Fixin' to Prospect

Last week we ran an article from Paul McCord in which he described Rachel, a young salesperson who was always busy, yet never really connected with prospects. McCord recently revisited the story to explain what he suggested Rachel do to fix her prospecting problem and kick start her sales.

"Rachel's problem is one well known to us Texans," says McCord. "In the vernacular of Texas, she had a "fixin'" problem. We Texans spend a great deal of time "fixin' to." We're always fixin' to prospect, fixin' to eat, or fixin' to take a shower. We're so involved with fixin' you'd think we never actually do anything. Rachel was always fixin' to prospect and seldom actually engaged in prospecting. The solution was to change her focus from fixin' to doin'."

McCord's three new prospecting activities for Rachel:

1. Calling
Her company's primary prospecting method is cold calling. She had a list of several hundred names to call of which she had made contact with very few. Her first task each day was to speak with a minimum of 15 individuals. That in itself is a big task. She may have to make 100 to 150 dials to connect with and speak to 15 prospects. If she makes 20 dials an hour, she could be on the phone 5 to 7 hours a day.

2. Networking
Rachel loves to network, but she had been spending her time at networking events that by their very nature presented limited opportunities. She attended three or four networking events a month held by various local chambers and she also attended two networking breakfast groups. During her 8 months of selling, she had made contact with less than a dozen quality prospects and had acquired none as clients.

Rachel was encouraged to change her networking focus from chambers and breakfast groups to organizations where a large number of prime prospects would gather - the associations of various industries.

3. Speaking
Rachel has developed a presentation about financial independence for women and is beginning to book presentations at various business, industry and women's organizations in town. The presentation is educational, not a sales pitch. Her goals are modest - get in front of and meet as many potential prospects as possible.

"Although Rachel and I have been working together for only three weeks or so, she has already tripled her monthly average of new prospect contacts," says McCord. "Her new secret weapon? She isn't fixin' to do anything any more - she's actually doin' prospecting now."

Author of "Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals," and "SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar," Paul McCord is president of McCord & Associates, a sales training and management-consulting firm.

Why Should I Buy From You?

Today is the final installment in our mini-series, "Why should I buy from you?" We've already covered two ways you can respond to this question when it is asked early on in the sales process. 1.) Respond by telling the truth and 2.) developing a great commercial. Here's the third strategy from Colleen Stanley: redirect - nicely.

"Redirecting is an influence skill that's often abused because the salesperson answers a question with a question without proper intent," says Stanley. "Redirecting a question with proper intent means seeking to understand the prospect's position. Many of us assign our own assumptions to a statement, question or word. 'Why should I buy from you?' is not the real question. Redirect to understand."

Example:
"That's a fair question and I could give you a pat answer like we are bigger, better and faster. I think what's most important is discussing what you look for when partnering with a new vendor. Tell me about some of your best partners and what makes them so good."

"The salesperson's intent is to understand the question behind the question," says Stanley. "Was this prospect burned by a company in the past? Are they unsure of how to make a right decision? Prospects will clarify and respond with key decision criteria, which opens the door for more and better questions."

Carefully prepare for questions like this, and you'll be that much closer to the sale.

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership Inc., a business development consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. The company provides programs in prospecting, referral strategies, consultative sales training, sales management training, and hiring/selection. Learn more at www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com

5 Steps to Overcoming the REAL Objection

In a perfect world when you're done with your presentation, the prospect says, "We'll take it!" signs a check, and sends you on your way. If only! Situations like this don't happen - and even if they do, the prospect almost always has some objections you have to overcome before they'll approve the sale.

What most people don't realize, according to sales trainer Rochelle Togo-Figa, is that "objections are a sign that the customer is interested, not the reverse." Unfortunately, many salespeople don't see it this way. "They're uncertain how to respond to the objection, so they come across unsure or end up giving away too much," says Togo-Figa.

Togo-Figa continues, "When an objection is raised, it's not necessarily a stop sign. The prospect may just be saying he or she has not been convinced yet and they want more information before making a buying decision."

Make sure you know what the real objection is, and then determine how you can prepare your response. Togo-Figa explains that often times objections like "I'm happy with my current vendor," "I want to think about it," or "Your price is too high" really mean "I don't have the money," "I think I can get a better deal elsewhere," or "I'm not impressed with your presentation." "Many times the prospect will not tell you the true objection, for fear of hurting your feelings," says Togo-Figa.

Here are 5 steps from Togo-Figa to uncover and overcome the REAL objections:

1. Listen carefully to the objection. Do you feel it is a valid objection or perhaps might be covering up the real objection? Try to find out by using this phrase: "Do you really mean..." or "Usually when a client tells me that, my experience has shown me they may have a concern about the price. Is that true for you?"

2. Get the prospect to commit to the objection. Reword the objection as a question. Example: "In other words, if price weren't an issue, would you be interested in working with me?" This gets the prospect to answer you directly and commit to the objection, so that you can begin to overcome it.

3. Determine whether it is the only stumbling block. Ask the prospect if the reason they've given is the only reason they're not doing business with you. Example: "If I could resolve this issue, are there any other issues standing in the way of our doing business?"

4. Answer the objection to resolve the issue and get agreement. Use everything you have in your sales toolbox to answer the prospect's objection. Show different cost options, prove benefits, present comparison charts, show testimonials, product knowledge, and believe in yourself.

5. Ask a closing question that confirms the sale. Make a non-pressuring statement that leads to the close. Example: "If I could..., would you be ready to go forward?" Or, "If I check with my office and it's a go, I'm assuming we have a deal. Is that right?" Using "if" when responding to an objection is a magical word. It takes the pressure off the prospect because you're not asking them to commit.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, the Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System. Visit her website at www.SalesBreakthroughs.com

Email Checklist

Usually I reserve Monday blog posts for quotes that apply to selling, to give you something to think about for the week.

I still have something for you to think about this week, but instead of a quote it's something from a post on Seth Godin's blog. He put together a long checklist of things you should think about before hitting "send" on an email.

There are some good reminders, like asking yourself:


--Do I have my contact info at the bottom? (If not, consider adding it)

--Could this email be shorter?

--Am I angry? (If so, save as a draft and come back to the note in one hour)

But here's the kicker you should keep in mind this week:

If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email would I?

With the overload of email we're subjected to each day, this is an excellent reminder to keep your communication to that which is necessary, pertinent, and important. Your customers will thank you.

Prison Break: Escaping from Voicemail Jail

All modern technology has its good aspects and its bad aspects - and none more than voicemail. Just ask the harried CEO with 34 messages after lunch, the inside sales rep who never gets to talk with anyone, or sales trainer Colleen Francis.

"We love voicemail because it lets us ignore calls we don't want to take, or prepare for calls we'd rather not take right now," says Francis. "We also hate it because it lets our prospects do the exact same thing - including ignoring calls from us! Like all business tools, voicemail can be a double-edged sword. If you know how to manage it, you'll never again have to blame voicemail for not closing enough business."

Here are Francis' tips to get out of voicemail jail free!

Never leave a voicemail message for someone who doesn't know you.
To the prospect, you're an anonymous caller. The chances of this stranger ever returning your call are, at best, about one or two percent! The only time you should ever leave a voicemail for a prospect is when you have been referred to them.

Voicemail should only be used as a last resort.
Too often, we give up as soon as voicemail kicks in on a call, either leaving a message (bad idea) or hanging up (better, but not great).

When in doubt, hit zero.
You owe it to yourself to try everything you can to either locate them, or at least find out something about them. One way to do this is to hit zero when a voicemail message kicks in. You'll likely get bounced to a receptionist, an executive assistant or a co-worker. Try asking the following question:

"I was hoping you could help me. I'm trying to reach Jane Smith, and her voicemail picked up. Do you know if she's in a meeting, or out for the rest of the day?"

Depending on the response you receive, you can then try one of the following strategies:

Strategy one:
Them: "She's in a meeting."
You: "Thanks for your help. Do you happen to know when she'll be available? Maybe it's best to call back then?"

Strategy two:
Them: "She's away today."
You: "Thanks for your help. Do you know if she will be back tomorrow?"

Strategy three:
If you speak to your prospect's personal assistant, ask if it's better to schedule a call in advance, and then have them set up a fifteen-minute appointment.

You can't make a sale if you don't talk to your prospect! Give these strategies a try, and let us know how you break out of voicemail jail.

Colleen Francis is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions. Sales and Marketing Management has ranked her one of the "5 most effective sales trainers in the market today." Subscribe to her online newsletter Engaging Ideas and you'll also receive 10 weeks of free sales tips.

"But I'm Always Prospecting!"

I read a great post recently on Paul McCord's blog about how "busy" salespeople can be. This is the same guy who only reads email and answers phone calls at four specific times throughout the day (something I haven't been able to bring myself to do!), so I trust he knows what he's talking about when it comes to productivity.

Here's his story:

"But I'm always prospecting." That was Rachel's response when we began talking about her failure to generate enough business to make the cut with her broker/dealer. Rachel is a relatively new salesperson who has been struggling for months and she and her manager have been trying to find a way to get her on track.

It didn't take long for the conversation to get around to her activities, in particular her prospecting activities. She was baffled by her lack of success because as she said, she was 'always prospecting.'

Rachel showed me a list of several hundred names and phone numbers she had on a call list - a few dozen had check marks beside them, even fewer were scratched through. She showed me the stacks of fliers and letters she had mailed out. She showed me a list of networking events she had attended over the past couple of months. She showed me a passel of follow-up emails she had sent out. She told me that her business card had been added to every corkboard in every restaurant, laundromat, and other business that had a board to display customers' cards.

Rachel had been busy; there was no doubt about that. The problem was although she had been busy, she hadn't been prospecting. In reality she was finding ways not to prospect. She engaged in a great deal of activity, but the activity she engaged in wasn't the activity that would produce business; instead, it was the activity that made her feel good, made her feel productive, allowed her to convince herself that she was being extremely active.

We salespeople tend to focus on activity - after all, activity is what gets us in the door, gets us the business we must have in order to succeed. But activity alone is fruitless. Activity for activity's sake is just as sure a way to failure as inactivity.

Investing time and energy in the wrong activities has killed as many sales careers as inactivity has. As salespeople we have three very basic duties - finding and connecting with quality prospects, working with those prospects to help them satisfy needs or wants, and insuring that they are taken care of during and after the sale. Everything else is busy work and busy work doesn't make a sale, doesn't generate income, and doesn't move us toward our sales or income goals.

Before you engage in any activity consider whether that activity is income producing or not. If it isn't directly producing income, does it really need to be done? If not, move on to an activity that will directly lead to a sale.

Author of "Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals," and "SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar," Paul McCord is president of McCord & Associates, a sales training and management-consulting firm.

How to Sell the Higher-Priced Option

Telesales expert Art Sobczak finds sales lessons everywhere. Recently he wrote about a conversation he overheard in the computer aisle of an electronics store.

Customer: "What's the difference between the $400 model and the $675 version?"

Sales Rep: "Well, it has a few more features, but the $400 model does a pretty good job."

The customer agreed to get the $400 model, and the rep went to retrieve one from the back. While waiting, I overheard the customer say to his wife, "I probably would have gone for the $675 version, but I guess we don't need it."

This happens all the time.

According to Sobczak, "When you hear questions about the differences between lower and higher-priced versions of what you sell, what they're really saying is, 'I could buy the higher-end product/service, but I'm not yet convinced of the value. So help me understand why I should get it.'"

Here are the typical mistakes Sobczak sees reps make in this situation, and what you should do instead:

Mistake: Gagging out a data-dump explanation
Just like at any point in the sales process, if you present data without knowing what, specifically, they would or could be interested in, it could cause their eyes to glaze over. Worse, you might provide fodder for an objection.

Mistake: Downplaying the higher-priced option
For fear of losing any type of sale, some reps play up the lower-priced option while not knowing anything about the prospect's situation. They make an assumption that the person won't buy higher. This assumption takes money out of the rep's pocket.

"Again, keep in mind that when they ask about the higher-priced item they could be saying, 'I can be sold on the higher-priced version...I just need to justify it,'" says Sobczak. "Your first response should not be presenting. Instead, question. Focus questions on uncovering reasons why the top-of-the-line version delivers more value, to determine if that's what they need or want."

For example, "Well, the Deluxe Option has a few nice extras that might be a good fit for you. Let's find out. Tell me, do you ever run into situations where you have to manually extract the additional data you need from your database? I see. Well, this version does that for you. And, how about situations where..."

Or, "I'll be happy to explain. So I can make my comments most relevant, please tell me, how do you plan on using the system?"

"There are many more sales reps who sell on low price than there are buyers who will buy strictly because of price," says Sobczak. "Find out what they need, and everyone wins."

Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone Inc., specializes in one area only: working with business-to-business salespeople - both inside and outside - designing and delivering content-rich programs that begin showing results from the very next time participants get on the phone. Learn more at www.businessbyphone.com