I recently came across an article written by a "former" salesperson of CareerBuilder.com and his experience as a rep for one of the country's largest recruiting site. His training consisted of a canned script-presentation that was supposed to be delivered on every sales call...of which he was supposed to make 125 each day. He was also taught all the objections that would come up and how to handle them. What is this...1950? You can read the article (and the responses) here.
Obviously I am not going to argue about making a hundred calls a day Science of Cold Calling but doing it in such a rehearsed way is stupid. You can have an outline of what you want to talk about but the conversation needs to be tailored based on who is on the other end of the phone call.
Use yourself as an example...getting phone calls from prospective vendors is part of the job. Who would YOU rather hear from...someone talking from a script or someone who might actually help you? Good salespeople act as resources to their clients and prospects.
When you go "Old School" and read from a script and focus on memorizing comebacks to every objection you get...you will not find much success. That's why most companies dumped this sales approach decades ago. Smart salespeople can find ways around these restraints and still keep their job...OH and sell more!
ASK what their biggest challenge is! Tell them you talk with hundreds of people a week and often act as a clearinghouse or middleman for solutions to client problems. You might not have an answer now but you could end up talking with someone next week who had the same problem and figured it out. Ask them for permission to call back if you come across a great idea someone else used.
Think about this...you are not asking them to call back to try and shove your product or service down their throat...rather to share a strategy that actually worked for someone else who had the exact same problem. Use the fact that you talk to hundreds of people a month! Make yourself valuable by being a "think tank" or depository of industry best practices.
This type of selling can easily be assimilated into your normal daily routine. It requires just another 30 to 60 seconds but positions you so far above the zombies who just smile (or more likely frown) and dial.
Happy Selling!
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