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Don't "Follow Up" On Your Leads!

Guest post by: Mike Brooks

Article Overview: Ask yourself this question - when you call a prospect or client back to close a sale, do you open your call up with, "I'm just calling to follow up..."? If you're like most sales reps (80% or more), then I'll bet you do, and, if so, then you're making a big mistake because you are setting yourself up for rejection and you're allowing your prospect to put you off.

Don't "Follow Up" On Your Leads!

Ask yourself this question - when you call a prospect or client back to close a sale, do you open your call up with, "I'm just calling to follow up..."? If you're like most sales reps (80% or more), then I'll bet you do, and, if so, then you're making a big mistake because you are setting yourself up for rejection and you're allowing your prospect to put you off. Here are some equally weak opening most sales reps use when calling their prospects back:

"I'm just calling to follow up," or

"I'm just calling to see if you got the information," or

"I'm wondering if you had time to go over it."

All of these openings (and I bet you can think of a lot more!) hand control of the close over to your prospect, set you up for a put off or blow off, and immediately communicates to your prospect that you are weak and would be happy to go away...

Want a better way to open the close?

Then do what the Top 20% do and use carefully scripted openings that give you control and that put you into the closing arena right away.

Use either of these two scripts:

Sample Opening #1:

"Hi, _______, this is ______ ______ calling with the ABC Company. I've been looking forward to speaking with you, and I'm sure you've looked at the information I sent and probably even have a few questions.

Do me a favor and grab that, and I'll hold on while you do."

This works because:

It's assumptive

You're in control

It overrides any initial resistance

Or try:

Sample Opening #2:

"Hi, _______, this is _______ ______ with the ABC company, how are you doing today? Great. _______, it's been an exciting morning here, and I've got some updates I think you'll be interested in regarding that (quote/brochure/information/demo) I sent to you.

It'll just take a minute to bring you up to speed, so do me a favor, can you please grab that (quote/brochure/information/demo), and I'll be happy to hold on while you do."

Now while at first glance these openings may seem a bit direct and to the point, what you'll immediately learn when you use them is they WORK. First, they help you identify who the buyers are and who the non-buyers are. Interested prospects will either get the information, or ask a few questions, or they will set up a time that is better for them.

Non-buyers will fight with you, become vague on setting up another time, or will flat tell you no. This is a GOOD thing because you'll know up front where they stand without spending all that time on a lengthy presentation.

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Article Tags: closing sales, closing scripts, closing techniques, cold calling, inside sales, overcoming objections, phone sales, phone sales scripts, phone script, phone scripts, phone scripts examples, prospecting, telephone scripts, telesales



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