Tag: selling skills

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Cold Calling – Get over the fear and improve your success

cold%20calling.jpg
Most sales people hate to cold call. It is frequently considered by many to be the single most stressful part of selling. So much so that many people have given up this noble and proud profession for non-selling positions. There are actually several reasons why sales reps consider cold calling one step below getting a root canal.
Fear of rejection is one of the biggest reasons reps dislike cold calling. After all, who wants to be told “no” all day long? However, there are other reasons that add to the disdain, including not wanting to bother anyone (the “telemarketing” syndrome), gatekeeper resistance, lack of confidence (in themselves, their product, their company, etc.), or they just don’t know how to do it. While these reason are understandable, they are all symptoms rather than causes.
In understanding that we don’t like to cold call, we also have to understand why we have call reluctance. For instance, we may not like rejection, but the reason we are rejected is that we are not approaching it the right way. Or, we get resistance from the gatekeeper or feel like we are bothering people because, again, we aren’t equipped with the skills to perform the duty properly so that we don’t get rejected or bother people.
It comes down to Will and Skill. We, as human beings prone to human nature, avoid things we are not good at, and thus lose the will. If we are good at something we will be more inclined to do it. Hence, when we improve our skills, our will improves proportionately. So, it’s important to understand why we have call reluctance – what are our challenges and why we are reluctant.
Why Cold Calling is Important
Before proceeding with recommendations on how to improve your cold calling, let’s review why cold calling is important. A customer’s buying and decision making process usually goes through several steps. First, they realize they have a problem and identify what the problem is. Second, they calculate the costs associated with the problem. Third, they evaluate alternatives. These first three steps comprise the “Planning Stage”. The next stage is the “Evaluation Stage”. In this stage they talk to vendors to consider alternatives. Once that’s done, they decide on a vendor and move on.
When the customer reaches the Evaluation Stage, to a certain extent they already decided on the approach they want to take. But what if that approach isn’t the right one for them? Or, what if their approach includes preconceived notions that would preclude you from being a contender for their business? When you call them, it’s already too late. You’ve had no inputs into their Planning Stage. As a result, you could be chasing their biases and forgone conclusions when, in fact, they are already leaning in another direction. This is what often happens when you get an RFP (Request For Proposal). The RFP is “wired” to another vendor or at least includes questions that reflect the customer’s biases to another solution. You end up wasting a lot of time responding with your proposal only to find they really knew whom they were choosing all along. If, on the other hand, you caught them in the Planning Stage and positioned yourself as a valued partner, then you could help them in identifying their problems AND alternative solutions.
Now what if you do catch someone in the Planning Stages, but they don’t know they are in that stage yet. In other words, they know they have a problem, but they haven’t consciously decided to do something about it. This is actually a perfect time for a cold call, assuming you handle it correctly. Here is how not to call someone in this situation. Sales Rep: “Hi, my name is Fred Johnson of Acme Software. My company helps businesses with their accounting problems. I was wondering if you had any accounting problems.” Prospect: “No! But thanks for calling. Bye.” Of course they’re going to say no, because they aren’t aware or sure they actually have problems, and hence they don’t have a need for you. Also, you haven’t shown them that you care about their problems. Instead, you simply came across as someone who only cares about selling them something.
If you approached this differently, you could get invited in to help them identify their core issues and explore alternatives. But you can’t come across on the initial cold call as if you are selling something. Instead, you need to position yourself as a trusted advisor by asking the right questions, listening to their answers, and proposing how you might be able to help with the exact pains they just described to you. A better dialogue might be, “Hi I’m Fred Johnson with Acme Software. We specialize in helping businesses improve their customer acquisition and retention. I was calling to see how important improving sales and customer retention are to your business. Do you have a moment for a few questions?”
Be a Boy Scout – Always Be Prepared
You help improve your cold calling by being prepared. We all get calls from sales people who clearly are unprepared and embarrass themselves by trying to “lower your phone bills” when they don’t even know how much you are currently paying for your phone bills. Or they try to sell you office equipment when you work in a shared-office environment and don’t purchase this sort of equipment.
Like most things I do, I have a process, and cold calling is no different. Your cold calling process includes the steps, reasons and outcomes for every call. To begin with, you should always have a clear purpose for the call – Why are you calling? Next, have a goal – What is your desired outcome? Is it to make a sale, schedule a meeting, or get introduced to the decision maker? You also have to remember that in order to get your prospect’s interest, you have to appeal to their needs, wants and desires. So remember WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? Of course, the “Me” in this case is your prospect. Make sure your discussions make it clear that everything you are asking has to do with helping their problem, not with you making a sale.
You also don’t want to preach. This is what those annoying telemarketers do. They “tell” you what it’s all about and try to lead you down their path, which is to buy something, instead of asking what ails you. The key to doing this effectively is to ask questions about the prospect, such as what is currently not working for them, how much it is costing them to continue in this mode of operation, what happens if nothing changes, etc. It helps to use a script as well. Now I’m not suggesting you read from a script. What I mean is write down bullets on the points and questions you want to ask and use that as a guideline so you don’t drift off and digress from your goal. A good script should help you organize your thoughts and keep you on track. It will also help you discuss benefits rather than features.
You should always “warm up” your cold calls by doing research in advance. It is very easy to learn all about a company via the Internet. Read about their company’s background and products. Read their press releases and annual reports. Then when you call, you can refer to something significant about their business which helps break the ice and shows you are interested in them. And, don’t give up. These days it takes 6 to seven calls, maybe more, to get through to someone. The average sales rep gives up after 2 to three calls, not even half-way there. Perseverance is the key.
It also helps to profile your prospects before calling. Know who buys your product, when they buy it, how they buy it, and more. What is their profile? Are they affluent males between the ages of 35 and 49? Are they businesses with less than 100 employees and located in one facility? Are they departments within businesses who can’t readily get the services they need from their corporate offices? Once you know this, you can rank your call list and call the “A” players first, those who match your profile the best. If you use technology to help keep track of this information, which you should, then organize your call list, schedule your follow-ups, and manage your day. You will find that you will be more efficient, effective and successful.
Develop a Call Quota
Finally, as part of your cold calling process, remember not to take “No” personally. They are rejecting your offer, company or product, but not you personally (unless, of course, you upset them, in which case you deserve to take it personally). Accept the fact that you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. You’re not going to succeed with every call. So don’t set yourself up for disappointment every time someone says they don’t want to meet with you. To help with this, give yourself a “Call Quota”. This is not a quota for how many calls you should make in a day. This involves knowing how many “No’s” it takes to get to a “Yes”.
Let’s say your revenue goal is $100,000. and the average client spends $5,000. To reach your goal, you’ll need 20 new clients. If your close ratio is 25%, you’ll need to call 80 new Prospects, because 25% of 80 is 20, the number of new clients you need. So, with this simple information, simply remember that 60 of those calls will be No. Your goal then is to find the 20 Yes’s and the 60 No’s shouldn’t bother you because you are expecting them.
Cold Calling doesn’t have to be the dreaded, avoid-at-any-cost chore that many sales reps make it out to be. With proper training and planning, it is actually fun and a very necessary step in beginning your sales process.
Good luck and good selling!

RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

When Customer Retention Goes Bad

racquetball%20sales.jpgI love racquetball. I played racquetball for over 18 years, very aggressively and very competitively. It’s great exercise and a perfect way to let out your aggressions and stress. That’s why I was so upset when my health club decided to forgo customer retention and worry about their own singular requirement – Getting new customers! Yes, I’m actually going to teach a customer retention lesson by discussing my racquetball experience.
I’ve been a member of this club for about 15 years. I was part of a league that played two times per week for 2-hours each night. There were roughly thirty members on this league and we were all friends and competed in a sociable and pleasant environment. The average tenure of the members of this league was about 10 years of racquetball experience at this club. Not all league members showed up each night. But typically anywhere between twenty and twenty-four would show up at any one time, which means we would fill up most of the courts with continuous singles games (one-on-one).
Then one day they closed down two of the 12 courts so they could expand their workout room. They added state of the art weight lifting equipment and hoped their existing body building clients would tell their friends and increase business. We weren’t pleased, but at least we had 10 other courts to play on; enough to keep us all playing the full two hours without having to wait turns. Judging by the additional grunts and groans we heard coming from that new area, it seemed their plan worked. But I must admit that over time it seemed like the noise was ceasing and their increased business had waned. In the meantime, we loyal racquetball members continued to show up twice a week, every week, every year, paying our dues and buying supplies, soft drinks, and other miscellaneous purchases.
Then the owners decided to take over 2 more courts to build an aerobics gym with a climbing wall, dance area, and a few other amenities to attract new customers, at the expense of their existing racquetball members. Within a year, this new facility was as vacant as an atomic bomb testing ground. It was hardly ever used. And yes, we loyal racquetball members continued to spend our money at their club, which by the way, was the only club in town. Unfortunately, there were only 8 courts left and it started affecting our playing time since we now had to compete for court time and even started playing doubles (two-on-two) in order to get a chance to play at all.
A couple years after that they closed down another court to convert it into a Spinning room. Spinning is some sort of specialized stationary bike where you peddle your way to better health and fitness. Again, this was to bring in new health club members, at the expense of their existing loyal racquetball members, and again it flopped. Within 6 months the room remained dark and spun it’s way into oblivion. But we loyal racquetball members kept coming week after week, without fail, spending our money in the only club in town, which now had only seven courts. They obviously hadn’t re-converted any of these stolen courts so we could use them once again for racquetball. So they remained fallow.
As time went on, two more courts were closed due to damage. The owners said they didn’t have funds to repair them. So we were forced to play in the 5 remaining courts. Needless to say, we were very unhappy. We could only play doubles and we frequently had to take turns since there weren’t enough courts for us all to play at one time.
In year 15 of my playing at that club, we all arrived one night to the news that the owners were building a brand new health club less than a mile down the road and will be closing this older club once the new one opens. It would be three times the size with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including an Olympic-sized pool. Well this indeed sounded like good news, at last. What sounded even better was the offer for existing members to get free membership into this new club for the first year it was open. They’d transfer our membership and we’d get to use all the facilities for a year at no extra charge. Now, I must say that we ONLY played racquetball at the original club. None of us used any of the other facilities there. And this was unlikely to change, new club or not. So naturally, guess what our single question was to the owners when they told us all this good news? How many racquetball courts will the new club have? Answer – Zero!
We were devastated. Naturally, we complained but to no avail. Our only recourse was to join another club with racquetball courts. Unfortunately, that was all the way in the next town. My 8-minute ride twice per week turned into a 40-minute ride to a club that was older, dirtier, and more expensive. But at least we could continue playing our preferred sport. Ultimately, I moved out of state and it didn’t matter any more, except that I am now a little heavier and have strained breathing when I go up a flight of stairs.
So what’s the moral of this story? These business owners tried desperately for years to increase their business with fads and gimmicks to draw in new customers. However, they forgot their bread and butter customers – us loyal racquetball fans. We spent a lot of money at their club over the years and were a consistent revenue stream for them. Even when they continued to do things that harmed their relationship with us, we remained loyal. Of course that goes to show you that this sort of loyalty wasn’t good. It’s called “your the only show in town so I have to be loyal to you” loyalty. And perhaps that’s what they thought – that since they were the only show in town, they could afford to take us for granted. So they eventually lost 30 good customers, instantly.
Are you taking your customers for granted? Are you ignoring your loyal clients? Are you making changes to your business and it’s future direction without considering what affects it might have on your existing customers? You obviously need to acquire new customers. That’s understandable. But I hope you aren’t doing what too many other businesses do – acquire new customers while negatively affecting the retention of your existing ones. It costs up to seven to 10 times more to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. With the increasing costs of marketing and selling, this shouldn’t be a surprise. So why don’t more businesses curtail some of these expensive acquisition practices and focus more on retention strategies? I don’t know. Maybe they need to get hit in the head with a racquetball a couple times to knock some sense into them. Or maybe they should give us a call so we can show them how to do this the right way.
Don’t forget your existing customers and they won’t forget you!
Good luck and good selling!

RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Why Sales People Fail – Are the right people in the right positions for sales?

sales%20fail.jpg
Having a quality sales force in place is essential to the success of most businesses. As with most employees, there are always a few employees who just don’t fit the position they are attempting to fill. And in some cases, people who are a good fit can fail as well depending on the circumstances. But why do sales people fail? We believe that these are some of the primary reasons:
• Poor job fit. The person is just not cut out to sell. Let’s face it, not everyone can do this kind of work. No sense trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
• Poor management. Since sales managers are responsible for hiring, training and overseeing sales people, it is logical that they would have a significant influence on a sales person’s career. More often than not, sales managers do a poor job of hiring people who are cut out to sell. Just because a person is outgoing does not mean that person will be a good sales person.
• Laziness. Selling requires hard work and long hours. Some people just are not willing to put in the time necessary to travel, complete paper work, plan, follow up on problems and issues and develop relationships. Field sales people working less than, say, 60 hours per week are probably not going to be highly effective. Many sales people work 50, 60 and even 70 hour weeks. Most poor sales people put in far fewer hours. There are expectations to this, but not many. Selling is hard work and requires long hours to do it right.
• A short-term mentality. Sales people who view sales as a way to put a lot of money in their pockets in a hurry tend to have short-lived careers in any given organization. Why? Because they view the customer as a cash machine that they can tap quickly and at whatever cost is necessary. This type of approach leads to weak or no relationships with customers. A long-term, relationship-oriented approach is far better. The sales person’s income over the short-term might not be as significant, but over the long-haul is much better. My largest customer, whom we have the best relationship together, took me four years to finally get in the door and close. We are both very happy.
• Lack of follow-up and service orientation. Sales people who leave customers hanging when there is a problem or a question lose credibility with their customer base. Good sales people are highly customer-oriented and service-oriented. They bend over backwards to take care of their customers even if it means working longer hours and fighting a number of battles to get things done.
• Focusing on customers they are most comfortable with. Sales people sometimes are fearful of working new or lesser relationships to the extent they need to be worked. They often gravitate toward customers they have a strong relationship with. However, some of those customers might not buy much. They just like to chat and make the sales person feel good about the possibility of buying something.
• Having no plan. Sales people need a plan each and every day. This plan should be priority-driven and should guide the sales person as much as possible.
• Lack of organization skills. A good sales people is organized and deals with details. There is a school of thought that good people are not detail-oriented. That can be true in some cases, but if the sales person is not detail-oriented, he must work harder to deal with the important details.
• Inability to multi-task. Sales people are required to deal with a number of issues at the same time. Some people can’t handle the pressure of this type of work.
• Poor training. Sales people need excellent product training and sales training. A sales person needs to understand how your business operates and how to sell your products or services. They also need to learn basic selling skills even if they are experienced sales veterans. The longer you are in sales, the more likely it is that you will forget these basic selling skills or even take many of them for granted. For instance, veteran sales people can forget to listen because they have heard nearly every problem their prospects can throw at them, so they are anxious to jump in with a solution before the prospect has a chance to articulate their problem. While the solution can be the correct one, the prospect is put off because he may feel that the sales person didn’t give him time to explain and felt disrespected, or worse, that the sales person did not appreciate the prospect’s concerns and was just recommending something without full understanding or consideration of the prospect’s exact needs.
• Bad support from the company. In some companies, the sales people do a good job, but the company fails. Processes are slow and inefficient. Customer service people don’t support them well. Shipments are slow and inaccurate. The list goes on and on. Even a good sales person can fail if the company fails them. It is important for a sales person to know the company’s deficiencies so that he will not over-promise and under-deliver.
There are some of the key reasons why sales people fail. How do your sales people stack up against this list? How well does your company support your sales people?
Good luck and good selling!

RussLombardoPhoto.jpgRuss Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, “CyberSelling”, “CRM For The Common Man” and “Smart Marketing”. He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.