This is a guest post by Karen Andrews

Did you know that the majority of telephone sales leads and enquiries do not get followed up more than once (which could be why your business has a low conversion rate*)?

To improve your sales or that of your telephone sales team, develop a system to regularly check where each one is at and when they were last contacted. If you hold sales meetings, doing it at the beginning or end of each month is perfect.

Here are some statistics that I’m sure you will find most interesting:

• 48% of sales people never follow-up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people only make 3 contacts and stop
• Only 10% of sales people make more than 3 contacts
• 2% of sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

To ramp up some sales in the next couple of months, go through all the leads you have received over the last 3-6 months and either you or your sales people pick up the phone and call them. You will be surprised how many people haven’t done anything, simply because no one has bothered to follow up and they have simply been too busy to do anything about it.

* Your sales conversion rate is how many enquiries you receive vs. how many you convert into customers over a specified time frame. To calculate your sales conversion rate follow this simple formula

Total No. of Sales/ Total No. of Enquiries x 100 = Sales Conversion

e.g. 100 sales / 80 enquiries x 100 = 80%

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.

This is a guest post by Paul Archer.

I almost fell right into their trap. I was just a mouse click away from being sucked into the greatest scam that happens every Christmas and I’m still shaking with the nerves.

My daughter, Bethan, has been asking for a new game for her Nintendo DS called Professor Layton and The Curious Village. So when I arrived home after a gruelling car journey down the M6 in the pouring rain, she grabbed me at the front door. Please Daddy, please Daddy…pleeeeease. Bags, cases, coat, laptop in hand, I speedily agreed to her persistent request so as to get inside in the warm.

More fool I. Now being a good and principled father, onto the Internet I went in search of her game. Amazon, game.com, Tesco online, play.com…I tried them all and no one had any stock in at all with not a whisper of availability before Christmas.

I’d been done like a kipper.

Kippered by the toy company who knew full well I.d have to keep to my commitment to my daughter and buy the game and when they release more stock after Christmas, which they will. I will be consistent.

And in the meantime, whilst I.m on Amazon or play.com I.ll have to buy her something else to make it up to her having to wait until after Christmas. And thousands of other dutiful parents are doing the same thing.

The influencing technique is taken from Doctor Robert Cialdini.s principles of influence is called commitment and consistency which is really useful in selling, managing large accounts and coaching your team.

The principle boils down to the fact that humans value consistency – it’s good and principled, makes us known as honest and reliable. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be these things?

It’s used throughout society. Weight Watchers, which I’ll be joining in the New Year, works because you publicly have to weigh yourself. In front of others – perish the thought. Political canvassers ask you to say verbally who you’ll vote for on your doorstep which they’re kissing your child.

No one ever changes their football team after they’ve told people they support them.

This principle is really useful for us as well and here’s some ideas:

• Ask your customer to fill in the application form themselves
• Use test and trial closes during your sales pitch, even after the first 5 minutes
• Help people make a small purchase early in the relationship and this will encourage them to be consistent.
• Get a commitment at the beginning of your sales meeting to give you some referrals
• When coaching just ask lots of questions to encourage them to talk and say what they’re going to do. Its   classic GROW model and it works
• In coaching make sure you allow your team member to vocalize their action plans
• Contract with team members in meetings to summarize their actions out loud and in writing

Many of these things we’ve been told before but it’s helpful sometimes to know the science behind them. And beware of ever been caught out yourself.

Did I fall for it? Well, no thankfully, as soon as I realised all the companies were out of stock so quickly and knowing that this is the number one game this Christmas, I soon put 2 and 2 together and pleaded with my daughter to accept a store voucher instead so we could get the game after Christmas. Mean old boring Daddy. After all it is credit crunch.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Karen Andrews

For many people just the thought of ‘asking for the business‘ or closing the sale, brings about paralyzing fear of rejection and feelings of being too pushy. So what happens? It gets avoided at all costs and that doesn’t help anyone.

The problem with letting fear get in the way is that sales drag on way to long and they often get lost as a result of not following-up. Remember if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Interestingly, it’s very rare for someone to be annoyed with you for following-up, if they have been meaning to call you, you’re doing them a favour by saving them time. If they haven’t made a decision, that’s OK just ask them when you should call them back (so your not bothering them unnecessarily in between).

Closing is many things, it’s not just about winning the sale; closing is moving the sale through the process and getting agreement at each step, for example:

• Agreeing to a next appointment
• Agreeing to prepare a proposal
• Agreeing to a demonstration
• Agreeing to the next step
• Agreeing to get started

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the more work you do in the early stages of the sale to understand their ‘needs’ and their buying reasons, the easier and quicker the sale will be. Here are some tips and techniques that you can follow to make the process easier

1. Spend more time asking questions that uncover needs and any problems, challenges or frustrations they may be experiencing. Businesses pay money to fulfil needs and solve problems. If you have a clear understanding of the problem or the need you can match your solution to it.

2. If you can’t uncover any of these reasons, I would suggest there is no reason for your prospect to buy it and the sale will be difficult to close.

3. Ensure that both you and your prospect understand and agree on their needs or problems and the value they will receive when you help them solve it.

4. When your prospects clearly understand “whats in it for them” it’s makes their decision easier and quite often they want to buy from you.

5. Tailor your presentation around their needs and “whats in it for them” Great presentations communicate this clearly and gets your prospect into ‘buying mode’

6. Rcognize when people are ready to buy. They might indicate or show they’re ready by asking questions about the product or the buying process: “How long will it take for delivery?”, “How does that work?” or “Where to from here?”. Other signs include positive body language and comments such as “we could use it like this?” or “that’s a good idea.”

When it comes time to ask for the business there are 3 different techniques you can use. I find the ‘assumptive’ close tends to work best for me but it’s important to find a technique that works for you.

The direct close
This is the most direct because you actually ask for the order. For example “should we get the product ready for tomorrow?” or “Would you like to place an order”

The indirect close
This is where you summarise and re-state the benefits and then ask for a decision. For example “having spoken to some of our clients and heard about the benefits they have been enjoying as a result of our service, are you ready to place an order”

The assumptive close
This is the one I use all the time and it assumes that the customer has made the decision to buy your product. Instead of asking them for an order, you ask them to complete the first step to get the service started or goods delivered. For example “if you need to have delivery next week, I need the order from you no later than tomorrow” or “when would you like us to get started”

If the client is unwilling to move ahead, perhaps you haven’t addressed all of their concerns or perhaps they have a misunderstanding about your product or service or fail to see the benefits of what you offer.

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.

The following is a Guest post by Alen Majer, CEO of The Science and Art of Selling.

Many sales are lost because salespeople assume they know what the customer wants. Sales people like to make assumptions of knowledge about what the buyer wants and needs, or sometimes more importantly why the buyer might be motivated to buy. Using one’s instincts and sixth sense is fine in the equation of success, but it should be only part of your expertise.

Consequently, through unorganized hit-or-miss methods, a telesales professional’s cost of selling is high simply because his telesales methods are not as efficient as they should be. This does not mean you shouldn’t use your instincts and be training well. But it does mean that your sales assumptions must be based on a finding of facts, and not guesses.

Using the dart game in the sales profession can lead to failure. You have limited time on your sales call to a prospective buyer and your darts must hit their mark. It’s even more crucial when you use the phone for your sales prospecting activities: several telesales calls miss their mark as being off-the-shelf calls that aren’t developed with a specific buyer in mind. Dartboard selling is a quick way to go broke.

Top notch salespeople advise that 75% of a successful sale is due to the pre-flight work. You must make sure you know what direction you want to go in, and you have to ask precise questions that will lead you to confirm needs you recognized through trigger events. You must know what direction to fly before you takeoff.

Most sales people out there are making a huge mistake meeting (or talking over the phone) with their clients unprepared. These sales professionals think it is enough to schedule the meeting and they will work their magic and close the deal. They will try to break the ice with the customer by talking about the stuff inside the customer’s office. Then the next misstep is to ask a few questions and not even wait for the answers, but to start with the same old sales pitch.

This kind of salesperson knows all the answers and few features and benefits later they will ask for the business. After hearing few “No’s” from customer the salesperson may give up and leave the office with the promise of a follow up a few days later. Unfortunately, the down side is that the customer will probably never return the calls.

Majority of sales people don’t take the time to have a conversation with their customers, because they assume that every other customer is like all the others. You will discover that your previous assumptions in sales were most fatal. Keep those times in the past.It was necessary for you to learn a lesson that every salesperson needs to learn, and now is the time to grow and develop your skills and knowledge. You will do so in developing your knowledge about trigger events. It is time to replace assumptions with research.

When you start learning how to recognize trigger events, rather than trying to assume or guess at them, not only will you enhance your professional sales career and knowledge, but will increase your sales knowledge to what the customer needs.

It is mind-boggling to receive a telemarketing call and the caller spits out a menu of mechanical words. The customer isn’t even, it seems, invited to be part of the conversation. It’s all about the need of the seller. Now when you contact your customers with information collected from recognized trigger events, you will have right questions to ask them, and all you need to do is listen to their answers and reshape your presentation accordingly.

Start with understanding customer’s actual situation and have their needs on your mind, but also find the way to put them on the market by making them realize their yet uncovered needs.

I hope you realize how often you barked up the wrong tree in your prospecting activities, talking to companies without the real need, following up and leaving numerous messages to someone who doesn’t see the value in your product.

It is time to move on. Of course, at one time when we were starting sales, we all may have wasted our time that way, telemarketing people from the long list of unqualified prospects we got from our manager, simply because they were in our territory or vertical market.

Now you will have a very powerful tool to change your approach to selling.

You have to understand the positioning of the company, what they need. It does not matter if these needs are hidden or visible to public eye. You need to do this ahead of the first contact as part of your trigger events research. You have to know the customer’s situation better than perhaps they know it, because at the time of presentation of your product, you will have their needs on your mind and prepare your sales presentation accordingly to the information you hold.

Think value. Give to the customer what they ask for; give them what they need and more, drive the conversation to the customer’s wants and needs.

Impress them with the depth of your understanding of their position on the market and recent events that can trigger buying process, and they will sign on dotted line.

Very often you can hear how selling is a form of art, how sales people need to be creative and use their imagination, but I am not agreeing with that – sales is more science than anything. Yes you can use imagination and creativity, but only after using tools available to you. With the proper tools and techniques you’ll replace guesswork with success.

Even if your company does not have automated system to generate new leads for you, when you learn more about trigger events, you will be able to find your next customer on your own. This will send the message to your manager that you care about your job and you really want to develop your career further, without waiting for someone.

Becoming the best person in the team is an achievable goal and your self-confidence is growing as you establish a competitive advantage towards your colleagues and towards your competition.

You don’t need to use old sales excuses anymore, like “territory is too small”, “need more training”, “inadequate sales tools”, “marketing provides no leads”, “we are overpriced” etc.

Numbers of sales people who lose their jobs or miss their quota each year are not really important to you anymore, because you are more confident that you know what you doing in your sales role and all thanks to getting new customers from trigger events.

Now you are becoming a real Sales Professional. And it is a good feeling having control over your sales career, isn’t it?

Alen Majer consults and trains entrepreneurs and salespeople how to harness their (sex) energy and use it for the success of selling. He is the founder and CEO of The Science and Art of Selling – a sales training, coaching and consulting company in Toronto, Canada; co-founder of Sales Academy – Croatia and Sales Institute of Croatia. Visit his blog at http://www.alenmajer.com

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

One of the largest dupes telesales professionals tumble into is the “Just Send Your Material” objection. In their enthusiasm to set up leads to call back, majority of the telesales professionals will agree and send their demos, quotes, and other information believing that they at least have a luck to close the sale once they call back. However, the question is: “How many individuals who tell you this objection actually close?”

Most likely, if you’re like most telesales professionals, the answer is “very few”. So, how do you handle this obvious brush off? The experienced telesales professional utilize cautiously prepared telephone scripts to manage objections like this and to get prospects to reveal how interested they really are.

Below are top five telephone scripts to help split the real buyers from those prospects who will end up wasting your time:

“Just Send Your Material”

Response #1:
I’ll be happy to do that __________, but until we know if this is truly a fit for you, we’d be wasting your time.  If you’re sincere about learning how this can actually help you, then I’d propose we take a couple of minutes right now to discuss your situation.  After that, if you’re really interested, I’d be glad to get something out to you – is that fair?”

Response #2:
“I’d be happy to _________.  Quick question though and please be honest with me: When do you think you’ll be serious about moving on to something like this?

Response #3:
If you like what you see, when would you be ready to place an order?” Or, “Sure, and after you review it, how soon are you looking to make a decision on it?”

Response #4:
“Before I do, I want to make sure you’d be ready to act on it if you like it.  Let me ask you a quick question: (Ask qualifying questions on budget, decision-making process, etc.)”

Response #5:
___________, my experience is that information like this, even when it’s this good, usually just gets buried under a stack of paper and that doesn’t do either one of us any good.  Now that we’re on the phone together, I can answer any of your urgent questions and then you’ll be in a better position to make a decision whether or not it makes sense to send you information.  Let me ask you about your needs for this type of (your service or product).”

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s Ebook: “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts,” 110 pages packed with word for word scripts and techniques you can begin using today to make more appointments and close more sales.  You can read about it by clicking here: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/scripts.htm

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

A few weeks ago, my neighbor put in a new driveway using beautiful paving stones that dramatically improved the look of his property.

Comparing my old asphalt driveway, I quickly went over to one of the installers and asked for an estimate.  “You have to call our office,” he explained as he gave me their business card.

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The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

Have you ever sat at your desk, shuffled your leads, looked at the clock thinking that lunchtime was way too far off, and then prayed for the phone lines to go dead? Has the phone ever seemed like a 500-pound weight?  If so, then you know what call reluctance is.

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This is a guest post from Karen Andrews of ShineSales.Com

Did you know that one of the biggest gripes against salespeople by decision makers is the lack of follow up?

Many people resist following up because they find it uncomfortable and don’t want to seem pushy or annoying and many people don’t follow up because they simply forget. This lack of follow-up presents a great opportunity for those who are organized and take the time to do it.

Follow-up is important because

* It lets people know you are interested and that you care
* It’s shows your level of commitment
* It keeps the relationship progressing
* It provides opportunities for new discussions and new ideas
* It reminds people you are out there and available
* It shortens the sales cycle
* It saves people time
* It leads to sales!

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This is a guest post from Karen Andrews of ShineSales.Com

Well it’s hard to believe but it’s only 6 weeks until Christmas and this time of year always brings with it challenges for both business owners and salespeople. As we approach the festive season and the business year draws to a close, many decision makers prefer to put off decisions and new business meetings until the New Year. This is both challenging and de-motivating for salespeople but also frustrating and stressful for business owners, who need to keep generating revenue.

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The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

So many times our telesales prospects aren’t really interested, but they either don’t know how or won’t come out and tell us. Instead they will say things like, “Go ahead and send me the (information, brochure, demo) and I’ll take a look.”  Or, “Put that quote in writing and send it to me.”

When a Top 20% telesales closer hears this, his/her first thought is, “I don’t have the time to do that, and I especially don’t have the time to follow up with an unqualified lead.”

Here are some telesales tips on how they handle it and how you should, too: Continue Reading