The BEST Prospecting advice I can ever give you!

 Filed under: All about; Getting Your Foot in the Door — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 21st, 2008

I need you to really think about something for a moment…

People that you cold call are not monsters, they are people, just like you and I. I’d like you to consider something for a minute. Maybe the reason you are getting “resistance” when you prospect is because of the “way” you are prospecting.

If you are making your calls as a ways of interupting them while they are working, of course you are going to get the brush off. Your prospects are simply overwhelmed and inundated by e-mails, phone calls, and meeting their own sales budgets.

If you are prospecting as a ways of selling them something, of course you are going to get resistance. How do you react when someone trys to sell you something and you don’t know them from Adam? Sales pressure, triggers rejection and/or resistance.

Why would you expect any other reaction? The truth is you don’t, and that’s why your inner world (your mind set) manifests itself in your outer world (cold calling resistance or rejection).

If you want to succeed in cold calling/sales you must learn this universal law of attraction.

You must learn how to build business value relationships over the phone if you want to experience success with cold calling.

In fact I am absolutely convinced that you must learn how to build business value relationships in order for all of your sales and marketing efforts (cold calling, prospecting, online, flyers, public speaking, etc…) to have success and to give you the results you are looking for, which is to increase sales and build your business!

And at the end of the day if you end up having more “friends” than what you started out with, that can’t be all bad can it?

Kevin, I want to learn how to Build Business Value Relationships 

 
Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to build relationships over the phone? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Cold Calling Techniques;

Cold Calling, does it work? You bet it does!

How to get your voice mails returned!

Learn the ART of Relationship Sales and Marketing! Subscribe to my newsletter and receive an 8 part home email study course on how to dramatically improve your sales and marketing results and blow your competition out of the water!

 
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 Overcoming objections or objection prevention?

 Filed under: Overcoming Objections — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 20th, 2008

Overcoming objections vs objection prevention.

 
I don’t like the term “overcoming objections”, primarily because I feel it puts the saleperson “at odds” with his or her prospect or customer. (I’ll show you why in a moment).

I also feel that “overcoming objections” is reactive instead of proactive.

In my opinion good salespeople are proactive not reactive. Good salespeople know everything there is to know about their product or service, about their prospects interests, hobbies, families, affiliations, buying criteria, etc… and lastly and most importantly about their competitors offerings, their competitors policys and their competitors strengths and weaknesses.

Selling should be effortless and have a certain flow, if you present your product or service properly and you are well prepared.

The number one problem I find for most salespeople and businessowners today is they walk into a presentation and they simply are not prepared!

I think of it like a lawyer going to trial, would you win your case? More importantly, do you deserve to win your case?

If you are not prepared to present your case to win, you will lose, it’s as simple as that. Do not underestimate the value of being fully prepared for your presentations!

 
1) I have the mindset that what I am selling is the best possible solution for my client. Your thinking (mindset) is critical to your success. I also have the mindset that objections are not necessarily bad, they are simply “initial” resistance from someone who may not understand all of the pros and cons to what it is that I am proposing.

2) I ask solid indepth questions that really get my prospect talking about their expectations, their concerns, their budget, their time line, etc…

For example :

Have you ever made a great presentation to a prospect and thought, wow I’ve really nailed it! With 100% confidence you ask for the sale, and your prospect says, “I’d really like to move forward on this but I would like to speak to James in IT first.”

My question to you, is how do you overcome that objection without placing yourself at odds with your prospect?

I don’t you think you can!

But how about if you practiced objection prevention and in your appointment setting call you said…

“Besides yourself, Julie, who else is involved in the decision making process? Do you mind if we can arrange a meeting where James can attend? I would actually be very interested in his input as well.”

3) I am fully present and I LISTEN!

During the meeting, is there one person in particular who is offering resistance or being a naysayer? You MUST address that persons concerns while you are physically there doing your presentation, if not in the 5 minutes after you have left, that person will torpedo your proposal!

4) I use “success” storys to help make my points, I check with my prospects (be very mindful of their body language) to see their reactions and I proceed accordingly, and in this way I actually am able to flush out any remaining objections or concerns.

5) I use a sales technique that I developed where I speak candidly about the stereotypes, biases and beliefs about my industry and it’s products and services, and I turn it against itself, and in doing so completely Reposition my Competition.

Lastly, being well prepared has a side benefit that up until now you may not have thought of.

Being well prepared increases your self-confidence! Need I say more?

Being self confident allows you to relax and be more genuine with your prospects and customers, but more importantly it also allows your prospects and customers to be more relaxed and genuine with you.

Self confidence is one of the most important “sales skills” you can bring to the table. Think about that for a moment… can you think of a better way for “handling objections” than that?

Would you like to learn practical sales skills and strategies on how to get your foot in the door, book more sales appointments and dramatically improve your sales results?

Then go here…

 
Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to prevent objections? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Overcoming Objections Techniques;

Use Storytelling to overcome objections

Overcoming Price Objections

ps. A few people have written in to ask me about using the terms “overcoming objections” even though I personally don’t believe in the concept. It really comes down to using terms that people are familiar with. That’s it!

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 Cold Calling, just send me over some information

 Filed under: All about; Getting Your Foot in the Door — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 19th, 2008

Cold Calling “Just, send me some information.”
Has this ever happened to you?

You: Good morning, Jane. Is Bill Jones available?
Gatekeeper: May I ask what this is in regards to?
You: Sure Jane, I faxed Bill the other day and told him I’d call at this time.”
Gatekeeper: Who’s calling?
You: Kevin Boyle
Gatekeeper: One moment please, Let me check for you…

Gatekeeper: OK, Mr. Boyle I will transfer you now.
You: Thank you Jane.

Your prospect: Hello
You: Hi Bill, This is Kevin Boyle from The Secrets to Sales Mastery do you have a quick 2 minutes? I’d like to talk to you about how I can improve your sales people’s cold calling and prospecting results.
Your prospect: I’m afraid not Kevin, can you just send me some information?

Yikes! Seems like we have run into a dead end!

I think you will really enjoy listening to this audio recording on how to get your foot in the door!

As you probably are well aware your prospects are generally overwhelmed and inundated by e-mails, phone calls, and meeting their own sales budgets. To remain effective, busy executives must remain indifferent to your sales advances. Busy juggling multiple projects, they practice astute time management skills: do, dump, or delegate.

Is it any wonder you get the polite brush off?

So the question becomes what to do?

I don’t believe in objection handling or overcoming objections, I believe in objection prevention.

My sales call goes something like this…

Gatekeeper: OK, Mr. Boyle I will transfer you now.
You: Thank you Jane.

Your prospect: Hello
You: Hi Bill, This is Kevin Boyle from The Secrets to Sales Mastery. We help people improve their cold calling and prospecting results and I’d like to send you over some information about our program… Can I verify your email address?

Your prospect: Sure!

I then verify his correct email address and I then ask my one BEST question that is designed to get my prospect talking about his business, his current supplier if he already has one and his problem.

His problem???

That’s right, his problem is universal.

I think it’s safe to say that almost every sales manager has salespeople who are not meeting their sales budgets, and it’s generally because they are either not good at or comfortable with cold calling.

Every business person has a problem that your product or service addresses.

The trick is learning how to frame it in such a way as to get your prospect or customers to admit that he or she needs help!

Kevin, please help me improve my cold calling and prospecting results and show me how to get my foot in the door and win over difficult prospects!

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to overcome the objection “just send me over some information? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Cold Calling Techniques;

Cold Calling does it really work???

How to get your voice mails returned.

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 Use storytelling to overcome objections

 Filed under: Overcoming Objections — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 19th, 2008

Use Storytelling to Overcome Objections
Are you a good story teller? Using stories is a great way to help you overcome objections.

At parties, networking functions or community events, we’ve all seen “the” guy, he’s usually the one with 6 people surrounding him, he’s generally the loudest guy in the room but also the most charismatic with a deep hearty laugh.

We all love a good story.

So my best piece of advice for anyone looking for ways to handle objections better is to brush up on their story telling skills! Stories are a window into another persons life experiences, they allow us to relate to others easier and to see life from a different perspective.

I’ll give you an example.

One of my clients is a new realtor just starting out in the business and he was having trouble getting buyers to see the value in using a realtor when they could just look for listings on the internet on their own.

I asked him a few questions about his life experiences and I asked him if he had ever bought a home. He said yes it was actually one of the prime motivators for him in becoming a realtor! I asked him why was that? His reply was that he had had a very bad experience with his realtor and at that moment he had made up his mind he would become a realtor so that no one would ever have to go through what he had too.

I asked him to tell me about it.

This is what he told me.

“When I bought my first home I didn’t know anything. I got on the internet, saw a listing I liked and I phoned the realtor. Since then I discovered it was a really lousy way to pick a realtor, but of course at the time I didn’t know that. What I didn’t know at the time was that the realtor I was contacting was actually working for the seller and that his first “duty” was to sell that home, not necessarily look out for my best interests.

The property was a townhome, it was a 1200 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom for $180,000

When it came to negotiating on the price of the home, I thought I could save some money on the commission. My intial offer was $165,000 and my realtor (who was more interested in representing the Seller) than representing my best interests – gave up on me! That’s right, after a day of negotiation he told me flat out he couldn’t put the deal together!

I ended up closing the deal myself!

There were also some major repairs that needed to be done that I didn’t find out until after the home inspection. Overall, he turned out to the worst possible realtor for a new inexperienced buyer such as myself. I really felt he was trying to take advantage of me.

It didn’t end there, there were also costs associated with the sale that he never bothered to tell me about. I ended up eating a lot of Kraft dinners because of that guy!”

This was my reply to him.

Take your story and put it on your web site, put it in your flyers, use your story to keep other buyers from making the same mistakes you did.

When you are face to face with your customers or prospects and they give you an objection, I want you to look them directly in the eye and remember this response…

“I used to think that too… (insert your story) Bob, but what I found…”

If you want to ease your buyers concerns, take your life experiences and your customers experiences and share them as a story with your prospects. Show them you understand the nature of the problem, that you can relate to their concerns and that you have dealt with these types of issues before.

Use story telling to your advantage!

 
Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on overcoming objections? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Overcoming Objections Techniques;

How to handle price objections

Handling Retail Objections, “I’m just looking…”

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 Active Listening – Is anyone home???

 Filed under: Not for the feint hearted — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 17th, 2008

In my home town (well it’s actually a city, Vancouver) we have some pretty amazing events at The Vancouver Board of Trade for like minded individuals in sales or business to network. Every month the VBoT has either a networking event, a function or a trade show.

I have met some very interesting, insightful business savvy people at these events. Many have become life long business associates, most have become clients and a few have become mentors.

But it always amuses me to meet the “bigger better deal” person.

You know the guy or that girl who is always looking for someone more interesting than you. They’ve got one foot in, one foot out. Sort of talking to you, asking you all the right questions, but not really all there…

Well here’s some tips to make sure you never become that person!

First of all, adopt a mindset, a mindset that the person you are talking to is the most fascinating person in the world! I know you think I’m joking, I’m not. Try it! You will be absolutely amazed at how much better people respond to you, when you make that attitude adjustment and change your way of thinking.

Clear your mind of clutter, focus and be PRESENT with the person you are speaking to. Do not be that “bigger better deal” person. It’s annoying and you know what, people can sense it, they can read your body language.

Be genuinely interested in what that person has to say. Think of good questions to ask, learn about their business and LISTEN.

By listening, you give them a gift, the gift of aknowledgement. Acknowledgement that what they have to say has value. By acknowledging them you give them another gift, acceptance. Which leads to a feeling of community and greater trust… you see by being an active listener you lay down the foundation for a great relationship! After a person has a chance to express themselves and they feel you have been truly present with them, they generally will become much more amenable to what you have to say. Because of this, what you say after being fully present and listening will have more impact — giving you greater influence.

Lastly, Be nonjudgmental. We all have differing opinions. You can be respectful of another person’s point of view without giving up your own position.

Now let’s take a brief moment to look at it from a sales perspective. Customers buy when they feel understood, and the only way they can feel understood is if you’ve taken the time to really listen to them. Yes it’s important that your customer understand how you are going to “solve their problems”, but more importantly in the customers’ mind, they need to be convinced that you understand their wants, their needs, their desired results and that you have the capability and the expertise to get the job done.

So the next time you are speaking to a customer or you are meeting a business associate at a networking function, keep an open mind, be non-judgemental, be present, listen carefully, and ask good solid questions!

 

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to be a better Active Listener? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on General Sales Techniques;

A Subscribers Question

Do you know what it is you are really selling?

How to get more referrals!

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 The Advanced Choice Close

 Filed under: Closing — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 16th, 2008

The Advanced Choice Close

The Advanced Choice Close works the same as a choice close but it takes the technique one step further. If you haven’t read my blog article on the Choice Close, please go here and read it first to get the basics down.

The Advanced Choice Close basically offers a contrast between 2 to 3 different options. After having properly qualified your prospect (finding out their budget, what thier “desired results” are, when they want to move forward, etc…) now is the time for you to offer customized solutions that speak to your prospects or customers wants and needs directly.

So for instance.

If I am speaking to someone about my coaching programs I can offer them my Advanced Coaching Package (21 Days to Sales and Business Mastery: Getting Your Foot in the Door) Coaching System for $500.00) first; then, my most popular option (my “Getting Your Foot in the Door”) Workbook for $145.00); and lastly, the basic option (my book on Sales Mastery for $20.00).

First, I offer my 21 Days to Sales and Business Mastery; Getting Your Foot in the Door Coaching System for people who are either seriously “stuck” (they’re lacking clarity on what they need to do) and/or just don’t have the tools and the strategies to move their business forward or if they are an ”achiever”, a top producer. Achievers devour everything, they are the students of personal development and they are serious about learning new and innovative skill sets for taking their sales and business to the next level and staying there.

Secondly if they are just “blocked” and need a little “bump” in the right direction I offer them my most popular package. ie: “Mr. or Mrs. Prospect this is most my most popular package and it represents the best value if you want to (parrot back what your prospect or customer has told is their primary reasons for buying), for example: improve your cold calling and prospecting results and drive more people to your web site.

Finally, I offer them my book “The Secrets to Sales Mastery” which not only teaches sales mastery but it teaches The Five Sales for EVERY Customer (Relationship Selling strategies and techniques). $19.95 is something everyone who wants to improve their sales performance or build their business can afford.

But here’s the “secret”, my book is very good.

I put my heart and soul and everything I have into that book to deliver a superior product. Why? Because if you take the time to read my book it’s a low cost entry point for you to experience my expertise. Therefore making it easier for you to trust me and look to me for more help in the future. You and I now have a relationship. One I take very seriously.

As in the Choice Close doing business this way empowers your customers, it lets them choose the best option for them.

When you give your customers several different price points you would be surprised how many will come back to buy additional services from you. TRUST is something you need to earn over a certain amount of time. When you lay the foundation with “relationship selling and marketing techniques” you create an environment for trust to grow.

This is why managing your customers experience with you is so critically important.

You not only need to deliver on your clients expectations, you need to find a way to exceed them!

You see, a customer’s value is just not in their purchase of a product or service from you, I want you to think BIGGER, your customers are the best advertising tool at your disposal. If you WOW your clients, they will wow you back with referrals.

If you are serious about growing your business or improving your sales results, stop thinking about selling products and services and start selling your commitment to fabulous relationships!

Kevin, please show me how I can master the ability to get my foot in the door and increase the amount of sales I am doing.

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how you use the advanced choice close?

Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Closing Techniques;

Would you like to learn the 5 steps to a successful close?

How to use the Take Away close

The Choice Close

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 The Choice Close (Like a kid in a candy store!)

 Filed under: Closing — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 14th, 2008

The Choice Close

Have you ever heard of the expression, “Like a kid in a candy store”. If you have ever been to a candy store with a child I can only tell you, it’s simply joyous to watch them race up and down the aisles, from display to display, face pressed up against the glass, eyes wide open, appetites bigger than their stomachs. So many choices… what to do???

As buyers we face the same dilemma, we think we want a lot of choices, but the problem is when we have too many choices it confuses us. You see with so many choices we become afraid to pick “just” one. There’s not only the fear of picking the wrong one, but there’s the fear if we commit to just one there may be something better out there for us (and no I’m not talking about dating, that’s another blog!) or in this case (selecting one particular kind of candy) that there is something else that will taste just as good or maybe even better!

So what do you do?

You use the choice close.

Why is the choice close so popular? It’s always a choice between yes and yes. No is not given as an option.

This strategy is extremely effective when you are trying to decide on something as simple as what movie to go see on the weekend. Would you rather go see The Dark Knight or Mammia Mia? It works great on children, would you prefer to wear this shirt or this one?

And of course in business it get’s even better as a tool. The trick is to ask your questions and qualify your customer so you have a thorough understanding of the best product or the service that is going to deliver the desired results that your client or prospect is looking for.

Then give your customer the choice, this gives your customer a sense of empowerment, “I have the power to choose what’s best for me.”

The choice close is also great way to transition to payment options, as in, “Would you like to put this on your Visa or MasterCard?” or it can be used as a very effective trial close, “What do you think would be better for you: the red one or the blue one?”

So in the future when you are getting “buying signals” let your customer choose what’s best for them, give them the two best options you have; buy or buy.

Do you need help closing more deals?

Then go here…

Kevin Boyle

Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how you use the choice close”? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Closing Techniques;

Would you like to learn the 5 steps to a successful close?

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 No thanks, I’m just looking

 Filed under: Overcoming Objections — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 13th, 2008

Have you ever heard the objection “no thanks, I’m just looking.” and wondered what to do about it? Well let’s take a moment and take a look at it from a customer’s perspective. I hate shopping, I really do. I am the kind of person who likes to walk into a store, find what I am looking for within 10 seconds and quite honestly, I’m not even that fussy about the price, if it seems reasonable I’ll pay it and go on my merry way.

Secondly, I want a salesperson to greet me as soon as I walk into the store with a BIG smile and a genuine hello, and then I want you to leave me alone.

I am the world’s best buyer. If you see me walk into your store, you’re going to love me.

Or are you?

You’re going to hate me…

I’m also fickle, sometimes I actually walk into your store because I am bored, I’ve got some time to kill… Yes I hate shopping, but I do love to browse!

So what’s a poor salesperson to do?

There are several things you can do to as a retail salesperson to increase your chances of making a great impression on the person who comes into your store and is “just looking”.

The key in retail is to always appear busy. When a potential customer walks into a store you don’t want them to see the sales staff watching TV or hanging out at the sales counter.

Secondly, smile! Remember the old saying, “Smile and the world smiles with you.” You will also find when you smile your mood will be more upbeat as well. Position yourself ten to fifteen feet away from your customer, angle your body towards him or her, and make yourself busy stocking shelves or what have you; catch their eye and be smiling!

Talk to them as you would a friend who had just walked into the store. You can talk about current events: “Did you catch the fireworks last night?” or my personal favorite, “So how’s your day today, you having a good day or a bad day?” Or you can comment on something he or she is wearing. “Ah, I see a Canucks fan! Are they going to go all the way this year?”

Once you have established yourself as friendly and approachable, most people will take the logical next step and ask you for help. Remember, all the time you are keeping yourself “busy,” you can pause to chat with them casually or if their body language indicates they want to be left alone, let them browse the store unhindered.

Lastly, just as their leaving, catch them, “Excuse me sir, I just want to leave you with my business card. If you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods again ask for me and I’ll give you 10% off of your next purchase.”

Think of it as “planting seeds”. Even if the customer decides not to buy on this day, you can be sure you have made a very favourable impression, and there’s a good chance he or she will be back – and guess who they will be asking for!

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to handle the objection “no thanks, I’m just looking”? Please feel free to add your comments!

Need help on overcoming price objections?

Use Story Telling to overcome Objections

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 Reccomended Reading, “First, break all the rules”

 Filed under: Books You Should Read — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 11th, 2008

First, break all of the rules “What the world’s greatest managers do differently.” is a must read in my opinion for anyone who manages a sales team. If you ever have wondered how to pick out the best hires, the best producers, or how to actually get more out of the people you have on your sales team right now, then this book is for you!

I’ve actually owned this book for a fairly long time. I know a book is good when; a) I’ve read it several times and b) I’ve earmarked half the pages in the book!

The book is extremely easy to read and understand, the authors’ Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallop Organization  present their huge findings from an indepth study of more than 80,000 managers from over 400 companies! What impressed me most about the book is it’s breadth of scale, it really does get to the heart of the matter of what makes a great management team, customer service team and company. If you are looking to be a GREAT manager or business leader you can’t go wrong by buying this book. It will definately earn it’s place as a permanent fixture on your booksshelf!

Perhaps what I like most about the book is that the authors primarily use a lot of metaphoric stories, case studies and real world examples to illustrate their findings.

They cover everything from customer service, what customers really expect, how customer and employee satisfaction directly relate to business outcomes, the four basic roles of a great manager, the differencee between controlling people and managing people,how important is talent vs experience, and much much more.

What are some of the things I learned of value from the book?

1) At the absolute lowest level, customers expect accuracy.
2) At the next level they expect availability.
3) At the third level customers expect partnership. (customer loyalty programs, being responsive to your clients needs).
4) At the very last level customers expect good solid advice.

5) Excellent teams are built around indiviual excellence.
6) You succeed by finding ways to capitalize on who you are, not by trying to fix who you aren’t.
7) Select your partners and team members for attitude, a person’s prevailing attitudes are part of their mental filter.
8 The power of skills and knowledge is that they are transferrable from one person to another, while the power of talent is that talent is transferrable from one situation to another.
9) When developing someone, find the right “fit” for that person (don’t try and fit a round peg into a square hole).
10) If you are a manager of salespeople, select people people who initiate rather than respond, you need achievers.

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on how to get moreo ut of your sales team? Please feel free to add your comments!

More great articles are coming your way!

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 Cold Calling, does it work? You bet it does!

 Filed under: All about; Getting Your Foot in the Door — Kevin Boyle @ Aug 10th, 2008

Cold Calling, does it work? You bet it does!


The reality of today’s very competitive marketplace is that cold calling can be a very frustrating experience if you don’t have a strong pitch, a compelling message, a strategy for building rapport quickly with a stranger and lastly and most importantly if you really don’t know the elements of a successful cold call.

I mean how can you expect to be really good at something if no one has ever shown you how to do something properly? Most sales people or new businesses cannot afford a flyer campaign linked to an offer when their making $40 or $50 thousand dollars a year.

What most people need is a step by step guide that breaks everything down and takes them from A to Z and shows them how to build rapport quickly, how to respond to the 4 most common objections they are going to encounter, how to ask for and get the appointment and lastly how to get their voice mails returned.

Most people NEED to cold call, because for them it’s a fact of life until they can get their business up and running or until they can get that critical first 6 to 9 months under their belt. That’s why most advice on the internet today about “never cold call again” is not practical for most sales people and business owners.

But the reality is that inexperienced sales and business people either hate cold calling or they feel like their terrible at it, and that only about 20% of salespeople in any given industry really EXCEL at it. There’s no reason why you can’t too, once you know exactly how to do it.

Why can I say this with 100% confidence?

Because I’ve grown 3 successful businesses using cold calling, and I know plenty of top sales producers who are excellent cold callers - and lastly, I am the poster child for “FEAR of cold calling”.

So how did I overcome my fear of cold calling?

1) I had too. Plain and simple I was that salesperson who was making $40,000 a year and I had no choice, I had to work with the tools I was given by the company I worked for (no budget, no promotions) – if I wanted to eat that month, I had to cold call.

So I had to change my mind set, cold calling is the first step in building a relationship and creating opportunity. It’s not an isolated event!

2) Your cold calling strategy has to be part and parcel of an entire relationship building prospecting strategy, a strategy that places you as “top of mind” with your prospects and also serves to educate your prospects as to why you would be the best person to do business with in your industry. Think of it as planting seeds.

3) Your inital introduction should be by Fax, Flyer, Canvassing (door to door), Direct Mail piece or whenever possible by referral.

Getting introduced to someone by referral is absolutely the best way to turn your cold call into a warm call.

4) Your sales efforts must mirror marketing principles. You must ensure you are targeting the right person/industry.

5) Your cold calling and prospecting strategies must be systemized.

 
So the next time you read an article or visit a web site that “claims” cold calling “doesn’t work”, think again.

Are there other ways to build your business other than cold calling? Yes, there is. But you need to be in a position where you can offer something of value (a discount, a “how to” pamphlet, a demo CD, etc…) to your prospects so that they will take the time to respond to your offer and basically “give you permission” to market to them.

And then you have to “wait” for them to respond to your offer. Meanwhile either your boss is chomping down your neck asking you how come you haven’t made that month’s sales targets or your landlord is asking you where your rent money is…

Don’t be fooled into thinking there is an easy way around prospecting.

So why not learn how to do it properly and excel at it?

Kevin, please show me how to get my foot in the door and win over new accounts!

Kevin Boyle
Author / Public Speaker / Sales Trainer and Coach
“The Secrets to Sales Mastery”

ps – Did you enjoy this post? Do you have any tricks or tips on cold calling? Please feel free to add your comments!

Other Blog Articles on Cold Calling Techniques;

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Handling the objection, just send me over some information.

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