This is a guest post by Paul Archer

I’m sure you’re making more prospecting calls at the moment, just like everyone else, so I’m guessing that you’re coming across barriers in getting to talk to your prospective customers.

If that barrier is a “Personal Assistant who’s trained to stop you in your tracks, here’s a neat little tip that just might get you put through.

A UCLA survey showed that on the telephone a massive 84% of the message and meaning

is derived purely from your voice. This is a well known fact and was substantiated by Albert Mehrabian in the 1970′s.

I’m suggesting that you sound important so you can get through the gatekeeper.

Important people have deeper voices and say things in shorter sentences. Their tone of voice falls at the end of each sentence to accentuate their importance and they leave lots of pauses.

And most people when faced with someone who sounds ever so important will put you through without hesitation. Try it, it works and is also fun.

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 Mike Brooks, www.MrInsideSales.com

I don’t know about you, but my email open rate is going the way of voicemails – rarely listened to, and quickly deleted.  What I’ve found, however, is that there are some techniques that can give you the best chance of getting your emails read and even responded to, but you have to be very specific in the way you construct them.

Follow these six email secrets the next time you write and send an email, and you’ll be on your way to the kind of response you used to get – and the kind that will lead to more business:

Email Secret #1:  Use the prospect’s first name in the subject line.

Think about it: what is everyone’s favorite word?  Their first name!  Have you ever been in public before and heard someone call out your name?  You automatically turned around and were receptive and ready to respond until you saw they were calling someone they knew.

You can get your prospect’s attention the same way by putting their name in the subject line of your emails.  To start with, doing so will distinguish your email from the hundreds of others your prospect gets, and because we are all drawn to our own name, it will draw your prospect’s eyes to your email like a magnet.  This is the very best way to get their attention and a great way to get them to read more.

Email Secret #2:  Customize the first few lines of your email as much as possible. Many people preview their emails by reading the first few sentences in their email program before deciding to read the whole thing, so concentrate on writing a short and value laden opening that is addressed right to them.  Something like:

“Hi Barbara, Mike Brooks here with HMS software.  I’ve got some ideas about your networking issues for your new office that’s opening in Houston next month.  I think you’ll find it useful if we talk.”

Again, keep it short, customize it to what you know they’re interested in and provide immediate, specific value to them.

Email Secret #3:  Keep your email short and easy to read! Nothing will turn your prospect off more than long, information packed paragraphs.

Their eyes will glaze over and they will hit the delete key faster than it took you to hit the send key!

Don’t let any of your paragraphs be more than three sentences, and if possible, make them just two sentences.  Recap the major ideas in short phrases, and make sure to engage your prospect by asking questions.  An example would be:

“Hi John, I was wondering if you were still having trouble recouping all the available cash from your current collection program?  If so, you’ll want to speak with me about our new itemized IT solution.

I’ve got some time next Tuesday or would later in the week work for you?

Please let me know either way.  You can see more info here (your website address).

If I don’t hear from you, I’ll follow up with a call next week.”

Email Secret #4:  Ask for a return response – whether they are interested or not. This is a great way to end your email and a good way to get a response.  Just think about how nice it will be to finally take someone off your list who isn’t going to do business with you, and also how great it will be to find someone who is!

Simply thank them in advance for their consideration and let them know that you’re looking forward to their response on this – either a yes or a no.

Email Secret #5:  Promise to follow up by phone if they don’t respond.

Let them know that you understand they are busy, and that if you don’t hear from them, then you’ll follow up with a call in a day or two.

This really increases your response rate and you can be happy when you get a “not interested” response.  These prospects just disqualified themselves and saved you a lot of time and energy!

On the other hand, there will be others who don’t respond and they become your follow up leads.

Email Secret #6:  Proof read your emails before you hit the send key.

Because your prospect can’t see you, they only have your writing sample to judge you on, and if it’s filled with misspellings and poor grammar, what kind of impression do you think this makes?

It only takes a minute to proof read your emails, and I’ll tell you now I’m always glad I did.  I almost always make them better, and when I hit the send key I know I’ve sent out the best message possible.  Doing so allows me to make the best impression, and this once again separates me from my competition.

So there you have the six secrets to writing effective emails.  Believe me, following them will give you the best chance of getting through to decision makers and getting responses that will give you an understanding of where you stand.  That’s a whole lot better than chasing and wondering, isn’t it?

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s: “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts,” which is packed with word for word scripts and techniques that you can begin using today to make more appointments and more sales.  You can read about it by clicking here:

http://www.mrinsidesales.com/scripts.htm

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

A sales pipeline is simply a forecast that you or your salespeople prepare monthly which lists the customers that are likely to buy in a given time frame, the value of the sale and when it is likely to close. It is an essential tool for business owners and sales managers to identify where you are and where you need to be in order to meet budget.

Even if the forecast is well below where you need it to be, at least you are aware of it and can take steps to improve it and stay on track. Don’t wait until the 2nd or 3rd week of the month when you realise that sales are slow to come in and you need more because it’s usually too late.

Typically, I usually ask for a forecast at the beginning of the month and then again on the 15th of the month to see how we are tracking.

The important thing to remember is to use a ‘weighting’. You may $500,000 in your pipeline but it’s very unlikely that you will be successful in winning 100% of them so the forecast will be inaccurate. A weighting is simply a % that you apply terms of the likelihood of winning the sale. Here is an example of how to calculate:

Using this example, the salesperson needs to add more sales into their pipeline to ensure they reach their sales target of $100,000.

As a guide to the Probability you could use

Initial Communication – 10%
First Meeting/Presentation – 20%
Proposal Given – 60%
Negotiation/Verbal Commitment – 80%
Closed – 100%

Most CRM/Database packages (I use ACT or Salesforce.com) include Sales Pipeline management but it can be as simply as listing them on an Excel spreadsheet. Here are a couple of examples from Excel to get you started

Solutions Sales:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-s/templates/TC011457101033.aspx

Product Sales:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC011457181033.aspx

Karen Andrews is Director of Shine Sales Solutions, and a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert who  works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring..

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!

Tip #1 - Always be prospecting. There should never be a single working day that goes by without you picking up the phone and spending a certain amount of time looking for new business.

Tip #2 - Be friends with the gatekeeper. Never argue with them. I have definitely, without a doubt, closed more sales in my career by befriending and being polite with the gatekeeper, than I have fighting with them!

Tip #3 – Make sure you are speaking with the decision maker. Regardless of what youre selling, make sure the person you pitch is the one that can sign the purchase order. Pitching anyone else other than the decision maker is simply a waste of time.

Tip #3b – If you’re calling small-to-medium sized businesses, chances are that the decision maker, regardless of what product or service you are selling, is the owner of the business – ask for him/her, and nobody else.

Tip #4 – Manage the perception of your prospects. Don’t promise something, like a price break or a free gift of some kind, unless you can actually make it happen. Its always better to under promise and over perform, remember that.

Tip #5 – Always be prospecting. Yep – I’m slamming it in here again (besides, Tip #3b was a freebie!). Again, it is so important to dedicate time to the art of prospecting. The more people you speak to the more chances you have of making a sale, and remember, a ‘no’ today doesn’t mean ‘no’ forever. Take notes, mark your follow-up’s on your calender and be sure to call back when you promise.

This is obviously not everything you need to know about how to be a great prospecting machine, but its a start and it is basically the ‘juice’, so to speak. I am now happy to open the floor to you guys, the telesales pro’s of the world to continue building on my quick list. So, on your marks, get set, GO!

For more quick, regular telesales tips, you can follow us on Twitter through username @telesalesmagic, and feel free to add myself, too @chrisducker.

This is a guest post by regular contributor Paul Archer, of Archer Training in the UK.

TIP #1 – The Phonetic Alphabet
I recall my children learning the phonetic alphabet at school and I remember reading stories to my daughter all about Annie Apple and Naughty Nick and his lost nails.

Great fun and a useful tip when getting people’s names from the gatekeeper is to write the difficult ones down phonetically rather than literally.  Type this into your CRM system so when you get to talk to them, you’re able to say their name perfectly. Spell it as it is said, is the key.
A short tip that’ll pay you big dividends when you get to pronounce the name of a prospect when everyone else gets it wrong.

TIP #2 – Ask for their help
For most telemarketing professionals, if not all of us, being nice to people is second nature and something that gives us plenty of pleasure.  So being extremely nice to the gatekeeper should come naturally to us.

The problem is we know they have been created to fob us off as their boss doesn’t want any sales calls. And this puts us on our guard and we leave ourselves to the mercy of the gatekeeper’s generosity. The simple answer is to be very nice to them and ask them for their help.  People can’t resist helping.

•    “Hello I need your help…?”

•    “What’s the best time to reach Bob?”

•    “Hello, can you help me please to get a message through to Bob?”

Are just some ways that you can ask for help to get through to your prospect.
And remember to ask their name and remember it for next time.

TIP #3 – Sound Important
A UCLA survey showed that on the telephone a massive 84% of the message and meaning is derived purely from your voice.  This fact deserves a book in its own right but for now I’m asking that you sound important so you can get through the gatekeeper.

Important people have deeper voices and say things in shorter sentences. Their tone of voice falls at the end of each sentence to accentuate their importance and they leave lots of pauses. And most people when faced with someone who sounds ever so important will put you through without hesitation.  Try it, its fun as well.

“Hello, Paul Archer here, CEO Archer Training.  Mike Brown please”. Said in the right way will have many gatekeepers reaching for the transfer button.

Paul is an international speaker, trainer, author and coach based in the UK.  He specialises in rapport selling and rapport sales management and can ignite his audiences large or small.  Find out more about Paul by visiting his website www.archertraining.co.uk

Other related telesales tips and telemarketing tips to read:

How to Listen Effectively on a Telesales Call: Part 1 of 2

How to Listen Effectively on a Telesales Call: Part 2 of 2

Telesales Jump-Start Tip! How to Wake Up Stalled Sales

Is your new Telesales & Telemarketing Tips & Tactics Blog doing okay so far…?