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

Because you only have a few precious seconds to make a connection and establish interest, you’d better have a good opening prepared in advance.

Besides being very busy, your prospects probably get a lot of sales calls every week, and many of them from your direct competition. So why would they want to talk to you? What can you do to separate yourself from all the other calls they get?

The answer is that you have to establish a real connection with your prospect and stop sounding like all the other sales reps who call them.

Here is what your competition usually sounds like (I hope you’re not doing this!):

“Oh, hi Mr. __________, this is _______ _______ with the MLT Group.

__________, we are an industry supply manufacturer and we help companies streamline their production process. We work with many companies in your field and save them between 10 to 15% on the cost of their storage and delivery process. What I’d like to do is ask you some questions to see how our process may save you that kind of money as well. Where are you currently getting your…”

Do you see how this opening makes no connection with the prospect? Do you see how it just starts pitching at the prospect and doesn’t acknowledge that the prospect might be busy, or not interested? Do you see how there is no rapport built here and how it’s a one sided conversation?

How do you feel when someone barges in on your day and starts in with a pitch like this? You’re probably thinking what most prospects are thinking: “How do I get this sales rep off the phone?!”

Now let’s look at the right way to open your call. Your goal in the first few seconds is to make a connection and get them to interact. You have to acknowledge that they may be busy or that you respect their time and you need to establish some rapport and separate yourself from all the other sales reps calling them.

Try this:

“Hi, ________ this is _______ _______ with (your company), how’s your Tuesday going? Great. Listen, _______, I know you probably get a ton of calls so I’ll make this brief.

Let me ask you, if I could show you a better way of tracking and shipping (or) and save you money doing it, would it be worth spending five minutes with me next week to show you how?”

Or,

“What is the one thing you could change that would have a dramatic impact on your productivity and that would save your company money?”

Or,

“If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about how you currently do (their business), what would it be?”

Can you see how this quick questioning approach is more effective than what you may currently be using now? Eighty percent of your competition still barge in on their prospects and open their calls up with a long explanation about what they do and what they offer, and pitch their products and services without checking in with their prospects or establishing any kind of connection. No wonder most people brush them off the phone!

You can separate yourself from this group instantly, starting today, by using the opening technique above. Once again, adapt it to fit your product or service, and then practice it until it’s natural and easy for you to use. As you do, you’ll begin to notice yourself struggling less, making more connections with interested and qualified buyers, and you’ll have more confidence and feel better about yourself.  Just like the top 20% do!

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting http://www.MrInsideSales.com

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

Your mission as a phone sales person should be to find companies that have immediate wants and needs. This means that something happened or is happening to them – a move, a merger, new investors, etc. You have to look for any event that might create the opportunity for you, or better said you are looking for event that can trigger the sales for you.

It could be something internal or inside the company, like a new direction from management, a merger or an acquisition, rapid growth, or maybe a new product introduction. And it could mean the company is turning “Green” and needs new and different supplies and services.

It could be external or outside the company, like the new strategies of their competition or new legislation (Sarbanes- Oxley Act). Maybe even a natural disaster, which is a well-known external trigger for many customers.

Generally speaking, trigger events have effects inside the whole company. Suddenly new needs are recognized; previous decisions need to be revisited. Very often, management becomes aware of new priorities and changes the direction of the company.

Trigger events are extremely important when we are in the search mode, looking for our next customer, and when we need to identify our sales opportunities at a particular company from our target list.

Every company has something new happening. Maybe they improved or reintroduced their products or service. There could be new faces in the boardroom or on the sales floor. A new office may have opened up in the Midwest. A new vendor or strategic partner could have been added. Even new money or investor may come into the company.

Most important for a buyer is that the provider understands the buyer’s situation, needs and business.

Every change in the business environment causes a search for new suppliers or new service providers, and your main goal is to be in front of qualified buyers when they are ready to buy.

In these situations, I would say this is almost the perfect position for every phone sales person. You know there is something happening with the accounts from your list of targeted accounts and you know that as it happens – perfect timing is a key of success many times. This is equally true no matter if it is with small or large companies.

An example of the above is a situation where through your trigger event research you determine that your customer is planning to switch its ordering system to one of the new software solutions. So you know there is something going to happen. Whether the company is large or small, it can be perfect timing for you to be able to provide products and services to them using that kind of ordering/sales process.

How to use that information?

When you get the information related to a trigger event, you need to adjust your approach so the benefits of your products (or services) are closely related to the trigger event, and you are able to show your customers that you can create a value for them early in the buying process.

This is a good way to start working on the relationship and developing the customer’s perception of your value to them. This means when you speak with the decision maker and if you know exactly what this trigger event is about, you will be able to tailor your story and the benefits of your product in a way that sounds appealing and is related to the customers’ growth trigger event.

You need to adjust your presentation in the way to recognize that event and to present your offering in the most effective way.

Questions you will ask on your calls or meetings with prospects will be targeted towards their needs and you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of business situation. That should bring you a step closer to get the deal done.

You definitely want to discover their hot buttons and why they could be on the market now for your products or services. Also, you should find out why they are qualified now, at this particular moment, and why you should be very active with this prospect.

It is actually very simple – when you show your prospects that you actually care and you have done your homework and you know about trigger events happening inside their company (new CFO, merger and acquisition, bad 3rd quarter…) you also show them that you are interested about their issues, and most importantly concerned about their wants and needs.

You will create interest in their eyes because you are different than anyone else who contacts them, who is simply trying to sell something without really understanding their needs.

When you know about different trigger events it will be much easier for you to ask questions that lead to uncover customer’s needs and buying motives, and to put them in the market even if they feel they are not buying anything now.

If you try to make a sale without necessary information about your customers, you are just shooting blanks in the air, hoping to hit something. With full information about your prospect’s situation, you will be able to sell easier, and that is the main purpose of this article (and my blog) – to help you find your next customer in a much easier way for you, and yet maintain a professional, knowledgeable approach.

All needs are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

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.

This week is ‘Mike Brooks’ week on Telesales Magic! Here’s the third of five articles from Mr. Inside Sales himself! Sales Managers and Team Leaders – be sure to check back in with us tomorrow where Mike gives you tips on Motivating your teams properly in tough economic times.

I’m amazed when I hear sales people and managers tell me how slow summer is for their business.  It’s almost like they’re resigned to the fate of poor summer performance and are already thinking about how to make up their losses in the fall.

Now I understand that many people take vacations in summer – a week or so here and there – but they are working all the other time aren’t they?  Even if your particular business slows down during the summer months (trade show, etc.), that doesn’t mean you can’t pre-book business or build relationships, or get referrals, etc..

The fact is, top 20% producers still find ways to make their quotas in summer, and they also find ways to set up the end of the year so they exceed their revenue goals, earn their bonuses and have a great holiday season.  And you can, too.

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Its been a long week. However, I wanted to post this quick list of prospecting tips. Being a professional telesales person isnt easy, and after 18 astounding years in the business I am happy to say I am still learning every day! Cold calling, telesales or telemarketing – it doesnt matter what you call it – the most important thing is that you strive to get better, and never give up the opportunity to learn something new.

So, here you go, my 5 quick telesales tips to use when prospecting for new business via the telephone – feel free to turn this list into a larger one if you like, and be sure to post YOUR tips in the comments section at the end of the post!

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This is a Guest Post from Paul Archer, of Archer Training.

Like millions of others, I watched the recent FA Cup Final and was rewarded with rather a dull match full of mistakes, lost possession and very little goal mouth action. Maybe it was two tired teams trying to do their best but possibly it was two teams with well paid players that just try to do the complex things first. All those fancy step over’s and bicycle kicks as opposed to decent crosses and shots at goal.

Sometimes in sales we’re all guilty of trying to do advanced techniques and new ideas and maybe we forget the basics occasionally. There’s a saying in sales that goes: “Be Brilliant at the Basics” Then you can move onto some of the more advanced techniques. Here are 9 basic steps to increase your sales:

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