How do most people feel when they receive a ‘cold call’?

One reason that most “cold” calls fail and result in rejection is that most salespeople start their conversations the same way to everyone they speaking with, sounding like a robotic mouthpiece.

How about trying something different? How about using personalised, customised information in your openings and voice mail, linked to an on-target value statement?

There is a wealth of information online, found through search engines and social media sites. The other way is by simply talking to people other than your decision maker. This is called “social engineering.”

It can be done as a separate call before your first call to your prospect and, after that, every time you call your prospect.

What it takes is a deep sense of curiosity, and some conversational questioning techniques. People are willing to give you a lot of quality information if you just ask them!

We’re talking about using social engineering in the positive sense: asking for information from people that will help other people and the business as a whole. Here’s an example of a Social Engineering-type call.

Firstly, identify yourself and your company:

“Oh, hi there, I’m Sean McPheat with MTD Sales Training.”

This immediately shows that you are not hiding anything.

Then, ask for help.

“I wonder if you can help me out” or “I need some assistance.”

Most people have an innate desire to be helpful to others in some way.

Follow this with a Justification Statement. This is the key that will unlock the most useful information.

Some examples are:

“I want to be sure that I’m talking to the right person there…” or “I’m going to be speaking with your sales manager, and I wanted to be sure that I have accurate information…” or “So that I’m better prepared when I talk to your purchasing department, may I ask a couple of questions?…”

The theory behind the success of these Justification Statements is discussed by Dr. Robert Cialdini — widely considered as one of the foremost experts on persuasion and influence — in his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” Cialdini cites an experiment conducted by Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer where students let others cut in line in front of them at the copy machine simply because they provided a reason for their request—“because I’m in rush.”

We recommend that you take time to create your own Justification Statement — your reason for them to talk to you — and use it regularly. Have ones that you are comfortable with. Then brainstorm the questions you will ask at every level of the companies you are prospecting. This process will make your prospecting calls much smarter.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

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I remember my nan used to love Columbo.

Everytime I was around her house as a youngster Peter Falk would be on solving another murder case wearing that horrible overcoat!

I loved the way he used to play dumb to get further information from his suspects and you can learn a lesson or two from him to get further information from your prospects and clients too!

Columbo was far from Dumb!

Here’s how to use the Columbo sales strategy…

Now do you remember that he’d be questionning a suspect, the suspect would give him a reply that put him in the clear and then Columbo would agree with him and start to walk away. The camera would pan to the suspects face who would have that smug “I’ve got away with it look” and then Columbo would turn around, put his hand on his head and say:

“Oh, by the way. There’s just one more thing….”

And whammo, that question would rip open the suspect and expose their alibi.

Well, you should do something similar when faced with an objection over the phone.

Listen to the end of this call:

PROSPECT:
“Like I said earlier on in the call, I’m not interested”

YOU:
“Oh ok, John. Well thank you for listening anyhow.
I hope your programme is a success (Prospect is relieved that the call is ended and then…) Oh, by the way, just out of interest, when is your contract due to end with ABC John?”

PROSPECT:
“Next August”

YOU:
“Well good luck with everything John…”

Right. Now a lot of calls would have ended after the
initial: “Like I said before, we’re not interested”
stage.

But our Columbo fan lowered the defences of the prospect by saying they were going and then came in with:

“Oh, just one more thing…”

This technique will get you a lot of information.

You have to say it in such a way that it comes across as an after-thought though and that it’s unrehearsed.

But both you and I know that it’s completely planned…..just like Columbo’s responses!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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As I’m writing this post, I’m also on the telephone (#22 in the queue) trying to get through to my doctors to set an appointment for my 3 year old daughter Holly.

What with swine flu, changes in temperatures etc I bet the phone is ringing off the hook.

But it got me thinking about how everyone is mad busy on a Monday and especially Monday mornings!

Now there has been a lot written about when are the best times to make cold calls and when to prospect.

My take?

Well, it’s going to differ from industry to industry but if I were you I’d be focussing on planning my week ahead and getting everything in order so you can start making calls from Monday afternoon onwards with no calls on Monday mornings.

So don’t make any calls on Monday mornings. Your prospects will be gossiping about the weekend and for those who are getting into their work will be far too busy and then start your plan of attack to them in the afternoon.

Give it a go and see if it’s the right approach for your industry.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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How refreshing would it be if a cold caller just said those immortal words “Yes, Mr Prospect this is a sales call” right up front?

Well, a lot of cold callers are using this technique and are getting some great results.

Here’s why:

It generates instant rapport
In a world where a lot of cold callers are saying almost anything to try and trick and lie their way to get to talk to you, this kind of approach is unusual and hence it causes a reaction from the prospect.

It’s new and refreshing!
Your prospects are receiving a ton of calls each month so when something “out of the blue” comes up they are more likely to say “you know what? go for it!”

It’s honest
Yes, you do want to close a sale and yes, this is a sales call. You are not being underhanded, you are not trying to mask anything and some of your prospects will love this.

Of course, like with anything there will those prospects who still put the phone down on you but you’ll get that no matter what.

So just try something a little but different and gauge your results. In some industries it works like a dream!

Happy cold calling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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Want some tips on cold calling?

Here’s the cold calling cheat sheet!

I must receive about 20+ emails each month that ask me for specific help and guidance on cold calling so here are some top tips:

1. Sound Like A Human Being
Try not to sound like a robotic cold caller. That’s what 95% of the cold callers sound like. You need to sound as though you are just calling up a colleague for a chat rather than a “have I got a deal for you” salesperson!

2. Learn How To Get Through Gatekeepers
You need to ne able to identify a gatekeeper screen and also know how to get through them!

3. Opening Is The New Closing
Spend a lot of time on perfecting your opening to your calls. So many salespeople come to me and ask for tips on how to close a cold call. Just forget it! If you don’t open your calls in the right way you will not even get to the close! That means trying out different openings and measure the response and reaction of the prospect. Keep refining and modifying the opening until you nail it.

4. Understand Your Numbers
Keep detailed records of the calls you make, what you said, the response you get etc. You can’t manage and improve what you can’t measure. Keep tabs on the voicemail messages you leave and which ones get the most number of returned calls. If it moves, measure it!

5. Strong Work Ethic
Even if you close 10 out of 10 calls on the bounce please keep going and carry out your planned number of calls for that day. A 100% strike rate is not sustainable. You may go 50 calls with no sales in the future and you may feel like you’re in a slump when all it is are your averages catching up with you.

6. Have Clear Objectives In Your Mind
If your calling objective is to set an appointment then sell only the appointment! Don’t go into the latest and greatest benefits of your products and services. Stick to your objective!

7. Have A Secondary Objective In Mind
Ok, so they don’t want an appointment even if you gave them money for attending! What are you going to do then? You need to have a back up objective in mind. Can you find out who their existing supplier is? The length of the contract? There’s plenty of info you can find out!

8. Cold Calling Quick Wins

There are some quick wins to be had if:

- You can sound like and create the impression that you’re well known to the decision maker

- You can sound as though you’re an important person who expects to be put through

- You are polite! (A lot of cold callers in trying to sound important are out and out rude!)

- Assume that you’ll be put through in your mind

- Assume that you’ll be put through by not asking to be put through but by using the following:

Instead of:
“Hi it’s Sean, could you put me through to James please?”
Use
“Hi Jenny, it’s Sean, could you let James know that I’m on the line, thanks”

By using “thanks” at the end of the sentance it assumes you’ll be put through and a lot of gatekeepers will assume that you know James and instead of giving you a qualification grilling and be made to look stupid if it were James’ best friend they will put you straight through!

Ok, there are hundreds of other cold calling tips – but these should get you started!

Click on this link for some more cold calling techniques

Happy Cold Calling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Cold calling is a tried and trusted method of generating new business. It does work.

However, it’s becoming less and less effective than it once was and that is mainly down to the fact that cold calling has got a very bad reputation.

So why has cold calling got such a bad reputation?

Well, apart from the fact that many of us feel that it’s an invasion of our privacy the real reason why we get so hacked off with cold callers are the underhanded, aggressive and sneaky tactics that they use.

This is a real shame because it makes the life of the “legit” callers a million times worse.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I was just walking by our reception when I heard one of my team on the phone talking to a cold caller from a company with “Public Sector” in their name who act on behalf of the government in setting up some meetings or something like that because the caller was so vague in trying to be put through to me it was ridiculous.

As Cheryl was on the call I listened in to some of the most aggressive, unprofressional tactics I think I’ve ever heard on a sales call.

So here are some lessons from that call that I strongly urge you to avoid:

1. “I’ve spoken to him before”

Yawn yawn yawn. The caller tried this old chestnut. Very unprofessional. They’d never get through my gatekeepers to speak to me and I had never spoken to this person.

2. “I’ve got systems to fill in and I can’t fill them in if I haven’t spoken to Sean”

1970’s hard sell tactics at it’s best.

3. “My Director is demanding that I speak to Sean”

This one is probably from the 1980’s!

4. “I’m going to keep on calling until you put me through to Sean”

What? Now this was ridiculous. Trying to bulldozer her way to me…..do you think that would work?

5. She put the receiver down and called 3 times within 2 minutes

She certainly carried out what she said she was going to do. She was a nuisance. I stood there in disbelief when I heard the cold caller say “Put me through to Sean or I will call back immediately”. Well, guess what? She did! Immediately! Cheryl answered the call again. And so on went the process.

6. “What gives you the right to make decisions for Sean?”

What? When the cold caller said this I thought it was time to step in so I took over the call.

7. “Anyway, now that I’ve got you on the phone…”

Once I took over the phone call I mentioned to her to look out for my blog. Her behaviour was disgusting especially when her company name has the words “Public Sector” in the title. I told her so and do you know what she replied back with “Anyway, now that I’ve got you on the phone….”

Click.

Unbelievable! So much so I just had to write this posting.

Please do not use tactics like this. If you do you are giving the sales profession a very bad name.

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Blog

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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Now if you have to make cold calls to set up appointments the following cheat sheet will really help you outt.

Here’s my appointment making cheat sheet! Follow this guidance and you can’t go far wrong when setting up appointments.

STEP 1 – Qualification Is Key

Make sure the prospects that you call are qualified leads

STEP 2 – Do Your Homework

Before you call, check out their company website and find out some information about them. Be prepared.

STEP 3 – Set Your Objectives For The Call

Now you might think this is obvious i.e set up an appointment. But what about your secondary objectives if an appointment is not set? Could it be to gather further info? To find out if they are using someone already? This is really important.

STEP 4 – Tone Down The Smile And Dial

When you open your call tone down the enthusiasm initially until you’ve got something to be enthusiastic about. All sales calls sound the same and if you sound like a “smile and dialler” your prospects barriers will go up “Not another cold caller!”

STEP 5 – Have A Well Planned Not Canned Script

Know how you are going to open your call and how you are going to ask for the appointment and so on.

Don’t be too rigid with a script though because if you get thrown off the script you may get into trouble!

STEP 6 – Sell The Appointment

Don’t sell your products and services just sell the appointment and why you should get together.

STEP 7 – If You Are Faced With Any Objections Then…

State that’s why you need to get together.

“Tell me about your services now…”

You reply with:

“All of our services are completely bespoke John that’s why we need to get together so I can understand about your business and then I can recommend which one of our services will be best for you. Would next Wednesday at 2pm be ok for you?”

STEP 8 – CEMENT Your Appointment

So the prospect has said yes to an appointment. Don’t just rush off the phone in excitement. Instead make sure that you confirm all of the details with the client.

CEMENT stands for:

Confirm the details
Explain what will take place in the meeting
Many thanks
Exonerate – tell them they are making a good decision and the reasons why
Numbers – provide some benefits to the client
Terminate the call with tact

STEP 9 – CONFIRM Your Appointment Just Before

A couple of days before the appointment call or email to confirm that all is still ok.

#####

So there you have the appointment making cheat sheet!

You don’t need any fancy techniques to be a success at setting up appointments – you just need a proven approach. Follow my appointment making cheat sheet and you’ll start to see some real improvement in your prospecting.

Happy Appointment Making!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Sean McPheat is the Sales Jedi! Follow his daily tips at MTD Sales Blog

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

So you’ve verified the decision maker, you’ve got them on the phone and you’re making a direct sale there and then – so just what is the best way to close the sale?

You know, closing a direct sale completely over the telephone requires a few different skills and techniques than closing in a face to face meeting.

In person, if you mess up, say the wrong thing or get an unusual objection—you’ve a good chance to recover and it’s very difficult for the prospect to hamper your continued attempts to close.

On the telephone however, you may only get one shot at closing the sale. And it does not take much for the prospect to abruptly END your closing attempts. All it takes is a “click” and you’re history.

Now I’m going to give you a simple and concrete closing methodology to use on the telephone that will help you maintain control and close more sales. Now I’m not talking about some off-pat answers or exact words here, but instead a way to think and to go about this.

Ok, in order to close a sale over the telephone you’ll need to:

1. Summarise the offer
2. Reference the future of the relationship
3. Use a transitional closing statement

Ok, first you’ll need to briefly summarize your offer, including prices, totals and particulars. Now this doesn’t have to be some long winded speech because you should have covered all of this before but you’ll want to bring it all together…

Here’s what I mean:

“So, Jo, what we’re talking about is the two cases of our Super Deluxe Widgets, at 50 per case, that’s 100 total, and that’s at the discounted rate of just £5 per Widget. That includes the lifetime warranty as well. As I mentioned, we’ll pick up all of the shipping costs on this…so the whole thing comes to just £500…”

So that’s the summary.

Ok. Then you want to look to the future.

This is critical over the telephone. You have to remember that in most cases the prospect has never met you. You may be hundreds or even thousands of miles away and they’re about to give money to a voice.

So you want to help the prospect to visualise a “relationship” and the future with you there. You do not want the call to end with the prospect feeling as though they placed a one- time – never going to hear from you again—order with a strange voice.

You need to Paint the picture of the future; of a continued relationship.

So use words and phrases like this “initial order” and “this order to get us started.” If it is repeat business, still do same. Use words and phrases like, “in our next order…” or “as our relationship grows” and “over the next few years…” etc.

Here’s what I mean:

“Jo, I’ll carefully analyze your savings over the next few months, and then we’ll know which way to go on future orders…”

“Jo, over the coming year, you’ll see how well these widgets perform, and then we can talk about outfitting the entire plant…”

“Steve, once you see how your customers love our packaging and the product jumps off the shelves, all I ask is that we’ll talk about adding a few more stores in the by the end of the year…”

And finally, use a closing statement that makes it EASY for the prospect to buy!

Try something like one of these three closing statements:

“Does that make sense?”

This is a great transitional closing statement. Just ask the prospect if what you just proposed makes sense.

Or use something to the effect of, “Does that sound like a good fit for your office, Karen?”

Or third, “Is that fair enough?”

This is really good if you’ve changed the offer or reduced the price. You may have begun with a closing statement like, “Does that make sense?” And the prospect objected.

You then build value, and build value and build even more value and then you slightly reduce the price. Now you might close with, “Is that fair enough, Steve?”

So let’s put this all together:

1. You need to summarise the offer
2. Reference the future of the relationship
3. Use a transitional closing statement

“So, Jo, what we’re talking about is the two cases of our Super Deluxe Widgets, at 50 per case, that’s 100 total, and that’s at the discounted rate of just £5 per Widget. And that includes the lifetime warranty as well. As I mentioned, I’m going to pick up all the shipping on this initial order…so the whole thing comes to just £500 to get us started. And we can talk about discounts on future orders once our widgets have started to save you money in your bills, does that make sense?”

Here’s another example:

“So, Graham, what we’re looking at for this initial order, is the District-level version of our Help Desk Plus, which includes the six months of free maintenance and upgrades. I’m also going to add two weeks of on-site consultation during the installation and that’s at no charge to get our relationship started. So, the whole thing comes to just £2,670. And when you see how much more productive your staff become, and how much you save this year we take a serious look at our enterprise-wide edition that will shave off another 15% of your outgoings – is that fair enough?”

You know, closing directly over the telephone is the hardest sale to make. It’s a different animal altogether but with the right approach you’ll soon be outperforming everyone else in your company.

Happy Closing

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

The 3 Biggest Cold Calling Mistakes

I could talk for hours about advanced cold calling techniques; how to increase cold calling effectiveness and setting appointments and closing sales on the telephone. ‘What am I saying’, I have gone on and on about it hundreds of times in MTD Sales Training Material.

However, I reminded of what my mum always used to say: “Sean, as complex as things may look, they can become really simple if you look at them from a different angle.” So, I did, and realised that although there is a thousand new and extremely advanced techniques I could teach you, looking at the problem from a different angle, I saw there were only a few things that you should NOT do.

Just a few simple things that if you avoid, you’ll increase the results of your cold calling immediately. So, here they are. Avoid these simple cold-call killers and you’ll set a few more appointments and close a lot more sales.

Get rid of the smile and enthusiasm at the beginning of the call. I know all your life you’ve been told to wear a big smile and be enthusiastic, critical mistake. It is the old-school Smile and Dial mentality that has consumers sick and tired of Sales People and Marketers.

Don’t be perfect. You heard, off cause you should learn your “pitch” flawlessly. But remember, stutters, fumbles and broken chains of thought occur naturally in real conversations. No one talks perfectly. The more perfect you sound, the more the prospect knows he’s one of a hundred you’ve called today. Let’s face it who wants to be Mr. 89. That’s why they tell you to “take me of your list”.

Slow it all down! Have some confidence in yourself. Don’t be afraid to let people talk. Welcome a response instead of trying to avoid it. Don’t be afraid to allow the prospect time to think and respond.

Avoiding these three common mistakes won’t solve all your cold calling or telephone marketing problems but they will certainly help make it easier.

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…