The Jeffrey And Tracey Info Emporium

“You don’t have to keep calling me!”

“Stop calling me!”

“It’s 10 o’clock Monday morning, what nerve!”

“I’m going to be hanging up on you!”

“What part of no did you not understand?”

“Who’s your manager?”

Do any of these responses above sound familiar? I bet they do! In fact, it would not surprise me if you are smiling right now because you also have experienced one, two or all of these responses. If you have then you understand that such mean responses come with the territory. I commend you for this because you are indeed a true cold caller! We can laugh now, but when you are in the moment and on the receiving end of these responses it can be very intense. It’s really hard not to take these responses personally. And yes, it’s hard to stay positive when you hear so much negativity. And yes, such negativity from your sales prospects can turn a great day into a not so great day.

So how does Mr. Cold Call deal with mean prospects? First of all, there is no single answer. However, there are ways to deal with it or at least reduce cold call frustration on your end and cold call resistance on their end. Here are four suggestions to keep in mind:

1. PROSPECTS WILL TAKE OUT THEIR PROBLEMS ON YOU!

The workplace along with outside pressures such as family and finances cause us a tremendous amount of stress. The sales prospects that you are contacting are not immune to these pressures and you must keep this in mind when you are making cold calls. When you encounter a prospect that is a bit “out of control” for the most part just back off. I would then try contacting them a few weeks later and make mention to the fact that you may have caught them at a bad time. In my experience, I have found this to be a good strategy since most people do not expect you to call back and do admire your persistence.

2. HUMOR HAS A PERMEATING EFFECT TO CHANGE A PROSPECT’S ATTITUDE FROM NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE.

Humor also has the power to create and build rapport with your prospects as well! Take a personal risk and add humor when you are on the telephone with your prospect. If your prospect is acting resistant or if they’re stressed out humor can act as a perfect escape for your prospect. One minute they’re having a bad day your light humor can give them a reason to have a FANTASTIC DAY! One line that seems to lighten the mood is when a prospect is about to hang up on you. I then reply, “(FIRST NAME OF PROSPECT), Are you going to hang up on me?” I have found this to lighten the tension of the call.

3. REMEMBER THAT LIFE IS 10% WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU AND 90% OF HOW YOU REACT TO IT.

Read this quote from Charles Swindoll, American author, he writes about the importance of your attitude and how you use it to react to life as a whole.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

4. WHEN YOU HEAR MEAN RESPONSES EXCHANGE YOUR STORIES WITH FELLOW CO-WORKERS.

When you experience mean responses from your prospects it’s healthy to get these internal frustrations out of your system. You will find that when you exchange stories with fellow co-workers it can be very self-satisfying and can even be cathartic. If you know that you are not alone in dealing with mean prospects then it makes cold calling less frustrating and easier to manage.

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call

Daniel Arenzon, known as Mr. Cold Call, has developed a series of non-traditional cold calling and sales prospecting strategies to effectively reach key business decision makers such as C-Level and Senior-Level Executives. His techniques have been tested and proven as a result of making over 80,000 cold calls working for companies such as CBS MarketWatch, Futures Magazine and Dartnell Publishing. MR. COLD CALL has been quoted and featured in a variety of sales publications including an audio program produced by Selling Power Magazine called, “Accelerate Your Sales.” Arenzon has personally spoken at companies such as Brown & Bigelow, Smith Barney, UBS, First Southern Bank, Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, New York Life Insurance, American Express, Pre-Paid Legal Services, New England Financial, A.G. Edwards, Morgan Stanley and Docutek Imaging Solutions.

For more information on Mr. Cold Call and to sign up for his free weekly cold calling tips please visit http://www.mrcoldcall.com

We make sales by communicating; whether by letter; email; talking; website; newsletters; flyers; brochures. All are intended to get your message out to your marketplace.

In previous articles I’ve described how – and what – you say or write affects your message and the results you get. Now let’s have a look at a simple sequence of communication that is effective in getting sales…

You’ve probably heard advertising agencies or publications say you need to run an advert at least 6 or 7 times for people to notice and respond. I tend to disagree with this wide sweeping statement. I believe it all depends upon the type of advert, how well targeted the publication is and how well formulated the advert is. If all of these elements are spot-on you can expect results from the first advert placed.

However - there’s always an ‘however’ isn’t there? The same can’t always be said for direct response communication into a new marketplace, whether by email or letter.

If the person you are writing to does not know you or your business; has never even heard of you – then your first job is to familiarise them with the benefits of what they can get from you. The real reason – from their point of view – as to why they should do business with you. (I’m assuming here that you have done your research and selected only people who have already demonstrated an interest in what you offer).

And – provided you create your message in an evocative, compelling way – it is as easy as 1-2-3! (By the way, it doesn’t matter what medium you use – electronic, postal mail, or whatever – the principle is the same).

This simple process has worked very effectively for my clients…

1) Write an introductory message. This message must be compelling and could, perhaps, give a hint of what’s to follow. For one of my clients we sent a 1-page letter from a staff member telling the prospect, who was specifically targeted, that she thought her Managing Director ‘had lost the plot’ because of the crazy deal he was about to launch to them.

She told the reader to look out for the package from her MD, which should arrive within 2 – 3 weeks. The P.S. said the reader could phone if they wanted to get in ahead of the crowd.

The first letter created a flurry of phone calls. (If you would like to see what the letter contained send an email to letter@aweber.com – you will be asked, by email, to confirm you do want to receive it).

2) Your second message expands further on the first. If you’ve used your first letter as a teaser – as I did for my client – your second gives the full story. It clearly explains all about the service or product you are offering; the benefits the reader will enjoy; testimonials from other customers/clients who have already benefited; bonuses being offered and a call to action (the response you want from your reader).

For my client this was the ‘package’ from the MD explaining more about the offer. It satisfied the people who had read the first letter and were curious to know more – but not curious enough to phone up. It generated enquiries about, and appointments for, the free demonstration he was offering.

3) A follow-up reminder. In each of your messages always refer to the fact that you have written before. This creates consistency of communication in the recipient’s mind and they become more familiar with you, your offer and the benefits you intend to deliver.

In my client’s campaign we followed up with a message from the first sender asking if they’d received the package because she hadn’t seen their name on the demonstration list and she was concerned that they’d missed it.

Sending a reminder is perfectly acceptable and many people will thank you – especially if the offer has a time-limit they might have missed because they got too busy.

When sending your ‘missives’ test using different media – we used a letter for the first contact, then a package which included an audio CD / CDRom presentation; followed by a reminder postcard.

The other elements of contact could just as easily have been an email, a newsletter or a phone call.

©2005 Original Work by Carol Bentley

Learn more about Persuading People to Buy… Subscribe to your free reports, with no obligation, at
http://www.CarolBentley.com

Carol is the author of ‘I Want to Buy Your Product… Have You Sent Me a Letter Yet? (How to create powerful sales letters, advertisements, flyers, brochures, web pages and newsletters that persuade hundreds, or even thousands, of additional customers and clients to buy from you!) (Rated 5-star on Amazon.co.uk)

“Outstanding! It shows you an easy way to transform mediocre letters to explosive letters - the kind that get noticed, get read, get sales!”
- Dr. Joe Vitale, author of way too many books to list here, including “The Attractor Factor” http://www.mrfire.com

This book is available at a special offer at http://www.CarolBentley.com/offer

You can contact Carol’s office for copywriting enquiries through her website’s contact form.

Paint a Picture With Your Words

Depending on what you sell, it is not always easy to get your
point across, so it is very important to paint a picture with
your words to give your customer a visual of your product, or a
visual of themselves using your product.

When you are meeting someone face to face, and you can show them
your product up close, it is easy for them to get a visual
because they are looking at it with their own eye’s, and they
can hold it in their own hands.

But seeing and feeling the product is not enough. You want your
customers to see themselves using your product. You want to give
them the visual of being in action with the product.

For instance, the last time I was on the market for a car, I
went to a local dealership looking to test drive some jeeps.

The salesman showed me the jeeps he had on sale, and he even let
me test drive a few of them.

Not only did he go over all of the wonderful features the jeep
had to offer, such as the CD player, the electric windows, and
the heated seats. He also said to me; Can’t you picture yourself
cruising through the mountains with the sun setting behind you,
and a cool breeze flowing through the open cabin as you play all
of your favorite Cd’s?

The visual of me cruising up into the mountains in my new jeep
with mother nature in all of her glory was all I needed to
picture in my mind, and I was sold.

Well, I still have that jeep, and I enjoy it just as much today
as I did the day I bought it. However, I have yet to experience
anything as serenely as I had visualized the day I test drove it
for the first time.

But the salesman’s technique worked. I bought the jeep.

If I were selling baseball bats, I would give my customers the
visual of hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth too win
the game with the exact bat they were holding in their hand.

I could sit here all day coming up with scenarios to get my
point across, but I think you get the picture.

So the next time you sell a product, paint a picture. Put a
visual in your customer’s head of them using the product in a
positive light. It will make a world of difference.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as
the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and
active.

Nothing develops or displays your character better than your desire to put others first. As our friend Zig Ziglar says, The best way to get what you want out of life is to help others get what they want. Empathy and genuine concern encourage communication.

When someone feels love or unconditional acceptance, they will be open to your influence. To be this open, people have to know that you empathize with their situation.

Empathy has Latin and Greek roots. The two parts of the word mean “to see through” and “the eye of the other.” Seeing through the eye of another creates long-term influence. When people know that you can see what they see, feel what they feel, hurt the way they hurt, then they will be willing to be influenced by you. The whole world is full of people trying to make us do things for their reasons. All we need to do is pause to understand who we are dealing with, what they are thinking, and why they are thinking those things. Once we understand these principles, we have empathy and the door of influence swings wide open.

If you have a hard time empathizing with others then you’re not alone. This skill is not learned in school or on the streets. We learn empathy by really caring about the people we help and serve. Modern life doesn’t give us many opportunities to serve others. So, you must turn to those you work with and look for opportunities to serve them and their needs. When a client feels his representative really cares about him, understands him, and would never sell him anything he would not need, that persuader has a customer for life. In fact, he doesn’t need to sell anymore. He has established such a high level of influence that all he needs to do is present the product and the deal is done.

Empathy and caring are part of having humility. When you are humble, you demonstrate to others that you are not driven by ego and pride, nor are you out to get the best for yourself.

If you need to find ways to develop empathy, ask yourself the following questions:
-How would I feel if I were that person?
-Why is that person feeling this way?
-How can I help?
-How would I feel if that happened to me?

Basically, be sure to always consider the universal needs of everyone: approval, attention, praise, encouragement, understanding, and acceptance. When you accept the whole person unconditionally, you create empathy. You accept their strengths and triumphs along with their weaknesses, failures, doubts, and fears. We can learn a lot about empathy from the ancient classic, Tao-te-Ching, by Lao-tzu: “Evolved leaders win the trust and support of the people through their complete identification with them. The interests of people are naturally promoted because they become the interests of the leader as well.”

When you have a skeptical audience or prospect, analyze and implement these ten points.

a) Be sure your appearance is polished and professional. How do you appear to your audience? Do you appear self-assured and in control of the situation? Do you maintain good eye contact?

b) Use highly credible and believable sources, facts, statistics, and stories. Cite evidence, identify sources, and give source qualifications. Write and publish relevant articles or a book.

c) Research your audience. Be sure you explain the issue in terms that are relevant to them. Demonstrate you have their best interest in mind.

d) Explain your background, expertise, and qualifications so they know why you have the credibility to even speak to them on the subject. Display or promote your qualifications. They confer status and expertise.

e) Adopt a language and style suitable to the listener, the topic, and the setting. Watch vocal fillers like um, er, and ah. They detract from the message and your credibility. Use assertive language.

f) Emphasize your similarities in a way that makes them relevant. Listeners find it easier to identify with sources they perceive as similar to themselves. Use similar industries, colleges, home states, and professional sports teams – anything to strike a chord of familiarity. Familiarity breeds rapport.

g) Have another high credibility individual (in the eyes of your audience) introduce you. Testimonials substantiate your expertise. Find third party testimonials that endorse your position.

h) Be prepared, organized, and know your position. Make that great first impression. Make sure your presentation is rehearsed and polished. Educate, inspire, and entertain with passion, compassion, and purpose.

i) Make sure any printed material or literature has been carefully proofread and presented in a neat and professional manner. Nothing detracts from your credibility more than sloppy supplemental material. Make sure all your material is appropriate and understandable.

j) Be prompt. People who are always showing up late are considered less competent, composed, and sociable than people who arrive on time.

Conclusion
Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. It is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale! Take your test now at http://www.prewealth.com/iq

Kurt Mortensen teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others. Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis.

What was the quickest rejection you ever got? 2 minutes into your call? 1 minute? 15 seconds, 3 seconds?

Resistance comes in many forms in sales. Buyers may resist from the beginning of the presentation to the very end. And yet by using some simple steps we can reduce this resistance to increase our sales performance.

Here’s an analogy: many people exercise using resistance training. It’s good for you. Encountering resistance during the sales process can also be good for you. It lets you work your sales muscles, enabling you to become a stronger sales person. Too much resistance may not help you achieve your goals, though. Plan for resistance in advance and you can help eliminate or reduce it.

Create a planned presentation that takes into account, step by step, all concerns and objectives your prospects may have. Look at every point in the sales process. Examine them and look for ways to make it easy for a prospect to say “yes” to you. Here, then, are 12 steps to decrease resistance and increase sales:

1. Sound confident. Your voice gives you away. Your voice is an emotional barometer. If you’re not comfortable, your prospects will hear it in your voice. There’s a hesitancy, a slight stutter or stumble when we’re not confident. Your confidence will give your prospects confidence to do business with you.

2. Rehearse names beforehand. Nothing says I don’t know you faster than a fumbled name.

3. Do your homework. The number one complaint buyers have about sales people is that they don’t know enough about the targeted buyer or even their own products. There are lots of ways to research. Check the company’s website, look at their printed materials, and do a “google” search. Finally, don’t forget to ask questions during your sales call.

4. Phase your words positively. There’s a big difference between saying “If you order an additional 25 I can drop the price to ___” and “You don’t need another 25, do you?” Drop the words “no” and “not” from your vocabulary. There’s no need to suggest a negative.

5. Listen. People will tell you everything and more if you let them. Listen actively and objectively. Focus on what is being said as well as what is not being said. If you’re on the phone, don’t multi-task. Multi-tasking is the enemy of good listening.

6. Ask questions to discern needs. Use open ended questions to generate information. Open ended questions start with words like who, what, where, when, which, why, and how. Use closed ended questions when you need to get “yes” or “no”. Closed ended questions start with word such as: is, are, can, may, have, and do.

7. Listen some more. See #5

8. Propose solutions based on buyer needs. If you’ve listened, this should be easy. If it’s not easy, there may not be a good fit between your product and your prospect. If you’re looking for a long term relationship, sell only to needs. You’ll make more sales in the long run.

9. Keep listeing. Notice the pattern here. Remember, the seller should always talk less than 50% of the conversation.

10. Ask for agreement. How often have you spoken with a salesperson who doesn’t come to the point and ask for the order? Make sure that’s not you. Don’t forget to ask for agreement in order to close the sale. When you ask for agreement, the “yes” from the buyer closes your sale. A “no” says you’ve more work to do.

11. Follow up. You’ll close as many sales on the 8th try as on the 1st. It’s been said that the fortune is in the follow up.

12. A positive attitude. If you think you can, you will. It’s a simple tool but it works.

If you think in terms of decreasing resistance, if you build it right into your presentation, you’ll find it easier to get “yes’s”.

Jo Ann Kirby is president of KRG Communications Group. Her experience includes many years in inside sales/management and an extensive background in training and development. Known throughout her career as a coach and motivator of sales people, Jo Ann has worked with a wide variety of sales positions in different industries. Find out more at http://www.krgcommunications.com

In business, it’s a common saying to “Never Let Them See You Sweat.” But sometimes it’s just plain hard to keep unemotional as you do business with someone. When you close a big deal, get permission to build a fantastic piece of art and get paid an unreal amount of money for the project, it’s pretty hard to maintain professional composure. You want to jump up and down, hug the client and turn cartwheels. But we must maintain our dignity.

Can you imagine the reaction you’d get from the client? They might be horrified. They’d be thinking, “these people are just too excited, this must be the first big job they’ve ever sold, what have I done, how can I get out of this?”

So we pretend that this is commonplace, that it happens all the time, maybe missing a chance to really experience child-like joy. Then we get home and we can’t really talk to friends and neighbors about the joy. We have to keep it safely bottled up, because if we let it out, they’ll think we’re bragging or gloating or showing off. Besides, they didn’t know that we’d been up all night for months, sick with worry, wondering how we were going to make ends meet.

I remember the first time we sold a job and were paid a princely sum. It was a rare occurrence. We usually scratch from one job to the next and here we were facing a client who not only wanted what we could do, they weren’t trying to cut our throats in the process. We’re usually so used to “starving artists syndrome” that we immediately go into cut our price mode when the subject of cost is raised.

The client handed me a check for 50% of the job as if it were nothing, and maybe to him it was little or nothing. But to me, this was enough operating capital to keep our studio going for the 3 months it would take to build his windows, but it would also allow us to go on another three months. I walked away, electric pulses running through my body, maintaining my composure. But through my head, I kept thinking, “this is enough to buy a car, I could go out and pay cash for a car. He just gave me enough money to run my business and to buy a car!”

I didn’t do anything so foolish. There were materials to purchase for the job, inventory to replace, and tooling to maintain. As we got used to the funds, and they began to be used up, my excitement began to cool to a level where it was easy to maintain my composure. But, every now and then, I yearn for the freedom to really enjoy good things, to laugh and dance and express the pure joy of the moment of success.

One thing we have been able to do is thank God for the blessings. We often don’t know what we did to gain a particular success. I like to say, “If I knew what I did, I could do it again.” But we decieded a few years back, that the Lord was doing a lot in our behalf and we really ought to thank him. So we did, and found that the more we thanked him, the more we saw his hand in our lives.

One day, a client came in while I was teaching a class and we made a deal right then and he paid me and the deal was closed in such a short time during a busy moment that I didn’t have time to get excited and be really grateful to the Lord. I figured I could thank him when the day was over and there were fewer people around. But when that time came, I found that the moment had passed. I hadn’t taken the time to celebrate, so I missed out on that moment. Maybe that was good, because it taught Jeanne and I that even though we can’t always let the world see our excitement, we can sure let God see it, but we can’t be bashful about it. Either praise him or don’t, but don’t figure you can at a later time.

David Gomm started building stained glass windows professionally back in 1983 and has become an expert at many aspects of stained glass building, design and repair. He writes a monthly newsletter at http://www.betterstainedglass.com

He also has a website with many other articles at http://www.gommstudios.com

These articles may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as the entire article, copyright notice, links and this resource box are unchanged, or if using a portion of the article, it points back to one of our pages where the entire article resides. Copyright © David Gomm All Rights Reserved.

As a salesperson, your ultimate goal, of course, is to make that sale. But the process begins with selecting your best prospect. The objective is to spend more time with your best prospects and less time with suspects.

In order to do that, there are three ‘secrets’ or keys to getting in front of your best prospects:

• Define or identify who your best prospect is.

• Be active. The primary reason sales people fail is lack of activity and/or focus.

• Be persistant. Follow up with clients. Be there when they need you.

Who, then, is your best or ideal prospect? The obvious answer is anyone who has a need, can write a check or make a decision. If you were to pursue that avenue, however, you would be reaching out to nearly everyone. Remember, you’re not interested in any prospect, you need to identify your best prospect.

For example, if you asked a successful realty agent who their best clients are, they would say someone who is renting but looking to buy, or a homeowner who wants to sell. That makes sense, but it’s too ambiguous. The next logical question would be “What is your primary source of income?” The answer: Listings – a realty agent’s best prospect is someone who wants to sell their home, because that’s where the money is.

You have narrowed the field, but need to take it a step further. Your next question, then, is “Who is most likely to sell their home?” We posed this question to Paradigm Associate real estate clients.

After careful thought, consideration and research, they identified three target groups who would be most likely to sell their home in the Metro New York area. They include households that no longer have children in the school system, therefore, they do not want to pay exorbitant property taxes associated with large single family homes; households impacted by consolidations and layoffs in banking, finance and advertising – many have decided they no longer can afford or need the proximity to New York City; and homeowners employed by international companies where employees are likely to be transferred every few years, because often, they are responsible for buying/selling their own homes.

Based on that information, it would make sense to devise a selling strategy that focuses on reaching out to these three specific market segments as opposed to reaching out to everyone who may or may not move in the next two years.

Therefore, when defining who your best prospect is:

• Review your prior sales records and activity logs and compile a list of why your customers purchased from you in the past.

• Next, confirm that these are, in fact, the reasons they selected your firm. The most effective way to do this is to call your customers.

• Ask your clients the following questions – What was the major benefit you received by working with our organization? Why did you select us and not our competition? What advice do you have for us? That is, what should we be doing more/less of? What should we be doing differently?

The first two questions remind both you and your clients about your strengths, your capabilities and they reaffirm the things you do well. It’s much easier to reach your best prospects when you are clear about what distinguishes you from your competition. The third question allows you to develop a close relationship with your customer. Not only will you discover future needs, but it presents an opportunity to become a trusted advisor. More often than not, the best prospects in your market will buy from those they trust.

Once you have identified your best prospect, remain active. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have a list of 25 decision makers I can contact each day?

• Do I see at least one key decision maker each day and have an agenda prepared for them?

• Do I have a clear picture of how my product or service can benefit my future client?

• Do I have goals in place for each of my customers?

• Do I have a follow-up system in place?

That last question leads to my final point – You need to be persistant. In my more than 18 years of sales training, what I have found in tracking results is that our clients work with us not because of our good looks, best jokes or tee times, but because we follow up.

The best and most successful firms are those whose sales people are persistant. I recently had a discussion with Lew Hoff, Founder and CEO of Bartizan Data Systems. He told me about his firm’s first client which he signed on in 1970 and who remains with him today. Through the years, this client has provided Bartizan with more than $1.5 million in revenue. After all these years, Lew asked his customer why they chose Bartizan over the four more experienced providers. His client’s response was, “Because you were the only one who followed up.”

Michael W. O’Reilly is a Senior Business Development Director for Paradigm Associates, LLC, an executive leadership development firm based in Cranford, NJ. He specializes in working with privately held companies that are focused on succession planning or assuring optimal value as a takeover target. His primary focus is helping organizations implement strategies to double their business, strengthen systems and gain easier access to capital. Recognized as a former salesperson, trainer and franchisee for Dale Carnegie Training, O’Reilly and his instructional and sales teams have worked with more than 3,000 business people from 200 different companies. He is a recognized speaker on the subjects of sales strategies and business development.

Visit http://www.ParadigmAssociates.US

Something I’ve seen over and over is that many of my clients originally believed that marketing and lead generation is supposed to bring “as many people through the door” as possible. It isn’t. It is about “getting the most qualified people through the door.”

I’ve developed a rule of thumb in my business consulting that has helped me identify one of the big problems my clients frequently have. The rule goes this way:

If there are

• two different groups responsible for lead generation and sales, and
  • if marketing success (advertising, lead generation) seems extraordinarily high,
  • while the sales close ratio is way down (maybe 1 in 10)
    then the chances are that the marketing and lead generation efforts are not qualifying the leads.

  Then the target has been to get the most people through the door instead of the most qualified people.

One of my sales trainees ended up with an extremely high cold calling response rate. It was nearly 90% of every live person she could reach. She was convincing nearly everyone she could actually talk to to explore the next steps.

She had convinced one of the other companies in the class to hire her to do their telemarketing. The result of her telemarketing was that she was bringing in a flood of leads to their sales department. The problem was that the sales department was not able to close many of these leads.

She could generate lots of leads. She could generate a lot of interest but she had failed to qualify these people, to make sure that they could and would be able to buy.

On one hand it proved that what we had been doing in the sales training worked as she was able to generate so much interest. On the other, she was abusing the influencing skills she had developed in our class, and wasn’t qualifying the people before passing the lead on to sales.

Let me give you another rule of thumb I use. The sales process usually is more labor intensive than the marketing and lead generation process. If the leads aren’t being qualified in the marketing step then a lot of time is wasted in the sales process talking to unqualified people. The sales response rates will drop and not really indicate the true sales success.

If a sales person is talking to a qualified prospect his sales close ratio should be in the 40-50%, or even higher, range. However, if he is fed leads that aren’t qualified, he is having to qualify leads that should have been qualified by the marketing and lead generation process and taking a lot of valuable sales time. Now his sales success will go through the floor.

So, if you see a high marketing, lead generation success and low sales success look into the fact that they might be receiving unqualified leads as a potential cause before accusing sales of being failures or before providing training to the sales department.

If, as is frequently the case, the sales department is also responsible for generating their own leads, I’ve frequently seen sales people that are excellent at lead generation but couldn’t close a deal if their job depended on it, and it does. I’ve also seen excellent closers that couldn’t find a lead with both hands. Evaluate your sales team by assessing these two separate skills. They are, indeed, two separate skills and frequently not at the same skill level in your sales people.

Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader’s Perspective, LLC is considered one of the world’s leading sales trainers & breakthrough specialists. He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on projects in the multi-billion dollar area, and with single proprietor companies. He has worked on many hundreds of projects with companies that have resulted in multi-$100 million savings or gains.
With over 35 years of business, and sales experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:

• Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I can’t, this won’t work for me, I’m different)
• By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking

He helps companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible….FASTER

http://www.leaders-perspective.com/sales-training.aspx

mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com

Linda felt like she had reached a plateau in her cleaning business. For the past 3 years, she’d run the same ads in the same publications with the same results. She would generate enough new clients to make up for the ones she lost due to normal attrition, but she was never quite able to get beyond her mediocre success.

“I feel a little stuck,” she shared in our last call. “Every time I try running another ad or sending another mailer, I only generate enough new work to make up for the additional cost I’ve expended. I can’t hire an additional employee until I get more work, but I can’t seem to get more work. I really want to make more income for myself and my family and think I could do it if I could just get some of these new marketing strategies to work out.”

My next question threw her — “What are you selling?” “What do you mean? I’m selling cleaning services,” she responded. “No, what are you REALLY selling? Or look at it this way, what are your clients buying?”

It took a couple more rounds before she understood what I meant. Many service business owners run out to the marketplace without a clear understanding of what they are selling or what their clients are buying. After awhile, they start getting clients by the shear fact that they’ve approached enough people to generate some interest. The problem comes once they’ve reached a plateau and can’t seem to grow beyond it.

It’s like golf. Anyone can learn to hit the ball and, if given enough strokes, get it in the hole. They can even become pretty good … but only sometimes. The rest of the time, they are hooking or slicing uncontrollably. They never play a consistent game. The key to success in golf is technique. If you do the right things consistently, you’ll play a good game every time (well, almost!).

In business, it’s the same thing – you need to do the right things consistently. Almost anyone can learn how to make a sale. It might not be in record speed or at a profit, but they can make the sale. The key is in being able to generate sales consistently up to and beyond your plateau.

Linda thought she was selling cleaning services, but upon closer investigation over the next couple of weeks, she learned that her clients were buying something a lot different. Based on surveys she conducted with her current clients, she learned that they hired her because they were buying:

• more time to spend with their spouse & children

• a clean house (not actual the actual “cleaning” service)

• time for themselves & their personal interests

• stress relief for taking one thing off of their plate

• marital bliss (no more fighting over household responsibilities)

This was a light bulb moment for her. She realized that her ads and mailers were selling a “cleaning service” when in actuality her prospects and clients wanted to buy a solution to their problems – not enough time, fights with their spouse, harried lifestyle. If she could provide the solution to just one of those pains, she would be serving her clients well.

Then quicko, chango, switcheroo – she re-focused her marketing efforts to focus on solving her prospects’ problems and began targeting overworked professionals and families with children. These simple changes helped her finally grow beyond the plateau where her business had stalled.

So, ask yourself — are your clients buying what you’re selling? What are you currently selling? If you contacted your clients this week, what would they say they are buying from you? Are you sure? Why not jot down a few questions that you can ask your clients during short, phone surveys this week?

Don’t have enough clients to do this yet? Perhaps you can work it into your conversations with prospects? Ask them why your service does or does not sound like something that will benefit them. Yes, I know this is hard, but the answers are your ticket to faster success.

Afraid to do this? Then it’s even more important! Trying to sell the wrong thing to the wrong people is just extending your learning curve and the length of your journey to sustainable success. So go for it!

About The Author

Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook series, *The Profitable Business Owner: A Step-by-Step System for Starting & Running a Successful Service Business*. Download Sample Chapters & get her free MiniCourse, *The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make & How To Avoid Them* at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ebooks.htm

kim@askthebizcoach.com

You can’t close sales unless you have access to the market! Market is defined as those who are ready, willing and able to acquire your products and/or services. Access to the market is known as leads. If your phone is ringing off the hook because of external conditions (inflation, interest rates, etc.), you’re getting good quality leads with a potentially high close rate. You should close 65% of those kinds of leads, particularly if you have a sensible benefit package.

The reason these kinds of leads have a high close ratio is because they came to you. In other words, these people were predisposed to hear about a deal. One of the three buying forces of want, need or fear motivated them to take overt action to investigate the value of the product or service. Close rates on an appointment of 25% to 35% are acceptable with most progressive telemarketing or direct mail companies. Since 65% of mail-in or call-in leads should close (they know that they want what you have), and since 25% to 35% of “you-go-to-them” leads close, it’s easy to see that the predisposition (or attitude of the client) is of paramount importance.

Example Referral:

Mr./Mrs.___________________
You have been referred to us by______________ They have recently acquired a ______. and feel that the value they received is something that you, too, would benefit from knowing about. Here is our information flyer. If you call us for an appointment, you will get a free gift worth $____ Look forward to meeting with you, _________________
, President
Call and ask for me personally (or call and ask for _________________.”)

Hint - Don’t give too much information in the flyer - stick with benefits, not specifics.

I know of a salesman who closes 90% of all referral leads. I also know of a national sales company which closes 85% of all referral leads. The company salespeople must be at every installation site during the day, because the neighbors come by (and buy!) to see what’s happening. I know of a dealer who was written up in a national magazine as a success story, who uses house parties at happy customers’ homes as nearly his exclusive means of lead generation. Referrals leads are gold and few companies are milking them thoroughly. Be sure to include referrals as a major part of your market plan.

There are 3 Kinds of Referrals

1) client calls you,

2) client stimulated by mail to call you, and

3) client was sent mail piece and was called in a follow-up effort.

The sale rates are 90%, 75% and 30%, respectively.

Say, by way of example, that some friend, neighbor or associate of one of your customers calls you out of the blue because he/she saw your product/service, was interested, and you did nothing to actively attract this new customer - these are 90% plus close rate leads. They want to buy. In the case of a stimulated call, in the event that you mailed information to the referrals that you received from a happy customer, the anticipated close rate of such leads is 75%. Although several factors can enter into this kind of lead generation, the close rate should still be well above 50%. In the third case of referral leads, you will have sent the information to the referral, but, having not heard back, will call them. You will find the close rate of such a lead generation method to be in the 40% to 60% range.

A great many factors come into play in this type of lead: actual need (application), affordability, how well this person knows the one who referred you to him, and how strong your sales appeal is. That’s a lot of factors. But there are basically three kinds of referrals. The first of them comes to you unexpectedly, the other two types are stimulated. “We have to spend money to generate leads. We’d rather pay you than pay the advertising companies.” “We’ll pay you $____ for any customer who does business with us” The “reward” should be something of high perceived value. You want to offer a reasonable incentive (consider the average cost of any other lead that you generate…).

Actual Referral Program

Customer Appreciation program

At Austin Photo-Lab, we have 2 ways to grow our business

1) We can pay the advertising companies
2) We can reward our valuable customers.

SO,

For every 1st time customer that calls and/or brings in a job and uses your name, we’ll give you a COLOR PRINT.

Thanks for your business and your referrals!

Austin Photolab
Austin, Texas, (555)555-5555

The bearer of this coupon, or a First Time Customer gets a
FREE 8×10 Color Print!

The person who referred me to Austin Photolab was:

Daniel Wadleigh is a nationally published marketing consultant and has programs for start-up and existing businesses including effective web sites, e-mail/database, other non-internet ways to drive them to your website, and low cost ways to get more new customers.

Go to: http://www.more-new-customers.com to get free copy of “Marketing to Men vs. Women- the 8 different responses” and a Free copy of “Market Research- 7 Questions to Ask to Start-up and 7 to Ask to Improve Any Business.”