Welcome to the Machine... You Lost me at Hello!
This is about earning the right to ask questions, if you earn the right to ask a question you'll not only get an answer - you'll get a better answer! With that better answer it'll be easier for you to help provide the prospect a solution.
I took another call right after that from another phone salesperson from a different company. He was excited and made me excited to talk to him, I was happy to give him my name because he more than earned the right to ask for it. I wanted to work with this person and I liked him, I knew that I would like to buy from him.
There are many dimensions to the sales process, there is the basic process and there is the proper execution of the basic process. These are the fine points that are often missed. You might say that the proper execution of the basic process is another important process that fits within the basic process, I think without proper execution the process can only be so effective. Unfortunately it could work without proper execution to the point where we think the process is fine - but you don't know what you're missing until you find it!
If a sales professional follows the process 100% but dose not have the right mindset or attitude, it doesn't matter - they'll fail!
To look at only two of many things (from the greeting only): Earning the right to ask every question you ask and making the prospect excited to work with you and to buy from you are just a few of the important cogs in the sales machine. If you want the machine to run smoothly and churn out the maximum amount of profits, every little cog needs to be tweaked. There are those that will buy no matter what and those that won't buy no matter what, it's all of the ones in the middle that only the well oiled machine can maximize, and are otherwise missed.
Of course in the greeting and after the greeting there are many other cogs in the machine that we as salespeople are constantly studying and learning about so that we might better understand the whole of the machine.
Here are some essentials that we're not going to get into here, that I mentioned above:
Here are some deposits:
Look — If you keep doing what you're doing now then you can't expect different or better results. The key to fatter paychecks is preparing yourself with intelligent comebacks. Imagine if you knew EXACTLY what to say when you heard stuff like this:
Are you new to selling, struggling in sales,or just want to sell more?
You lost me at hello!
You can make or break a sale at hello, and a customer has decided in a few seconds whether they like you or not.
If the prospect likes you, trusts you and is excited to talk to you you've got yourself a sale - regardless of the product!
The guy that was a jerk on the phone may have the better product but you're the guy he likes. You'll get the sale!
Of course the greeting is just one cog in the sales machine, but if you mess it up, it makes it difficult or impossible to go further. You can turn a buyer into a looker, or into someone just gathering information within seconds.
Ever wonder why someone said they're just looking or just gathering information right away? It might be that they already decided they didn't like you and it's over.
Everyone is "just looking" until they meet a real salesperson - is that you?
An enthusiastic greeting with a smile (yes, a smile even on the phone) from a sales professional who then earns the right to ask for the prospects name, and makes the prospect feel excited to work with him gets that first cog in the machine turning and you've taken your first step to closing that deal!
It really got me thinking when I was asked for my name by someone on the phone recently and I thought to myself - you haven't earned the right to ask for my name, and you need a check up from the neck up, as Zig would say, before you take any more calls. This salesperson then began to develop a negative confrontational attitude, and was flat out telling me I was wrong. As he began to address me as if I was a child, I thought; wow - I don't want to deal with this company period...
He broke every rule in the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling
I realized there is a serious lack of training here that is costing the company millions of dollars, it's possible this individual could be trained, if he has the willingness to learn and can maintain a positive attitude, currently he is a cancer within the company. It's not the company fault - They may not realize that the execution of the process is as important as the process itself and they may only train on the basic process, however I do know a top salesperson who was almost fired for having a negative attitude, because it is such a cancer.
If the prospect likes you, trusts you and is excited to talk to you you've got yourself a sale - regardless of the product!
The guy that was a jerk on the phone may have the better product but you're the guy he likes. You'll get the sale!
Of course the greeting is just one cog in the sales machine, but if you mess it up, it makes it difficult or impossible to go further. You can turn a buyer into a looker, or into someone just gathering information within seconds.
Ever wonder why someone said they're just looking or just gathering information right away? It might be that they already decided they didn't like you and it's over.
Everyone is "just looking" until they meet a real salesperson - is that you?
An enthusiastic greeting with a smile (yes, a smile even on the phone) from a sales professional who then earns the right to ask for the prospects name, and makes the prospect feel excited to work with him gets that first cog in the machine turning and you've taken your first step to closing that deal!
The first call - lost at hello
It really got me thinking when I was asked for my name by someone on the phone recently and I thought to myself - you haven't earned the right to ask for my name, and you need a check up from the neck up, as Zig would say, before you take any more calls. This salesperson then began to develop a negative confrontational attitude, and was flat out telling me I was wrong. As he began to address me as if I was a child, I thought; wow - I don't want to deal with this company period...
He broke every rule in the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling
I realized there is a serious lack of training here that is costing the company millions of dollars, it's possible this individual could be trained, if he has the willingness to learn and can maintain a positive attitude, currently he is a cancer within the company. It's not the company fault - They may not realize that the execution of the process is as important as the process itself and they may only train on the basic process, however I do know a top salesperson who was almost fired for having a negative attitude, because it is such a cancer.
Another call - A deal from hello
I took another call right after that from another phone salesperson from a different company. He was excited and made me excited to talk to him, I was happy to give him my name because he more than earned the right to ask for it. I wanted to work with this person and I liked him, I knew that I would like to buy from him.
There are many dimensions to the sales process, there is the basic process and there is the proper execution of the basic process. These are the fine points that are often missed. You might say that the proper execution of the basic process is another important process that fits within the basic process, I think without proper execution the process can only be so effective. Unfortunately it could work without proper execution to the point where we think the process is fine - but you don't know what you're missing until you find it!
If a sales professional follows the process 100% but dose not have the right mindset or attitude, it doesn't matter - they'll fail!
To look at only two of many things (from the greeting only): Earning the right to ask every question you ask and making the prospect excited to work with you and to buy from you are just a few of the important cogs in the sales machine. If you want the machine to run smoothly and churn out the maximum amount of profits, every little cog needs to be tweaked. There are those that will buy no matter what and those that won't buy no matter what, it's all of the ones in the middle that only the well oiled machine can maximize, and are otherwise missed.
Of course in the greeting and after the greeting there are many other cogs in the machine that we as salespeople are constantly studying and learning about so that we might better understand the whole of the machine.
Here's how you get them at hello...
Here are some essentials that we're not going to get into here, that I mentioned above:
- You need to smile before you greet that prospect or pick up that phone (they can hear you smile - don't let them hear you frown)
- You need to have the right attitude and be excited to talk to the prospect
- You need to genuinely care about helping the prospect - yes, the prospect can tell. You're the guy with the solution, show that you genuinely care
- You need to do a proper greeting like in the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling
The things I listed above were some of the mistakes from my first phone call above. There are more.
The lesson I want to teach here is about earning the right to ask a question, this is something that is often completely overlooked, and something both phone sales professionals reminded me of.
Earning the right to ask a question
So, how do you earn the right to ask a question?
Asking a question is like taking a withdrawal from the bank, and before you take money out of the bank, you need to put money in!
So, if you make a deposit can you then take the withdraw? UNFORTUNATELY; NO
Let's look at it this way: A deposit is $5 and your withdraw is $10 or $15; how much actually? Depends on the question; could be more for some people...
So, as a general rule we'll make two or three deposits before we make a withdraw.
Here are some deposits:
- Thank you for calling
- Welcome to (your company)
- I appreciate that
- It's great to talk to you today
- I'm excited to talk to you
- Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today? (this is a deposit attached to a withdraw)
- It was great to meet you and your family
- I love informed customers like you
- I know you are just looking for information (getting ideas)
- I understand; or that make sense (then restate what they said - shows you're listening)
- That's great
- I feel the same way (1st person); others have felt the same way (3rd person)
- I've been there (1st person); most of our customers have been there (3rd person)
- I had the same thing in mind (1st person); most of our customer have had that same thing in mind (3rd person)
- Excellent decision
- You've done a great job reaserching
- That's smart
- No problem
- Great choice
There are just a few. Write down your own!
Use 3rd person if you are recommendation something and 1st person if you are simply agreeing with them.
The 3rd person statements are here to eliminate I, me, my, mine like I teach in the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling. That way you are not recommending anything - others are.
Think of a few of your own, here are some of the ingredients of good deposits:
- Make sure they know that you understand
- Restate what they say
- Compliment them
Three deposits could be:
- Agree with them
- Tell them most of your customers have felt the same way, or have been there etc...(3rd person)
- Compliment them
- Withdraw: Then your question, statement or opinion (an opinion for 3rd person could be; others have found; or many of our customers have found)
Write down your own!
The 3rd person statements are here to eliminate I, me, my, mine like I teach in the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling. That way you are not recommending anything - others are.
Feel; felt; found - if you've ever heard of that - is an example of this but we need to take that to the next level so we can use it more often.
Feel; felt; found - if you've ever heard of that - is an example of this but we need to take that to the next level so we can use it more often.
The prospect will feel great, love to answer all of your questions and buy from you!
This must be role-played and it's not easy.
Here's a phone message I just heard: Thank you for calling your local ** Mart. We appreciate your business and look forward to the opportunity to serve you in our store. It then ask's you to choose something from the following options (that's the withdraw).
How many deposits before the withdraw? Great job ** Mart, that's three deposits before the withdraw!
You will find that when you master this, the prospect is going to give you much better answers to your questions, making it a much easier sale. This is because they are happy to answer and genuinely want you help. They will like you, trust you and buy from you.
Welcome to the Machine!
Back to the first phone call
If you only make one deposit in the initial greeting before asking the prospect for their name (try for two) it better be an enthusiastic one delivered with a smile.
Here's a proper call:
Welcome to (or) thank you for calling (your company), I'm (your full name.) Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today? If they don't give their last name say: How is your last name properly spelled? How many deposits was that?
After the name you may want the number - you can't just ask for it next; so: Your call is very important me (use the prospects first name here) and I'd hate to loose it, in case we get dis-connected, what's the best number to reach you at? How many deposits?
We were able to make two deposits in each of those lines! So, now we keep going and make two or three for each withdraw.
How about this - This answering machine was better than the first call
Here's a phone message I just heard: Thank you for calling your local ** Mart. We appreciate your business and look forward to the opportunity to serve you in our store. It then ask's you to choose something from the following options (that's the withdraw).
How many deposits before the withdraw? Great job ** Mart, that's three deposits before the withdraw!
You'll get better answers to your questions
You will find that when you master this, the prospect is going to give you much better answers to your questions, making it a much easier sale. This is because they are happy to answer and genuinely want you help. They will like you, trust you and buy from you.
Welcome to the Machine!
*****
In order to get the machine running at top level performance we need to look at and optimize every singe path the the prospect takes throughout the entire operation.
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Most sales will be made after the 5th closing attempt, and most salespeople only know one close!
- I'm not interested.
- I'm too busy right now. It's not a priority.
- Just email me some info and I'll keep it on file.
- The price is too high / We don't have the budget.
- I need to wait / I need to think about it. Call me in six months.
- I need to talk to my VP, partner, boss, wife, etc.
- We're currently using another supplier and we're happy.
- It won't work for us. We don't need it.
- We've had a bad experience with this type of thing.
- You're too small / never heard of you.
- You're just trying to sell me ...
- I like the idea, but I need you to tell me I'm making the right decision.
Get yourself a copy of my Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling!
Are you new to selling, struggling in sales,or just want to sell more?
These are the essential secrets to selling and the first things a beginner in sales needs to learn. If you always do these things — you will succeed!
After mastering the Baker's Dozen for Relationship Selling, you’ll close more sales with higher gross and build lasting relationships with your customers that will result in a lifetime of repeat and referral business!
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