In a previous post, we talked about a powerful tool salespeople can use to open their sales calls. That was the Impact Statement. Today, we’re going to look at another tool you can use to take control of your sales calls. This is the Why Speak Statement.
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In a previous post, we introduced the concept of the Impact Statement and using that tool to focus the opening of your sales call. Remember, as stated before, no one is sitting by the phone waiting for your unsolicited call, and sometimes, not even your scheduled phone call. People are busy. They have things that they need to get done, especially if they are in any kind of decision making capacity. So once you break their preoccupation and get their attention, you have to build their interest. And for that you need an effective Impact Statement to tell your story.
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Sales reps are still being taught old school tactics that don’t work in today’s digital business environment. In a previous post, I reviewed how the much maligned cold call has become ineffective because of the outdated practices still being used to execute them.
The same can be said for opening a sales call. If you want to to be effective when opening a sales call, you need to drop the old-school behaviors that some organizations are still teaching. Here are two examples of behaviors you need to stop right now when opening a sales call.
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Here’s a question about sales objections I encountered a lot when we did lead generation work:
I keep running into objections before I even have a chance to introduce myself. What is the best way to overcome “I’m too busy,” “I do not have time” or “Call back in two months?”
One of the challenges we face with sales objections is knowing when we have a bona fide objection as opposed to the prospect simply trying to get rid of us.
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When you’re in the field, your sales activity requires the use of various communication elements, like the verbal cushion. To be effective in sales, you need to know how to communicate with your prospect. However, you also need to be adept at using the various communication elements at your disposal.
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Back in 2016, I penned an article for SellingPower that addressed selling and opening the sales call in the new digital era where we are inundated with apps, devices, and instant price comparison.
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Salespeople pursuing a single point of contact when prospecting is like an engineer designing a system with a single point of failure. One mishap and your whole project crashes!
My director of technology once told me about an experience he had in the early creation days of our call center. He said he had called into a local manufacturing company and was hooked up with the director of sales. He had done everything right, moving the relationship towards selling a set of training programs for the company’s sales team.
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Throughout my time in sales, I’ve researched numerous complex theories, process descriptions, tactics, and strategies. In addition to these, I have also come across a number of quips from sales gurus who try to encapsulate sales success in a simple phrase that can be easily understood, even by a 5th grader.
For example, Zig Ziglar was famous for saying, “Either you’re green and growing or you’re ripe and rotten.”
To close the sale, you don’t need special skills. Now, back in the day, companies trained specifically on the sales close. In fact, some companies had sales manuals dedicated to special closing tactics. There were even sales training programs that focused on special closing techniques.
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In the last post, I recounted a study from Mutual of Omaha that examined and challenged this myth about the sales close.
If you recall, out of 1,000 really good leads who were poised to say “yes” to the deal, only about 7% closed because the salespeople didn’t ask for the sale.
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