What Are You Really Selling

I reached an amazing conclusion recently... I'm convinced that most people don't know what they're really selling.

A friend called me and asked if I was available that afternoon to do a workshop for him and one division of his sales team. He was insistent that I do it that day because he was concerned about what was going on.

As it happened, I was able to shuffle some other activities around and went to his office to see what the problem was.

The problem was simple to identify... his team weren't making anywhere near enough appointments from their phone calls. In fact, the conversion rate from call to appointment was around 3% which is very low, especially for their business.

I did some short role-plays to find out what they were saying and I was shocked. They sounded like telemarketers and we all know what to do when they call - get rid of them.

The calls started with lines like "Hello Mr Taylor, how are you today? My name is Freddy Creamcheese from Xavier Corporation. We're a 12 year old Brisbane Company with an impeccable track record of success in our field. We do (blah, blah, blah...)"

No wonder they were getting no response; they were boring the socks off their prospects.

When you're trying to get face to face with prospects, imagine for a moment what may be happening in their day at the time you call...

There's a tax account to be paid; they're worrying about how to meet next week's payroll, a key employee just rang in sick, a rep tells them a major client is threatening to go elsewhere, and you ring to brag about how great your company is.

You wonder why you get the rough end of the pineapple?

Here are some suggestions to help you get a better result...

When you've identified yourself, ask permission to take 30 seconds of their time. When you have the go-ahead, give them a short, snappy delivery that says what your company does that can help them, and ask if they can spare a few minutes to talk about how your company solves a problem that you suspect they're having.

Your single goal is to get the appointment, NOT make a sale. That's why you want the meeting; to identify if they're a potential buyer for your service.

It might go like this: "Hi, this is James Yuille of IMA Group, Sales and Marketing Consultants. Have you 30 seconds to talk right now?" (Yes) "Thank you. I was looking to see if you would be willing to meet for an obligation-free chat over a coffee to talk about how we can help you can get more clients with less effort"

If they say Yes, I've achieved my goal. I just fix a time and it's done. If they say No, then I'll ask if I can send them an email invitation to joining my Sales Tips newsletter subscription. A No to that is impersonal; it's not refusing me, just my newsletter, so I don't take it personally. I just move on to the next call.

The call takes one minute.

If you're struggling for prospects right now, analyse what you're really selling (in my case, more clients with less effort, not sales and marketing consultancy) and make some calls.

What Are You Really Selling - To learn more about this author, visit James Yuille's Website.

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