Sales Call Introduction:


Sales Lesson:

The other day I posted a sales position opening on a well-known job site. A few days later a sales rep from that company called me. This is how the call went:

Me: “Thank you for calling SalesBuzz.com this is Michael, how can I help you?”

Sales Question:

Sales Question:


Answer:

I need to share a personal story with you. Early on in my sales career as a straight commissioned inside sales rep, I used to suffer from the same sales anxiety you are describing.

Every morning on the drive into work I would get nervous, knowing that I have to make tons of cold calls and if I didn’t close any deals, I wouldn’t have a paycheck at the end of the week.

Having the pressure of making cold calls is one thing. Not having a base salary adds a whole other level of stress. Start having a bad sales week with no numbers on the board and it’s easy to become down right certifiable.

Attack, Quit or Keep Status Quo

In this situation I found three choices to deal with my sales anxiety:

Attack. Find out why I felt the way I did and eliminate the cause at the source. I’d ask myself why I felt the way I did and the answer was, I didn’t like being rejected over and over again nor did I like the stress that came along with not having a paycheck. So I attacked the problem in order to understand why I was getting lots of rejection and little sales. Turns out, what I was saying after “Hello, my name is…” was causing the negative responses / reactions from my prospects. Once I realized that, I changed my opener to a more compelling reason for the sales call that created interest and reduced resistance. Next thing you know, I started having more prospects wanting to engage in a conversation which made it a lot easier to move to the next step of the sales cycle. This wouldn’t have happened if I weren’t willing to investigate and deal with the real cause of the problem.

Quit. No one was forcing me to work as a straight commissioned sales person however, I don’t like having my earnings capped and I didn’t have a back-up career plan that would allow me to make the kind of money or live the kind of life-style I was seeking.

Keep Status Quo. I’ve seen a lot of fellow sales reps fall into this category. They simply learn to live with the anxiety or worse yet, they no longer let it affect them. They just accept low sales performance as a standard. I’d rather quit before opting for this choice.

So my advice: Investigate the root cause of your sales call anxiety and then attack it until it no longer has air to breathe.

Hope this helps.

Michael Pedone
CSS: Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com (A 2011 Sales Training Company Watch List Award Winner!)
888-264-0562 ext. 1

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• Eliminate "No, Thanks", "Not Interested" & "We're All Set" Responses from Cold and Warm Calls
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• Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
• Improve your Qualifying Skills
• Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
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Sales Question:

Answer:

Depends on your definition of unqualified. For me, a prospect needs to have three things in order to be qualified:

1. A problem that I can help them solve;
2. Power to make or at least influence a decision to purchase;
3. Ability to afford my solution to their problem should they decide they want it.

If they are missing any of those things, they are not qualified. At least not at this moment.

Smile and Dial Days

In the days of smile and dial, we were taught to deep-six the leads that weren't qualified. Hang-up and dial the next one. That is a huge mistake because as long as the lead meets certain parameters to be a suspect, even though they may not be qualified right now, that doesn't mean any one of those three criteria's can't change in a moments notice.

Example: You could be speaking with a decision maker today who could afford your solution if they wanted it but doesn't need what you offer only to have a "trigger event" happen two weeks later and now needs a solution like yours. (I'll explain what a TRIGGER EVENT is in a minute)

Sales Pipeline Jam

On the flip side, I've seen way too many sales reps miss quota month after month because they keep following up with the same unqualified leads over an over again.

Sure, the unqualified prospects take your calls, are friendly to you and you even feel "safe" calling them. You also fool yourself into thinking that you are doing a "good job" and are "building the relationship" yet you are wasting time and money and your manager is missing out on his/her bonus because you aren't hitting your numbers. Too many unqualified leads in the sales pipeline. This is a bad situation to be in.

The Power of a Drip

Here's what I've found to work best when dealing with unqualified leads… Have a drip email marketing campaign in place that flows on a consistent basis. Think of it as "catch and release" when it comes to fishing. You've got a prospect that doesn't measure up to having all three needed criteria for qualification. So you throw them back into the pool and let your drip email marketing take over. This way you stay in contact with them without bogging down your phone time and when a trigger event happens, they contact you. Now you're dealing with a warm lead.

What's a Trigger Event?

OK so what's a trigger event? It's when something happens on the prospects side that makes them realize they need a solution. All prospects have it and its the only thing that will make a lead "warm". They become hand raisers. And you'll be ready to help when they need it most.

Michael Pedone
CSS: Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com (A 2011 Sales Training Company Watch List Award Winner!)
888-264-0562 ext. 1

Sales Team Didn't Make Last Months Quota?

• Eliminate "No, Thanks", "Not Interested" & "We're All Set" Responses from Cold and Warm Calls
• Neutralize Gatekeepers & Get Voicemails Returned
• Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
• Improve your Qualifying Skills
• Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
• Close Follow-up Calls and Get Targeted Referrals
• How to Set & Achieve Your Toughest Sales Goals
• Improve Your Time Management Skills

Duration: 1 hour per week for 8 weeks
Where: Online @ your desk, conference room or home
Presenters: Michael Pedone

GET DATES / PRICING HERE

Sales Question:

"I'm losing deals to competitors that undercut my proposal and beat my best offer. What can I do?"

Answer:

OK well, there are lots of assumptions to be made here in order to answer this effectively. So let's cover some basics such as 1) you are speaking with a decision maker who 2) has agreed they like and want your solution to their problem but 3) also have alternative options and so 4) they are in the "buying ready mood" but are looking for what they perceive as the "best deal" and want to see if you can offer anything better. Sound about right?

OK, good. So with that covered, let me guess… you sent them a revised proposal after they asked for a better deal and then they said they’d get back to you. But now the only thing you hear are crickets, yes?

You try and follow-up with them but they're always in meetings. You leave voicemail messages but don't get any callbacks. You send an email (or two or three) but no response. And then when you do finally get ahold of them, they tell you they went with another vendor, correct?

How to Avoid this Trap

(Ed. Note: This is assuming the same solution can be bought from multiple VAR’s such as an accounting software etc. If however the solutions being offered are two different products / services but similar in category only, this situation would be handled differently)

Negotiating a Win / Win

OK so if this is happening to you it means you are missing a step in your negotiation phase. Meaning, you need to do something other than going from “give us a better price” to you saying, “OK” just to have them select another vendor.

All though there are several ways to prevent this from happening, below is one way that has worked well for me.

What you want to do is:

1. Confirm price is the only thing standing in the way of moving forward;
2. Confirm what the next steps would be once price is given;
3. Get commitment they will move forward with you if the deal is good enough BEFORE YOU even entertain sweetening the offer (notice I didn't say, "lowering your price"?)

Example of how the call could go:

Prospect: Got your original proposal and it looks good but we have another vendor we are considering and so we are looking for the company that offers the best price. Send me your best offer.

Salesperson: So other than price, is there anything else stopping you from moving forward with us?

Prospect: No

Salesperson: OK. Assume for a moment we are able to make an offer you’re happy with… what happens next?

PIVOTAL POINT

If the prospect says something to the effect that we will compare it to the other bid and make a final decision, DO NOT OFFER ANYTHING MORE THAN YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN. If you do, in most situations you are simply handing the deal over to your competition.

Get a Number

Many times you can simply close the deal right here and now - again, assuming you 1) are speaking with the decision maker, 2) they’ve agreed they like and want your solution to their problem and 3) have committed to doing business with you now if the price / offer is right - by asking the prospect:

"Where do I have to be to earn your business right now?"

Don’t Negotiate With Yourself

Many times the prospect will respond with “well, I don’t know, what’s your best offer?” after you’ve already given them the original price and they came asking for a better offer. Don’t fall for this. Remind them you already gave them an offer and they are asking for a better one. So ask them where you need to be in order to do business now. And then SHUT UP and wait for them to answer.

The Number

Now when they come back with a number, in all likelihood it will be one that isn’t acceptable (and they probably know it but they want to make sure they aren’t overpaying) No matter what number they give you, get a commitment.

“Ok so if we can do this for $ X AMOUNT, you’re ready to order now?”

If they say YES, you are now in a position to negotiate and close the deal.

In the future, I’ll share with you how to negotiate a low-ball offer but for now at least you'll know how to get in position to close the deal now and avoid giving your competitor the last crack at stealing it from you.

Michael Pedone
CSS: Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com (A 2011 Sales Training Company Watch List Award Winner!)
888-264-0562 ext. 1

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• Eliminate "No, Thanks", "Not Interested" & "We're All Set" Responses from Cold and Warm Calls
• Neutralize Gatekeepers & Get VoicemailsReturned
• Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
• Improve your Qualifying Skills
• Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
• Learn What to Say, How to Say it, Why to Say it, When to Say it and How to Reply to Their Responses!
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Session Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Starting Time: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Eastern Time
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Testimonial

"Bzzzzz! No, there's no fly in here. There's a buzz. SalesBuzz.com. Michael Pedone is a friend of mine. He has the blog, SalesBuzz.com. He often contributes to our email magazine, SalesCaffeine, and every time he does, people love it. They're clicking on him all over the place and looking deeper into his services. There's a reason. Michael Pedone's philosophy of selling works. And he has a strategy that will work for you.Why don't you take advantage of SalesBuzz.com. Give Michael an email, a call, or a buzz."

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of the Little Red Book of Selling