Over the course of the next few posts, we'll be examining some telephone selling skills, specifically tips on how to get through (or past) the screen, also termed "gatekeeper," around the prospect (or decision maker within a larger organization, abbreviated as DM). This screen may be a secretary, receptionist, executive assistant, or perhaps a security guard.
Whether you choose to cold-call or to phone ahead for appointments, you still need effective telephone selling skills in order to get past the gatekeeper or screen so you can talk directly to the decision maker.
Here's the first of these telephone selling skills and tips to get you started, useful both in phoning and cold-calling. (The same tips apply if you meet the screen face-to-face while making a cold call).
I discovered Lee Child's Jack Reacher thriller series this spring, and, unusually for me, read three in a row . . . in part because they were so good, and in another part to try to find why they were so unusually gripping.
Turns out that Lee Child hadn't always been writing thrillers— fact is, he took it up only after being laid off unexpectedly from a job he loved, and had expected to hold till he retired. This from his article in Parade Magazine last Sunday. http://www.parade.com/news/2009/07/26-my-good-life-after-being-fired.html Here's how he put it, and I think that resonates with a lot of readers of this blog:
"For 13 more years, I was happy as a clam.
"Then the management changed.
"We were always profitable, but the new guys wanted more. They got it by cutting costs to the bone. I was a cost. I got cut.
"I felt a lot of things. First, anger and frustration. My “family” was getting trashed. It was like watching an uncle getting kicked to death by a mob and being unable to intervene.
"Second, I felt betrayed. Not by the people I had worked for—they went in the very first wave. I felt betrayed by my own naiveté. The modern world had snuck up on me, and I hadn’t seen it coming. The rules had changed, and I hadn’t noticed. My fault, basically.
"Third, I felt scared. Remember that old saying, “one missed paycheck from disaster”? That was me."
He doesn't say in the article whether he ever wishes he had the old job back, but I kinda doubt it . . . not after that "tough break" propelled him into a new career with 13 best-sellers to date.
My point? Sometimes what seems like the worst thing can turn into the best thing that ever happened . . .if we're flexible and open. And if we can envision ourselves in a new role and sell that vision to others.
Voice mail, or answering machines on either land lines or cell phones, works as another kind of screen or gatekeeper keeping you from talking directly to the prospect in organizations both small and large.
Here , as part of our series here on telephone sales skills, we look at five key rules that apply when you encounter the Prospect's voice mail.
The crucial “must-do” before you invest any time in preparing to conduct a sales presentation or demonstration, or to invest time and effort in any other kind of proof source — including offering free trials or free samples.
Why and how to begin working out what both you and the prospect expect from this early: why it’s very smart to ask the Prospect to “invest” before you invest your time and effort.
“Decision influencers” are people who may not make the decisions, but they are key allies. How and when to work with them early-on.
Checklists on setting up the logistics of the presentation or demonstration.
Buying signals from the gatekeeper or screen: What kinds of cues should you be alert for? (For the records, gatekeeper and screen are usually interchangeable terms, and may apply to anyone from the guard at the gate to the secretary to the personal assistant to the Decision Maker.)
Be attuned for the subtle clues, or buying signals, gatekeepers may send that indicate that this secretary or other screen is becoming interested, and hence relaxing the barrier.
In this little book, we work together through the need-to-know steps of selling face-to-face—that is, face-to-face across the table from prospects.
That’s why I call it How to Sell Face-to-Face: Survival Guide, with emphasis on the “survival guide” aspect.
Survival guides need to be as compact and “netted-out” as feasible, focusing on the “must-know now,” leaving the theory and advanced stuff for later. It’s designed to help you get selling face-to-face on Monday morning, not sitting home trying to pull out the need-to-know from a stack of other books.
How to Sell Face-to-Face: SURVIVAL GUIDE –Table of Contents
Preface A Starting questions
B Developing a list of potential prospects
1. Finding your way to the person (or team) who can say yes 2. How to initiate that first contact 3. Getting past the “Gate” 4. Your first phone contact with the Prospect 5. Preparing for your first face-to-face with the Prospect 6. Opening the first face-to-face with this Prospect 7. Working with the Prospect to uncover needs for what you offer 8. Asking the questions 9. Linking the Prospect’s need with how you will fill that need 10. Dealing with the issue of price: talk “value” 11. Being attuned to “buying signals” 12. “Closing” 13. Responding to objections and questions 14. After the sale
Essential Selling Skills for Business Owners and People New to
Sales
What are the differences between this SELLING 101 our Selling Skills Step-by-Step: TUTORIALS? Think of SELLING 101 as a
text-book, while SALES TUTORIALS is, as the name suggests, a
do-it-yourself guidebook.
You won’t find in SELLING 101 the templates that you will in SALES
TUTORIALS, though you will find the content more detailed, more what you’d
want if you’ve been selling for a while . . . . . . OR if you will be
attending a class (or teaching a class) in selling skills.
If you are a sales manager, looking for materials for sales meetings,
consider using SELLING 101 as a textbook, and use our accompanying SALES MANAGER/INSTRUCTOR GUIDE as your source for covering the material,
or leading group discussions.
Note that at this time, SELLING 101 is available only in
conventional book format. We’re planning an e-book version later, but target
date for that is not yet set.
SELLING 101
Essential Selling Skills for Business Owners and People New to
Sales
Adams Media Corporation, 2nd Edition, 216 pages, 8.4 x 5.5 inches.
Illustrated. $10.95
Selling Skills Step-by-Step: DEMONSTRATIONS & PRESENTATIONS is a concise guidebook taking you through
every phase in the process of setting up and conducting sales demonstrations,
sales presentations, and other kinds of “sales proof sources.”
Beyond that, it gives you a “mental roadmap” for reading the subtle, unconscious signals sent by the decision makers and
“decision influencers” who attend your sales demonstrations and
presentations.
Further, it provides practical guidance on the
non-verbal signals you want to send . . . and to keep from sending in
your sales presentations and demonstrations and other sales meetings?
Selling Skills Step by
Step: SALES DEMONSTRATIONS and PRESENTATIONS
E-book, 50 pages,
illustrated
Ready for immediate on-line delivery
NOW at introductory price: $9.00
To order for immediate on-line delivery
To order for immediate on-line delivery in PDF
format. $9.00 US introductory price:
About the author: Sales Training Tutorials and the other books in the
Selling Skills Step-by-Step series flowed from my work as a management
consultant and my work in developing sales training and sales management
training for top marketing organizations including Kodak, Xerox operating
companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe, Kodak, Motorola, Sylvania,
Bank of American (yes, even bankers need to learn how to market their products
and services!), and others.Michael McGaulley
Contents: some of the practical selling skills you will
learn.
Part One: EARLY PREPARATIONS
The crucial “must-do” before you invest any time in preparing to
conduct a sales presentation or demonstration, or to invest time and effort in
any other kind of proof source — including offering free trials or free
samples.
Why and how to begin working out what both you and the prospect
expect from this early: why it’s very smart to ask the Prospect to “invest”
before you invest your time and effort.
“Decision influencers” are people who may not make the decisions, but they are key allies. How and when to work with
them early-on.
Checklists on setting up the logistics of the presentation or
demonstration.
ORDER NOW AT SPECIAL ONE-TIME ONLY
INTRODUCTORY PRICE: $9.00.
