Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
How To Get Rid Of Annoying Cold Callers
Ring ring . . .
Potential Buyer (PB): Hello
Cold Caller (CC): Is this Peter Miller?
PB: Yes, who is this?
CC: Hi, this Amy of XYZ Company. How are you?
PB: OK, what is this about?
CC: Do you want to know about a totally safe way of increasing your net worth by 200% in less than 10 years? We have an absolutely unique product you certainly have never heard of. I am sure you must be interested in that. Here is how it works . . .
Do you ever get calls like this? If they annoy you at least half as much as they annoy us, then you have a good idea of what we are talking about.
A few days ago, I found an online forum with a list of possible responses that could help you get rid of irritating callers in no time. Here are some of our favorites:
If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "Why do you want to know?" Alternatively, you can tell them, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems. My arthritis is acting up, etc." When they try to get to the sell, just keep talking about your problems.
Cry out in surprise, "Amy, IS that you? Oh my God, Amy, how have you been?" Hopefully this will give Amy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where the heck she could know you from.
Tell them to talk VERY SLOWLY, because you want to write EVERY WORD DOWN.
If a female telemarketer calls your boyfriend's house ask her just why she's calling, act like you can "see right through this stupid cover-up!" and harass her for "secretly seeing" your boyfriend. Don't stop until she hangs up, or threatens to report you.
What is it that annoys us so much about these calls?
Lack of respect: Most cold callers (CCs) don't seem to care whether we are even ready to talk – or at least listen! – to someone. Perhaps they believe that the fact that we picked up the phone gives them the right to make use of our time.
Most CCs don't seem to care about what we really want: Most CCs (and many sales people, for that matter) believe that everybody should want their wonderful product and therefore pitch without hesitation.
It's about what the CC wants: Apparently, such CCs have only one thing in mind: a quick sale. That means the call is important mostly because they can benefit from it, even though they may also think that the potential buyer would possibly benefit.
We don't like being pressured: Pressure creates resistance. Even if the offered product might be something that we need, we tend to resist simply because most of us hate to be pressured.
Does any of that sound familiar to you? Have you ever wondered why many companies still use this sales method? The answer is simple: it gives them results. How?
Traditional cold calling is a numbers game, which could work as follows:
- Make 100 cold calls.- Get 10 people to show some interest.
- Get one or two of them to buy (the lucky strikes!).
Yes, despite all the negative feelings triggered by these calls, there will always be people who listen and might even end up buying. These buyers could've been looking for such a product and the cold call was simply a timely, convenient way to get it. So if you make enough calls, you'll get some results that might make it worthwhile to continue with this approach.
What does it do to the CCs? Apparently, they must have a very strong self-esteem if they can keep using this approach despite being rejected 95 to 99 times out of 100.
What does it to the image of such companies? Needless to say, you can't build a high-quality image by using this cold-call method.
Can cold calls be made in such a way that fully respects the person being called and does not create any pressure? Can you imagine talking to a sales person who doesn't want to bully you into doing things his way as quickly as possible?
The Stop Selling! approach consists of a unique mindset combined with certain skills that helps any sales person, including cold callers, quickly create and maintain trusted relationships. This approach incorporates the realization that the seller's process, even when it leads to good results, is actually the limitation of even greater success.
Summary: Traditional cold calling is a numbers game and annoys most recipients of such calls. The "Stop Selling!" approach helps sales people quickly create a trusting relationship with prospects and customers. This is achieved through a very specific buyer-friendly mindset and skills that support this mindset.
About Charlie Lang
Charlie works with executives who are already successful and want to stay at the leading edge. They are often challenged by issues like:
- How to improve staff retention, especially how to keep top performers - How to achieve a corporate success culture that guarantees longterm success
- How to create new levels of excellence through high employee engagement - How to transform the business results through a different approach towards sales
Charlie, an executive coach & trainer who is known for his innovative approaches towards leadership, change processes and sales, assists his clients in mastering these challenges. They achieve outstanding results through Charlie's unique application of latest findings in research combined with his own experience in international management and leadership.
Charlie is the author of numerous articles and of the book The Groupness Factor. He delivers speeches and keynotes on sales, leadership and coaching.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
So You Think You Know Why People Buy From You
Quick, answer a question: Why do people buy from you?
Bzzzzz. Wrong, if you answered with,
• "Uhhh . . ."
• Any description of your product or service.
You get an "Incomplete" if you answered,
• "Because we have great service."
• "We have the best quality."
This might seem rather basic to some of you, but if you quit reading I promise you're cheating yourself. Unless you have an inside-and-out understanding of all the possible reasons people buy from you, you're likely inviting objections. That's because you're probably selling what you want to sell, or talking about what the company's marketing department tells you are "benefits." People buy for their reasons, not yours. Your goal on calls is to learn, remind them of, and understand their reasons for being interested in you, and ultimately buying.
An Example
Let's look at an example. A copy machine salesperson calls a smaller company, hoping to sell a copier. He speaks with the Office Manager who typically makes decisions like this one. After asking a few basic qualifying questions he learns the office has four people in it, and they now have a big old monster of a copy machine that has been in the office for about eight years.
Thinking he has a hot prospect, the rep launches into a pitch about the latest techno-copier that does everything but write the documents for you. He overwhelms the listener with a point-by-point description of each of the "benefits"-or what he thinks are benefits (they indeed are, to some people).
The prospect says, "What we have is working just fine now."
He retorts with some rendition of the "feel-felt-found" technique and rams into a brick wall. He writes this one off, and moves to the next. Same pitch, same result.
What Went Wrong?
So is the rep not skilled at closing? How about overcoming objections? Neither. You could make a case for him not being a skilled questioner, but that might not be fair. The fact is, he doesn't have a clear understanding of why people buy from him-from their perspective, not his.
You see, in this case, the Office Manager was a technophobe. She just traded in her IBM Selectric for a computer for gosh sakes! And, she is paying $300 per year, plus a per copy charge for a maintenance contract on her current dinosaur copier-about half of what a new, smaller, more reliable machine would cost to buy!
And that's not all. The prospect was really quite interested in the fact that the machine the rep was pitching could do enlargement and reduction. Her's couldn't, and she had to personally go down to the Quick Copy to have them done, and it was a tremendous hassle. But, the rep had already mentioned so many other "benefits" that were actually perceived negatives to the prospect, that she didn't think it would be worth it to talk about that one feature. However, in isolation, it could have sold her.
Even if you think you have a clue about why people buy from you, do the following exercise. And do it often, since situations change regularly.
Here's an exercise we work on in training seminars. It lays the foundation for everything else we do.
1. Identify all the different levels and types of buyers and influencers for what you sell. Describe them by title and/or function. For example, depending on the organization, you might have an Advertising Director as the buyer. In smaller companies it could be an Office Manager, or maybe even the President.
2. Taking each of these types of people, identify how they're typically evaluated in their job. A Purchasing Manager is evaluated differently than a sales manager-the former on conservation, while the latter on production. Why should we think about this? We all have a desire to survive-at the very least-in our jobs, and most of us want to thrive. Knowing how someone is measured in their environment provides insight to what makes them tick.
3. Regarding your types of product/service, what do they want and need most? Be as specific as possible. Saying, "They want good quality," doesn't cut it. If you can't see, feel, hear, touch, or taste it, how can you describe it? Good quality manifests itself in the form of "A machine that requires virtually no servicing other than routine maintenance."
4. Conversely, what do they want to avoid? Again, be specific, descriptive. Don't say "poor service." Better: "They hate having to wait three hours to get an answer to a basic technical question."
Answering these questions is just a start. After you've compiled your list, then you use the answers to create questions to determine if, indeed, these possible benefits truly are benefits.
Art Sobczak helps sales pros use the phone to prospect, service and sell more effectively, while eliminating morale-killing "rejection. To get FREE weekly emailed TelE-Sales Tips visit: http://ww.BusinessByPhone.com |
