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Sales Simplified - The First Step in Selling

Written by: Rick Leffke

Article Overview: Call Reluctance Strikes Everyone... men and women, young and old, new and experienced - reps in every selling field. It's as common as the common cold, but can be a lot more deadly - even killing sales careers.

Sales Simplified - The First Step in Selling

The First Step... As I conducted a leadership walk through a client's call center, I was asking the sales reps questions about how the they were enhancing their sales behaviors they had committed to work on. One of the standard and very important questions is... "How many dials have you made?" Simple, I know; by the way when I interview sales people to uncover what they think they need to improve on, over 83%, indicate they need to be a better "closer". My thought; "If you aren't prospecting for new customers, you needn't be concerned about closing." Most sales reps need to make 15 - 30+, depending on the business, telephone calls each day to hit their targets. Unfortunately, it's a daunting task for many sales reps to be on the phone this long. In fact, my own personal research, with 2,000+ sales reps, has found call reluctance holds more sales people back from earning what they're worth, than anything else! Most Sales Are Made After the 6th - 7th Contact. But Many Sales People Quit After The 2nd - 3rd "Touch" Call Reluctance Strikes Everyone: Men and women, young and old, new and experienced - reps in every selling field. It's as common as the common cold, but can be a lot more deadly - even killing sales careers. Research has found... 1. 40% of all sales reps suffer a career- threatening episode of call reluctance at some point. 2. 80% of all first-year sales reps that were fired failed because of insufficient prospecting. So, how does call reluctance start? What experiences can contribute to phone fear? What Causes Call Reluctance? Often, call reluctance is a learned behavior and certain forms of it are actually contagious within a sales group. Sales people can pick it up from managers, trainers or co-workers. Early, traumatic selling experiences can also contribute to call reluctance. What I have discovered: sales people need 6 things to reach super sales performance. 1. Block time (creating efficiency in activity) 2. Someone to monitor his or her sales activities. (Accountability) 3. Understand the concept of discovery, questions around the wants, interests and needs of the prospective client/customer (what the customer values.) 4. Ability to uncover the real reasons customers may not want to buy from them (you can't fix what is not true). 5. A strong coach to focus on/demonstrate the behaviors that create success. 6. A current and continually updated database to penetrate. How Does A Sales Person Get Past The Fear Of Making Prospecting Calls? 1. Set daily call goals: Decide how many calls you can reasonably make each day. Write down your call goals and post them in plain view on your desk. Reason: Setting goals and writing them down is the first step toward achieving your goals. You are mentally preparing yourself to make the phone calls. 2. Leverage your database: Before you leave each day, prepare a target list of calls for the following day. Be sure to keep notes, attached to the contact information, highlighting the reason of your call, along with the key points you need to cover. Using a CRM is a must! Stay ahead of this process by staying informed with brief, clear and concise notes. Reason: You will feel more organized and prepared when you start your calls. Your subconscious mind is set up to begin making telephone calls. 3. Set aside block-time: It is a proven statistic, when you focus on one activity, with no interruptions, you become three (3) to four (4) times more productive. Set aside at least one hour per day on making outbound, prospecting calls. Reason: You will be able to get more calls done with less effort. By not creating excuses, like "oh I will email them now", you will create a strong and deliberate call flow and find yourself in "the dialing groove". 4. Focus on success, not failure: Keep your mind off rejection. Think about the customers who love your products and service and who will recommend you or be a reference source. Reason: Remembering your successful experiences and happy clients will give you confidence and encourage you to repeat those good experiences. When you concentrate on past rejection and negative experiences, it's too easy to talk or think yourself out of making phone calls. 5. Avoid the avoidance behaviors: Did you ever notice how many different things you can find worth doing when you not doing what you enjoy? Find joy in discovering the prospects wants, interests, and needs. Reason: When you are interested in your prospects and not you or your quota, the conversation is so much more enjoyable. Sales is about meeting the wants, interests, and needs of the customer, not yours. The old Chinese Proverb about the journey of 1000 miles... you know it. There is a chance that each and every relationship we have with a customer or client started with a phone call. How many people have we not met yet that could benefit from what we do? “Go out and create your future, or it will be created for you.” - Rick Leffke

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Article Tags: block time, business telephone, call center, call reluctance, careers research, co workers, daunting task, efficiency, experiences, group sales, learned behavior, men and women, personal research, phone fear, sales careers, sales group, sales performance, sales reps, strikes, targets



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