Inside Sales Tips Overcoming Initial Objections

Writen by Mike Brooks

Something to keep in mind each time you make a cold call is that the people you are calling don't want to hear from you! I hate to burst your bubble, but this is true. That is why people develop reflex responses to your initial contact. I'm sure you have often heard things like, "I'm not interested," or "I don't have the money," or "We're happy with our current supplier," etc.. Do any of those sound familiar?

Eighty percent of all inside sales reps have trouble getting past these initial negative responses. Often times you will hear them saying the worse possible thing to these initial objections—they will repeat them! How many times have you heard someone next to you (or even yourself) say, "You are not interested?" Or, "You don't have the budget now?" Or, "You all ready have a supplier?" And so on. This is the consummate mark of an unprofessional. Why in the world would you want to affirm a negative?

The way to overcome this is to be prepared for their initial negative responses with your own positive responses. You must realize that when someone says they are not interested, it does not mean that they aren't interested, rather, it is just a reflex response. Nearly every one of your prospects will give you some type of initial negative response. That is just the way it is. People can not be bothered with all the salespeople that are constantly contacting them. So to save time they have developed these initial negative responses to blow off 80% of sales reps that call them.

Now here is the point. Just because they say they are not interested, or that they don't have the money, that doesn't mean they aren't a potential sale! You must recognize these responses for what they are and learn techniques to overcome them. Be careful not to argue with your prospect, nor should you try to defend or overcome these initial responses. Rather, you should always respond with positive rebuttals that are designed to acknowledge their responses, and get you past them and on to your pitch. For example, if you get something like the old favorite,

"I'm not interested."

Your immediate response could be,

"Some of our best clients felt the same way when we first called them too, however, once we explained how our (service, product, investment) worked, they were glad they listened."

And then go right back to your script, or format. If they persist with the same negative response, or even then give you a different one, again be prepared with another positive acknowledgement response such as,

"That is perfectly OK, you are still entitled to this information..."

And then go right back to your script or presentation. If you get something like,

"I don't have any money now."

You could respond with,

"I understand and that is one of the best things about this (service, product, investment)....

And go right back to your script or format. If they try again with one more reflex negative response, you might say,

"That is exactly why I called, you see when you find out how our (product, service, investment) can save you (list a benefit), I know you will be happy I called. As I was saying...

Now go right back to your script or format. Remember what the whole point here is. Your first goal when cold calling is to tell your prospect what it is you are calling about. To establish interest. The biggest problem most inside sales reps make is they believe people's initial negative responses, and because they are unprepared to deal with them, they end up getting blown off the phone before they even get started. Don't let this happen to you! You can avoid this by learning and using the above rebuttals on each and every call. Use them, or develop others. But always be prepared to overcome your prospect's initial objections.

Have a powerful week!

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, has been a top 20% producer for over 20 years. He works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. To receive more tips like this, sign up for his FREE Ezine, "Inside Sales Secrets of the Top 20%" http://www.mrinsidesales.com/ezine.htm Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, offers FREE Teleseminars, FREE Closing Scripts and a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone. If you want to Close Business like a Top 20% producer, then learn how at: http://www.MrInsideSales.com

How To Boost Teleseminar Registration

Writen by Matt Bacak

Have you jumped into the exciting world of teleseminars? Teleseminars provide an exceptional business opportunity for any entrepreneurial minded individual. Although you will create a "product" from your teleseminar, a major factor in your teleseminar success is participation. Therefore, it is essential that you understand how to draw clients to your teleseminar.

It is common business sense that you can substantially increase your profits with an increase in enrollment. What may not be so obvious, though, is exactly how you convince potential teleseminar prospects to sign up for your free or fee based teleseminar. How can you convert their interest into a registration?

Following is a list of eight proven registration strategies that will have prospects flocking to your next teleseminar.

1. Send a Solo Email: One key to effective marketing is to make the customer feel that they have personal customer service. By sending a solo email you are sending the message that you want to personally invite them to your teleseminar.

2. Send Autoresponder Emails: Autoresponder emails are a way to effectively follow up on a lead and save unnecessary busy work. Autoresponder emails help to maintain your presence in a customer's mind.

3. Send a Fax Broadcast: Broadcast messages help you to send out a message simultaneously to literally hundreds of people. Plus, many fax machines don't have a spam filter so your message should come through successfully.

4. Voice Broadcast: This is similar to the fax broadcast, but it is sent via phone. When a client signs up for a teleseminar have them provide you with their name, email, phone number, and fax number. This will allow you to be able to contact them through several different means.

Registration strategies 5-8 involve incentives and teasers which are a great way to spark the interest of a prospect.

5. Spark interest by explaining that you will provide an idea or product that has high value during the call. This will increase their curiosity which can lead to a registration.

6. Create a contest. The contest can involve cash, products, and other incentives. Tempt affiliates with a contest that will allow you to have access to their email lists in return.

7. Explain that a surprise guest will be in the teleseminar. Don't give the name of the surprise guest. Prospects will register just to see who the surprise guest may be!

8. Everyone loves a bargain. Offer an early bird discount. Explain that the discount is only available during the call. What kind of discount should you offer? A discount on future teleseminars is a profitable idea. Not only will you have a long term customer, but your customer will feel happy that they received a deal.

Take these eight proven registration strategies to heart and watch your teleseminar attendance soar. It is important to diversify and use different types of technology, incentives, and marketing strategies to bring in customers.

Matt Bacak became "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or http://promotingtips.com

Learn Seven Practical Tips To Reduce Cold Call Resistance

Writen by D.M. Arenzon

You know it's only human nature to resist new ideas, concepts or changes in our immediate environment. Why is this true for each of us? Resistance is a learned behavior that we have learned thru our life experiences. Our experiences have caused us to become conditioned to resist certain changes in our environment. We resist because it's more comfortable the way things are then if you were to change something in your "safe environment." Now let's apply this ideology to your sales prospects, are you ready?

I'm thinking of two words here, can you guess them? Your prospects will use these two words as a way to resist you and what you are selling. These two words are called "Sales Objections" and they will be a constant variable in the sales process. The only power that you have and that you can control is how you react to these objections. Charles Swindoll, American author, once said that life is "10% what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it!"

What are some strategies that you can use in response to your prospect's resistance? The most obvious answer would be the questions that you ask your prospect that help them self-discover why they need your product or service. This makes a lot of sense, however, prospects are not waiting for your call, they are busy and very often prospects can be impatient. How do you even the playing field so that you can reduce this resistance? Below are seven practical tips that you can use immediately to reduce cold call resistance and these tips include:

1. USE HUMOR TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

Humor has a permeating effect to instantly change a prospect's attitude from negative to positive. Try using a clever comeback when a prospect presents you with a sales objection. Another use of humor can be incorporated into the messages that you leave on your prospect's voicemail. Since most voicemails from salespeople all sound the same they are than more likely to be deleted. When you use humor, you are standing out in a very unique way and you can expect to receive an immediate callback.

2. USE ENTHUSIASM TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

When you are enthusiastic over the telephone you create this energy between you can your prospect that is contagious. This positive energy can alter attitudes and buying behaviors. If you are excited about what you sell, don't you think your prospect will wonder what all the excitement is about? Of course they will!

3. INTRODUCE NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND/OR NEW IDEAS TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

Life really is about perception. We may hear something in conversation and one person perceives it one way and another person may perceive it in a completely different way. In sales these same principles apply, for example, if you are presented with a price objection perhaps you want to breakdown the price for them. In other situations you may want to start using more words in your sales presentations that inspire feeling or imagery. Again, life is about perception and people buy according to what makes sense to them.

4. USE CREATIVITY TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

Creativity has the ability to transform thought. It has a magnetizing effect and is a powerful tool that you can use to inspire one's curiosity. Once you have their curiosity, you now have their attention and this means your chances have now increased dramatically for your ultimate outcome---closing the sale! How and when do you use creativity? Creativity can be used in the words you say when describing your product, how you say something, what you say on your prospect's voicemail or even in the presentation of your business proposal.

5. USE PASSION AND PERSISTENCE TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

The most successful salespeople are the ones who target the most successful prospects. When contacting these prospects it's important to know that these prospects did not get to where they are by being reactive; they got to where they are now because of their enduring persistence! They jumped over many corporate hurdles to climb the corporate ladder to get to the position where they are now. They know that their climb to success wasn't easy and can relate to passionate and persistent salespeople. If you are persistent, your persistence will be respected and your outcomes will be even that much greater.

6. USE INSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

Can you think of the last time that you were inspired to do something? What motivated you to action? One way to inspire and motivate your prospects to action is by listening to motivational audio tapes and/or cds. When you begin listening to them you will be inspired and you can use this newfound inspiration by incorporating key phrases and quotes into your sales presentation. Some of my favorite speakers and authors include: Les Brown, Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Dr. Carol Fleming and Brian Tracy.

7. USE THE POWER OF DIFFERENCE TO REDUCE RESISTANCE

Once again, prospects have become conditioned to resist your telephone call. It's so important that you do something different to break up your prospect's conditioned state of mind. When you do something different or something non-traditional in nature, you are STANDING OUT in a crowded marketplace. "The Power Of Difference" can be applied to any stage of the sales process. The earlier you apply these principles, the more likely you will inspire your prospect's curiosity and the more likely you will increase your odds of closing a sale.

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

Mr. Cold Call is the author of "How To Have Fun Cold Calling" and "114 Common Sales Objections, 153 Clever And Savvy Responses." According to Mr. Cold Call, "Your cold call success is dependent on 11 winning personality traits (known as your Telephone Persona Of Success! )." Collectively, these traits allow you to uniquely market yourself over the telephone so that you can inspire your prospect's curiosity and reduce their resistance. Are you interested in finding out more about Mr. Cold Call? Then sign-up for his weekly cold calling tips at http://www.mrcoldcall.com

Fear

Writen by Rick Johnson

Half asleep but with a look of fear still present in her eyes, Sandy stared into the bathroom mirror. Her right cheek displayed the remnants of pillow wrinkles and still revealed a telltale sign of the drool that escaped her mouth during the night as she slept. Sleep hadn't come easy for Sandy that entire weekend. In fact, this was the worst weekend she could remember having since her Grandmother passed away. Sandy looked into the mirror only to see an unsympathetic face filled with anxiety staring back at her.

"Just call in sick," she commanded to her own image in the mirror. "Better yet, why don't you just quit, that'll fix that Bozo of a boss. I'm the best Inside Sales person our company has. They'll miss me when I'm gone."

The coldness of the water on her hands coming from the faucet she had turned on brought Sandy's thoughts back to reality. She knew she couldn't "Just Quit." She was a single Mom and they paid her a good salary.

"Besides," she thought, "I've got ten years with this company. They shouldn't treat me this way. What am I going to do?"

What caused Sandy to be so upset? What caused her to lose so much sleep over the weekend? What filled her with anxiety and fear? What made her consider giving up a ten-year career as an Inside Sales person?

"MANDATORY OUTCALL"

Although this little story is fictional, many of your employees may have experienced or be experiencing these same exact feelings.

"FEAR OF MAKING PERSONAL CONTACT WITH THE UNKNOWN"

Outcall is an exceptionally good Marketing/Sales tool if it is done right. There is a lucky few that can just pick up the phone, make a cold call and it comes naturally to them. But for most of your employees, making that call is the most unpleasant and difficult task you could possibly ask them to do. It's actually unfair to send them onto the "Outcall Battlefield" without arming them with the proper weapons. Those weapons are generated through training. It's true that for some people Outcall is no big deal. It's also true that for some people no matter what you do, or how much training you provide, they just wont be able to do it successfully.

However, for the vast majority of the Inside Sales people and Call Center Agents employed in this country today, Outcall training can be extremely beneficial. A solid outcall program with trained personnel can provide a major impact to revenue and bottom line profits. Think about it. If you have only five inside sales people making ten outcalls per day, that totals 250 calls per week which equates to 1000 new proactive customer contacts per month.

It has been said: "You can send a gorilla out as a field sales rep and if he calls on enough people, sooner or later someone will pin an order to his chest and send him home."

With the sheer volume of contacts alone, sales have to increase. Think about the significant contribution your inside sales people can provide if they are trained and really know what they are doing. Add a new account bonus program to the formula and results can be astounding.

Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in Distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.

Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He’s also a published book author with four titles to his credit: “The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Wholesale Distribution,” the NWFA & NAFCD “Roadmap”, Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales” and a fiction novel about teenagers called “Shattered Innocence.”

Telemarketing Training Pro Urges Screening Applicants By Phone

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I was invited to be a panelist at a recent contact center trade association meeting, and I prepared a list of 20 do's and don'ts that I shared.

One of them, something that I take for granted, having risen through the ranks as a telemarketer, a trainer, a manager, and as a consultant is the fact that each and every job applicant MUST be screened by phone before being invited to an interview.

Imagine how surprised I was to be asked to elaborate on that point by at least a few people in the audience.

It seems they never heard of this idea, having undoubtedly earned their stripes during the age of the Internet.

Many of today's recruiters hire from pieces of paper, from resumes, however resumes don't speak. Only people can do that, and some of course, are much better at it than others.

The capable ones speak clearly, without distracting verbal mannerisms. They don't use a lot of "uhs" and "okays." The best candidates are also effective listeners.

Call center work is largely PHONE work, and that's communication work.

How can we know who will make a good phone worker if we don't assess their phone behaviors?

I'd rather cut out the resume step altogether, and invite the best communicators to "Come on down!"

If you'd like more information about the telephone measures I use to objectively judge suitability for phone work, give me a holler!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com & The Goodman Organization is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com