Securing the First Interview - Prospecting The cold call. If we think it is “cold” then we start at a disadvantage. Banish the term “cold call” from your vocabulary. We are the ones that have to make sure that it’s warm, otherwise our success rate is going to be low. Smile when talking on the phone. So even if no one else can see us, our prospect will “see us” in his mind as he hears our voice. Our character trait of sincerity is going to have to travel down the telephone line.
If possible it is better to either be referred by a mutual friend or business contact or to make the contact based on a response to an advert or marketing exercise. Our example will assume that we are making the call without an introduction.
Like any practicing professional we must THINK and then PREPARE before performing any action which is part of the selling exercise.
Be prepared to be sincere, considerate, and apply yourself to the task at hand. Remember, the objective is not to try to conclude any part of the sale over the phone. Our only objective is to secure the interview.
DIAL -- DON ’T SAY “Good morning Mr. Peters. My name is James Gee and I represent “Big and Strong Inc. I would like to make an appointment to tell you about our wonderful new product, which I’m sure will interest you. I just need 17 min, when can you spare some of your valuable time?”
What ’s wrong with the above ?
It establishes our own “Emotional Security”. It looks after our own emotional needs, (we are from Big and Strong and we have something you might need).
Two alienating words in the same sentence from a stranger -- I and tell. The words “Tell you” are jarring to the prospect. They have a negative emotional impact. We use them only to establish our own emotional security in this brand new relationship. Our own insecurity and emotional need drives us to use these words. We are responding inappropriately to the stimulus we have created.
By using the words “Tell you” we are setting up resistance long before we get a chance to proceed further. It will be natural for us to want to control the situation. It satisfies our own emotional need for security. The whole structure of the introduction has been designed to suit us.
To substantiate that this approach is incorrect consider what happens next. The normal response to the stimulus is that the prospect will give reasons why they cannot see you. So you will hear:
“We are re-organizing our systems”
“We are counting inventory”
“We are short staffed and I don’t have the time”
“Its year end…..”
“Call me in a months’ time”
All ready-made, socially acceptable reasons why the interview cannot take place. On analysis you will find that most “cold call prospects” give you the same rejection reasons, in the same words. This is because they are not genuine reasons. The real reason remains hidden, and the popular socially accepted, rationalized, “phrase” is then presented. The real reason is that we have impacted negatively on their emotions and the normal response to that stimulus is to reject the stranger on the phone. We then are quite happy to put in our report that the prospect is re-organizing and will only be ready for discussions later in the year. This entire interaction takes place at a conscious level, but the responses are driven by emotional drive without any thinking ability coming into the picture on either the salesperson or prospect’s part.
This is the typical stimulus response model. Frightening, don’t you think?
The word “I” also tells the prospect where we put ourselves in this non-existent relationship . . . on top, and he responds to the challenge by putting us . . . on the bottom. We also think we are giving our potential prospect a reason to be interested by telling him that we have something of interest for him. Not so. The prospect is the one who decides the interest level. We can only facilitate a development of interest. If we are lucky (and too often too many of us rely only on luck) the prospect will have thought of either your company or type of product in the last 2 weeks, and has already formed some kind of need or desire for your product and will respond to your invitation. We go “over the moon” because we have found a qualified prospect who already wants what we have to sell.
The correct script is along these lines Prospecting Script.
“Good day Mr. Peters (BIG SMILE, WITH FEELING) we haven’t met, but I was hoping you could help me. Are you responsible for …
(Security, IT Systems, Payroll, Transport, HR, Merchandising……?)
Wait for affirmative response
“There is a product (service) that is designed to assist companies (departments) in your field (area of operation) that we were hoping to get your opinion on. Would it be possible to see you in the next 10 days?”
End of Script.
Why is this approach correct?
It repeats one of the strongest motivating words: “YOU.”.
When speaking to anyone they will more readily accept into their minds “You” rather than “I”. When we say “You” they picture themselves. When we say ‘I’, they cannot relate it to anything as we have not yet met them, and they don’t know who we are.
We must accept that our company, qualifications, name, service and product all are of no interest to the prospect at this stage. They may already have a . . . computer . . . display stand . . . stationary supplier . . . insurance ...We know that these commodities are either old or not satisfying his needs and that we offer something of better value or of better benefit, but as far as the prospect is concerned they have it all under control. Our prospect does not need to know our company, product, educational qualifications to give us an appointment as this stage of the sales process.
To express our opinion is an emotional drive that supports our own ego. Unless thinking ability is activated, 9 times out of 10, we will just respond to this drive. We have seen this in operation thousands of times get people around, let them relax, and see this subconscious/ emotional drive come into play and the opinions being expressed.
The Emotionally Intelligent approach is perfectly sincere because we do want their opinion whether favorable or unfavorable. The fact is that most salespeople are scared stiff of a prospect’s opinion for fear that they may be rejected. They may hear something they don’t want to hear. It’s more elevating to our ego to tell someone something.
With the correct telephonic introduction our prospect will respond to the stimulus in the following way. He will start asking questions. This is a normal reaction to the stimulus we have offered. The questions will be to find out who we are and whether or not he wants to see us. He is comfortable, because he is asking the questions, and in control. As he goes through the list of questions he will respond to his own stimulus (and make the appointment) as he takes control of the conversation, We have allowed him the courtesy of being in control. (We, as the salesperson, will know this because we will feel that the situation is totally out of control.) THINK, stay courageous and be sincere. The main urge that we must not succumb to at this stage is to start selling over the phone. The prospect is aware of, and understands our actions. As we answer the questions that he will ask (in the manner outlined below), the response to the stimulus that he has created will be to make the appointment. Which is the objective of this phase of the sales process.
Only answer the question . . . don’t elaborate, don’t give more information than is being asked for.
When the prospect asks, “Who are you?”
Answer “James Gee”
When the prospect asks “From what company?”
Answer “From Big and Strong Inc.”
If he asks, “When would you like to come?”
Don’t answer “When would suit you?”
Rather answer “ 2:pm Thursday if it suits you.” If it does not, he will change it.
If he asks, “What’s it about?”
Answer “We would really like to get your opinion on an idea / a matter” or “We have an idea (or product) that needs more input.”
My favorite is “You have experience in… transport… computers… security… warehousing… clothing… uniforms… retail… bar coding… refrigeration . . . and we would like your opinion on an idea (or product) of ours.” If he asks why you want his opinion, we can quite honestly and warmly say that he would be helping us enormously and that we would value both his time and comment.
A large percentage of people will make the appointment at this stage in this way. When the prospect responds to our stimulus with his questions we will experience a huge urge (emotional drive) to justify our actions. We believe that this is what the prospect will expect from us. What is really happening though is that we will feel that the situation is totally out of control (which is true, face the truth with courage). So the urge is to give ourselves security, by giving elaborate answers to simple questions. We want to justify to ourselves by giving the reasons for our actions. We incorrectly answer the simple question “Who are you?”. . . “James Gee, senior consultant of the distribution division of Big and Strong inc. the world renowned company that deals in the latest hi-tech displays that everybody is using these days. I’m sure that what I have to show you will be of interest to you”.
We believe that this information is going to motivate our prospect to see us. Well?? How successful have you been doing these kinds of calls, taking the approach of responding to your own urges and your own drives? The fact that your company is well established and or well thought of, and the fact that everyone uses your product, may be true. (We will use this information later in the sales process). Right now though, it is of no importance to our prospect. He will feel that you have now established your security, but he still has to do that for himself. From experience he knows that he will not get a chance to do that with salespeople who are convinced that he will be interested in whatever it is they are selling, so . . . the standard “put off phrase” is the normal response.
We must THINK and HAVE COURAGE. (see previous articles)
There is no reason for our prospect to refuse an interview with us if all we GENUINELY want is his opinion. His opinion will be of enormous value to us once we understand how he feels about the very thing we have to offer (sell).
If he cannot see us in the next 10 days ask when it would be possible (Do not ask “when will it be convenient?” The truth is, it may never be convenient).
By giving him 10 days we are taking the pressure off. We are giving him control, his response to that stimulus will be to think of any important events that are to take place in his life in the next 10 days and if there are none he will welcome the chance to voice his opinion. If there are one or two important events in his life he will tell you.
Telephone introductions should be written down in a script and rehearsed.
Knowing the numbers.
Most salespeople neglect the activity of prospecting because it is emotionally draining. To sit down and call strangers with a view to establishing a business relationship is a daunting task. Prospecting however is the key to sale success because there is always a direct relationship between the number of prospecting calls that we make and the number of deals that we close in the end. The number of prospecting calls we make we determine the pipeline of opportunities that we are working with at any one time, which in turn will determine how many opportunities end up as deals. The ratio of prospecting calls: to pipeline: to completed deals will differ from industry to industry and product to product. Notwithstanding that the primary objective of the PPSS Sales Method (*PPSS Method – refer www.openfire.co.za ) is to maximize is to improve the success ratio between the various steps of the sales process. Each salesperson should look at their sales targets, analyze the numbers, work out how many deals need to be signed at the “average” price. Then work out how many prospecting calls need to be made every day to maintain a pipeline that will guarantee that the required number of deals will be signed to meet the monthly/quarterly/annual sales targets.
Successful Salespeople - Sell with Passion and Manage by Process - Prospecting - Securing the Interview - To learn more about this author, visit James Gracey's Website.
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