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Are you a Sales Pro or a Sales Wannabe?

Are you a Sales Pro or a Sales Wannabe? [VIDEO]

Becoming a sales pro comes through learning and practice. Sales experts believe that a person’s attitude and personality play an important role in becoming a successful salesperson.

Watch this video and learn how you could close more sales and be that Sales Pro you want to be.

Competence

Sales Pros aim to get better. They invest in their own self-development. They don’t boast about their experience but do whatever it takes to become more efficient in their work.

Sales Wannabes consider their work as “just a job”. They show up and get their paycheck. They don’t invest in learning. They think it’s the company’s job to train them.

Tip: Better to teach your sales reps to sound more natural over the phone

Communication

Sales pros connect with prospects and engage them in conversation. They build relationships. They instill an impression of confidence and make you feel that you picked the right salesperson.

Professionals figure out a way to get through and get in but sales wannabes whine about how hard it is to get to buyers.

Related: Knowing the Different Buying Signals Will Make You A Better Salesperson

Customer-First Attitude

Sales Wannabes don’t care whether prospects buy or not. Oftentimes, they sounded like they’re not interested in what they’re doing and that prospects are keeping them from more important things. Here’s How to Gain Prospect’s Trust.

Reliability and Responsibility

Sales Pros do what they say they’ll do. They call on time and show up earlier than the scheduled meeting.  You can count on them, whatever it takes.

Sales Wannabes don’t care about your time, following the schedule that’s convenient only for them. They are often late for a scheduled meetup or sales call.

Related: Why You Shouldn’t Ask, “Is this a bad time to talk?”

Poise

You can tell a lot about a person based on how they react in every situation. Sales Pros are always calm and continue with the conversation even when dealing with tough gatekeepers or prospect’s objections.

Sales Wannabes are defensive when dealing with prospect’s objections. Most of the time, they’re the first one to hang up the phone when dealing with irate prospects.

Related: Don’t be Annoying: 3 Sales Mistakes that Make You Look Dumb

If you’re still part of those Sales Wannabes, but want to make the switch to being a Sales Pro, don’t worry.  Apply these 5 characteristics of a good sales pro, and you’ll get there.

Sales Tips: Interesting Facts About How to Gain Prospect’s Trust

Sales Tips: Interesting Facts About How to Gain Prospect’s Trust

Do you easily get your prospect’s trust?

A great salesperson’s goal when doing lead generation is to get interested prospects and eventually close a sale. In order to do this successfully, sales reps must gain the trust of their prospects. Prospects can sense it when you called and all you can think of is your paycheck.

According to Salesforce.com, here are some ways to help gain your prospect’s trust:

1) Speak with authority

Being authoritative doesn’t mean being arrogant. Speaking with authority means speaking with confidence and being able to communicate honestly and direct to the point.

Examples of sales rep who speaks with authority includes:

  • Being able to express his feelings clearly.
  • Telling and showing prospects of their needs without threatening them.
  • Avoid swearing.
  • Handles prospects in a professional manner.
  • Listens and knows how to wait when to speak.

Learn how to Sound Natural over the Phone when Discussing With Prospects

Related: Lessons Learned from a Robot Telemarketer: Samantha West

2) Demonstrate credibility

Prospects don’t like telemarketers because they think they’re fraud. Prospects are interested in speaking with a person or a company with established credibility. Someone who can take care of their needs and not just anyone whose purpose is to waste their time selling unnecessary things.

Build credibility with your prospects by:

  • Being human – unique and honest
  • Watch your grammar and language
  • Be punctual. It matters! It implies that you care.

3) Listen

A lot of salespeople are guilty on this one. Listening doesn’t only mean hearing your prospect. It also means understand what the person on the other line is saying at the same time engaging them into a conversation. Here’s Why Listening is an Important Component in Telemarketing

When you listen to your prospects, you will learn to read between the lines to look for possible opportunities and decipher the different buying signals of your prospects.

4) Value the prospect’s time

Prospect: I’m not available right now. I’m in the middle of something.

Agent: No problem. I understand. When is the best time for me to callback?

Time is gold! You’re gaining your prospect’s trust the moment you show value in his time. Plus, they are more likely to listen and remember you the next time you called.  

5) Respect their views

When a prospect asked you to send an email first and get back with him 2 days after doesn’t mean he’s no longer interested with what you’re offering. If you believe in your product or service, you’ll see this as a positive response. Respecting a person’s view means you’re giving him a chance to read and know your product more before having a deeper conversation about it. Plus, it gives you time to prepare for possible questions on your second call.  

What to do when faced with this situation? Tell the prospect, “Sure. I’ll send you an email right after this call. When is your most convenient time for me to give you a callback to discuss this further with you?”

6) Show commitment

Agent: When can I call you back?

Prospect: Call me back on Monday at 2PM.

Agent: Sure. Talk to you then.

When you agreed to call a prospect, call back on the scheduled date and time. Most of the time, sales reps are excited to speak with their prospects ended up calling them earlier than the scheduled appointment. Others tend to forget to follow up. Showing commitment means you care and you respect your prospect’s time. It shows professionalism and implies that you mean business.

7) Be genuine

Be honest! Trying to be someone you’re not might lose your credibility as well as your chance to close the sale. When your product or your company doesn’t have what they’re looking for, be honest about it. If you don’t have the answer to your prospect’s question, here are some tips and tricks you can check into. Instead, tell them you’ll get back to them with an answer.  

For Example:

Prospect: How much does it cost?

Agent: I don’t have that information with me right now. What I can do is take of it and send it to you through email, would that work for you?

Gaining prospect’s trust is essential in B2B lead generation. It may be difficult to some reps but take note of the tips mentioned above when making calls to help you gain your prospect’s trust and increase your chances of closing a sale.

Teach Sales Reps to Sound More Natural Over the Phone

Teach Sales Reps to Sound More Natural Over the Phone

Most prospects can tell if the caller is a telemarketer doing cold calls, unsolicited calls or a sales call. From the moment you said, “Hi, am I speaking with Bill Jones?” to the way you say your spiel.

Even if you’re an expert in sales, you may find yourself get confused and stutter when speaking with new a prospect on the phone.  That awkward conversation can make or break your prospect’s decision to listen to you or hang up the phone.

If you are a salesperson doing lead generation for a living, you have to pick up the phone to set appointments, follow up prospects, etc.—then you must learn to sound natural over the phone so your prospects, gatekeepers, or executive assistants won’t notice that you’re trying to sell something.

Here are the 5 things I did that helped me sound more natural over the phone and close more sales.

Know the reason why you’re calling and what’s in it for them.

Knowledge is power. I make sure I know everything about the product or service I’m offering – its features and benefits.  Before calling my prospect, I try to know my objective and why the prospect will take time and listen to me.  How to do this?

You can always ask yourself these questions before making a call:

  • Why are you calling today?  
  • What do you have to offer?
  • What will they get if they listen to you?

Preparation before placing a call helps me gain confidence. Plus, you are more likely to sound like you know what you are talking about so prospects will want to listen to you. Here’s a closer look inside the mind of your Australian prospects.

Tip: Practice your script with your colleague or with your sales manager to make sure your preparation will result to a smooth delivery when you’re talking to your prospect.

Be polite

Many sales reps still try to trick gatekeeper and assistants just to get hold of their prospects. And most of them are rude whenever they do this. Regardless if they are the person I wish to speak with, an assistants or a gatekeeper, I always use the following words when speaking with anyone over the phone.

  • Please.
  • Thank you.
  • May I…
  • Could you please…
  • That’s okay.
  • I understand.

Here are some phrases of courtesy that I use.

  • “Can you please direct my call to Bill Jones?”
  • “Thank you” (When Gatekeeper asked you to hold for her to transfer your call)
  • “May I have your name so I can address you properly in the email?“
  • “Could you please connect my call to Amanda Smith?”
  • “That’s okay. So when is the best time for me to call back for Bill Jones?”
  • “I understand. How about if I send you information for future reference? Would that work for you?”

You may be surprise how words like these can go a long way when speaking with anyone over the phone.

Related: Don’t Know the Answers to Prospect’s Sales Questions? Fake it

I make connections with my prospect

Build rapport with your prospect. How? Greet them and address them by their first name. It usually works for me especially if I’m making a connection with my prospects. Many sales reps are still using Mr. or Ms, Madam or Sir when speaking with prospects as their way to show respect, but I don’t agree on that. You can always show your respect with someone by being courteous and professional when speaking with them. Know the basic do’s and don’ts on telesales.

Tip: By using the prospect’s first name, you are starting the call equal without giving them all the power. Plus, you will sound like you know your prospect when you asked for their first name from the Gatekeeper.

Be brief: “Less talk, less mistakes”

Most sales reps get excited to say their spiel and explain the features and benefits of their product the moment they get hold of their prospect.  The more information you provide to your prospect may lead to an objection.

Be brief and direct to the point when introducing your company, saying your spiel and stating the purpose of your call.

Here’s a sample script I use when I introduce my company or state the purpose of my call:

“I’m with XYZ Company. We are a Microsoft Gold Certified partner and we specialize in MS Dynamics products.

I’d like to find out if your company has plans to evaluate or would consider changing your current software in 6-12 months?”

By being brief and direct to the point, prospect might think you mean business and is not calling to waste their time.

Listen actively

When doing lead generation, this is the most important of all. However, listening to what the prospect is saying is not enough. Listening and understanding what the prospect is actually saying is essential. It will help you know whether or not they are on their “buying stage” or not.

When you didn’t hear or understand what the prospect is saying, you can always ask him to:

  • Repeat what he just said
  • Elaborate what he means (for you to understand it well)

Reminder: Be careful as to how many times you are supposed to ask the prospect to repeat what he just said.  It’s a turnoff on the side of the prospect if you will ask him to repeat his answer more than twice.

These are the 5 things I usually do to sound confident and natural over the phone. They are easy to implement, so you won’t have a hard time adjusting your way of calling. Incorporate these to your own telemarketing techniques to minimize call reluctance and start making more connections by increasing your phone time with your prospects.

Top Ten Tips For B2B Telemarketing

Top Ten Tips For B2B Telemarketing

Being effective in your B2B telemarketing campaigns all about being ready to address the various issues faced by both your customers and business prospects. Basically, it is all about providing quality customer service for all you call as well as those who call you. While you do need to meet your sales leads targets, you also need to make sure that the other party is happy as well. This is a very important point in ensuring that your B2B appointment setting process will go smoothly. Now, the question here is how you do your job right. Luckily, there are some tips that you can use.

1. Clarify complaints – people complain about the service or products that you offered, you should check the details. Most callers would be saying too many details that the real issue could get muddled.

2. Have confidence – this is a real boost to your performance, one that can be noticed during your call. Believe that you can do the job, and the job can be done.

3. Be positive – no matter how bad the day has gone by, thinking that things will turn out well in the end is important. A little positive outlook can mean a great deal for a person’s morale.

4. Speed up the call handling – time is precious, for both the caller and the called. It is important that you and your B2B lead generation team be made aware of that. No dilly-dallying of calls, go straight to the point, and help your prospects get things done.

5. Have a proactive system of helping prospects – some problems can be anticipated before it happens, so it pays for you and your team to prepare for it before it happens.

6. Plan your seating arrangement – this is especially important in large scale telemarketing operations with shifting work schedules. It would be useful if you can get some automated planning system that will maximise the productivity of our marketing team.

7. Know who you are calling – take note that there are different kinds of customers and potential B2B leads. Once you realise these little details, it would be easier for you to generate more sales leads for your business.

8. Make self-service options easier for users – sure, nothing beats a good marketing call, but you have to make sure that alternative sources of information is readily available in a quick and convenient manner.

9. Hire the right team – telemarketing can be a really stressful and complex job, so in the event that you have to hire people, make sure you hire those who know this business well.

10. Delegate to the right people – you cannot do everything well on your own. In case you have to do business with someone you are not skilled with in handling, leave that job to those who do.

These tips can be really simple, but they all have a strong effect on B2B lead generation campaigns that rely on them. You can follow these tips to, and you will see that this is a good investment.