Yesterday, I met with one of the best telesales people I’ve ever known. He pretty much trained me in selling back in the early 2000s, and I had him in to train my team on the phones years later.
But in this meeting, the roles were reversed. Because sales have changed, and while the old skills of dialling and selling are still incredibly valid, there are ways to make this even more effective today.
The first thing we did was go back to basics.
Defined his ideal client, set prospecting lists and generated a script and assets to support the sale.
Importantly, we talked about the volume of activity. The answer when it comes to selling is always more. Because I can confidently say that if you’re already doing enough, you wouldn’t be asking that question. And even those that are known, the answer to building a consistent pipeline is… you guessed it, more.
We also determined the intent of a call, because not every call will or should result in a sale. We talked about getting past gatekeepers, generated a new script and questioning that focused on the client’s need.
We role-played objection handling / challenges he and his team were likely to face. Because even the best need practice.
Now I will argue that the best sales people don’t fear their CRM but use it as a tool to support their process. I’ve seen this with my own team and know from my own experience that the better you use a system, the greater the return.
Today, sales and marketing have never been so intrinsically linked. Having multi channel approach to creating content and outbound activity as a business owner, entrepreneur or for anyone in sales is key. And its no
What’s changed today is people don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to. I’d argue they never did, but there’s an active avoidance of anything pushy. Great salespeople have conversations, they understand need and demonstrate the experience of how their product or service best fits this. They do this on a timeline that works for their clients.
And while that might sound passive, it’s any but. Great sales people follow the process, they learn from their mistakes and become better for them.
Today I want you to send that email, to pick up that phone and to speak to one potential client. Follow my plan above and move them one step closer to becoming a customer.
On Monday, I want you to do the same, twice!
And when you do that, let me know how you get on.
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