Training

The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

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The 3 Best Cold ( and not so cold) Calling Tips

Calling out to small business?  It’s not dead.  Cold calling, Warm calling, Smart calling – whatever you want to call it.  It ain’t dead.

And if you do it right you can make an impression “above the clutter”, earn 20 seconds more or get that appointment or meaningful conversation going.

So let’s cut to the chase and all the quadrillions bytes of information out there (including everything I’ve written) about how to do it well and put only 3 of the best of the best out there for you today.

 

“45 seconds”.  …..“Did I catch you at a horrible time or do you have just 45 seconds?”   (Who really doesn’t- the phone was picked up (And do you realize how much you can actually say in 45 seconds?))   And what sales rep actually says “45 seconds?” (Nobody).    I skipped over the greeting but you get the point.   You can use “45 seconds” or “65 seconds” or heck “73 seconds” —the point is it is differentiatingly odd (attention getting), short (45 seconds is time tension goodness).  Try it.  It works.  Oh, and make sure your 45 seconds is killer and you may earn some more time.

Local Local Local :  Got a local company name you’ve done business with?  Got some local customer counts of those you are doing business with?   Use them right up front.  All business is local (if given a choice).  “Mr. Johnson, there 14 customers right there in Salem trust us already with their….”.   (Credibility, Popularity, Local).   It doesn’t matter if you are not local- just make sure some of your customers are. 

Insight, no strings attached.  Don’t always sell you, the company, the product, the appointment, the opportunity up front- sell Insight.  This real example works – “I can give you 3 tips in just 3 minutes to get more sales no strings attached, just by looking at your storefront…”  Prospect interested?  If yes, then that is because there is a reason, a need, a gap, a worry, an ego, a dream or all of the above and THAT is more than enough to qualify as lead worth pursuing.   You make the Insight make sense for your effort and lead with that.  Smart sells.

 

By the way, these 3 tips work just as well too when “warm” calling – cross selling into new product spaces to existing clients. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

 

 

Move Along, Nothing To See Here

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Move Along, Nothing To See Here

Watching inane television, rubber necking at traffic accidents or viewing any of the top 10 YouTube videos on any given day are just 3 things that are an insipid waste of time and focus.  Move along, nothing to see in any of that. 

Here are some other things not worth focusing on for you folks who Sell to feed yourself and your kids. 

  • If a prospect’s hand is raised (no matter how high) then you needn’t start from scratch with that selling process.  Move along, nothing to see here.  No need to create interest already created, rather fuel the interest and move the sales process forward.
  • If you had that cup of coffee already and got caught up on your colleagues weekend activities (or better yet didn’t waste time getting caught up) – get in your car or get on the phone and start connecting with prospects/clients.  Move along, nothing to see here.  Keep moving – time is precious and hard to get from your busy clients. 
  • If you have presented the solution, painted a compelling picture of how the client benefits from using it and removed the perceived risk of their investment then you needn’t hang around that part of the selling process any longer.  Move along, nothing to see here.   Ask for the business or presume you have it and move forward.
  • If you’ve got a few questions answered from your client then quit asking more.  Move along, nothing to see here.  Incessant discovery of clients’ wishes, dreams and goals is exhausting for them- teach them something smart instead.  That will move the sales process forward.
  • If you’ve gotten two “Send me some info’s”, one missed planned call and a couple of “I’ll look it over’s..” then you needn’t keep nurturing this lead.  Move along, nothing to see here.  The prospects willingness to change is not there- they will stay with whatever they are doing today (including nothing) and are just trying to be polite. 

 

I bet there are a dozen other wasted foci out there; feel free to share (and teach us) in comments!

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

The Laminator

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The Laminator

This is the actual machine pictured in Kansas City.   

It has its own cubicle The Laminator does, right outside the Site Leader Dale’s office.    Really it does.  It is the only thing on this desk right near the front door.    And it deservedly has this space all to itself because of all the good work it does.   

The Laminator’s work was plastered everywhere in the KC facility I visited.  Laminated Certificates were hanging from the shelves, the monitors and the walls.  For some folks, they even hung from the ceiling. 

I sat with some employees for a bit that day.   A few had evidently received many certificates from The Laminator and I was kind of surprised by the care in which these were displayed and hung in their cubicle spaces.

I commented to one person I was talking with who had a dozen or so in his cube and said “Wow look at all of those…” and with what I admit was more pride than I expected,  he grinned and said “ Yeah, pretty cool eh?”

The other folks I sat with seemed similarly proud of them.   Dale’s center had a pretty good vibe and I couldn’t help but think this emphasis on recognition had something to do with it.

Flying back home that night it got me thinking about that darn laminator and how we need more of those around these parts.  But of course what I really walked away with is how important it is to recognize and be recognized. 

Sure some of us,  we tend brush the need off with comments mostly to ourselves like “Who cares” or “It’s no big deal” or “People know they are valuable”   but if we are honest – recognition is a big deal.     If we are honest, we do look twice at that email from the boss that says “good job” or “great point”.  If we are honest, we do look at the comment from the blog reader or the person that liked your status update.  If we are honest, we do smile a little inside when we get a little public recognition be it your name called out in a meeting or yes, on a certificate for all to see. 

The Laminator knows this.  The Laminator is as honest as they come.  A little heat, a little plastic and Voila! – it’s a shot in the arm for someone.   There are dozens of other ways to recognize people and I’m sure Dale and his team is using more than just The Laminator. 

But here’s a thought – if you have an empty desk and a need for a bit more acknowledgement of good people and good work, fill that space with a laminator.  It does a darn good job. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

Educate

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Educate

Educate.  It’s part of the sales process many can’t get used to.

But sales people have to do it.

Sure there’s lot of  buzz and research about how prospects do all this learning  online about a business before they even get to a sales person.  I’ve preached that research before myself.  But I’m not buying that it is entirely true hook, line and sinker any more. 

I keep hearing prospects confused, unsure or frustrated about certain services or products.  I keep hearing prospects so busy at work and so inundated with messaging and marketing- they don’t have time to research and learn. 

If you are a company selling somewhat abstract  services like money management, digital marketing, brand development, risk avoidance, sales training, marketing solutions and the list goes on – you have to understand that many prospects just really…don’t understand. 

These prospects aren’t going to shout this out to you but not understanding stops any sales process or worse – prevents it from even starting.

Educating can happen with great marketing, branding or advertising but educating prospects live with real humans  (i.e. sales people talking with prospects) often gets above the clutter.  Face to face or voice to voice is the single most intrusive attention getting sales activity- and we must learn to better use it to teach vs. pitch.   

Learn how and invest in finding ways to educate prospects first.  Call to invite dozens to your live webinar.   Produce YouTube videos with you explaining the marketing place and call not for an appointment but to share links with your prospects.  Build education however brief into your conversations – not about your product or service but about the industry, the data, and the research – something intriguing that the prospect did not know.   Offer incentives to learn; not just to buy.

If you skip the “educate” part of the sales process and focus like always on the offer, the snazzy presentations, the closing skills and the sales contest then you’ll severely limit yourself with the number of qualified leads you could have really had.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

I Hate You Ann Peterson

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I Hate You Ann Peterson

I don’t really.   Just in a few trying moments now and then.  

Anyway I wonder if what she said works elsewhere in life or at work.

Ann said something 5 minutes into our first running session that really hit me. 

“It’s not how far you run, its how much time you run”.  

Really?  Since when?  It’s all about distance when I was running back in the day (way way back in the day).  It was all about running 1 or 2 or 3 miles every time and if time got involved it was “can I run those 2 miles faster?”

But I did what we as a big group of us were told.  We had all joined the “Couch to 5K” running club a couple of weeks back.  Ann is the leader, the one with the whistle and the stopwatch.   And in that first session we ran for a few minutes each time, walked for 3 minutes, ran for 3 minutes.  Rinse and repeat.  Increase the time running each week she said.  Hard.  Brutal.  But I like it the concept.  Makes sense.   

Let the time you run each week grow, not necessarily caring about the overall distance.

While I can’t say I’ve enjoyed the running these last 2 weeks (I still cursed Ann out last night in fact while running in Stoll Park a thousand miles away on business here in KC)  The stopwatch can’t be right—these time intervals are the longest ever!  But I really like the premise of focusing on time. 

  • Maybe I don’t need to get through my whole to-do list today but rather spend one hour solely focused on that to-do list every day.
  • Maybe I don’t need to read those two books by next Friday, but rather focus an hour a day every day on just reading.  Period.
  • Maybe if I am a sales rep, I don’t have to focus on making 45 calls out before lunch today but rather focus on 3 hours of just making calls as quickly and wonderfully as I can.
  • Maybe it doesn’t matter what I do with the kids on Saturday but how long we just “do” something that matters.
  • Maybe if I quit counting stuff (am I the only one who does that?) and focus on counting the time I spend doing stuff I should, maybe the results would better.

Let’s hope I’m right ( and I think I am)  – I don’t need any more reasons to be taking it out on Ann.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

Mark’s Twitter

I Killed You

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I Killed You

I was not a big fan of you. 

In fact,  You is a killer.  So strike first and kill that darn you before you kills you.  

“You” of course here is the 3 letter word. 

When I was selling by knocking on doors and making phone calls back in the day, I just plain killed you every chance I could get.  I killed the word “you” in closing sales, objection handling and anywhere else I could.

Helped me sell more.   

Let’s take a closer look at killing “You” in the closing of sales.

Use “Let’s” vs. “You”.   Here’s what I mean.   Psychologically from the beginning of time, things are just easier when we do things together.   These things range from hunting down the Wooly Mammoth 50,000 years ago with your buddies, to going in with another couple on the $$ needed for the vacation rental this July.  There is “safety” in numbers and if it’s just you things can be tougher.

So though it may seem unbelievable, the influence of this “togetherness” can help close sales.

Instead of saying things like “Would you like to go ahead and get started today?” try “Let’s go ahead and get started today, OK?”    Before you guffaw and stop reading, know that there are actually three psychological advantages here with this subtle turn of phrase. 

  • Removing the word the word “you” avoids shining that heightened spotlight (even for that nanosecond) on the prospect forcing them to overtly decide “yes” or “no”.   Few like a spotlight and we all are fairly conditioned to say “no”.   
  • Using the word “Let’s” though you are not literally investing with the prospect in the true sense of the word, you are in an instant, suggesting that you are “in this with them” and if you’ve sold well thus far – and you are already a guide and leading this client – why not guide right thru the close? 
  • This approach avoids the “yes” or “no” intersection and instead asserts the question “do you agree with me?”; Agreement with another is often a safer feeling path for a prospect.

There are no tricks or manipulation here.  You aren’t going to trick someone into buying something they do not want by changing the way you might close.  What you are doing though by avoiding that word “you” is avoiding throwing up language that raises tension, forces spotlight decisions and hampers partnering and collaboration.

Do this and you have just improved your chances of closing sales.  Really you have. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Twitter

Mark’s Blog

My Books For Dummies

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A box of Online Marketing for Dummies book showed in my office today.  Good little book. Going to hand them out to folks and some customers too. 

But it got me thinking.

I really need the books for dummies you see below.  (Something tells me I am not alone.)

Send me please!

Managing Email For Dummies:  I’ve been in “email jail” more than Lindsey Lohan lately.  (Email Jail is when you have wasted so much of your memory that you get locked up and can’t send messages).  Aside from that being kind of Lindsey Lohan’s problem too, I just can’t delete my emails.  What if I need them? And what’s wrong with 3,000 emails in my Inbox anyway?

How To Say “No” For Dummies:  It is just hard to say “No” – “No” to people, an opportunity or a need.   But if you say “Yes” to everything, nothing gets done well and it gets really customized and expensive and people are crazed putting out fires all day because not everything gets done well.  A vicious cycle.   But it’s hard to say “No” because people look at you funny and they don’t smile back. 

How To NOT Multi-Task For Dummies:   Of course we know the truth – True Multi tasking is a lie (and proven a lie by the way) as very, very, very few people can actually do it.  But how do you stop trying?  IM, the Twitter Feed, Email,  a Conference Call, a bird flying by the window etc.  Even in “flesh to flesh” meetings we all bring our gadgets and distract ourselves.  We meet but never “meet”.   I’m not the only one on a conference call who has ever said “Let me think about that” praying to all that is mighty that no one realizes I haven’t a clue what I was just asked about.

How To Go Green At Work For Dummies:   Not sure about this where you work but where I am, I’m afraid to throw something away.    There are  blue buckets and green buckets and tall brown buckets and huge grey buckets with like, locks on em’ everywhere.   There are buckets with holes, buckets with floppy tops and there are the unlabeled nondescript buckets just randomly lying askew in hallways staring at you, judging you as you walk by with nothing to give.  For coffee, should you use paper “tree killing” cups? Or the styrofoam “landfill forever” cups? Or do you use your own cup and waste the water to clean it?  It’s not easy being green, or is it?   

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Twitter

Mark’s Blog

Sudden Death

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Sudden Death

I don’t like going to the Doctor much but he’s a smart and funny guy, so it’s kind of bearable. 

Bantering with him last week (cuz’ the longer I can keep him talking, the less prodding he ends up doing – which is fine with me),  I joked about how I read that recent studies suggested a daily aspirin regimen could cause some nasty side effects like stomach issues.  (I don’t have a problem with the daily aspirin he recommended but like I said, the more I keep him talking….. )

Anyway, being funny but mostly smart,  he said, “Well then don’t take the aspirin Einstein, it’s no big deal to me. The side effect though could be Sudden Death for you – so have fun with that.” 

Hilarious.

But it hit me as a bit more poignant as I walked out of his office thinking about how we do some horn blowing at work about the perceived awful side effects of doing this or that, but sometimes we forget the side effects of making a change to something we know works could be a lot worse.   

You can give up walking over to talk to someone or using the phone:  Heck, a stroll down the hall wastes time because you don’t know if someone is there.  A phone call or Skype doesn’t get recorded so you don’t have a record of what you talked about like email does.  But truth is, face to face and/or voice to voice carries a gazillion other intangibles that are still valuable.  And the “Sudden Death” impact of giving that up?  Sudden Forgetfulness of YOU.   Do people only know you by your emails?  If so, you matter little to them no matter how many you write.   

You can give up making quality cold calls:  Cold Calling has awful side effects at times that can be painful, depressing and darn near ruin your day or week.  So you can hire someone else to do it for you or fire off a gazillion emails and skip it altogether, hoping the darn phone rings.  Or you can suffer the Sudden Death side effects of not cold calling and not make any sales at all.  Good luck feeding the kids with that.
You can give up saying fervently “Thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “I appreciate you” or “Mr.”  or “Ms.” to customers:    After all, everyone has no time, everyone is busy and heck, there are a lot more important things I should be saying to customers.  But no, your getting in the words “today’s special promotion is…” or the “the confirmation number is…” or the “best number to reach you if we get disconnected is…” doesn’t trump the power of the smaller phrases or titles.   The Sudden Death impact of losing those little ones is the erasing the difference between you and someone that can be replaced by a computer.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What Needs To Be Tougher

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What Needs To Be Tougher.

We are all competing on a global stage today.  No joke.  Our prospective and existing clients have global options for highly intelligent, well trained partners, providers and suppliers that are literally seconds and clicks away.

 But if I’m going to compete, I like to win.  If you read this blog regularly, you do too.

 Some things then, need to be tougher for us to keep winning.

Training:   Tougher should begin at home.  (Training is where I lead today).   Training needs to be tougher.  Think Training Idol. Think harsher judgments, tougher role plays, more tests and certifications.  We’re not talking Gladiator camp here but learning what you need to learn has to stick and stick better.

 Coaching:  Not in the way you think.  A lot of us coach (me included) and a lot of us “wing it”.  That’s not fair to folks who need us to help them and frankly, it is not effective.  If you coach, get smarter about it.  Get a structure.  And most importantly- plan in advance; give it some hard thought and do it more often.

 Representing The Brand:  You are an extension of your brand.  Period.   You must wear it well especially when you are in front of clients and prospects.   It’s not enough to just fix the problem, enter an order, answer a question, blather an awful answer about “what you do” at a party or pull together some information well for a prospect.   You must proactively extend the brand’s promise.  How you help clients, how you differentiate, how you bring amazing to the marketplace.  Brand Matters.   This isn’t easy to do.  You have to do it in ways that don’t raise tension or confuse or annoy but you must do it.  The stage is bigger now and we all need to stand out.

Tougher isn’t a bad thing. 

On the other side of tougher is a better chance of winning.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark.

Numbers Matter

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Numbers Matter

“You’ve been a customer for many years…”

 “We have a lot of customers where you are….”

 “We build a ton of websites for small businesses….”.  

 Shoot me now.

 Numbers matter.  

No specific numbers can sound like you are lazy.  No specific numbers can sound like you are reading from a script.  No specific numbers sounds like you don’t care.  No specific numbers says you are probably making it up anyway.  

Trust is low in the marketplace.   No specific numbers makes it worse.  Customers and prospects are yearning for numbers – real numbers, real proof that you are credible or that you do care.

If you know how long a customer has been with you in the number of years or months, share it.  If you don’t know- find out and share it every time you contact them.

If you know exactly how many customers you have that are just like the prospect you are talking to (i.e. exactly how many in their town/city or exactly how many just like them (their line of business) are already customers)), then share it.  If you don’t know- find out and share it every chance you can.

If you know how many websites or widgets or thingamajigs you have that people use or buy or love then share that.  If you don’t know- find out and then spit it out.

Numbers are credible.  Numbers are proof.  Numbers get attention.  Numbers earn you a first look or even a second look.  Numbers get you sales.  

Numbers Matter.  

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark