Do you or your team suffer from call reluctance? Would you rather send emails than make calls? If you have to pick up the phone for a living, then I’ll bet making cold calls isn’t one of your favorite activities. And if you struggle making those calls, then take comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Speaking in public used to be the biggest fear someone could face (even before dying), but I think that for salespeople it’s making outbound calls. No one likes to be rejected, and the … [Read more...]
Overcome All Objections With This One Question
Want to know a secret about objections? There are really only two types: Real concerns that need to be addressed, and, once you do, you can then close on, and, Smokescreen objections hiding something else (like the real reason your prospect isn’t buying). Now here’s the trouble for many sales reps and teams: The most frequent objections they get are smokescreens and yet they try to overcome them as if they were real objections. And that never works. So, the question is: How do … [Read more...]
Objection: We Are All Set
As a sales rep, you need solutions to the problems you face when selling over the phone. You don’t need theory, you need actual word-for-word responses that aren’t salesy. Responses that work. And that’s why my blog has thousands of subscribers and why more and more sales teams are added daily. I thought you’d benefit from my most popular article I’ve published over the last two years. It’s no surprise it deals with objections you get while prospecting. Study these and adapt them to … [Read more...]
Why Use More Tie Downs and Trial Closes?
I don’t know why tie downs aren’t used more by sales reps selling over the phone. I was listening to an experienced rep the other day just pitch and ad-lib to a good prospect, and at the end of the call, she had no idea about the prospect’s level of interest, nor did she qualify the prospect. Tie downs (and trial closes) serve several important functions, including: Getting confirmation that the point you just made was understood and accepted by your prospect. This is especially important … [Read more...]
Closing Sales is Like First and Goal
Hope you’re enjoying the NFL playoffs. A client and I were talking about that Bear/Eagles game a few weeks ago, and (besides the Bear’s kicker—I do feel bad for him), we were talking about that last scoring drive of the Eagles. How they went for it on 4thdown with 56 seconds left—and scored the winning touchdown. That reminded me of what I was taught when I was new on the phone: that the sale doesn’t start until the fourth or fifth no. My manager used to tell me that it’s a like football: He … [Read more...]
Gift Yourself the Power Phone Scripts
What is the one thing you all wish for this season? More money, right? If you’re in sales, then the way to make more money is to close more sales. It’s that simple, isn’t it? And if you’d like to make more sales, then you need to upgrade your selling skills. Would you be willing to spend just $18.30 on yourself to do just that? If so, then the easiest way to do that is to gift yourself the bestselling book inside sales guide that has over 500 Word-For-Word Scripts, Phrases and Questions that … [Read more...]
Asking the Right Sales Questions… The Key to the Insurance Sale!
Most of the agents and advisors we train are amazed to find out that asking your clients the right sales questions, can make such a huge difference… Not only in making a sale… But also, in the size of the sale! Why? Because asking the right sales questions is how you find out what’s important to your clients. Which also helps you to provide your clients with the right solution to their problems. Plus, when you ask the right sales questions… Your clients will tell you exactly what you need to do … [Read more...]
You Have 5 Seconds to Make a Good Impression
Years ago, they used to say you had just a couple of minutes to make a good impression when selling over the phone. As the Internet got popular and email lost its luster, they said you had just a minute to grab someone’s attention and earn the right to continue your pitch. Then as texting became the new mode of personal communication, that one minute shrunk to about 30 seconds… These days, as even texting is being ignored, you’ve got about 5 seconds to diffuse the myriad of emotions and … [Read more...]
Sales Managers – Measure What Matters Most!
If you’re an inside sales manager, then you know all about metrics. In fact, whenever I consult with new clients, the owners and managers automatically begin showing me their call monitoring reports. They show me metrics on how many calls a rep is making, how much average time each rep spends on the phone, what the top of the funnel looks like, what their conversion rate is, and so on. When they ask me what I think, I tell them they are missing the most important thing. Now don’t get me … [Read more...]
The Close is in the Follow-Up
As a homeowner, I‘m always having to fix something. Those of you who own homes know exactly what I mean. I’m in the habit of getting a variety of quotes for the big stuff, and it’s amazing how some companies/sales reps follow up on a sales quote (and so get the business), and others don’t. Here’s a recent example: My air conditioning coil went out (my existing heating and air company—we’ll call them Air Quiet—quoted me $2,500 to replace it), so I decided to have another company—we’ll call … [Read more...]