Selling is a numbers game. It is a game of using common sense, caring for your prospects and customers, knowing your product, calling and seeing a lot of people and asking them all to buy. It is about cold calling, qualifying the door you knock on, knowing when to knock which requires some preparation and research about your prospect and his/her needs. And it all starts with preparing and writing the script to get the cold calling going.
Asking all to buy is a must, but without being intrusive or overbearing, and only when the customer is ready. I always say that you cannot sell until someone buys. And someone will buy only when they discover that they can trust you, you know the solution to their need and you can deliver that solution to their expectation. That’s when they’re ready.
Using common sense is the key in everything we do. One must consider and respect the customer’s pride, and not offend, insult or talk more than necessary.
Ultimately, successful selling is all about planning and preparation. Just like preparing for a speech or a presentation or a promotional brochure or a web site or web page. Knowing what results you want and planning, preparing and following the plan according to those desired results will get you there in the most effective, fastest, successful and satisfying means.
Successful sales scripting is done before successful cold calling. And I’ve done a lot of that. There is one for every call: the initial cold call, the 2nd follow-up call, the 3rd, etc. etc. There is one for each product or service you’ll be talking about. Then there is one for each of the special case specific to the prospect or customer. So, really you need to prepare each time you are about to call someone. It’s not a big deal, it needs only be a short script that you jot down before making the call, but it needs to be precise to the situation.
The hardest thing to do for most people is to cold call prospects. Fear of rejection is the biggest obstacle. However with a script prepared ahead of time, you can just follow it and get it done to perfection.
In order to get it to perfection, you must make the first few calls and adjust as you experience the response of most people you actual call. You will begin to see a pattern. Some will be ‘too busy’ to talk to you. Others won’t want to talk to you. Others will want you to tell them over the phone. Others will ask that you send it in the mail. Other calls you won’t even get passed the assistant… etc.
So you begin by writing a basic outline for the first cold call, like:
“Good morning (good afternoon)
“My name is….
“I’m calling about an idea that I believe will increase the performance of your sales people by 50%.
Would you have 10 minutes tomorrow around 9 o’clock (or whatever day/time) for me to come in and show you exactly what it is. (Pause)
Your first call is to get an appointment — not to sell the product.
If you get someone who is too busy to talk to you, don’t say, “When would it be convenient?” Instead, say “what about 10:30? (Pause again).
If they still cannot, then say “would afternoon be better, I promise I will not take more than 105 minutes unless you want to go on further. (pause)… or tomorrow, or whatever is appropriate.
You must feel the atmosphere. If you find that the person still doesn’t give you a time and begins to show signs of time pressure or avoidance, then ask them to suggest a time: “What would be best for you – may be next week would be a better time?”
If it is still no, then just say, “Ok, Mr or Ms Brown, how about I make a follow-up call in the next couple of weeks and see if it works out best then? Then you close the conversation politely.
And you write this info on your call card for follow-up.
Others won’t want to talk to you. You keep calling at different time until you get them and use the same script – adjusted appropriately to the particular case. At some point, when you are in the area, you drop in and leave a business card, if the prospect can’t see you. Every time you make a contact, that gets you closer to the appointment.
But you have to be politely persistent and within reasonable short intervals. Don’t wait a whole month before making your next contact. Do it within days, expanding the time span according the the increase of frequencies. In other words if you can’t make contact on the first call, call again the next day. Then in 3 days. Then in a week and keep calling every week until you get that appointment.
But make sure that you claim is what you said it will do for the company. If you said the product will save them money, make sure it will do that.
Others will want you to tell them over the phone. Just say, “Well, it is difficult to tell you over the phone, you really have to see it… I promise not to take more than 10 minutes, but it is really well worth your time because it really will increase the performance of your sales people by 50%. (pause)
Others will ask that you send it in the mail. Again you just explain that it’s not something that can be explained through the mail… and pick up as above with the over the phone demand.
Other calls you won’t even get pass the assistant. Here, you have to keep trying at different times until you get through at a time when the assistant isn’t there and the prospect answers himself/herself. Or, you write up a script to deal with that if you find that the assistant always answers, then tell the assistant that you have an idea that will increase the performance of the sales people by 50% if she would let you speak to him/her for 2 minutes.
If you get a voice mail all the time. Use the same approach, and follow-up.
In one book on doing successful business, the author relates that he phoned Donald Trump to ask him to speak at one of his training seminars. He couldn’t get passed the personal assistant and began to make the pitch to her. Because of his persistence, she finally told The Donald who told her to tell him that if he can get 10,000 at this event, then he’ll do it for some great amount of money which I can’t remember just now. The point is that sometimes you just have to do it that way. the bigger the person you’re trying to reach, the harder it is.
The key is to keep your cold calls very brief and to the point. Don’t open your line with “Hi Mr./Ms Prospect, my name is So and So from such and such, How are you today?” Never. You’ve lost them right there.
You say your name, where you’re from and immediately say your script line.
No small talk. Strictly business. Polite. Courteous. Respectful.