Sales Question:

"Should I Email My Prospects Before Calling?"

Answer:

I get this question a lot. I understand it. Most sales reps are tired of getting rejected when selling over the phone. It’s natural to look for a solution that minimizes our own pain. Unfortunately, emailing a prospect before calling them only lessens the pain of rejection but it does nothing to lessen the pain of missing quota.

So here’s my take:

Rule #1: I don’t blind email someone I have never had any interaction with.

Interaction includes:

• They contacted my company
• They attended one of my free webinars
• We connected via LinkedIn
• They were referred to me

Rule #2: When tempted to email a prospect instead of calling first, remember rule number #1.

CASE IN POINT

Below is an unsolicited sales email I received. After a few seconds of reading it, I was about to hit the delete button when I realized that I myself have sent emails like this in the past (and probably much worse) before I learned the error of my ways and so I thought I'd break this down for you, and show you why these types of emails get low results and what changes could be made in order to improve results.

FAILED EMAIL EXAMPLE

Paragraph 1: Hi Michael… Are you looking to target a specific market for your products or services?

This is a dumb question. Why? Because the answer is obviously: "yes". Every business owner / marketing director etc wants to target their message to the appropriate audience. Asking this type of question marks you as a "typical" salesperson using old tactics that prospects see right through; and that creates distrust from the word "go".

Paragraph 2: If yes, our (company name hidden) can provide the best (what they were offering) which will definitely yield positive leads for you.

Really? You're the best? And it will definitely yield positive leads for me? You know this without asking me any questions about my business, or what I'm using now or how I'm using it and why?

Making guaranteed statements like this to your prospect before having a conversation (read: diagnosing a problem / qualifying) with them tends to invoke skepticism.

You're creating doubt on their part before ever speaking with them. It’s hard to make a living selling that way.

Paragraph 3: We provide ___________ (and they gave a laundry list of things they provided and in what verticals etc - and I mean a laundry list!)

In the sales world, this is called "spraying and praying". It rarely works.

Besides, each business will have their own decision making and purchasing process… you don't even know yet if the person you are sending this to is involved in the decision making process or to what degree.

Some CEO's are heavily involved with the decision making and others pay someone else to handle certain type of decisions… so which one are you emailing? The fact is, you won't know until you speak with them. And if you try calling them after they've read this email, they most likely will avoid you at all costs. Why? Because you gave them enough information to make an ill-informed decision and it’s usually; “No, thanks!”.

Most prospects won’t know they have a problem until you engage with them and ask the right questions!

Paragraph 4: Our Key Variables are ______________ (and they went on and on again about their offerings)

By now I had already reached for the delete button because they failed to do what they needed to do in the first 5 seconds: Pique my interest and spark a positive reaction.

Paragraph 5: Maximize your direct mail and telemarketing efforts by using our quality email lists. All emails addresses are ______________ (and one more time, a laundry list about them and why they are the best)

It was a long email. One most prospects wouldn't take the time to read.

So, what could have been done instead that would produce a more positive response?

Here are a couple key factors to remember when creating your email message:

1) It's too early to present / pitch your solutions… you haven't even confirmed a problem yet.

2) Just because their title says they are the CEO (or whomever you normally speak with) doesn't mean that they all have the same decision-making and purchasing process. You'll want to discover that before offering a solution… and we can't do that through email.

3) Create an email that will do two things very quickly: Pique Interest and Spark a Reaction (either a call back, or an email reply)

What could have been sent with a more positive outcome?

How about something like this:

"Hi Prospects Name:

This is (Your Name) with (Your Company) and I just left you a voicemail regarding how we help (name the vertical of your prospect) generate pre-qualified prospect lists that typically produce about a 20% increase in sales for our clients.

One our last clients gave us a testimonial saying how we help them generate an additional 22% in revenue in less than 90-days and wanted to see if it would make sense for us to have a quick conversation in order to determine if what we have to offer may make some sense for you to consider as well.

Please reply to this email with a date / time that works best for you and I’ll set it up for us. We should only need about 15 minutes to determine if this is something we should discuss further."

Now, you don’t have to use this word for word and I’m not saying this is the only way to go. But my experience shows that this last example gets far better results.

So in short, I would call first, and if I got voicemail, I'd leave a message and then follow it up with the email above.

Hope this was helpful.

Michael Pedone
CSS: Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com (A 2011 Sales Training Company Watch List Award Winner!)

8-Week B2B Sales Improvement Program

Learn How To:

1. Eliminate "No, Thanks", "Not Interested" & "We're All Set" Responses from Cold and Warm Calls
2. Neutralize Gatekeepers & Get Voicemails Returned
3. Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
4. How to Really Qualify (I'll show you a better way)
5. Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
6. Close Follow-up Calls and Get Targeted Referrals
7. How to Set & Achieve Your Toughest Sales Goals
8. 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 Next Available Workshop Dates / Times / Registration Information Now!

Sales Question:

"I frequently get stumped by prospects responses to my sales questions - What should I do?"

Short Answer: Ask Better Questions!

Long answer:

This weekend I had the privilege to witness several high schools compete in a mock trial competition in Tampa, Florida as students taking law electives battled it out in an actual court room with real judges at the helm, with each team having to take turns being the prosecution and the defense.

During one of the mock trials, a student in the "prosecution role" became visibly frustrated when he wasn't getting the answer he needed out of a defense witness, no matter how many times he re-asked the question.

When the trial was over, the judge addressed each student (in front of the entire audience) and gave them constructive criticism.

His advice to the prosecution attorney / student:

"If you don't like the answer, maybe your question was the problem!"

How true is that!?! Not only for attorney's but for salespeople as well!

As I watched this situation play out in the court room, I could easily see how this same scenario happens everyday with salespeople and their prospects:

• Salesperson makes call;
• Gets prospect on the phone;
• Asks a few questions;
• Doesn't get the response they were hoping for;
• Salesperson tries again - get's same response;
• Both parties get frustrated and then the call ends.

Think Like a High-Powered Attorney to Close More Sales

Attorney's and salespeople have a lot in common.

Namely, they are paid based on their performance. The better each performs, the more cash they earn.

Before ever picking up the phone, be prepared well in advance of what questions you are going to ask, why you are going to ask them, who you are going to ask them to and be ready for the responses you'll get.

The days of being "Captain Wing It" are over.

Asking better, smarter engagement questions are essential to becoming a high powered sales earner.

Michael Pedone
CSS: Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com (A 2011 Sales Training Company Watch List Award Winner!)

8-Week B2B Sales Improvement Program

Learn How To:

1. Eliminate "No, Thanks", "Not Interested" & "We're All Set" Responses from Cold and Warm Calls
2. Neutralize Gatekeepers & Get Voicemails Returned
3. Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
4. How to Really Qualify (I'll show you a better way)
5. Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
6. Close Follow-up Calls and Get Targeted Referrals
7. How to Set & Achieve Your Toughest Sales Goals
8. 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 Next Available Workshop Dates / Times / Registration Information Now!

Sales Question:

“With the Up & Down Economy, Should Salespeople Still Be Held Accountable for Missing Sales Quota?"

Sales Answer:

Sales quotas are the yardsticks most salespeople are measured with.

Most companies have been soft on holding reps accountable for missing quota the past couple years and although I do believe that quotas for the most part needed to be lowered to adjust for the economic down turn, the accountability issue (or lack there of) is and was, in my opinion, a big mistake.

Not because “punishment” was in order for those who missed their numbers, but because a great opportunity has been missed for the salesperson and the company to make corrections and experience financial gains.

Missing Sales Quota Isn’t the “Problem”… it’s the SYMPTOM

It’s been too easy to buy into the “economy” for the reason why numbers haven’t been met on a consistent basis (Assuming that the “numbers” that were set were based on real criteria and not just “pie-in-the-sky” quotas that we all know companies can sometimes set)

Sure, the worst economic down turn in our lifetimes history has made it tough on all of us but what’s missing is the fact that bad sales habits and poor phone sales techniques that “worked” during the boom times are being overlooked or are going unrecognized as the finger get’s pointed everywhere except at the person who is missing quota.

Two Types Of Salespeople

There are two types of salespeople… those who blame others for their failures and those who use their failures as fuel to get better.

All of us have failed at one point and time in our careers and all of us have missed quota before. The difference is average salespeople blame others and top salespeople take responsibility and turn it into a learning opportunity to get better. It really is that simple.

Sincerely,

Michael Pedone
Chief Sales Scientist
SalesBuzz.com
(888) 264-0562 Ext. 1