by Marta Malyk | Nov 7, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales, Sales process, Sales Prospecting
A quiz for you:
Communicating your expertise and product knowledge to your prospect leads to a successful sale:
1/ True
2/ False
I came across this question in a session with a world-class expert in the Sandler selling method. This is one that can spark a lot of debate.
I’m aware that many salespeople are trained to be product experts. In fact, product or service training may be the lion’s share of the formal training that they receive from their company. Often, salespeople are coached to share their knowledge in order to establish their expertise with a prospect. This might be because the business perceives that the offering is so differentiated that once a prospect fully understands it they will jump at the opportunity. So, an encyclopedic knowledge of the offering and the ability to communicate it is often perceived as a major sales success factor for a salesperson.
However, consider the problems that could arise with this approach. What if we miss something critical because we are so busy “communicating” about our offering? When we first meet with a prospect, I believe it’s important to let the prospect communicate with us. What are their current issues? Why are they even talking to us about our offering? What problems are they trying to solve? If we move into “presentation mode” without knowing the answers to these questions, we risk losing the prospect’s attention by not addressing their core concerns. In order to get at these concerns, we need to take the time to ask the right questions and then engage in active listening so that the prospect can communicate with us and so that we can internalize what they are saying. We need a two-way conversation and, particularly early in the discussion, it’s ideal if the prospect does most of the talking. This is where we learn what we need to know in order to confirm if they are a good fit for our solution and then close the sale.
So what’s my answer to this question?
False: I’ve concluded that product knowledge and expertise aren’t enough to close the sale.
My recommendations:
- Avoid getting into the “nuts and bolts” of a product presentation immediately with a prospect.
- Slow down and take the time to get to know prospects in order to learn what motivates them.
When you truly understand their situation, you can then start to use your understanding of your offering to highlight how your solution will make a real difference for them. In my experience, taking this approach will improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love to sell and are lifelong learners when it comes to selling. Cold calling is our specialty. If your business needs help with getting appointments with qualified prospects, give us a call at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Oct 11, 2022 | Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Prospecting
A couple of weeks ago, I attended Outbound 2022 in Atlanta. Outbound is self-described as “the biggest, baddest conference in the Sales Profession.” Outbound is unique because it’s the only conference focused exclusively on “sales prospecting, pipeline, and productivity.” I always make it a point to attend.
Continuing Education
Some people are amazed that I would take time away from my business to go to a conference with other salespeople. But in my view, I’m not taking time away from my business, I’m investing time in my business because, as the owner of a business whose primary focus is outbound cold calling, attending Outbound is continuing education for me.
A conference like Outbound gives me the opportunity to be surrounded by and interact with individuals who believe in outbound activities. These are people who strive to be the best professional salespeople every day. While there, I’m able to explore new ideas and develop relationships that have led to growth for my own business. My experience at Outbound allows me to be a better leader of my own organization and inspire my team to do their best job.
I also invest in my own people. We have weekly Sandler training attended not only by my sales specialists but my admin team as well. As a result, my admin team has a deeper understanding of our business and they have become better communicators as a result. This investment pays off with greater efficiency and productivity for my business.
My Love of Learning
If you’ve followed my blog and my social posts for any length of time, you’ll know that I have a strong thirst for learning. Attending Outbound helps satisfy that need. But another way that I address this is through my Conversational Selling podcast. A recent conversation with my colleague Liz Wendling, President of Liz Wendling Business Consulting and Sales Coaching left me considering her wise words: “Selling is the only way to stay in business.” Given the truth of this statement, the need for good sales skills is inexhaustible. One of a Kind Sales will continue to hone these skills to meet the needs of our clients.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love to sell and cold calling is our specialty. If your business needs help with this, give us a call at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Sep 26, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Leadership, Sales Prospecting Success, Sales Training
Recently, I had a discussion with a sales leader who told me that she believes her success – and that of her team – is primarily determined by the sales compensation plan. While this may play a strong role, in my experience, sales leaders need to engage in three critical activities beyond compensation and incentives to be effective. These include: having good goals and metrics; hiring and retaining the right sales team members; and providing ongoing coaching, training, and mentoring to the team.
Goals and Metrics
Understanding how your team is performing relative to expectations is critical to identifying where the focus needs to be placed. We’re all familiar with the acronym “SMART” when it comes to defining your goals. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound. As an example of a SMART goal, at One of a Kind Sales, we require each sales team member to make 20 calls per hour.
In addition, a good CRM is critical to tracking performance goals versus metrics. While a CRM may be an investment for your organization, being able to easily track performance gives you the opportunity to assess and make adjustments as needed.
The Right Team
Working with team members who have a passion for their work is important. As a sales leader, you need to be able to assess whether an individual demonstrates that passion and is a good fit for your team. For example, at One of a Kind Sales, we value sales training and coaching. Our team members need to love learning and have a desire to continuously improve their sales skills. We also value sharing key learnings based on experiences with prospects as well as sharing success stories. We look for that willingness to share in our candidates.
Sales Training
Once you have the right team, keeping the team ‘on point’ with strong sales skills is critical. By investing in ongoing sales training, you strengthen the capabilities of your sales team and improve their ability to reach and potentially exceed sales goals. If individuals are identified as underperformers, sales training and coaching may help them correct their course. If not, it’s important to determine whether or not they should be in that role. In addition, when your team sees that you are investing in their skills, it demonstrates that you are interested in their personal development and increases their commitment to the job.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love selling and we are experts at cold calling, in particular. If you would like to discuss how we can help you and your team please contact us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Aug 29, 2022 | Cold Calling, Sales Prospecting, Sales Prospecting Success
When seeking more qualified appointments for their sales team, many businesses outsource to an appointment setting service. These services focus on the “pre-sales” process, which includes implementing professional telemarketing campaigns designed to prospect from a list to set up appointments. One of a Kind Sales provides this service to a variety of industries and has made thousands of calls on behalf of its clients. We’ve found that there is one common misperception that some of our prospective clients come to us with. This is the belief that a professional outbound prospecting and appointment setting campaign will work “like magic,” and that appointments will appear almost instantaneously.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just as a new sales representative needs time to gain momentum, so do outbound telemarketing campaigns. Depending on the source, a new salesperson can take between 6 to 9 months to become fully effective. Similarly, an outbound telemarketing campaign also needs ramp-up time to optimize.
We believe it is important for our clients to have the right expectations about our services. We are not a “magic bullet”, but our services are key to a robust strategy to drive sales conversions for any organization. Outsourcing the “pre-sales” process allows for an organization’s sales team to focus on the best opportunities for conversion and can result in more growth for the business.
What you need to know
It’s important to understand that when you’re working with a professional outbound sales team, the objective is to get well-qualified appointments. This means that the appointments that we arrange are with prospects who have an expressed need for the solution you offer. This increases the likelihood that your team will be able to close the sale.
Engaging a professional outbound sales team is not a short-term commitment. You should commit to working with a professional service like ours for at least a minimum of 6 months. All campaigns take time to optimize and show results.
With an average telemarketing conversion rate of 2-4% from a purchased list (source: businessdatalist.com), we make hundreds of calls a week on behalf of our clients. We take pride in the fact that our year-to-date conversion rate is 7% – significantly better than the industry average. In fact, we are consistently better than average on a monthly basis, ranging between 6% and 9%.
Our professional outbound sales team is particularly skilled at quickly establishing good relationships with prospects right from the start. If there is no immediate need for your solution, we make sure that we “earn the right” to re-contact that prospect at the end of 90 days to inquire again.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love cold calling! If you would like to learn more about our services or if you are considering outsourcing the pre-sales process to support your sales team, reach out to us at 908-879-2911.
by Marta Malyk | Aug 15, 2022 | Advice, Best Sales Practices, handling objections, Sales Tips, Sales Training
For many inexperienced salespeople, the first thing they think about when it comes to selling a product or service is the fact that they will hear objections. They dread the word “no” and try to avoid objections even when they can clearly see that they exist. They view objections as a minefield which must be avoided. They plow ahead with their pitch hoping they’ll say some magic words that will make them evaporate. Unfortunately, they most often experience the unaddressed concerns rising up at some point and ‘tanking’ the sale.
Our One of a Kind sales team has completed thousands of cold calls. And there is no doubt that salespeople will hear the word “no” many times. But in our experience, we find it best to acknowledge a prospect’s objections and quickly determine whether they can be overcome. When you can overcome them, you can proceed with a greater likelihood of success. If you can’t, you then move on to another prospect quickly.
Disrupt the Pattern
Cold calls have a typical flow. The way this happens may vary but at the end of a preliminary introduction, our team members may say something like, “how does that sound to you?” It is at this point when the prospect might say, “I’m fine – I don’t need anything.” That is a “no.” The prospect’s expectation is that the salesperson will say “thanks for your time” and end the call. This is the normal “pattern” of a sales call. But our professional selling team is prepared with rebuttals that disrupt the typical pattern.
Prepare “Rebuttals”
A disruptive response to a “no” might be, “Wow, how did you manage to avoid this problem?” What this approach does is keep the conversation going. Follow up questions could be: “Can you tell me how you did that?” or “How long did that take?” Followed by “I guess you must be hitting your revenue target then.” Moving further with “Would you like to improve that performance?”
You’ve read before that we believe in using scripts because they help us internalize our messaging. Because we prepare in advance, we have an arsenal of rebuttals at the ready. So, when the “no” happens, while it may be disconcerting, we don’t have to “figure out” what to say next.
Three Times is Enough
We adopt approach of using three rebuttals to a “no.” The rebuttals are statements we’ve prepared in advance (incorporated into our script) based on the objections we anticipate. Once we’ve had three unsuccessful attempts at this, we know it’s time to move on. We conclude the interaction, and we actually ask for a referral. For example, we’ll say, “it’s clear we can’t help you today, but perhaps we can in the future. Is there anyone else in your sphere of influence who might be able to benefit from our services?” You’d be surprised – we do get referrals in this way!
At One of a Kind Sales, we are sales experts, and we love cold calling! If you need help taking your sales team to the next level, give us a call at 908-879-2911 to learn how we can help.
by Marta Malyk | Aug 1, 2022 | Advice, Best Sales Practices, Cold Call ROI, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales Tips, Sales Training
One of the most challenging parts of selling is cold calling. Like all of us, salespeople dislike rejection and don’t want to hear the word “no.” And many have never been trained how to do cold calling. As a result, many salespeople find cold calling intimidating. Aside from the fear of rejection, there is a concern that they are “interrupting” someone to make a pitch. But as professional salespeople, they need to keep in mind that the person on the other end of the call may have a need for the potential solution they offer. If the prospect sees that value in having their problem solved, it is well worth the interruption.
In a recent Zoom Info article, cold calling was deemed “very to extremely effective” by almost 30% of professional salespeople. Also, it was reported that almost 70% of buyers accept cold calls. Given these statistics, it’s clear that cold calling presents a real opportunity to prospect for new business. In our experience as professional cold callers, once our callers reach their targeted prospects, most of them get the opportunity to make their initial case without the call terminating before that point.
What goes into making cold calling more effective? I believe preparation is critical to success. Below are just some of the steps we take to make our cold calling as efficient as it can be.
- The call list should be targeted to the segment you are pursuing. This ensures that your offering is relevant to the prospects you are pursuing.
- Develop a script that lays out what you want to communicate. Don’t repeat the script word for word. Use it to internalize your message. This prepares you to be able to say exactly what you want to say the moment you get the opportunity to connect. You’ll only have seconds to make an impression.
- Check your mindset. Think of yourself as an equal to the prospect you want to connect with. Remember they have a problem, and you have a solution.
- Make sure the purpose of your call is clear to the prospect, so they understand how what you are calling about is relevant to their business.
- Remember this is a dialogue. Let the prospect speak. This is when you’ll learn whether there is an opportunity for your solution now.
- Every time you speak to the prospect remember you are establishing a relationship – one that will earn you the right to speak to them again, whether for a follow up appointment if there is a current opportunity, or for a check-in several months from now if there isn’t a current need.
If your team can incorporate this approach, it can help take cold calling outreach to the next level and bring in new opportunities for growth.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love cold calling! If you need help implementing cold calling within your sales team, give us a call at 908-879-2911 to learn how we can help.
