“Traditional marketing has always been ‘me’ marketing. Visit almost any website and you’ll see ‘About our company’, ‘About our history’, ‘About our product’, ‘About our management’. But people don’t care about you. Me marketing makes them sleepy. That’s why Guerrillas always practice ‘you’ marketing, in which every word and every idea is about the customer, or the visitor to a website. Don’t take this personally, but people simply do not care about your company. What they care about is themselves. And if you can talk to them about themselves, you’ll have their full attention.” -Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerrilla Marketing
As you proceed through your sales process of getting the “Big Yes” to purchase your product or service, it is very helpful to gain momentum with positive “Minor Yeses”. One response technique is the use of “Tie-Down” questions. This is simply asking a question, that is obviously and tying it down with a “Tie-Down” at the end of the question. “This one of the highest rated vehicles for fuel economy and today fuel economy is important, isn’t it?” What can the prospect say except, Yes.
Look for opportunities to use “Tie-Downs” such as: Aren’t they, Aren’t you, Can’t you, Couldn’t you, Doesn’t it, Don’t you agree, Don’t we, Shouldn’t it, Wouldn’t it, Haven’t they, Isn’t it, Isn’t that right, Didn’t it, Wasn’t it, Won’t they, Won’t you.
You have brought up and handled your most common objections early in the sales process. Now there is one more step in the process. After you have answered a potential objection, make sure you get some type of commitment from your prospect that you have answered the objection to their satisfaction. For example, “Does that satisfy all your concerns about why we aren’t the lowest price?” When they verbally agree that you have answered all their concerns about the objection, they are not likely to contradict themselves and bring the objection up again. Now you can put these common objections behind you and move forward with your sales presentation.
You have written down your 4-5 most common objections and have written out how you want to respond to them. Now that you are pretty sure you will be hearing these objections sometime during your sales process, why not be proactive and bring them up and handle them early in the process. Many times, a prospect has this “bomb” (objection) in his pocket and they are just waiting to blow your presentation apart. If you defuse their potential bombs early, your sales process will be much easier and more productive.
Most salespeople know that there are typically 4-5 common objections that they will hear repeatedly. The first thing to do is to write these objections down. Now instead of trying to deal with these objections under pressure during a sales call, think about how to handle them and write out your response. Work on your response until you have every sentence and every word the way you want it. Now practice-drill-rehearse these responses until they become second nature to you. When you hear one of these objections you will automatically, without thinking go into your response.
First, call reluctance is about the dealing with rejection. We don't like to be rejected. When we make a call and they hang up or say no, we take that rejection personally. But in fact when they hang up or say no, they aren't saying no to us or rejecting us, they are saying no or rejecting our potential sales pitch. They probably don't know us or never will. How can they be rejecting you?
The next most important antidote to call reluctance is your belief in your company, and your product or service. You must truly believe that "Your product or service is a valuable solution and you are offering this solution to people who want and need that solution". And if you can't say this and believe it, you will always have a problem with call reluctance.
This doesn't mean that you have the perfect or only solution. Many times salespeople look at their product/service and their company and compare it to the competition. They see things that their competition offers, for example a lower price, and they become blind to everything except that one feature. But people buy for many different reasons. This is why we have value, moderate and deluxe hotels or Mercedes and Yugo's.
The next key to overcoming call reluctance is having a Guerrilla Marketing Plan & Calendar. With the help of your Guerrilla Marketing Coach, you will develop a list of at least ten Guerrilla Marketing Weapons for your plan. Your Guerrilla Marketing Weapons are the marketing strategies, tactics and techniques that you will utilize to develop new prospects and customers.
Your Guerrilla Marketing Plan and Calendar will answer the following questions: What to do, When to do it, How often to do it and How many to do.
Normally, "Cold Calls" are at the top of the list of marketing weapons. Again, "You don't have to like making cold calls, you just have to do them!"
Next, with the help of your Guerrilla Marketing Coach, you will determine based on your individual business, industry and personality, how many cold calls you need to make on a daily basis to reach your desired goal of new appointments. This number will be on your Guerrilla Marketing Calendar, not as a wish or should, but as a "must do appointment".
Last, you need to take the actions. You must make the calls. What's the rule? "You don't have to like making cold calls; you just have to make them!"
Call Reluctance is a challenge that severely impedes your ability to be successful in finding new prospects and customers. Prospecting is the key to building your business and making outbound calls is a key prospecting strategy. Without prospecting you can't qualify people to determine who needs your product or service. When we suffer from call reluctance we tend to develop rationalizations and other tactics to avoid making necessary prospecting calls.
The first key to overcome call reluctance is to develop a prospecting plan. Your prospecting plan will include a variety of prospecting tactics and strategies to develop new business. Your prospecting plan will include activities such as: direct mail, advertising, networking, referrals, etc. The cornerstone activity to any prospecting plan is outbound "cold calls" to your defined target market.
If "cold calls" are not at the top of your list or if you try to avoid cold calling, you are doing yourself a disservice. There's a rule in sales: "You don't have to like making cold calls...you just have to make them!" If you do avoid making cold calls, don't feel alone. There's another old saying, "The only people who say they like making cold calls...never made any!"
You have heard of the "Pain/Pleasure" theory. We tend to avoid anything that causes us pain. Well, cold calling causes us emotional pain. It makes us step out of our comfort zones. And we don't like to be out of our comfort zones. We would rather not experience the pleasure (the results) than experience the pain (being out of our comfort zones).
One reason people don't like to make cold calls is because of the "fear of rejection". In their minds, when they make a call and the person on the other end says, "No, I'm not interested!", they feel that the person rejected them personally. It's almost like the person on the phone attacked them. What happens is our built-in "Fight or Flight" syndrome kicks in. We either get mad and start our internal attack on them (and everyone else) or we flee back into our comfort zone so we don't have to experience that rejection again. Typically when we get mad at the rejection, we start an internal dialogue along the lines of, "That idiot, who do they think they are. I hope I run into them on the street. I'll show them..." Now when we get mad, are we in the proper mindset to continue to make successful calls? No! When we flee back into our comfort zone are we going to make that next call or find some excuse not to?
There are also internal scripts from our childhood experiences that cause call reluctance. One of the most obvious is "don't talk to strangers". Didn't you hear that constantly when you were growing up? How about, "it's not polite to ask for money" or "don't be a pest". These beliefs were pounded into us growing up. But now as salespeople or business owners, to be successful we need to talk to strangers, ask them for money, and sometimes be a pest. No wonder we struggle with call reluctance.
"I need to find some new business. With my Guerrilla Marketing Coach, we developed my Guerrilla Marketing Plan that utilizes the Guerrilla Marketing Weapon of cold calling on people who I have identified as my target market. My Guerrilla Marketing calendar says I need to make (10) cold calls today.
Ok, it's a little too early to call so I will start calling a little later. Maybe I call John Smith; he's a good customer and a good guy. It was nice talking to John. You know, I went to that Chamber of Commerce event the other night and I got a lot of business cards. I need to organize them for future reference. Ok, let's get to those calls. Wow, I didn't realize that it was almost lunch time. I can't call at lunchtime. I need to pickup my cleaning and get the car washed, so I'll leave a little early for lunch and get these errands done.
That was a productive morning. I called John Smith; I organized the business cards from the chamber event, picked up my cleaning and got the car washed. Now let's get to those prospecting calls. Ok, let's look at that list. Oh, this company is too big, I'm sure they won't buy from a small company like mine. Now I know that this next company uses my competitor. I can't compete with them. Ok, ABC Inc. looks like a possibility. Wait a minute; I remember calling them about a year ago. They weren't very nice. I know they won't buy. Ok-Ok, now this company, XYZ looks like a good prospect. Let's start with this one.
Wow...that gatekeeper was a pit-bull. She wouldn't even let me give my pitch. I need a cup of coffee after that one. Ok, let's see who's next on my list. You know, she was outright nasty. Who does she think she is? Ok, let's call this next company. You know, they're all alike. I'll probably get the pit-bulls sister on this call. You know, I really have to catch up on my paperwork or my boss will be all over me. I can make these calls later. I deserve a break. I've been working hard. I'll just do (20) tomorrow to make up for today."
Sound familiar? Why do we act this way? Why do we avoid making the calls that could make us money? How can we deal with this thing called "Call Reluctance"?
Do you send the message to your prospects..."I need this sale"? You can do this through your nervousness, your body language, or your words. Remember, people buy from people they like, trust and feel comfortable with. If you are coming off as desperate to make a sale, do you think your prospect will like, trust and feel comfortable with you? No way! No matter how much you need the sale, you need to come off as a profession, who understands the prospect's problems, and you are there to help them to solve their problem. Key Point: "Want the business, but don't need the business. Ask for the business, but don't beg for the business!"
Are you selling “all or nothing”? Many times in larger sales situations, prospects hesitate to make that big commitment of buying your product or service, especially if it means a complete change of vendors. They might not be completely satisfied with their current supplier, but at least they know what they have now. If they replace their current vendor with you, an unknown, they worry that you will turn out to be worst than what they have now. Plus, this could have an adverse effect on your prospect’s job, or future advancement, if they are the one responsible for making a bad decision.
To earn your prospect’s trust and have an opportunity for this account, is there some smaller piece of business that you could sell your prospect on, that would allow you to continue your relationship with the prospect, and also show them that you that you will be a better choice than their current vendor. Maybe it’s one product line, or one division or unit. What ever it is, you have the opportunity to build the relationship and showcase what you can do, while relieving some of the decision making pressure from the prospect.
How do you handle a request from a client or prospect for those extra things that are not part of the normally course of doing business? Do you quickly respond, “No Problem”? You might be hurting yourself if you do. When you do those extra “free” things for your prospects or customers, you are doing them to help build your relationship and reciprocity so they will hopefully buy from you or keep buying from you. But when you say, “No problem”, you are missing the opportunity to build some ‘Emotional I.O.U’s”.
You build “Emotional I.O.U’s by letting the prospect or customer know that you are going out of your way or above the call of duty for them. There is a psychological principle that when someone does something for you, you feel the obligation to do something for them. But if they think what you are doing for them is “no problem”, this principle doesn’t kick in. They need to know that what you are doing is extra effort on your part, and that you are going that extra mile for them. Now, the principle kicks in and you have an “Emotional I.O.U” with your prospect or customer that you would never have if you had said, “No Problem”.
Have you ever been told “what you should do” or “what’s best for you”? How did you respond? You probably resisted. This is human nature. We do not like to be told, what to do or how to act. In sales, when you start telling prospects what they need or what’s best for them, this psychological principle is working against you.
Instead of telling, start asking the right questions that leads your prospect to discover what’s best for them (your product or service). In addition to good probing questions, use the strategy of “third-party” stories. Stories of people just like them, with the same problem or issue and how your product or service solved their problem. Your prospect can put themselves into the stories and relate how they have a similar situation and come to the conclusion that if they want the same result, they need your product or service.
If you are looking to increase your sales, you have two options. One, increase your numbers. For example, if you are making 50-calls per month, increase it to 60-calls per month. If you close one out of 10, then instead of closing 5-sales a month, you would close 6-sales per month. This is working harder.
The second option, working smarter, is to improve your skills, behaviors and techniques. If you could improve your closing ratio from “1 out of 10” to “2 out of 10”, then when you make 50-calls you would close 10-sales per month.
An accountability coach will train and coach you, to improve your skills, behaviors and techniques to work smarter…not harder.
Do you “Tell & Sell” –“Show Up and Throw Up” all your knowledge on your prospects? If you do, you are a “Vendor”, and you’re just like every other vendor/supplier/competitor that is selling to your prospects. (And you wonder why price is always an issue.)
On the other hand, if your sales process is focused on the prospect, if it is conversational, and you ask questions to help understand your prospects and their issues, then you are an “Advisor”. And what’s the word that we often hear with the word advisor? How about, “Trusted “Advisor.
People buy from people they, like, feel comfortable with and they “trust”. So become a trusted “Advisor” and standout from the competition.
Is there a question or objection that you hope your prospect won’t bring up. Maybe it’s a recurring problem with your product or service. The best technique is to avoid the stress and bring it up, “defuse it”, before your prospect does. Handle it up front. If it’s going to be a deal breaker, wouldn’t you rather know now than after you spent the time and energy on your whole presentation and then having it come up? When you bring up the problem or issue upfront, you will not only look more credible to your prospect…selling will be a lot less stressful for you.
Do you sell by convincing the prospect to buy or do you allow them to discover why they should buy through your questions. You “push” your prospects by telling. You “pull” your prospects through the art of asking questions. Remember, if you say it…they don’t believe it, but if they say it…it’s true. Ask questions to find out their needs, wants, problems and issues. Then formulate questions that will get prospects to verbalize the solutions through the use of your product or service.
Who does the talking during your sales call? If it’s you…you are losing sales! Telling is not selling. To sell effectively, you need to discover the needs, wants, pains, and issues that your prospect has. Then you need to find out what they are costing your prospects and how they feel about them. Then, and only then can you can provide the proper solution. If information was selling, your prospect could get all the information they need from your brochures and website.
When prospecting, don’t sell. Your objective when prospecting, is finding potential customers with interest in your product or service, and then getting an appointment with them to begin the selling process. When prospecting, ask a few qualifying questions to make sure they have some need or interest in your product or service and that they are the decision maker. Then go for the appointment. This strategy not only takes the pressure off the prospect, it takes the pressure off you.
Have you ever had a buyer call and cancel the order before you got back to the office? They seemed happy. They agreed to everything and signed the paperwork. What happened? The fact is you will never know what triggered their “Buyer’s Remorse”.
The key is to build some type of “Buyer’s Remorse” outlet into your sales presentation. After you have completed the sale, and before you rush out, add one more step to your sales process.
Confront your prospect with the possibility of “Buyer’s Remorse”. “You know Mr. Prospect, some people like yourself are too kind to tell me that our (product/service) isn’t right for them. So they sign the agreement and then after I leave, they call the office and cancel the order, so they don’t have to tell me no in person. Mr. Prospect, is there any reason why you would call and cancel the order after I leave today?”
You have forced the prospect to have “Buyer’s Remorse”, in a controlled environment. An environment, you can control. If they have “Buyer’s Remorse” after you leave, there’s not much you can do. You have relieved any pressure they might have, and also given them the opportunity to verbalize any “Buyer’s Remorse” they might have. But…because you are still with them, you now have the opportunity to deal with any issues they might have and to save the sale.
If they say, “No, there’s no reason I would call to cancel”, before they pick up the phone to cancel, they will at least have to face the moral issue of going back on their word to you. Will it work every time? Of course not. But instead of running out, with the agreement and your fingers crossed, you at least took some proactive measures to prevent “Buyer’s Remorse” and a cancelled sale.
Do you hear what the prospect is saying or do you only hear what you want to hear? Prospect have the same problem; they tend to only hear what they want to hear during your sales presentation and block out what they don’t want to hear.
During your sales presentation, make sure you clarify anything that is even remotely ambiguous. Also, ask for feedback from your prospect on items your have presented to make sure there’s no misunderstanding. Then again at the end of your presentation, do a recap of what you and the prospect have discussed, to confirm you are both clear and on the same page regarding the presentation details.
In a selling situation, do you tell the prospect all about you, your company, your product or service, and how great you are? Prospects can get that information from your brochure or website.
Potential buyers are only interested in one thing…themselves and solving their problems and issues. So instead of telling them all about you; ask questions to find out about them and their situation. If they took the time to have you come in, they have some problem(s) or issue(s) they want solved. Find out what they are and then sell the solutions (your product or service) to their specific problem.
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