Sales Blog with Sales Tips

Ever read “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, MD? Well, the cheese has been moved when it comes to cold calling.

The biggest challenges faced by sales professionals today are getting past voice mail and getting calls returned, according to a survey by Teleconcepts Consulting.

Things Aren’t Going To Improve
These issues have always represented a roadblock when prospecting. I’m afraid the phone is going to continue its decline in its potency as a stand-alone prospecting tool.

There are numerous current studies on the effectiveness of prospecting by phone. Most of them indicate a one-percent close rate. For every 100 calls made, only one of the contacts turns into a customer. Mileage may vary depending on industry, but it will be poor.

Negative ROI (Return On Investment)
I was watching a video by Jeffrey Gitomer recently and he made an outstanding observation about the one-percent close ratio when cold calling by phone and using no additional resources or tools.

It has a negative ROI.

The substantial investment in time calling the other 99 prospects – who don’t buy from us – causes us to lose ground because we could be using that time doing something productive.

Beyond The Phone
There are resources available to us today that allow us to: 1) be better prepared before attempting to contact a prospect, and 2) “pull” prospects to us.

1) Be Prepared
Many salespeople call prospects with little knowledge about the company or person they’re calling. In 2010 this is completely unacceptable to prospective customers. They expect us to know something about their company or they will simply not engage us.

Prospects don’t want to hear about our company; they want to know that we are knowledgeable about them. Knowing something about their company elevates their perception of us.

It’s simple and fast to reference Jigsaw, NetProspex, LinkedIn, Ryze, Plaxo, Xing, etc. on the web.

2) Pull-Prospecting
Instead of beating the phone to death (which we know doesn’t work so well anymore), why not have prospects come to us? Your competitors are doing this. It’s time for you to start too.

Your primary objective in the activities below is to become a noted authority in your industry. Someone that people go to when they have a need. To become referable.

• Beginners in pull-prospecting will join LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to establish a presence. They will join groups and pages aligned with their industry on LinkedIn and Facebook and participate in discussions.
• Intermediates in pull-prospecting can write short articles specific to their industry and distribute them to prospects and customers. They can also guest post on blogs relevant to their industry.
• Advanced pull-prospectors will start a blog. See blogger.com.

The New Realities
Many of us grew up using The Yellow Pages and a phone to prospect. It’s all we had.

We now have many more resources available, thanks to the Internet. Because of the plethora of information on the web, we can know more about prospects before we initiate contact. We have to know more. It’s a new rule of engagement.

The Internet also gives us an opportunity to gain credibility in our field and become referable – to pull prospects to us.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer
—
By Scott R. Sheaffer,
“Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—
—
—
—
—

We’ve all done it. We’ve wasted ginormous (this is actually a word) amounts of time and resources selling to the wrong people. People who aren’t empowered to buy.

When the reality hits us that we’ve been chasing leaves in the wind, it always feels like a slug in the gut.

3 Kinds of Non-Buyers
These non-buyers fall into three general categories: 1) recommenders, 2) information gatherers and 3) influencers. Non-buyers are normally involved in any kind of significant purchase. However, for something to be sold, a decision maker has to enter the scene at some point – the sooner the better.

Not only is a decision maker necessary, but our chance of closing an opportunity goes from nearly zero to something far north of zero when we deal directly with decision makers.

Attributes Of Non-Buyers
These are a few of the common characteristics of non-buyers posing as decision makers:

• Pride. Virtually all sales tips deal with an element of this deadly sin in our customers. When we ask non-buyers if they have the authority to order, we frequently won’t get a truthful answer. Non-buyers find it hard to say, “I don’t have the authority to sign that contract.”
• They’re immensely available and always willing to talk with us.
• They’ll commit to everything, just short of a purchase. They know they’ll never make a decision to buy anything from us.  As a result, they’ll never be held accountable for anything either.
• Title incongruity. This is a fancy way of saying that non-buyers may be Executive VP’s, but they don’t have any of the normal privileges associated with the title – like the ability to buy. If you sell to banks, large utilities, telecom monopolies, etc., you know exactly what I’m talking about. Every third person is a VP of something.
• CXO’s. Most C-level executives don’t make buying decisions. They don’t have the attention span, time or interest in getting tied up in the majority of purchases. We can invest ginormous (remember, it’s a real word) amounts of time getting to C-levels only to find they have no interest in getting involved.

2 Sales Tips To Help Us Limit Black Holes
1. Ask the following potent question early in the selling cycle, “Besides yourself, who else is involved in the buying decision?”

This question is powerful. It strips out the pride issue because it assumes the person we’re addressing has buying authority. This question can only be answered in one of two ways:

• “No one else is involved.” If he or she is telling the truth, you’ve found a decision maker.
• “I’ll have to run this by…” You’ve probably found a recommender, information gatherer or influencer when you hear this.

2. Qualify the opportunity from all dimensions. We’re always in a better position to identify decision makers when we’ve done our homework on budget, competitors, timeframe, legal issues, product fit, etc.

The Single Biggest Problem
When we find ourselves in a situation where we’ve been pursuing the wrong person (i.e. recommender, information gatherer or influencer), it’s usually a result of our not assertively asking enough questions up front.

If we’re afraid to ask the questions that need to be asked, we increase our odds of heading down the spiral of a selling black hole.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Find a New Sales Job

I have an engineer friend, Steve, who uses a phrase that could be a candidate for one of the best sales tips I know.

“Don’t put the ‘buddy cap’ on.”

When he uses this expression he is referring to people who act as if they’re your best friend long before they’ve earned the right.

He’s offended when people do this to him. I agree with his sentiments.

Examples From Sales
I continually see this kind of superficiality in sales professionals. The following are real examples from cold calls I’ve overheard or have received:

“We need to catch up on things at lunch.”
“As a friend I…”
“Hi buddy, do you have a second to talk to me about…”

Prospects are on high alert for this kind of facade. It produces precisely the opposite effect of what’s desired.

It instantly labels the salesperson as disingenuous, manipulative and shallow. The prospect immediately feels a need for more distance. Not good.

The Real Formula For Rapport
In our personal relationships, we build genuine connections by showing an interest in people and helping them when they need us. Doing so creates a genuine bond over time with our friends.

Our relationships in sales are no different. This should come as no surprise since we’re dealing with people in both cases. I’m from the “people are people whether at work or home” school of thought. Sometimes we forget this.

While I’m On The Subject
While I’m on the subject of insincerity in sales, let me close with one of the most objectionable verbalizations when cold calling:

“How are you doing?”

The person on the receiving end immediately translates these words to, “I want something from you and I could not possibly care less about how you’re actually doing.”

Not a great way to plant the seed of a relationship. Remove, “How are you doing?” from your sales vernacular. Some of the best sales tips are those that tell you what to eliminate.

Sales Blog Verdict
We’re not a prospect’s best friend the first time we contact them. Both parties know this.

Helping prospects with their needs over time is the formula for legitimate interpersonal connections.

There is no shortcut.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Find a New Sales Job