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...]
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...]
3 Customer Service Secrets
How would you rate your cell phone company’s customer service? To get the answers to these questions, we conducted a survey and here are some of the words consumers used most often: Dread Frustrated Angry Hopeful I’ll bet you can add some of your own words to that list, but the end result would probably be more negative ones than positive. Customer service basics are a part of all inside sales positions. How are you at these crucial skills? Take the following quiz yourself and … [Read more...]
5 Steps to Making Appointments Stick
Nothing is more frustrating than making an appointment with a good sales prospect and then calling and getting their voicemail at the time of the meeting. Actually, there is something more frustrating: having to then chase these sales prospects and never connecting with them again! If you would like to make your appointments more “sticky” and actually have your sales prospects be there when you call, then follow the 5 steps below: Step One: Don’t just send a meeting request and then … [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...]
When Is the Best Time to Reach Prospects & When Should You Follow Up?
Successful agencies turn to data when trying to maximize sales and marketing efforts. Agents today juggle tasks from sales, to marketing, to administrative follow-ups. Knowing when to dial your leads shouldn’t be a task, it should be basic knowledge. Successful agencies don’t share this information, but they dial when the data says the consumer is most likely to answer, and convert to a sale. Smart agencies plan for scaling their practices and never follow the status quo. Data and … [Read more...]