VIDEO: How To Leverage The Power Of Fear to Become Unstoppable
Mar 5, 2010 Career Advice, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Coaching, Videos, accountability, career coaching, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, cold calling, training for managers
Do you allow fear to paralyze you or have you made fear your greatest ally? Does fear hold you hostage, preventing you from being more of who you are and what you want to achieve? Have you ever been in a position of action, yet felt powerless to take those steps you need to take to live your greatness, achieve better results or make the best choice because fear had it’s grip over you?
Are you driven by what you want most; your dreams, goals and passions – or are you fueled by fear, consequence and what you worry may happen or occur in the worst case scenario?
How do you manage fear? Do you embrace it or resist it?
In this video, discover how you can leverage fear and make it your greatest teacher so that you can become unstoppable.
Tags: career coaching, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, Executive Coaching, life coaching, Sales Coaching, video
VIDEO: The Initial Objective of A Cold Call – Find The Fit Early Or Waste Precious Selling Time
Nov 20, 2009 Sales Coaching, Sales Training, Videos, cold calling, sales tips, tele-sales, telesales
Think about the intention or the end result of your prospecting efforts. Rather than focusing all of your energy on making the sale, first determine if there’s a good fit between you, your prospect, and what you are selling.
Instead of feeling that the intention of prospecting is to get a sale, provide a demonstration, submit a proposal, or schedule an appointment, the initial intention of prospecting is to determine if there’s a fit worth pursuing.
While this may sound a bit strange, closing the sale and earning the business of a prospect is not your initial goal. Instead, your primary objective is to determine whether you and your prospect are a good fit.
Here’s a video I did on cold calling that I recently produced with a great new company I’d like to introduce to you that’s offering some free and valuable advice to home businesses and career minded professionals. That company is Home Business Brains. Click on the “read more” link below for the video.
Tags: cold call, cold calling, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, telesales
When Cold Calling, How Do I Determine How Much Qualifying Is Enough?
Nov 16, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, coaching salespeople, cold calling, telesales
I received the following question from a salesperson the other day who was struggling when it came to qualifying his prospects during a cold call. He was looking for an effective way to best qualify his prospects and how to avoid wasting time when meeting with the wrong ones. What follows is his initial inquiry and my response, which I felt important enough to share with you, as many salespeople seem to be struggling with this very issue today.
That is, “When cold calling, exactly how much initial qualification is enough before determining the next step in my selling process? Do I do all of my qualification up front on the phone before scheduling a face to face meeting or do I wait until I meet with the prospect and then conduct a more robust needs analysis? How do I make this determination?”
Here’s the email I received:
“Hello Mr. Rosen,
I am a salesperson selling health insurance who is currently working on my sales system. My target market is owners of small businesses. I call them and set appointments from telemarketing leads. I have a script in which I use to set the appointment and qualify them, before meeting them face-to-face. I’d be curious to know what strategy you feel is best regarding my two approaches below.
First Approach: Do minimal questioning and qualification and just set the appointment. Then at the appointment, conduct a fact finder to find out their situation and what they like or don’t about their current health insurance plan. Then, set another appointment and come back with a proposal and recommendations. I will pre-close them on the first visit.
Or is this a better this way?
Second Approach: Call and qualify them and ask them all the questions over the phone to find out their current situation on this initial phone call. Then, I will bring the proposal to the first face to face appointment, recap what we discussed over the phone, explain the plan and try and make the sale. Pretty much try and make the sale on the first face to face visit.”
Here was my response:
The answer is – BOTH. There’s always a minimal amount of non negotiable qualification that must be done before meeting with a prospect. Then, when determining how much deeper you can go in your qualification, depending upon the situation it could go either way, so let the customer decide.
The IDEAL scenario is the second one you mapped out. And it’s all in the spirit of saving you your precious and limited time following up and meeting with people who you shouldn’t be meeting with in the first place. The cost of meeting with unqualified people is compounded exponentially because you’re not only meeting with the wrong prospects but you’re now losing time that you could have invested meeting with the right ones – the ones that your competition is meeting with.
Of course, there are those situations where the prospect simply doesn’t have the time nor desire to answer all of your questions during an initial phone call and at that point, it’s going to be a judgment call on your part. So, to minimize the risk of meeting with the wrong prospects and maximize your time when meeting with the qualified ones, what I would recommend is making a list of the non-negotiable qualifying questions that must always be asked, regardless of the situation, so that you get a baseline understanding whether or not this person is even a candidate for your product or service.
Here’s a great way to handle how much qualifying you can do over the phone and how to do it in a way that would encourage the prospect to spend more time with you during this initial telephone conversation.
Simply put, let the prospect decide. After all, people want to save as much time as possible and would appreciate any opportunity to be more efficient when it comes to leveraging their time. That said, the next time you speak with a prospect over the phone, use the following approach during your initial needs analysis/qualification process.
After asking them a couple of preliminary, non negotiable questions, deliver the following message.
“Mr./Mrs. Prospect, I know you’re busy and I want to respect your time. That said, I want to share two options with you that would save you some time when deciding what solution is best for you and whether or not there’s even a fit here. We could schedule a time where I can visit with you to learn more about your business and your objectives and then at that time, schedule another meeting where we could discuss my proposed solution, or, to speed up this process and avoid scheduling another meeting, we can continue our conversation now on the phone so that at the end of this conversation, you would have a very good sense as to whether or not I can deliver more value than your current solution is providing you and if it even makes sense for us to meet face to face in the first place. Which option would work better for you at this time?”
When you give people a choice and share with them the benefit of investing a little more time with you on the phone, you’ll find that your prospects are much more willing to do so. And if you’re saying that your prospects are, “too busy to spend more time with me” or “this won’t work in my industry,” I would challenge you to re-think whether or not this is truly your prospect’s objection or a costly assumption that you’ve created in your own mind. If this new marketplace has changed the way we sell and engage with our prospects, then the old rules of how we qualify and set appointments with our prospects much be challenged as well.
This win – win saves both you and the prospect time, while ensuring that you’re meeting with more of the right prospects.
Tags: cold calling, discovery, needsd analysis, prospecting, qualifying, sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, selling
VIDEO: Developing a Compelling Opening Statement When Cold Calling and Prospecting.
Sep 21, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Videos, cold calling, tele-sales
BOOK EVENT EXTENDED THROUGH THIS WEEK! Due to Keith’s book selling out and making #1 on Amazon, we’re extending this event through this week! You can still get the book 34% off and the hundreds of dollars worth of bonus materials. More here.
Here’s one example of the type of opening statement and cold calling approach you can create that’s sure to generate more qualified prospects for you than ever before. This example was one that a cost reduction company used when calling on the C suite of prospects, such as the controller or CFO. Once you listen to the opening statement, I’ll then dissect this approach so you can see the strategy behind it.
Tags: cold calling, Cold Calling Tips, opening statement, prospecting, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, video
PODCAST: Is Cold Calling Really Dead? A View into the Mind and the Day of a Salesperson
Jul 10, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, cold calling, podcast, sales tips, tele-sales, telesales
Listen to this podcast here.
You get to your office, sit down at your desk and open up your calendar. A concerned look sweeps over your face. “Only one appointment this week.” You look at your pipeline and get that squirmy feeling inside your gut, as you realize your pipeline is not as full as it used to be. You’re wondering where you’re going to find your next prospect.
The uncertainty begins to sweep over you. The stress starts creeping into your body, for you realize you can’t keep procrastinating making the cold calls you need to in order to book more appointments with key decision makers. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cold call, cold calling, podcast, prospecting, selling tips, telesales
PODCAST: Crafting a Compelling Opening Statement When Cold Calling and Prospecting
Jul 10, 2009 Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Training, cold calling, podcast, sales tools, telesales
Listen to this podcast here.
Enough theory for a moment. People need answers; granular, tactical, “How do I do this the right way and what do I say when I finally connect with a prospect when cold calling?” type of answers.
Those proactive souls who happen to cold call me and reach me live in an attempt to generate another prospects to fill up their rapidly drying pipeline certainly deserve the acknowledgment for putting forth the effort. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cold calling, cold calling script, opening statement, podcast, prospecting, template, tips on cold calling
Are Salespeople Asking Prospects the Wrong Questions?
Jul 1, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, cold calling, sales articles, tele-sales, telesales
“Are salespeople asking their prospects the wrong questions?” As I mentioned in my last post, this was a conversation that came up while being interviewed by Geoffrey James for an article he was writing for Selling Power magazine on what managers need to do to effectively coach their sales team when cold calling.
The answer to this question? Well, it’s actually yes and no. Yes, many salespeople are asking good questions that help uncover whether or not the prospect is a fit for the product or service they are selling. Conversely, many are asking the wrong questions that drive the prospect away from you, rather than move them closer to a sale.
The real universal gap that I see after coaching and training thousands of salespeople, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cold calling, discovery, disqualifying, prospecting, qualifying, qualifying prospects, questions, questions that sell, Sales Coaching, sales questions, sales tips, Sales Training, telesales
Before You Qualify Prospects Using Better Questions, First Make the Questions Fit For You
Jun 26, 2009 Business Advice, Career Advice, How to Manage Your Team, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, Selling Advice, career coaching, cold calling, sales articles
While being interviewed by Geoffrey James for an article he was writing for Selling Power magazine on what managers need to do to effectively coach their sales team when cold calling, a question regarding how effectively salespeople are qualifying their prospects surfaced during our conversation. (Geoffrey is also the author of seven books and the columnist for BNET, Business 2.0, CIO, The New York Times as well as many other publications.)
You can find Geoffrey’s blog here, which lists some of the deeper qualifying questions that salespeople must learn to ask.
To go beyond these questions for a moment, what I actually found to be intriguing were the comments that readers had posted after reading his blog. Now, I’m all for and certainly encourage feedback and comments, all in the spirit of mutual collaboration, growth and stimulating a valuable dialogue. And I applaud anyone who’s willing to take the time and post their thoughts and comments, good or bad, as I am always open to a healthy debate with those who may not always agree with my point of view or share a different perspective on the subject matter at hand. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: challenge assumptions, excuses, sales advice, Sales Training, selling tips, why salespeople fail
The Seven Types of Prospectors – Get Your Copy of This ebook For Free Today
Jun 18, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Communication, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, cold calling, tele-sales, telesales
Download this ebook for free here.
Our new marketplace requires new strategies and a new way of thinking in order to achieve more and thrive. Here, you can access these new resources I developed specifically for salespeople and sales managers to attract more prospects, boost your sales faster and coach your sales team into sales champions so they can close more sales today.
Here’s the second in a series of new resources and ebooks I’m giving away.
The Seven Types of Prospectors
What kind of prospector are you? Although developing a unique, personalized approach to prospecting is encouraged, there are some pitfalls to be aware of and some communication styles to abandon that you may not even be aware of which will sabotage your prospecting efforts. Use this guide to uncover which of the seven types of prospectors you most closely resemble and what you can do to adjust your prospecting approach and communication style for maximum impact.
Download this ebook for free here.
Tags: books on cold calling, cold calling books, Cold Calling Tips, prospecting, Sales Coaching, sales tips, Sales Training, telesales, teleselling
PODCAST: Benchmark Best Sales Practices to Achieve Your Sales Goals
Jun 8, 2009 All About Selling, Cold Calling Tips, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, cold calling, sales articles
Listen to the full podcast here.
Companies are running so fast in an attempt to catch up on their sales numbers that they aren’t aware of the blinders they’ve developed which are obstructing their view of the fuller picture when it comes to selling and driving the right sales activity, especially the deeper level of questioning and discovery every salesperson needs to engage in today.
Sure, you can ask your prospects the more generic questions about the current products, services, solutions and venders they currently use. But what about the questions that facilitate a buying decision; the tougher questions that help you better understand if this prospect is, in fact, even qualified to buy from you now, in the near future or ever? Delivering a recent seminar to a senior team of sales professionals reinforced how most salespeople, regardless of how experienced or seasoned, are still stepping over the additional questions I’m suggesting we need to ask.
I’m referring to questions that uncover:
Here’s a tip from your coach: Low closing percentages = a misalignment in who you should be presenting to and following up with in the first place.
If you don’t have the answers to these questions, you’re robbing yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the certainty and peace of mind that comes from utilizing a formulaic approach to selling. After all, if you define it, you can then refine it.
So, if you’re ever wondering why you or other salespeople fall into what’s known as a ‘sales slump,’ here’s the main cause of that. They aren’t honoring their sales process by the numbers and as such, those who continue to ‘wing it’ as their overall selling strategy are destined to experience the ups and downs in performance and in their stress level, as well as the waning sense of satisfaction and confidence that’s sure to follow in its wake when this amount of ambiguity and uncertainly is present.
In this podcast, I detail several critical questions you need to answer that will enable you to uncover the gaps in your data pool that in turn, will help refine your overall approach to how you prospect and sell and the measurable effort that’s required for you to do so successfully.
Listen to the full podcast here.
Tags: cold calling, discovery, Executive Coaching, pre qualification, prospecting, qualifying prospects, qualifying questions, sales benchmark, sales benchmarking, Sales Coaching, sales tips
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