This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

What are the main issues you face when you target new vertical markets where you don’t  have any experience in that area. Also, how do you overcome these problems?

I get asked those questions frequently. But usually it’s after the decision has already been made and the poor salespeople are struggling to gain a foothold in the new vertical market.

If you’re considering moving your company in a new business direction, here are my suggestions:

Your biggest issue will be credibility. Corporate decision makers don’t want to be your first client in a vertical market. They don’t want to have to educate you since it takes up their precious time.

Even though you’re a good company, they know that your lack of experience could lead to time-consuming and costly errors. They don’t want to risk this happening.

1. Move into the market slowly.
Don’t bet your company on success in the new vertical. Study the industry. Learn their terminology. Know their competitors. Double check for “fit”. I’ve seen way to many companies leap into new markets because they sense greater opportunity there than in their current market space.

2. Define the business case.
Uncover how they’re currently handling things related to your offering. What are the common status quo scenarios? What business objectives will they have difficulty achieving unless they change the status quo? What are the financial ramifications of these? Then define the value they’ll get from changing to your product/service.

Potential clients need to hear a strong value proposition that clearly articulates the business outcomes they’ll realize by using your offering. Use business terminology, not techie talk.

3. Create linkage.
If possible, try to create a link between your current customer base and your new one. If all your clients are schools and now you want to move to theme parks, you need to be able to clearly articulate why it’s relevant.

As an example, last week I had lunch with a good friend who spent over 20 years in marketing with a large accounting firm. She was laid off a while back. Now she wants to work with technology companies.

After analyzing both industries, combined with her experience we realized that her expertise was in helping company’s implement strategic changes in their marketing. That positioning makes sense to potential decision makers – and minimizes the “you don’t have any experience with companies like mine” objection.

4. Pursue smaller opportunities first.
This significantly reduces the decision maker’s perceived risk in moving ahead with a new player in the market. Then, make sure you do a superb job on delivering on what you promised. After that, pursue additional opportunities within the account to expand your footprint.

5. Train your salespeople on all the above.
Without this knowledge, they will flop. That I can guaranteed 100%. Ultimately these people have to make it happen. Don’t send them into the field with some worthless PowerPoints explaining your technology in excruciating detail. They need to be able to have intelligent business conversation with decision makers.

6. Create field-ready sales tools.
Focus especially on the early stages of the sales cycle. Your sales reps are going to have a tough time setting up meetings. Show them how to integrate their value proposition into phone calls, voicemails and emails.

Give them relevant white papers and case studies that are closely aligned with this new market segment. They must be able to show your company’s expertise to customers, so this is a necessity – even if you’re moving to a new market.

Create a “question matrix” that outlines what they should be looking for on calls and the questions they should ask to uncover this information. Develop customer-focused PowerPoints to use on follow-up meetings.

7. Pray!
It takes a lot of hard work to succeed in a new marketing segment. Implement the above suggestions and your chances of success increase. Rush blindly ahead and you’ll most likely waste tons of money, put your firm in financial distress, frustrate your sales force and create incredible internal animosity.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

Welcome to the most widespread objection today and its not price.

Apparently they’re starring at Glastonbury this summer. I’m talking about Status Quo the rock band whom my 71 year old father is going to see in concert later this month. That shows you how long they’ve been around.

But the status quo have recently become quite a problem for sales people and I’m no longer talking about the band – I’m referring to lethargy or not taking any action.

Apart from the Internet, it’s the status quo that is today.s newest and biggest competitor. Customers are inclined to take no action unless we allow them to see the danger of this course and maybe the cost of doing nothing.

This extra competition that we’re now up against, doesn’t allow us to use our traditional objection handling strategies as we’re not having to compare our product or service with the competitors or justify its value. Instead we have to make sure we let our customer see the problems of not taking our advice.

And we must weave this into our sales patter.

This is particularly important for financial services salespeople who sell an invisible product. There’s an old adage that life assurance is sold and never bought and this is even more prevalent today. Make your customer aware of the dangers of the status quo; ask them what might happen if they don’t protect themselves in the event of their partner’s death, the issues this might bring up in their lives.

Questions, questions, questions – that’ll help them see the perils on inaction.

Let them explore in their mind the consequences of doing nothing and treat the status quo as just another competitor that you need to avoid during your selling process.

And Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo can keep rocking all over the world until they’re ready to pick up their pension. I do believe Francis is 60 next birthday. Fantastic.

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 Paul Archer

The next time you have a customer who is objecting to your price for your product or service, here’s a little quotation that’ll remind you how business works.

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money and that is all, but when you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing that you have bought isn’t capable of doing the thing which it was bought to do.”

“The common law of business balance prohibits you from paying a little and receiving a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it would be as well to add something for the risk you run, and if you can so that you can afford to buy something better.”

John Ruskin 1819 – 1900

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 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

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…?