I am guessing no one has ever made you that offer, but I’m going to.

So what makes a telephone sales training program great?

• That the program was designed to change behaviors not present a fixed content
  Most telephone sales training is driven by a fixed set of content developed by the trainer. This content may or may not with the most common errors salespeople are making.

• That the content of the program focuses on “telephone sales” content and doesn’t simply repackage classic sales theory
  Most telephone sales training programs don’t cover key subjects like communication and the key differences between the telephone and in person sales effort.

• That the program attacks the actual errors being made by sellers in real time
  A program that operates primarily on a tactical level that focuses on the actual issues in today’s calls gets immediate results and typically better results as these errors will likely naturalize the gains any new techniques produce.

• That the program documents the corrections in a way that management can continue to coach them
  Most importantly is the fact that without follow up results almost always leave within weeks of the training. It is not practical for companies to keep a training organization on retainer — management must be able to continue what was done. The problem is that most training models don’t empower managers to do this.

Because my program is so unique I have created a Pilot Training Program you can test drive with NO risk.

The program consists of 5 sessions run similarly to the standard training (There are some minor differences due to time restraints.)

There’s no contract, no payment, and no risk to you. If you’re not completely satisfied after the first two sessions we will stop the pilot and you pay nothing. To read the details please click here.

And there’s a huge bonus that is a by product of the structure of the sessions.

Because of the way this telephone sales training program operates you will literally get a “mini skills evaluation” of your team.

The sessions work with live calls and engage salespeople in critical thinking about their selling activities. These two things produce a powerful birds eye view into the real issues in your team’s selling efforts.

I assure you it will be obvious after two sessions that progress is being made.

Example of the Actual Results Obtained From a Recent Pilot

Here are just some of the items found in a pilot run with one of my clients. Remember that each of these items results in corrective documentation and training material that the manager can use going forward to coach or retrain the sales team on these items. Many of the corrections you experience in the pilot may be specific to your sales process and products.

These are the non optimum behaviors discovered in the pilot program.

• Poor or weak process for selling evaluation units

Resulted in a draft for the  selling process for selling these units

• Improper or weak closing of the call, poor next step

Resulted in a best practice sales process document* (*The sales process document is a “script on steroids” description of the actual segment of the selling process. It can be used as a guide for sellers during their sales presentations, a tool for management to collect best practices and as a coaching and training tool.)

• Weak questioning of partners for the purpose of driving business

Resulted in a draft of key questions reps should ask partners

• Weak voice mail messages

Resulted in a training discussion about leaving messages

• Inefficient handling of a non registered product

Resulted in a draft best practice for handling this situation

• Poor use of “voice” in presentation

Resulted in a training piece being presented in one session

• Beating around the bush on critical questions

Resulted in an in depth training discussion

• Handling “negative” price situation to make rep look good

Resulted in and in depth training discussion and best
practice for handling this issue

• Lack of or ineffective qualifying

Resulted in a discussion, and this item being schedule
for future attention.

Each of the above items will eventually result in a sales best process document and training piece.

Here is a testimonial from the CEO of a company where this whole process was executed fully for the purpose of improving sales results.

Testimonial

Here are the words of the CEO of a company where these telephone sales training strategies were used in full.

“When I hired Flyn to help me bring our sales team to the next level he said he will double our sales in 6 months. He achieved this goal in 30 days. He brought new ideas, strategies and methods that were revolutionary, and worked very effectively for us. He is the best telesales expert I have ever worked with.” Gal Almog

What Gal doesn’t say in this recommendation is that in the third month we had moved to about 285% of original revenues.

In this case I was more than an external trainer – I was responsible for “sales performance” as an interim manager responsible only for sales performance and spent 25-30  hours per week with the team.

This result is typical for teams I managed directly, Logitech 300% in 8 months, GoldStar start up computer sales to reseller group 30% better results that the other 4 equivalent teams — but my group worked 6 versus 8 hours each day.

You have nothing to loose except some bad habits.

Here’s one other valuable thing you will receive in this process. Even at the end of the two sessions sales management will have a much clearer understanding of the real quality of the sales calls being made by the team. In the above pilot the VP of Sales realized that even his best person in the group could be doing far better that he was.

Knowing what your potential is, and seeing a clear method for achieving it is invaluable. This program will provide that knowledge, even in the first couple of sessions.

Call now to schedule your NO RISK Pilot Training Session — 408-296-6880

I have to say I totally disagree with all this bashing of “elevator pitches.” Please keep in mind this is my two cents and personal opinion. I respect all that has been stated on this subject though I may not agree.

The basis for bashing is not based in fact, but in a mystic that has been created by hype about how terrible these pitches are.

A true elevator pitch is simply a statement used in prospecting of what someone does. It could be as simple as “I help shoe companies increase their distribution.”

Now I ask you how is that in any way “phony” or “pitching?” Are you telling me that you are not going to reveal what it is you do to the person you’re talking with? Of course you are.

Great elevator pitches are not so simple but use what is known as a “unique selling proposition. (USP)” I feel obligated to define this term as few really know what it means.

A USP is a unique statement of the benefit one can provide. It is a statement with the purpose of engaging the prospect by making them feel they’d be crazy to buy from anyone else regardless of price. It must be free of platitudes and statements of things that the prospect would expect (We fix it right the first time), and it cannot be something your competitor could say. Otherwise it’s not a USP. (For those interested

I highly recommend Richard Hershaw’s book Monopolize Your Marketplace as a reference on this subject and how to create a powerful and compelling description of your business.

Example

I help shoe companies improve their distribution and our benchmarks show that companies that use our program get an average of 15-19 percent increase in distribution over the first two quarters — 8% above any other program tested.

This is a USP and a powerful elevator pitch. What shoe company executive is going to ignore the fact that the average result is 15+% increase and 8% better than the competition? Few! They are going to engage you.

There is nothing pitchy about this statement which is likely to do more for opening a dialog than the so called “meaningful conversations” — which in all discussions such as this are NEVER defined.

I would also disagree that what you say before or after the elevator pitch is more important. If you are giving such a pitch, your are in fact trying to engage the prospect. The best and most powerful way to engage a prospect is to show that you can provide value — NOT say you can provide it — show it. If you are unsuccessful you won’t get to say anymore! What do you think is  more important than engaging the prospect?

The statistics above do exactly that. I think the example you gave (See the LnkedIn Question: “Let’s be honest about elevator speeches! for the example I refer to. It is in the clarification to the question in paragraph 3)  fails to provide evidence of a benefit beyond your say so. Except for the trademarked name of the product every one of your competitors could use the same statement. I don’t think that statement differentiates you from anyone else. The statement above certainly does.

Besides your name and hello this would be the first thing out of your mouth and the basis for any continued conversation or a return call if left as a message.

We don’t need to move from pitching people, we need to move from doing it badly!!

I would obviously agree that having a referral is an advantage. But only if the referral has talked to the prospect about me. Otherwise it won’t carry much weight until you establish value. And even in that  case all that I have suggested is still valid.

I would add as a footnote this is one of the biggest problems in selling. People are not skilled. Most sales people have never pursued the definition and study of USPs, or studied communication skills, or even read the major works on selling.

It is not the selling or sales theory that is bad — its the lack of real skills by the users.

I am absolutely amazed to discover how few companies have their sales process worked out in enough detail to guide salespeople through an effective sales call.

Over the past 30 years I have worked with numerous companies many with tens or even hundreds of millions in revenues.

Yet most have almost no documentation of their sales process. And salespeople have no understanding of even the internal best selling practices.

Listening to their sales calls you discover the primary means of getting through the sales process is by the seat of the pants.

You’ll observe salespeople simply wandering through their sales calls most of the time being lead by the prospect. You’ll hear salespeople missing prospect generated clues that should be generating critical questions.

You will also find that salespeople don’t ask for commitments let alone the order.

Why?

Very simply they don’t understand their sales process and how one gets from point “A” to point “B.”

You can listen for this quite simply — listen to a live call. See if the salesperson is “forcibly” directing the call and driving the prospect to an obvious objective. If it’s not obvious, they probably aren’t doing it and it is the sales process that needs your attention first.

Many companies hire outside training organizations to come in and teach selling techniques when the bigger problem is really their sales process.

They would find that cleaning up their own selling process would give them significant improvements in results, even without any telephone sales training.

Teaching sales skills to salespeople that don’t have a good understanding of their own sales process is almost a waste of time.

Without this knowledge they will incur great difficulty applying the new techniques properly. They may even have trouble knowing where to apply the techniques in the first place.

Before you purchase outside telephone sales training make sure you have a well detailed sales process that contains at least the method for getting to the sale, and hopefully the internal best selling practices.

Check out my site for more information on how to address these issues and please leave a comment.

After all this time I am finally able to put my quizzes back on line.

They’re not all up yet but the Telephone Sales, Sales, and Management quizzes are now available under the Sales Education menu.

My new inside sales training  program is so revolutionary it makes all the standard methods of training inside salespeople obsolete.

Why?

Because my program is the first to actually fix the root causes of non-optimum behavior using a system that actually changes the behavior of salespeople.

If you think I’m kidding, click here to read more about it.

Compare this program to what you’ve done in the past and see how the old methods simply don’t stack up.

You’ve never seen a training program that will do what this one does! Ever!

And that’s not even including my incredible unbeatable training guarantee.

Regards,
Flyn

PS: I have made an incredible discovery about training inside sales people that you must see – Click here to check it out!

The primary reason inbound calls tend to be more difficult is that the prospect starts with control of the call and typically salespeople don’t know how to gain control of the call.

I submit to you that you must control the call if you are to have an “effective” sales presentation and process. Otherwise, you simply don’t get to tell your story and frequently don’t obtain the critical information you need about the prospect.

When a prospect calls in they usually have a bunch of questions which be begin to rapid fire at the salesperson. Once the salesperson begins to answer it becomes a freight train he or she cannot stop. Prospects fire question after question and then say they need to think about all of this information and will call back when ready.

The second thing that happens is that many salespeople are not competent questioners. If you listen to the tapes of telephone sales calls you will find that salespeople ask very few questions. This weakness tends to compound the difficulty of gaining control of the sales process on an inbound call.

Summary: The correct way to think about any sales call.

Remember that it makes no difference who dials the phone. On and inbound call you are still talking to someone you know nothing about. You don’t know if they are the decision maker, or have a clue about their environment and how your product or service might fit in.

On every call you need to take the process from the beginning. Thus on the inbound call you must tactfully gain control of the call and the direction it takes. Doing so on an inbound call will give far better results.

Let me share with you a simple little technique that I have found that makes a difference in how often you get stood up or end up in a phone tag.

Make an appointment.

Most telephone sales people do set up a time to call back. What they don’t do is start that conversation by asking the prospect to get out their calendar and put the appointment down for a specific time and allocation of time for the meeting.

When you make the appointment make the case that you don’t want to be playing phone tag with them wasting both your time and theirs. Ask if they would get their appointment book out and log the meeting allowing for X number of minutes so that you have time to complete the task at hand.

It doesn’t hurt to send an email on the morning of the appointment as a reminder as well.

I think it’s the part about making a deal out of it that helps. It’s doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it seems to save some missed meetings. Give it a try.

]]> http://penoyer.com/146/a-little-secret-for-avoiding-phone-tag/feed/ 1 http://penoyer.com/144/time-management-and-the-biggest-time-waster-of-all/ http://penoyer.com/144/time-management-and-the-biggest-time-waster-of-all/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:01:17 +0000 admin http://penoyer.com/blog/?p=144 Time management is probably one of the biggest opportunities for most salespeople to get more sales.

With all the heated debate about call quality versus quantity I though I would share some valuable information about how you can increase your calls without dropping any of the quality issues.

The Biggest Time Waster

Besides simply not working the biggest time waster is the interruption.

If you simply focused all of your time management energy on this one area you would probably profit greatly.  Interruptions cost you lots of time. Some experts estimate that the average interruption cost you as much as 22 minutes to recover from.

What is an “interruption?”

An interruption, just to be clear, is a distraction of any kind from your current efforts. If you are making cold calls and some comes into your office to ask you about an order – that’s an interruption. If you are working on your forecast and the phone rings and you pick it up – that’s an interruption.

How do interruptions waste so much time?

Years ago I wrote and taught a time and territory management class for the American Management Association. In that course I had designed a drill to show how much time interruptions really waste.

In the drill there were two very simple tasks, read some text and alphabetize a list of words. In the first pass students would read on sentence and then switch to the list and find the first word in the alphabetization continuing back and forth until both tasks were done. In the second pass they would read all the text and then go to the list and alphabetize it.

The results were that most of the people doing the drill were about 30% faster at completing the tasks if they did them individually one at a time. The key to remember here is that this was a simple task and there was no significant set up or shut down to do the task.

In your sales efforts looking up an order can involve a number of steps. Then you must go through that order to find the information that needed to be checked. You may have to make some changes or corrections or write a note to the person asking about it. When you’re done you have to put everything back and return to the task at hand. The chances are you will have lost your focus on the previous task to some extent and you will have some ramp up time to get back on track.

Between these things you can waste a lot of time. If you are making sales calls you also are likely to lose your rhythm. If you were on a roll with the calls you may find that edge is now gone and you have to spend some amount of time getting it back.

Summary

So if you simply guard your selling or calling time and prevent interruptions you will probably have a much higher rate of production. You’ll make more calls, you’ll be sharper for a higher percentage of them and thus you’ll get better results.

As a sales manager time management represents a huge opportunity. Looking for ways to decrease interruptions to your sales team’s calling is a very profitable activity.

Before I tell you how to do this let me recommend that you consider buying Mack Hanan’s book “Consultative Selling.” This monster book has a method for selling that eliminates the pains of closing the deal. It does so because of the structure of the approach. One other note, this book is not for the faint of heart – it is a much heavier read than most sales books – be prepared to work at getting through it.

How to make closing much easier.

The key to making the close much easier is your relative position to the prospect in the selling effort.

The best position you could probably hold would be a trusted friend with expertise in that area. In other words if you were at expert at that product or service and a trusted friend of the buyer you would probably have the most leverage and the easiest close.

The worst position is as a salesperson calling on the decision-maker. This is a naturally adversarial position. Not only that, but you also have the chore of rising above all the competition.

There is however a third position you can take which is more powerful than that of the “salesperson.” That position is the one of the “problem solver.” The problem solver is seen as someone that is going to help the decision maker achieve a goal or objective.

This is the power of Hanan’s strategy, it starts the conversation with that premise and sells the ROI of the solution not the product or service.

If you can get the prospect to see you as a “problem solver,” someone who is going to help them figure out the best possible way to achieve their goal or objective, you are then in a much more powerful position and your effort to close will be far easier.

This position requires that you develop a great deal of trust with the prospect. The prospect must believe that you will only recommend what is absolutely best for their needs, even if that’s not your solution.

Unfortunately, in this post there isn’t enough space to really teach you how to do it. It took Hanan a whole book. And again I would recommend that book as a great strategy or if not right for your situation a great model from which you could develop such a strategy.

In this article I’d like to talk about a couple of other things you should always qualify during the sales process.

Objections

Objections should always be qualified, not that prospect’s lie or anything (They’d never do that, right?) but often there are other things involved in objections that make this very necessary.

The first is that frequently objections are the result of misunderstanding and not actual problems with the solution you’re offering. If you don’t carefully examine objections you my find that you are giving credit to an objection that is simply incorrect data on the prospect’s part.

Secondly, the objection you get is very often not the real objection by a symptom of it. You need to very carefully pin the prospect down as to what the objection really is. One of the best ways to do this is to ask how they believe the objection is going to effect the solution they are looking for. This takes the discussion away from you and puts it back on something the prospect is expert on — even if the original objection is miss stated or incorrect, the answer they give re the solution will be accurate.

One of the most common things that happens with objections is the salesperson gets it wrong. I was doing a training for a group years ago and we were listening to a tape of the call and an objection on price. The salesperson made an assumption about the objection and gave an answer which didn’t address the actual concern at hand. He lost the sale because of it.

Questions

One of the most commonly missed is that you need to qualify questions. Whenever the prospect asks a question you need to qualify that question. The qualification of a question is the discovery of the reason for the question. If you know why a question is asked you have the key data to answer properly. The prospect’s basis for any question is going to be a lot closer to the sale than anything you might assume or even believe about what appears to be an innocent question.

Transactions

Next, you should always qualify “transactions.” A transaction is an exchange that takes place with the prospect, you’re going to send him something, she’s going to send you something, you or the prospect needs to do something for the other, or you are setting up a meeting or follow up of some sort.

Setting up a demo is one of the best examples of this. If you don’t qualify all of the parts of the demo you can completely miss the boat with the prospect. You need to know why they want the demo, what they expect to see, what they will do based on the success of the demo and much more. Forget to do this qualification of the demo you and you could likely waste everyone’s time.

Summary

Qualifying is a lot more than making sure the company is a prospect and the person you’re talking to is actually a decision-maker. Qualifying is the process of selling.