Saving Gas and Selling More 5 Secrets of Top 20 Producers
Saving Gas and Selling More 5 Secrets of Top 20 Producers
Well not the Top 20%.
Top 20% producers are still making 80% of the sales because they know how to adapt in a changing market like the one we’re in today. They also know that companies are still buying their products and services, and what they are doing is adjusting how they sell so they can be more efficient with their time and energy. And one of their top priories these days is improving their phone skills.
Whether you only prospect and set appointments by phone, or if your entire sales cycle is conducted by phone, learning to use the phone more effectively is going to be crucial to your success in today’s economic environment.
Here are 5 Secrets of Top 20% producers and 5 critical phone skills you need to master today:
Secret #1: Use the phone to disqualify prospects rather than qualify them. With gas prices around $5 a gallon, the last thing you want to do is set a bunch of unqualified or so/so appointments and then spend your time, energy, and gas running around accomplishing nothing.
So do what the Top 20% do: when they get an answer that gives them that feeling in their gut (what I call a Red Flag), stop and qualify it! Ask the tough questions. For example, if your prospect says you can drop something off if you wish, ask:
“I’d be happy to. And let me ask you, after you see the information when are you planning to make a decision on it?”
Or,
“I’d be happy to. What do you need to see in it to move forward and put my company to work for you?”
Don’t be afraid to throw away the non-buyers! Remember: Leads never get better!
Secret #2: Be prepared with solid scripts to handle the common brush offs you get – especially the, “We don’t have the budget now”. When you get this, you should reply with:
“I completely understand. Like most companies, I know you don’t have extra money to throw around these days. But I also know that you still need to advertise your business and drive customers in the door. ________, let me ask you - if I could show you how advertising just $1,000 with us this month could bring you back $2,000 or more in business, isn’t that something you should know more about?”
(Adapt this script to fit your product or service)
Secret #3: When closing, learn how to cut through smokescreen objections and find out what is really holding your prospect back – and whether they are ever going to be a deal or not!
To do this, start questioning and isolating objections rather than answering them. If your prospect says: “The price is too high,” say:
“I can understand that. Let me ask you – if the price were right where you wanted to spend, is this something you would go ahead and order from me today?”
Any answer other than yes means that this is just a smokescreen and answering it will get you nowhere.
Secret #4: Start recording your phone calls and make it a habit to begin listening to them and finding ways to improve.
This is without a doubt the most important thing you can do but, surprisingly, it’s the last thing 80% of sales reps will ever do. You will learn and improve more in a week than you will in 5 years of sales training. In fact, I’ve literally doubled my income in 90 days using this technique. Try it – it’ll change your career…
Secret #5: Make a REAL commitment to improving every aspect of your phone calls and of your sales presentations. I call it Practicing Perfection. You’ve heard the saying that practice makes perfect, right?
Well that’s wrong! Only practice of perfection makes perfect. If you keep adlibbing your way through your qualification calls and closing presentations, you’re going to keep getting poor results.
But if you commit to finding and then using proven skills like the ones above, then you’ll improve on each call and you’ll make more sales. Just like the Top 20% do right now!
Saving Gas and Selling More 5 Secrets of Top 20 Producers - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Brooks's Website.
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I don’t have to tell you that times are hard for companies these days. And that means hard on you, the sales rep, too. Now when companies tell you that they don’t have the budget, you really believe them, don’t you?
Well not the Top 20%.
Top 20% producers are still making 80% of the sales because they know how to adapt in a changing market like the one we’re in today. They also know that companies are still buying their products and services, and what they are doing is adjusting how they sell so they can be more efficient with their time and energy. And one of their top priories these days is improving their phone skills.
Whether you only prospect and set appointments by phone, or if your entire sales cycle is conducted by phone, learning to use the phone more effectively is going to be crucial to your success in today’s economic environment.
Here are 5 Secrets of Top 20% producers and 5 critical phone skills you need to master today:
Secret #1: Use the phone to disqualify prospects rather than qualify them. With gas prices around $5 a gallon, the last thing you want to do is set a bunch of unqualified or so/so appointments and then spend your time, energy, and gas running around accomplishing nothing.
So do what the Top 20% do: when they get an answer that gives them that feeling in their gut (what I call a Red Flag), stop and qualify it! Ask the tough questions. For example, if your prospect says you can drop something off if you wish, ask:
“I’d be happy to. And let me ask you, after you see the information when are you planning to make a decision on it?”
Or,
“I’d be happy to. What do you need to see in it to move forward and put my company to work for you?”
Don’t be afraid to throw away the non-buyers! Remember: Leads never get better!
Secret #2: Be prepared with solid scripts to handle the common brush offs you get – especially the, “We don’t have the budget now”. When you get this, you should reply with:
“I completely understand. Like most companies, I know you don’t have extra money to throw around these days. But I also know that you still need to advertise your business and drive customers in the door. ________, let me ask you - if I could show you how advertising just $1,000 with us this month could bring you back $2,000 or more in business, isn’t that something you should know more about?”
(Adapt this script to fit your product or service)
Secret #3: When closing, learn how to cut through smokescreen objections and find out what is really holding your prospect back – and whether they are ever going to be a deal or not!
To do this, start questioning and isolating objections rather than answering them. If your prospect says: “The price is too high,” say:
“I can understand that. Let me ask you – if the price were right where you wanted to spend, is this something you would go ahead and order from me today?”
Any answer other than yes means that this is just a smokescreen and answering it will get you nowhere.
Secret #4: Start recording your phone calls and make it a habit to begin listening to them and finding ways to improve.
This is without a doubt the most important thing you can do but, surprisingly, it’s the last thing 80% of sales reps will ever do. You will learn and improve more in a week than you will in 5 years of sales training. In fact, I’ve literally doubled my income in 90 days using this technique. Try it – it’ll change your career…
Secret #5: Make a REAL commitment to improving every aspect of your phone calls and of your sales presentations. I call it Practicing Perfection. You’ve heard the saying that practice makes perfect, right?
Well that’s wrong! Only practice of perfection makes perfect. If you keep adlibbing your way through your qualification calls and closing presentations, you’re going to keep getting poor results.
But if you commit to finding and then using proven skills like the ones above, then you’ll improve on each call and you’ll make more sales. Just like the Top 20% do right now!
Saving Gas and Selling More 5 Secrets of Top 20 Producers - To learn more about this author, visit Mike Brooks's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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