by Marta Malyk | Jul 4, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Prospecting, Sales Tips
Have you had the experience of meeting with a prospect and gradually discovering that the “ideal” prospect is not ideal at all? Afterwards, you may feel like you’ve wasted your time and energy.
If you’re leading a sales team who has been experiencing this, not only is it frustrating, but it can also turn out to be quite costly. Time spent meeting with the wrong people could have been spent in a more focused and profitable way. And if this happens often enough it can bring down team morale.
There are steps you can take to ensure that this never happens. But it involves something that may be the hardest part of sales – picking up the phone to qualify leads and confirm that they are true prospects. Salespeople often tell me that this is something that they avoid. It is much easier to have a conversation with a warm lead than to do a cold call.
A Strong Pre-Sales Process
At One of a Kind Sales, we know that cold calling is a key component of pre-sales. It’s the prospecting “legwork” that must be done to get a list of qualified leads. All things being equal, when a sales team is working with a list of qualified leads, they’ll have better success because they are meeting with the right people.
A strong pre-sales process uses multiple methods to build a list for the sales team to target. The process includes activities such as prospecting via social media and email, and cold calling.
Our experience is that cold calling is a critical component in the pre-sales process. Ultimately a well-executed cold calling campaign ensures that the sales team’s appointments are with the right people.
Our Recommendations
- Implement a strong pre-sales process within your organization to build a qualified list of prospects that your sales team can pursue.
- Alternatively, consider outsourcing the lead qualification process.
Remember, a sales team working with a list of truly qualified leads will result in shorter sales process and faster revenue growth.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love cold calling! If your sales team needs help implementing a pre-sales process or you would like to outsource cold calling for your sales team, reach out to us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Jun 19, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Tips
This time of year, when I tell people I’m a cold calling expert, they often comment, ‘well this must be a tough season for you and your team because it’s summer.’ This belief that everyone is on vacation and decisions are not being made is a common misperception.
In fact, our experience is quite the opposite. Here are some tips to make sure that you can use to jumpstart your summer cold calling activity and increase the likelihood of success.
- Know your target: Understanding your target means that you’ll know what motivates them to be interested in your offering.
- Know who the decision makers are: The decision maker is the one person you need for the appointment when you are cold calling.
- Develop and use a good script. Having a script allows you to think about and internalize your approach to the call in advance and anticipate different paths of discussion that might occur.
- Understand how your solution solves their problem. You’ll need to be able to recognize when a prospect is telling you something that indicates they are a qualified lead.
- Use Active listening. Make sure you’re not doing most of the talking. Allow the prospect to tell you about themselves and their business. This is when we learn what the opportunity really is.
- Pivot for the appointment. Once you’ve confirmed that there is a need, go for the appointment. Remember that a typical cold call is generally no more than 4 to 9 minutes. Making the appointment with a qualified lead is your objective. Leave deeper probes will be made during the first 30-minute appointment
Yes, these steps look like the basics…. and in fact, they are the tried-and-true core of cold calling best practices. There’s a reason why they are best practices – it’s because they work no matter the time of year.
If you need help implementing best practices as an individual salesperson or with an inside sales team you manage, reach out to us. We LOVE cold calling. Contact us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Jun 6, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Tips
Memorial Day is often thought of as the official start of summer – and depending on where you live, it’s also the official start of hurricane season. If you live in one of these hurricane-prone areas, this is the time of year that officials start reminding residents about hurricane preparedness. You need to plan in advance for what you’ll do when a hurricane strikes because not having a plan can put your life at risk.
This focus on preparation always reminds me of my business, One of a Kind Sales. Preparation is a critical success factor in sales. And that’s never more apparent than when you are making cold calls to set up appointments.
Anticipate the ‘Pain Point’
Here’s a cold calling sales preparation tip for you. Make sure you understand what factor motivates your prospect to be interested in your solution and ensure that you have a plan for how to engage in a discussion about it. Often this motivating factor is referred to as a ‘pain point.’ Prospects will express it as a source of frustration, or dissatisfaction. As cold callers we are looking for this as a point of qualification that the prospect could be a good candidate for our solution. As part of your sales preparation, you should anticipate several ‘pain points’ your prospects could have that they would like to resolve. Your plan should involve becoming conversant in these areas so that you are able to engage your prospect.
Start with a Script
I’ve personally found that it’s best to start with a script. When I mention ‘creating a script,’ it’s not so you can learn to recite the script word for word, but so that you can begin to internalize the messaging. When it comes to eliciting ‘pain points’, writing out your prompts and your responses in a script format helps to organize your thoughts. Reviewing the script helps make the responses second nature to you. This improves your ability to have a discussion with your prospect. Working this way, you don’t have to “wing it” based on what the prospect says to you. You’ve prepared by anticipating several possible responses and you are truly ready to engage.
Go for the Appointment
Once you’ve confirmed that the prospect is experiencing a discomfort, frustration, or ‘pain’ that you’re your solution addresses, you’ve qualified the prospect. Your next step is to set up the initial appointment.
At One of a Kind Sales, our core expertise is Cold Calling! We’d love to work with you to create the most productive approach for you and your team. To explore the possibilities, give us a call at 908.879.2911.
Good Selling!
by Marta Malyk | May 9, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Sales Tips, Sales Training
What do you do when you have a qualified prospect that gives every indication that they want your solution but they suddenly disappear? It seems like they’ve fallen off the face of the earth. They don’t respond to calls, texts, or emails. I’m sure many of us salespeople have experienced this at some point.
This is where sales training comes into play because it gives you a set of tools to use in different circumstances. In this situation, you need to clarify whether in fact the sale is still alive.
One approach you could use is to express some vulnerability and offer to “close the file” on the sale. For example, “I thought we were ready to move forward, but it seems like something might have changed that I’m unaware of, and I should probably close the file.”
The Takeaway
You could call this approach the “Takeaway.” Using this technique, you share what you thought, communicate your sense that there is a change in strategy or situation, and demonstrate your willingness and comfort to walk away. You give the prospect an “out” without putting them on the defensive. The goal here is to elicit a response while preserving the relationship you’ve built. Your ultimate objective is to ascertain whether the sales process will move forward.
If The Answer is No
If the client indicates that things have changed and they are unable to move forward, you know you can move on to the next opportunity. You may get insight into why things changed, and then you can determine the type of follow up that should happen. The Takeaway sets you up so that you’ll be able to shake hands and walk away on good terms.
If the Answer is Yes
If the discussion resumes, then the client should be willing to make progress towards closing the deal. This could be one of those situations where factors you have no control over have impacted progress: a change in leadership, a family illness, an urgent project, a financial issue. But it also could be that they have questions that they have been able to verbalize. You’ll take your cue on how to proceed based on their response to the Takeaway.
Equal Footing
I think what’s most important when using the Takeaway is remembering that you are on an equal footing with your prospect. You’ve committed your valuable time to them because you had a solution that fit the prospect’s needs. They have given you their valuable time for the same reason. When something fundamentally changes, it’s better to address it to understand what might need to happen so that the sale goes forward, or the file can be closed.
At One of a Kind Sales, we believe training is fundamental to sales success. If you or your team need help in using sales techniques to close more business, contact us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Apr 25, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Building Relationships, Sales Tips, Sales Training
My team and I make sales calls every day. We focus on building a relationship of trust with a prospect while moving towards the close. To accomplish this, we use customized scripts that we’ve internalized, as well as a variety of proven sales techniques.
There are three useful techniques that we don’t use as readily as we might when we move deeper into the sales process. I have seen them be very effective in moving discussions forward when used strategically.
“My Biggest Fear”
Express a specific concern you have about how the prospect might perceive your solution. An example of this is: “My biggest fear is that you see this solution as an instant fix. In fact, it may take several months for you to see its impact.” This technique calls attention to a potential stumbling block and positions you as an honest presenter of the facts. You’re calling out an issue that the prospect may not have paid attention to that could emerge later and derail the sale. If this is an issue for the prospect, it’s better to find out now and address it.
Justification
Get the prospect to justify why they need your solution. During the discussion, you could comment: “It looks like this might not be one of your priorities now.” This will either lead to confirmation that it isn’t important to them, or it will cause the prospect to explain to you why it’s a priority. The outcome is that your prospect develops a better understanding of how your solution is relevant to them.
Staying Negative
This is a variation on the Justification sales technique in which you suggest that the prospect doesn’t really need your solution. You could say, “Perhaps you don’t need any help in addressing this.” Once again, the prospect has a couple of obvious responses, the first being “you are right,” and the second being, “No, we need help.” You’ve gotten the prospect to validate the need for your solution.
Using these techniques may reveal that there is no opportunity at this time. But experience has taught me that it’s better to know this as soon as possible so that you can move them into follow up mode and transition to the next opportunity.
You can see how these techniques might move the relationship forward and reinforce the value of your solution. Keep them in your sales tool chest and use them appropriately.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love sales, and we particularly love cold calling. We believe being well-prepared to sell is critical to success. If you or your team would benefit from learning more about these and other sales techniques, call us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Apr 11, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Prospecting, Sales Tips
I know the feeling. You’ve got the prospect on the phone, and you’ve confirmed that they likely have a problem you can solve. You’ve secured the appointment. And then you think to yourself: ‘why not just give them a little preview and see if you can get them even more primed for the first appointment? Who will it hurt anyway? Won’t it speed up the sales process?’
I have learned that taking this approach is both premature and risky. The further you move away from the established process for cold calling, the more likely you are to get poor results. While it might seem that moving some aspects of the first scheduled meeting into that initial phone call might speed things up, it’s better not to. In fact, when you get this feeling, that’s when you need to slow things down. Why?
Learn From the Prospect
Keep in mind that although you may feel that you know all you need to know about the prospect, at this point what you know is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more. During the first scheduled appointment, you’ll focus on establishing rapport and confirm their communication style. Also, you’ll encourage them to speak in greater detail about how the problem you solve impacts their business. It is unwise to proceed directly into “sell mode” without this information.
Focus on the Prospect, Not Yourself
When you enter “sales mode” in a cold call, you shift the focus from the prospect to yourself and your business. This is counter to the way that we can differentiate ourselves. To accomplish this differentiation, we need to keep the focus on the prospect. Keep these questions in mind:
- What are they experiencing?
- How do they feel about it?
- How is it impacting them?
During the call, your job is to listen and learn in order to capture and acknowledge what they are saying to you.
Establish and Maintain Your Differentiation
When you start selling during that initial phone call, you may not realize it but you will sound just like every other salesperson. Rather than listening to the prospect, and learning from them, you’re busy telling them why they need you. Rather than hearing and understanding how the problem you can solve impacts them, you’re discussing an impact that might not be important to them, and potentially losing an opportunity as a result. To the prospect this interaction feels more like a hard sell than relationship building.
In my experience, I’ve learned that its best to stay laser focused on the main objective of that initial cold call: confirming that there is a need that can be addressed and making the appointment. That’s all.
At One of a Kind Sales, our core expertise is Cold Calling! We’d love to work with you to create the most productive approach for you and your team. To explore the possibilities, give us a call at 908.879.2911.
Good Selling!
