Throwing Away The Sales Script -- By Colleen Francis

Master the skill of cold calling and supercharge your earning potential...

Cold calling — the words alone can strike dread in the heart of even the most unshakeable among us. It’s no secret that there is a real fear out there about having to make these kinds of calls.

If you’re in sales, cold calling is likely an important part of how you’re expected to find new leads and turn them into customers. Just being competent at it is important if you want to make ends meet.

If you want to be as successful as the top 10 percent of sales professionals in any organization, you need to set your sights higher. You need to master cold calling as a skill—and achieving that is entirely within your reach.

To get started, you need to unlearn certain things and adopt a new mindset to tackle the challenge…

Unlearn the tried-and-true method of cold calling...

Some organizations—and astonishingly, even some sales trainers—encourage their sales teams to read a prepared sales script when placing cold calls.

This script usually consists of a page or two of boilerplate dialogue that the caller is expected to say to the person on the other end of the line. It’s usually seasoned with a collection of carefully selected keywords and phrases and heaped as thick as Thanksgiving gravy with lines meant to close the deal.

This is what’s often thought of as the tried-and-true way of making a cold call work for just about anyone in an organization.

A script, is meant to be used as a starting point for planning your calls, it’s an outline of what you will first say, and what questions you ask when you first pick up the phone and start making those sales calls.

To master the skill of cold calling, that sales script is what you’re going to have to unlearn. Yes, that very script you’ve been told everyone uses.

Here’s why: just because everybody does something doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you to do.

In my experience, sticking with that sales script as your means of managing your cold calls is a sure-fire way of ensuring three things.

First, you’ll be saying things that your prospect may have heard countless times before (I mean really, who hasn’t heard an opening sales pitch that starts with “Hi. I’m not trying to sell you anything…”).

Second, you’ll be carving out for yourself a sales record that’s likely to be…well…just as average as the 80% of mediocre sales professionals who use that supposedly tried-and-true method.

And here’s the third thing you can be sure of: that sales script is what the top sales performers in your organization aren’t using. They already know from experience that it doesn’t serve them all that well.

Why? Because a script is someone else’s idea of how you should talk to people. No matter how many times you deliver the lines in a sales script, it’s always going to sound like you’re delivering a monologue rather than engaging in real, meaningful dialogue. That’s where your real challenge is—learning how to initiate and sustain dialogue is the key to unlocking your true earning potential in sales.

Change your mindset...

Canned words can’t match the authenticity of being yourself in a conversation—sincere, attentive and responsive to the needs of the person on the other end of the line. That’s why you have to change your mindset when looking at cold calling. Stop thinking of it as a sales call you have to make—see it as a conversation you want to start with someone.

Suddenly your job becomes a lot easier! You’re no longer preoccupied with whether you have a good pitch. Because frankly the pitch doesn’t matter. To start and maintain a conversation, you just need to know what to ask.

Questions are very easy to formulate and they open a lot of doors in a conversation, unlike statements (as often seen in sales scripts), which tend not to have the same endearing quality.

Granted, some find it difficult to start a conversation with someone they’ve never met before. The solution again is to change your mindset—don’t think about the person you are calling as a stranger. Instead, use the following tip to trick yourself into putting that person into the company of friends.

Think of a favorite customer—one of your success stories…someone you talk to a lot. Write down their name and put it right in front of your phone, put it on a Post-it note and stick it on the edge of your computer monitor, or (if you have one) use a photo instead. Look at that familiar face or name all day when you’re making your calls.

The reason why this approach works is because visual cues help shape our behavior in establishing relationships with people—even if we’ve never met a particular person before. When we feel we have established a relationship with someone, our tone of voice changes on the phone.

We’re friendlier, more relaxed. It encourages the person you’re calling to engage with you. It puts you in a positive frame of mind, so you don’t wind up like so many others, hoping to avoid that awkward sales call, wishing for voicemail pickup.

Stop wishing for voicemail...

Speaking of voicemail, it can also be a tool you can use to master cold calling—rather than being seen as a refuge from having to make that sales call you didn’t want to make in the first place.

Don’t think of voicemail just as a place where you leave a message in someone’s absence. See it as an opportunity to get acquainted with that person…even before they have picked up the phone.

I’ve used this technique myself—calling a prospect for the first time at some ungodly hour when they’re unlikely to be there, just so I can listen to their voicemail message.

That way, the next time I call, I’m no longer wishing for voicemail. Instead, I’m in the frame of mind that I want to be in for success—looking to start a conversation with someone who is already familiar to me.

This approach offers an added bonus. Once you hear that person’s voice, they’re no longer a stranger to you. You can start to form a picture of that individual in your mind. It’s like what happens when you listen to the radio. You visualize what your favorite DJ looks like even though you’ve never met.

Working with these proven, field-tested techniques, you can look at cold calling in an entirely new way. It’s a skill that takes time to master, but the new successful conversations that you’ll start with astonishing ease will do amazing things for your confidence. And that’s what helps bring in the new leads and new customers.

When you pick up that phone, you’ll no longer be thinking: “I’m terrible at this, it’s never going to work, and I always fail.” Instead, you’ll be focusing on getting a positive result—just like the success you had on the previous call.
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Colleen Francis is the Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions, which delivers sales solutions that realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise the client's bottom line. She can be reached at EngageSelling.com.

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Would You Like Fries With That? By John Boe

While you may not have recognized it, the last time you ordered from a fast food restaurant or went to the post office, there is a good chance you experienced some form of cross-selling or up selling.

Cross-selling and up selling are well-established and highly effective marketing practices utilized by a wide variety of industries.

What is cross-selling? It is a proactive, ongoing sales process designed to provide your customers with a full spectrum of your company's products and services. The good news is, cross-selling is one of the most profitable and least risky endeavors a sales rep can undertake.

My first exposure to cross selling was as a teenager in high school working part-time at McDonalds during summer vacation. Looking back on my brief tenure selling hamburgers, I can still hear my manager's daily refrain; be polite, keep the counter clean and always, always ask if they would like fries with their meal.

A couple of years later while attending college, I took a part-time job selling shoes at the mall. I was paid an hourly wage to sell the shoes but I received a commission whenever I cross sold any accessory items such as shoe polish, socks or purses. This was my first taste of commission and as a starving college student, I took to cross-selling and up selling like a duck to water.

Some shortsighted salespeople might suggest that customers are irritated by cross selling and perceive it as an aggressive sales technique. Interestingly enough, consumer research indicates that the reverse is true.

The majority of consumers surveyed actually preferred a full range of products and services and appreciate the convenience that is provided through a comprehensive cross-selling approach.

Top producing salespeople understand the power of cross-selling and recognize it as a critical component for promoting both customer retention and revenue growth.

Not surprisingly, two of the key elements that make cross-selling and up selling work are trust and convenience. Your customers already possess a degree of trust in your company and this can be converted into additional sales that are not directly related to their existing products.

The best place to introduce your customer to the concept of cross-selling is during your initial needs analysis meeting.

Unfortunately, many salespeople fail to take the time to conduct a thorough needs analysis and as a result, do not uncover potential products and services that would be of benefit to their customer. Ask questions and take good notes.

Effective cross-selling is all about guided self-discovery. Through a series of thought provoking, open-ended questions, successful salespeople assist their customers to uncover potential needs.

During the needs analysis interview, I highly recommend the use of a checklist that incorporates all of your company's products and services. Relying on your memory alone is a poor business decision; so take the time to jot down key information.

Developing a systematic approach to cross-selling and up selling brings in additional revenue with relatively low expense and effort.

As you prepare for your next client appointment, I challenge you to look for cross-selling and up selling opportunities that you can incorporate into your presentation. Sales reps who fail to implement an effective cross-selling program actually do a disservice to their customers and leave the backdoor open to their competitors!
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John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.JohnBoe.com or call (877)725-3750. John's newsletter is available on his website.

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The Sales Power Curve By Bill Caskey

One Simple Mind Shift and You're In Control

We seem to live in a ‘control-freak age.’ We all want control--but we don't want to give up anything to get it.

Well, in the next few paragraphs, I'll share with you one certain way of gaining control in the sales process. But one caution: You must give up something to get it.

The One Thing...
Here’s the bottom line: I can say, without significant exception, that when you shift your mindset from ATTACHMENT to DETACHMENT, you will own control of your sales process. Let me tell you how it works.

First, let's start with a slight rewiring of your sales mind: "You should be in control of the sales process." Not your prospect...not your banker... not your manager. You.

The reason for this is quite simple, but most people miss it: You have the solution your customer needs. And even though they have the money, that should not equate to them having control.

But here's the problem. If you need the deal WORSE than they need the solution, then you've given away all of your control—before it even starts.

Enter: Detachment...
The key to this kingdom is the concept of Detachment. It's a predisposition (not a sales move) that says, "I'd be OK with this deal or without it. It won't impact me long term if I don't get it."

I recently had one talk show interviewer say it was "heresy" that you could go into a deal "not wanting it." I had to correct him. "I didn't say you couldn't WANT to make the sale. I said you couldn't be ATTACHED to it--you couldn't NEED it.”

When you are interested in helping your prospect solve their problem with your solution--and you are DETACHED from the outcome--you have control of the sales process.

Simple But Not Easy...
But this is not the usual way of the world. What usually happens is that we're all given sales quotas (goals) that we want to accomplish (badly). Our managers keep score by how much we sell. And most everything is built around "us" and "what we want."

So it's not surprising that the prospect feels the emotion around your making the sale. And what do they do? They resist (like you do when you're being sold). They come up with illogical stalls and objections.

The sales process should be full of emotion--but it should be their emotion, not yours.

They should be convincing you why they need to get their problem solved. The instant your emotions take over (your desire to get the deal) then you must put up with their stalls and objections.

The Ultimate Paradox...
So now you're saying, "Wait a minute Caskey. You said I had to give something up to get control of the process. What's that?"

You're Smart...
Here's the paradox: to get control of the process, you must give up control of the outcome. That's right. By giving up your attachment to the outcome (them saying 'yes'), you get what you want.

The bottom line to this is the "vibe" you send out. When you come to the table full of desire and need, you turn people off. Conversely, when you show up in the market, detached, cool, collected, wanting to help (but not needing the sale); you attract people to you in droves.

So next time you find yourself deep in need - and in trouble - rewire your sales mind to be detached. You'll always know what to do and when to do it when you take your emotions out.

Bill Caskey
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Bill Caskey is President of Caskey, a sales training and development company in Indianapolis, and author of Same Game New Rules. He also produces his own podcast at www.Advancedsellingpodcast.com. His observations of selling and life help fuel explosive sales growth for companies. Mr. Caskey can be reached at 317.575.0057 or at www.caskeyone.com

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Tom Hopkins - The "I want to think it over" Close

You are guaranteed to hear a variation of the phrase "I want to think it over" from one out of every five new clients. Some of the variations you'll hear may be:

"I want to sleep on it."

"I'll get back to you."

"We'll review all the facts, then make a decision."

"We never make a decision on the first visit."

The exact words that are used matter little; what really matters is that you recognize the stall and are ready with this reply:

Phraseology: "That's fine, John. Obviously, you wouldn't take your time thinking this thing over unless you were seriously interested, would you? I mean, I'm sure you're not telling me that to get rid of me. So, may I assume you will give it very careful consideration? Just to clarify my thinking, what phase of this opportunity is it that you want to think over? Is it the quality of the service I'll render? Is it something I've forgotten to cover? Is it the color? Seriously, please level with me, could it be the money?"

A tip when using this strategy: Don't pause after the word "over" - if you do, a client is likely to answer "everything," or "the whole idea of going ahead," and you're dead in the water. What you want to do here is review what they've already agreed to.

In other words, you're weeding out all the other objections and narrowing it down to the most common final objection, which is the money. Handle the money objection and begin reclosing.
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Tom Hopkins International
7531 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: (480) 949-0786 or 800/528-0446 Fax: (480) 949-1590
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Identifying Top Salespeople By Brian Tracy

Salespeople are different based on their values. A higher order value always takes precedence over a lower order value. If you place one value higher than another, and you have to choose between doing one thing or doing another, you will always select the action that is consistent with your higher value. Once you are clear about your order of values, decision making becomes much easier.

What Are Your Real Values?
How can you determine what your values really are? Simple. Just observe your behaviors, especially the things you do when you are under pressure. Your values are always expressed in your actions. It is not what you say, or wish, or hope, or intend that expresses your true values. It is only what you do. If you want to know what your values are at this moment, you can examine your recent past and notice the choices you made when you could have gone one way or another. Your choices, and your subsequent actions, demonstrated to yourself and others what was of greatest value and importance to you.

Compare Different People ...
Here is an example. Imagine you have two people who have the same three values. The values are family, health and career success. The only difference between these two people is the order of importance that they placed on these values, their priorities. The first person, Bill, says that, "My family comes first, my health is second and career success is third."

Tom, on the other hand, has the same values, but he says, "Career success comes first for me, then my family, and then my health."

Determine the Difference ...
Would there be a difference in character and personality between these two people? Would there be a small difference or a large difference? Which of these two people would you like to get to know and become friends with? Would you be able to tell these two people apart in conversation? Which one do you think you would like and trust more?

Values Set People Apart ...
The answers to these questions are clear. The person with the higher values in a better order of priority will invariably be a better person than the person whose values are in a different order. Your choice of values determines the quality of your character. When you select values such as integrity, love, courage, honesty, excellence or responsibility, and you live your life consistent with those values, every hour of every day, you actually become a superior person. It is your values that determine the kind of person you really are.

Action Exercises:

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, think about how you behave, how you choose, whenever you are under pressure. Remember, it is only what you do, your actions, that tell who you really are.

Second, observe how other people around you behave when they are forced to choose. You will only be compatible with people whose values are similar to yours. What are they?
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Brian Tracy is a leading authority on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

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Will You Pass the Flinch Test? By Lee B. Salz

There is a little test that professional buyers give to every sales person. It is a test to see if they are confident in the price they presented. They call it the flinch test. Will you pass the test?

After a lengthy buying process, the time has come to submit pricing. Countless hours are spent formulating a glorious proposal that details your comprehensive solution. Proud of your accomplishment, you present the proposal to the buyer. Skipping the sections about your company and your solution, she flips right to the pricing page. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t think it would be this expensive!”

What happens next determines whether or not you will get the business. When I say “get” the business, there are two sides to consider. The obvious is whether or not the prospect will award the business to you. The less obvious is whether your company will agree to their desired price level.

The negotiation may get to a point where the prospect says they want to award you the business, but at a price unacceptable to your company. If you’ve ever been there, it is painful to say the least. As a sales person, you have a responsibility to facilitate the process in a way that leads to a mutually acceptable conclusion.

There is a trade secret in the purchasing world. They call it the “flinch test.” This is the test Procurement Agents and other professional buyers give to sales people when they provide pricing. “Wow! You are 25% higher than your competition.”

These pros are trained to react with surprise so that they can see if the sales person is confident in the price they have put forward. It is nothing more than a straightforward negotiation tactic.

Often times, they overstate the price difference such that you can do some quick math and see that the differential is bogus. I can recall a time where I was told that we were 50% higher than the competition. When I reviewed the numbers, this meant that the competitor was losing 18% based on fixed costs that we both had. It was highly unlikely that the competitor was signing up for this kind of an account. When I asked the Procurement Agent about that figure again, he flinched and we ultimately won the business.

The key to passing the flinch test is to respond with confidence in your price. If you don’t believe you are providing a fair, competitive price for the solution, my question is why are you presenting it anyway? One would hope that you have integrity so why present something you don’t believe in?

Some responses that cause you to fail the flinch test.

• What price were you looking for?
• I’ll ask my manager if we can do better.
• How about if I take 10% off?

The reason these are failed responses is that they create trust issues with the prospect. Were you trying to rip them off with the price you presented? One of two things is true. Either you were trying to rip them off or you believe you provided a fair price. What other option is there? Some will say that they were preparing for a negotiation. That’s a fair point; however, it is a terrible negotiation strategy to give the appearance that you will drop your price first moment someone balks. That approach gives the impression that you sought to gouge them.

Most negotiations end at the middle ground. They wanted 5; you wanted 10 and settled at 7.5. That seems logical. However, if you lower your price early, the middle ground is lower. In the same scenario, if you dropped to 8 right off the bat, the middle becomes 6.5. As I mentioned, you have to manage the negotiation such that the middle is not lower than an acceptable price for your company.

Successful sales people have a planned, or dare I say “canned,” response for the flinch test. They don’t expect a prospect to respond with excitement about a price. They anticipate shock and have a process to handle it. Here are their secrets…

1. They set expectations upfront. Early in the buying process, they set the expectation that they are not the low price provider. “To be clear, our company is rarely the low bid, does that mean that we won’t be working together on this project?” If they say no, you are set for the later phases of the process. If they say yes, at least you haven’t invested a ton of time in an account that you won’t win. If you are going to lose, lose early.

2. They don’t flinch! “I’m not surprised by your reaction. I get that a lot. As I mentioned at the outset, we are rarely the low bidder.”

3. They seek to understand. “When you say that you are shocked by the price, which part is surprising? This is the subject of another article of mine which addresses the importance of understanding the prospect’s perspective of price.

4. They reinforce their position. “Since we are rarely the low price provider, what do you think our 1000 clients see that leads them to pay a little more to have us?

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Procurement Training. Think of it as sales training for buyers. After the session, I had an interesting conversation with the trainer. Here’s what he told me…

“For 25 years, sales people asked me for coaching on the price of their proposal as I was the head of Procurement for my company. I told each one of them the same thing. Provide us with the best price that you feel good about giving and either way, you win. I always got a puzzled expression from that. Let me explain. If we award the business to you at that price, you’re happy. If we award the business to someone else at a lower price, you are happy as well because you wouldn’t have been happy to support the account at that price point.”

To share a little secret, I use the flinch test all the time when I buy. It’s amazing how quickly sales people drop their drawers on price. I bet I’ve saved my family 20% across the board for all of our spending just with that test. It’s no wonder that professional buyers use this. I often wonder how many commission dollars were lost just because they flinched. How may commission dollars have you lost because you flinched?
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Lee B. Salz is President of Sales Dodo, LLC and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” He specializes in helping companies and their sales organizations adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of business. Lee is available for keynote speaking, business consulting, and sales training. He can be reached via email at lsalz@salesdodo.com, his website at www.SalesDodo.com or by phone at 763.416.4321.

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Making the Most of Internet Inquiries By Tina LoSasso

When someone calls to ask about your product or services, you know exactly what to ask, what to say, and how to follow up. Are you as confident, and effective, responding to an Internet inquiry? Without the benefit of talking with the prospect directly, the contact can feel colder than a cold call.

As more consumers and businesses research and purchase via the Internet, you can’t afford to mishandle these inquiries. To respond in a professional manner, and convert more Internet inquiries into customers, keep these guidelines in mind:

• To call, or not to call? Some salespeople don’t respond to Internet inquiries because they think they’re a waste of time. Others reason, “They emailed me, so they must be expecting me to email them back.” When someone asks for information via email, you should respond via email. But what’s stopping you from calling them as well?

Imagine the impression you’ll make: responsive, helpful, and efficient. A word of caution: you must have a valid reason to call. Restating the information provided in the email, or interrogating the prospect about his company, budget or time frame, are not valid reasons: they’re harassment.

Telling the prospect all about your company won’t cut it either. Instead, consider carefully what you need to know in order to propose the best solution, then ask about that information.

• Respond in Internet time. Internet time is roughly equivalent to the speed of light. Thanks to email and instant messaging, people expect everything right now.

Accordingly, prospects expect a quick response to their email inquiries. If you don’t have enough information to propose a solution, let the prospect know that you’re working on it, and when he can expect to hear from you. No one wants to be left hanging.

Customers also expect “24/7” response—day or night, every day of the week—and automated replies don’t count. You probably check emails while on the road, over the weekend, and late at night. If you’re receiving inquiries after-hours, chances are your buyers are working, too. They will appreciate a response from you, even if you’re only acknowledging their inquiry. Let them know when you’ll get back to them with the requested information.

• Don’t be too quick on the draw. Wanting to respond quickly is no excuse for poor grammar, misspellings, and bad form. Proofread your response carefully before sending it. It’s easy to miss errors on a computer screen. Try this: print out your draft and read it aloud to catch any mistakes, missed words, or poor syntax. Your email response will create your prospect’s first impression of you, so make it a good one!

• Be detached. An Internet inquiry is a dream come true: an interested prospect contacting you! You probably can’t wait to email a proposal, product specifications, company brochure, comparison chart, product brochure and lists of happy customers. But if you send all those attachments, your email may not get through the prospect’s spam filter; it could take forever to be received, and even longer to download.

To avoid coming across like an inconsiderate klutz, send a brief reply. If you have a short proposal, include it in the body of the email, not as an attachment. Let the prospect know that you’ll send the collateral material he requested in a separate email. If he didn’t request it, don’t send it!

• Make an impression. Buyers who email inquiries are probably searching numerous websites besides yours. After awhile, they blur together. Make it easy for the buyer to recall your site, and why he requested information from you in particular. Remind him who you are by including your company tagline, and a link to your site.

If the inquiry came from an industry bidding site, take additional steps to distinguish yourself, keeping in mind that the prospect knows nothing about you, not even your company name. To stand out from the potential dozens of replies the prospect will receive, bypass your normal form-letter response, and personalize your reply. Focus on your special ability to meet the prospect’s particular request, and give him a reason to remember you.

As a salesperson, you probably feel more comfortable speaking with prospects directly, because you can easily establish rapport and rely on instant feedback to guide the conversation.

Email communication robs you of those advantages, but it does not have to rob you of opportunity. Follow these guidelines, and you will convert more Internet inquiries into customers.
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Tina LoSasso is Managing Editor of SalesDog.com, an online resource for sales professionals. SalesDog.com's new book Top Dog Sales Secrets features sales advice from dozens of nationally renowned sales experts. One reader said, “It’s like reading the best ideas from 50 sales books all in one book.” To learn more, go to SalesDog.com.

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