V = Value Statement

This where you really earn your right to continue in the conversation. It is your polished, practiced and relevant statement of the value you think might be relevant to the person you are calling. You  can reference:

• Money saving
• Profit increases
• Production Increases
• Time saving although technically this will result in increased profit and/or money saving
• A competitor
• A legislation change
• An industry problem or challenge

And many more…

A good value statement can make or break your calling effectiveness.  In the following example, a company had Marks and  Spencer as a client and wanted to introduce themselves to John Lewis. The value statement could go like this:

“We have just completed a project for Marks and Spencer  which reduced staff churn down from 29% to 18% which has saved them £500,000 in 6 months and is on track to do that every six months from now on in”

Q = Question

Modern day calling is about natural conversation and nothing makes this work better than good questions. This will finish of your brief introduction with a way to pass the communication batten to the other person. It might be something as simple as:

“How relevant is  <insert key value statement item here> to your organisation?”

So our example might go something like this:

“Hi Mr Jones, I wonder if you can help me?”

“I will try”

“We have just completed a project with Marks and Spencers which reduced their staff churn down from 29% to 18% which has saved them £500,000 in six months and is on track to do that every six months from now on in.”

“How relevant is staff churn in your business at the moment?”

This is short, to the point and demonstrates value, value, value. It also comes across very naturally and allows the person being called to engage in the conversation or not at an early stage.

Next time you make a call follow the OVQ process and see how easy cold calling is.

How To Sell: A project plan to structure your time

This is a fantastic one page project plan to get you thinking about the key reason and actions needed to make any sales strategy work.

My Goal: The most important part of the process where you clearly articulate the reasons why you are undertaking the sales project. What will it do for you? What are your objectives?

Resources I need: A fantastic way to get you thinking about what and who you will need to call on to make this sales project a success.

Resources I have: Never forget to be aware of all of the existing resources you have  and how you can include them. Databases, relationships with potential referrers, marketing materials – these are just some of the resources you might have available to you.  You might even have sales training available to you!!

Priority: Once you have made a list of the action points required you can prioritise them according to your own rating system. This could be  A – D or 1 – 5 e.t.c.

Time: Depending on your way of working you can use this for two elements. Firstly is the actual time you think it might take in minutes or hours and/or the second is the date by which it will be achieved.

Who: Are you going to do it ot can you delegate it or outsource it?

Action Plan: The actual items that make up the overall sales strategy. For instance if the Project is New Business Generation by a Targeted Calling Campaign, some of these could be:

• Acquire list
• Clean list
• Develop reason to call
• Develop powerful reference points to use in opening statements

Result/ Outcome: Once this part has finished what will success look like? What will have happened?

Purpose: This is the reason you are doing this in the first place. What will these actions help you achieve. Psychology shows us that one of the single biggest reasons we fail to do things is because we don’t have a strong enough reason why. Sometimes we just lose sight of that reason.

You can download the sales project plan by clicking the link above the document.

If you use this to structure your sales projects and activities I know you will sell more and be more effective.

sales success for this business

About 80 minutes later we managed to get to our desk, collect the keys and we were on our way. The staff were friendly and efficient and chatting to them, we found out that this was actually a quiet day for them.

When we were talking lagter on, we worked out that this company was probably not that much cheaper than their rivals. You see, the car hire company priced on the basis that the fuel tank was empty and we had to purchase a full tank at the car hire companies rates. By the time we added this in, they were probably around the same price as the other companies.

There are some fantastic sales tips to be learnt here:

1. If you are in a price sensitive business, where you don’t have much chance to differentiate yourself then look to find a way to use price to your advantage. The car hire firm did this and the results were spectacular. In the 80 minutes we were there, they must have cleared 100 customers. The other 6 or 7 hire companies combined probably had a grand total of 5 clients while we were waiting. Thats good business!
2. Prepare for customers – Even though we were there for a while there was little more the company could have done to speed us through. They were frindly, efficient and never stopped to take a personal break. They looked delighted to be doing good business.

Have a look at your business and see how you can use price to your advantage.

As a final note though i do have to say that you must be careful about how you use these techniques. I was impressed withthe company but would probably not use them again.

Why?

Because I value my time. Next time i would prefer to pay a premium to speed through the airport and be sipping my san miguel by the pool while the rest of my fellow passengers were just collecting their keys.

I was recently tidying out some old paperwork and came across some notes I made when reading the Seth Godin Classic – “Purple Cow”. I think I made these notes back in 2006 or 2007 but they are just as relevant in todays business world.

Be Remarkable – old approaches just don’t work. The ways you have happily found, dealt with and kept customers for years are becoming increasingly ineffective. When was the last time you tried something new or revolutionary in your sales system?

You are Invisible – If your overworked, time poor audience doesn’t have the time or inclination to listen to you then you are just down right invisible. When was the last time you tried out a new way of communicating. Do you twitter? Do you post to Youtube? God forbid but do you write hand written letters? In the information age the old personal touch may just work you know?

Old Rule: - Create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing.

New Rules -

Create remarkable products that the right people seek out. What can you do in your business that is remarkable? When was the last time you had a Being Remarkable brainstorm?

Happy consumers - The vast majority of people are happy with what they have got – they are stuck! It is a tough job to sell to the stuck so your only chance Is to a seek out those people that are actively seeking what you sell and want/like change.

Differentiate your customers: Find the group that loves what you do and is the most profitable and rewarding. Ignore the rest. Don’t cater to the masses. Cater to customers you would love to have.

Boring leads to failure! - Always.

Abandon Following The Leader - Does your company follow the leader in your Industry? What would happen if you abandoned that strategy and did something very different instead? When was the last time you made a strategy for being different?

Niche first Product later? – Can you identify the niche market first and then build or develop the product or service to be ‘remarkable’ in that niche.

Slogan - What is your slogan that people can use to spread the remarkable message about your company?

Are you looking for inspiration at the moment. At around £10 or less I would recommend Seth Godins – Purple Cow as a quick read to inspire you with ideas. Or read some more of this sales blog. It’s free!

If you are determined to set yourself up to fail I have drawn up the 7 key things you should say to yourself on a daily basis to ensure that you speed up your failure as soon as possible. Might as well get it over and done with right?

1. I can’t…………………….
2. I musn’t………………….
3. I haven’t got a chance.
4. It’s no use………………
5. The world is going to the dogs…..
6. There’s no point trying…….
7. You just can’t win…………..

Why not vote for the one that you think will help you fail the quickest?

Power Of Mind In Sales Training

Click this link for my first blog post on the sales recruitment and coaching process .

Well. My review is well over due and it is entirely my fault as the logistics behind the book got the book shipped to me in record quick time.

My first impression when the book landed on my doorstep was superb – it fits through my letter box!!

This is always nice to see because I am not a big fan of extremely thick books where the only reasons for so many pages are:

1) To try to justify the price and

2) So the author didn’t have to work at condensing it.

The authors start off with a bold promise:

“Here’s our promise to you: Use the methods and tools provided in this book, and you should easily double the percentage of high performing sales reps.”

The authors then describe a process for recruiting, managing and coaching ‘A Player’ sales people that are the best of breed within your Industry. I believe that if you follow the steps, processes and use the forms and tools provided you should be able to deliver on the authors promises.

In an eye opening process the reader is encouraged to firstly identify the cost of mis-hires. Whilst not everyone will get the big numbers delivered in the book, the results should surprise you.

The whole recruitment process is then broken down into logical steps which include all of the forms, questions, structures and potential hazards to watch out for. There are blue print sales interview questionnaires and recruiting tips.

Topgrading for Sales is a small but powerful book that essentially gives a whole system to show you step by step how to recruit, manage and coach the top performing sales people in your industry. If you don’t have it get it know!

I will definitely be introducing my UK Sales Consultancy clients to it and know it will make them thousands.

Get the book here

The following article was first published in my Sales Newsletter. You should subscribe here — Sales Newsletter

Last year I was in the process of selling my House and had invited a number of Estate Agents around to show me why they should be get my business.The process was an eye opener and one that left me totally unimpressed with some of the Agents I met. They were there to sell me on the benefits of why I should place my house on the market with them yet they could not even sell themselves. One Agent even delighted in telling me:

“Oh no, I’m not a salesman. I try to show them the house and stay out of the way”

Considering he was asking for a significant chunk of my money to sell my house, this was not what I wanted to hear.

One Agent did a reasonable job of asking me some good sales questions as she walked around my house. She was at the top of the list of my choices even after she had told me her fee was 1.5%. The cheapest agent was asking 0.75%.

I asked the Agent a question I usually ask anyone that I am considering doing business with and there does not appear to be a clear choice:

“Why should I choose You as My Estate Agent?”

I was hoping she would substantiate her high fee with something like:

• We have a completely new marketing system which means that we have been proven to get 30% more viewings than other agents in the critical first 2 weeks.

• We understand choosing an Agent can be difficult and that there is a level of risk involved – usually with you. Therefore we guarantee that if we do not sell your house at the price we recommend within 60 days then we will charge no commission.

• Here is an independent report that shows the average time taken to sell a house in your area with other Agents, is 85 days and our companies average time is 42 days. The benefit to you is that we are proven to sell faster and at the full market value – guaranteed.

What happened next was the Agent taking a sharp intake of breath, pulling a few tortured facial expressions, hesitating for about a minute and then replying:

“Oh, OK then. I can do it at 1%”

That was not what I wanted either! I wanted her to impress me and instill confidence in me that she was the best choice available. I wasn’t looking for a discount – yet!. At that point she went from the top of the list to the bottom.
The whole point of that personal tale was to get you thinking. -

“How would I answer that Question?”

That question is the basis of success in any business and in any sales position.

I regularly teach Sales Training Courses where the delegates would be looking for me to give them the magic words to say on their cold calls, telephone conversations and sales meetings. I’m afraid that those magic words that will guarantee you the business every time do not exist. All too often it is not the individuals fault as they have never been shown what the benefits of doing business with their company are.

Sales Success is built off the back of hard work and preparation. My top Tips for success are:

• Draw up a features and benefits list of your business and of every product and service you offer. Yes, I know this is sales 101 but do you really do it in your business? Concentrate on the benefits to your prospective customer/client. Learn to live a ‘day in their shoes’. Talk about them – Not You. This is one of the single most important processes in any company because once this has been undertaken it can be used for the basis of all of your marketing materials and sales presentations.

• Use the following aids to assist you — Link every feature with the phrase “which means that” i.e. Sales DNA offer an unconditional guarantee on our sales training (feature) which means that if at any time you do not feel you are getting a significant return on your investment then we will refund all of your investment. This means (a variation) that there is absolutely no risk to you at all.

• Get one person in your organisation to play devils advocate. It is their job to play a potential customer and ask “So What?. What does it mean to me?” to every benefit offered. The tougher they are the better the results!

• Try starting every sentence with “You benefit from…………” rather than I / We.

• Document the results of this process and ensure that every new member of staff knows as well as they know your product and service details. The simple act of doing this has proven to make new starters more effective in up to half the time it has taken sales employees prior to this being introduced.

• Make sure that you make this a continuous process and that all members of your company are involved.

• Make it part of your company culture that everyone can answer “Why should I use You?”. Every member of staff should be able to articulate this and should be asked regularly to make sure that everyone knows.

• Once you get so good at this that they become second nature be careful not to over do it! When you get good at this the natural human tendency is to tell every prospective client or customer every fantastic benefit you have to offer. Don’t! Limit it to the main 2-4 benefits that are relevant to the person. People can’t process more than this and the benefits start to lose their impact.

• If you are having trouble developing some fantastic, client focused answers then why not do something radical. Ask your existing clients why they continue to do business with you. The answers may surprise you.

Many marketing consultants and marketing text books advocate the development of a USP. That is a unique feature of your product, service or company that no one else has to offer. I think these are fantastic when done well but are hard to develop in many businesses.

In my experience with my sales consulting and sales training the very fact that you and your staff can articulate what it is you do and why they should use you is probably the best USP you can ever develop. I guarantee your competitors aren’t that great at it!

The very first thing I do is remind myself and them of one of my favourite sayings from Dale Carnegie:

“There is only one way…to get anybody to do anything….And that is by making the other person want to do it”

That should be the basis of all ethical negotiation and influence training.