Having been in sales, sales training, and sales management for more than 25 years, I have seen many sales people who were successful and many who were not. While there are many reasons for both, I would like to focus this blog on one of the things that all salespeople have to do and what can make or break a sale: Phone Calls. One of the issues with successful sales people is that they can tend to get lazy in their techniques. This blog will address just one of the basic techniques that they need to keep sharp. Even professional baseball players go to spring practice every year and they practice throwing, catching, and batting before each game. Salespeople need to practice the basics of their profession to stay at the top of their game.
Phone Calls: More than 75% of the time when you call someone you will get there voice mail. The question is how to make your message valuable and effective, and yet short. If you are calling an existing client you may think that you should just say “hi Sue, sorry I missed you, please give me a call back”. While this may be OK, wouldn’t it be better to say “hi Sue, this is John Smith from XYZ Company, I’m sorry I missed you, I am calling to talk to you about ABC…., please give me a call, my number is ##. Again this is John Smith with XYZ Company and my number is ##.” The important parts of this are: You said your name twice, you stated what you wanted to talk about, and you gave her your phone number twice. It is also important to say the phone number slowly especially the second time. This gives them time to get a pen and paper so they can write it down. Some people would say that the person I’m calling already has my number so I don’t need to repeat it or even give it. Wrong, what if they are away from their desk or their cell phone is dead. Our job as salespeople is to make it easy for the client, giving your number to them every time you leave a message makes it easy for them.
Cold Calls: Everyone hates cold calling and everyone hates receiving cold calls. In a perfect world there would be no cold calling but, we don’t live in a perfect word. When cold calling it is of great importance to get the attention of the prospect, get their interest, and to get them to call you back or at least take your next call. Let’s talk about getting their attention. Be creative and change things up. One thing you could do is to say what company you are with before you say your name. This is a simple technique that works well for getting the prospect to remember your name and sounds a little different from all the other messages they have to go through. By your starting out different than everyone else, they tend to listen. Asking them a question can also help get their attention. Using a very short value proposition can also help, if your value matches their need. Saying you are going to call them back again on a certain day or better yet at a certain time is a very good technique but, you had better call them back when you said you were going to call them. A good CRM tool will go a long way toward helping you manage these call backs. Salesnet is really good at helping you manage this with its color coded activity approach. It is OK to call the prospect more than once a day but only leave one message per day. Call at different times each day. Try calling before and after business hours.
Having several scripted calls and emails to reinforce the calls, works very well for cold calling. You don’t want the calls to sound scripted but they should be scripted. The emails should be short and to the point. Using a customer testimonial in the email is great but if it is more than a couple of sentences long, you should use a link to the testimonial. I like to mention the customer testimonial in the body of the email with a link and put the short version of the testimonial below my signature. You can also put it at the top of the email as a headliner. Change it up and see what works best. Until next time remember “Success is 99% you and 1% the rest of the world”. Scott Farmer
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Lead Generation Techniques that Work in any Economy
This month, the Salesnet CRM blog features a guest post by Lisa Glinche of pto software provider Organization in a Box.
One thing that we hear often from our customers is that they need more sales leads. Many of them have tried different lead techniques but still fall short of their goals in terms of inquiries and new business.
In response to this need, we often recommend the techniques listed below. They can be used in any economy and almost any lead generation promotion to increase sales activity.
• Retain and grow relationships with existing clients – Typically up to 70% of next year’s revenue will come from the base of existing clients and contacts. Don’t overlook them!
• Optimize your website – Improve the volume and quality of traffic to your web site from organic search results. Many consumers use the Internet to create short lists.
• Find The Right Target - A critical part of your marketing plan is targeting the right customer. For a low-budget high-impact lead generation plan to work, forget the mass market and go for small niche markets where you have had the most success in solving business problems. Remember your targeted list is your most important asset.
• Optimize Messaging – Now is not the time to be everything to everybody. Concentrate your efforts in specific areas where you have had the most success in solving business problems and where you can most easily demonstrate your value. Being able to quickly and concisely demonstrate your value proposition is particularly important as companies look harder for value and their return on their investment.
• Demonstrate Value – Companies don’t stop purchasing products/services when in a downturn economy. Instead they go a little slower, are a little more cautious and most importantly look harder for value. Back up your value proposition claims with collateral material. Use testimonials, case studies or educational white papers to illustrate the value you have provided for customers just like them.
• Leverage Multiple Channels - Marketing impact can be greatly improved by using multiple marketing channels. The further you can "stretch your marketing dollars" to reach your target market in multiple channels, the higher the impact of your marketing message. For example, hitch a ride on the marketing of another company or competitor, make your company news worthy, and swap referrals with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do.
• Nurture Leads – Once you have leads, do not abandon them, nurture them. Maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers - regardless of their timing to buy. Remember lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. A multi-tactic and multi-touch plan will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
Last but not least, lead generation becomes easier if you follow a process and have a closed-looped system in place to track your lead generations efforts and results through the sell cycle.
One thing that we hear often from our customers is that they need more sales leads. Many of them have tried different lead techniques but still fall short of their goals in terms of inquiries and new business.
In response to this need, we often recommend the techniques listed below. They can be used in any economy and almost any lead generation promotion to increase sales activity.
• Retain and grow relationships with existing clients – Typically up to 70% of next year’s revenue will come from the base of existing clients and contacts. Don’t overlook them!
• Optimize your website – Improve the volume and quality of traffic to your web site from organic search results. Many consumers use the Internet to create short lists.
• Find The Right Target - A critical part of your marketing plan is targeting the right customer. For a low-budget high-impact lead generation plan to work, forget the mass market and go for small niche markets where you have had the most success in solving business problems. Remember your targeted list is your most important asset.
• Optimize Messaging – Now is not the time to be everything to everybody. Concentrate your efforts in specific areas where you have had the most success in solving business problems and where you can most easily demonstrate your value. Being able to quickly and concisely demonstrate your value proposition is particularly important as companies look harder for value and their return on their investment.
• Demonstrate Value – Companies don’t stop purchasing products/services when in a downturn economy. Instead they go a little slower, are a little more cautious and most importantly look harder for value. Back up your value proposition claims with collateral material. Use testimonials, case studies or educational white papers to illustrate the value you have provided for customers just like them.
• Leverage Multiple Channels - Marketing impact can be greatly improved by using multiple marketing channels. The further you can "stretch your marketing dollars" to reach your target market in multiple channels, the higher the impact of your marketing message. For example, hitch a ride on the marketing of another company or competitor, make your company news worthy, and swap referrals with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do.
• Nurture Leads – Once you have leads, do not abandon them, nurture them. Maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers - regardless of their timing to buy. Remember lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. A multi-tactic and multi-touch plan will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
Last but not least, lead generation becomes easier if you follow a process and have a closed-looped system in place to track your lead generations efforts and results through the sell cycle.
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