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Casual Articles - In the Baseball Game of Sales, You Need a Big Bat to Make Headway!
You as a business owner, and me as a copywriter, there is nothing better than having a control.A control is some marketing collateral that has proven itself successful at generating leads or driving sales. Your sales presentation either face-to-face with, or without “PowerPoint” is a control. Your sales letter or lead generation letter generation that successfully brings in money or leads is a control. You can have many controls in your marketing programs. For example your web site, brochures, white papers, or consumer awareness guides. Your winners, or controls, bring profits to your business, but are they really your ally.As someone who seeks to write your controls I’d like to think so; but as a pure marketing technique, I know that thinking is wrong. In an interview by Joe Polish with Richard Rossi, President of Learning Unlimited, his perception is that a control is the enemy.After hearing and thinking abou
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their hea
Many products and services have different sales cycles – from the first prospect meeting to the close of the sale. Some cycles can be several months to a few years. Some can be just a few days.Many salespeople believe that they are not in control of the sales cycle. They put the buying control into the hands of the prospect. Of course, you cannot sell something to someone before they are ready, but you can discover the sense of urgency or attempt to create it.Keep in mind that people buy when they are ready to buy, not when you need to sell.This week, let’s focus on these arbitrary sales cycles. First of all, remember that you do not change the prospect’s buying needs, timetable, readiness or urgency – you discover it or them. If your prospect has just signed a three year contract with a competitor, guess what? This is not a prospect for you until the time when he begins to consider renewing or changing suppliers.Many sales professionals know what it's like to visualize calling prospect after prospect on the drive to work. They envision handling any objection and closing all their prospects with fun and ease. But once they settle into their office chair, they quickly fall prey to a berating little voice that always suggests to keep waiting for seemingly good reasons:
• If you call too early in the morning, you’ll be considered a noisome pest. Go get a cup of coffee and plan out your day. If you fail to plan, you know you’re planning to fail.
• Better check your email before making any calls. You never know when an existing client might need assistance. You shouldn’t keep existing clients waiting.
• It’s almost time for the office meeting to start. If you get started on making calls now, you’ll feel rushed. You won’t have success with prospects if you’re feeling rushed. They’ll think you’re rushing for the sale, and you’ll lose the deal.
• People are getting ready to head out for lunch. No one wants to be bothered by a sales person, when he’s getting ready to leave the office.
• People are just returning from lunch. They don’t want to be bothered by a sales person, when they’re trying to get settled in.
• Now would be a great time to call, if only you felt more confident in your script. If you don’t feel confident, the results won’t be worthwhile. There’s no sense in putting time into making calls, if you aren’t going to get the good results you desire. It would be more advantageous to get online and learn about effective sales calling techniques.
• Calling certain prospects could really influence your business in a big way. When you’ve mastered the new techniques/scripts you learned, you’ll be able to advance very quickly. It’s best to master those techniques before calling such influential prospects. You don’t want to ruin your opportunities just because you weren’t better prepared.
• It’s too late to call prospects. They’re getting ready to leave work. Arrive here all the earlier tomorrow morning, and you can get all those calls completed before noon.
If any or all of those suggestions sound familiar, you probably know what it's like to hear a voice chastising you on your drive home from work because you didn't make the calls you were supposed to make. Strange, isn't it? It sounds quite like the voice that talked you out of making any of those calls all throughout the day.
Learning how to “seize the phone” requires investigating the voice, that talks one out of making the necessary prospecting calls that advance anyone’s sales business. There are plenty of programs to assist sales professionals become more efficient during the calls, and certainly it's always beneficial to hone one's skills. But too many sales professionals report that it isn't the sales process that trips them up, but rather, actually picking up the telephone and placing the call to Mr. Prospect. There always seems to be a reason why it would be better to wait and call later.
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their hea
It has been a couple days you and you have sent out many resumes and wonder why employers are not calling? Have you asked yourself: Have I sent a sloppy resume? Have I followed special requests from the employers?Anyway you have had no luck leading you to an interview even though you think you have a desirable skill set in high demand.Not one resume in a hundred follows the principles that stir the interest of prospective employers. Your present resume and cover letter are probably much more inadequate than you now realize.Mistakes frequently made by job seekers might be preventing you from getting an interview:- A resume’s appearance matter, a messy resume can be seen as the candidate’s lacks of professionalism and attention to detail. Make sure you proofread for grammatical mistakes and formatting problems.- Avoid going into details of jobs held in your career that do not relate to the job for which
• It’s almost time for the office meeting to start. If you get started on making calls now, you’ll feel rushed. You won’t have success with prospects if you’re feeling rushed. They’ll think you’re rushing for the sale, and you’ll lose the deal.
• People are getting ready to head out for lunch. No one wants to be bothered by a sales person, when he’s getting ready to leave the office.
• People are just returning from lunch. They don’t want to be bothered by a sales person, when they’re trying to get settled in.
• Now would be a great time to call, if only you felt more confident in your script. If you don’t feel confident, the results won’t be worthwhile. There’s no sense in putting time into making calls, if you aren’t going to get the good results you desire. It would be more advantageous to get online and learn about effective sales calling techniques.
• Calling certain prospects could really influence your business in a big way. When you’ve mastered the new techniques/scripts you learned, you’ll be able to advance very quickly. It’s best to master those techniques before calling such influential prospects. You don’t want to ruin your opportunities just because you weren’t better prepared.
• It’s too late to call prospects. They’re getting ready to leave work. Arrive here all the earlier tomorrow morning, and you can get all those calls completed before noon.
If any or all of those suggestions sound familiar, you probably know what it's like to hear a voice chastising you on your drive home from work because you didn't make the calls you were supposed to make. Strange, isn't it? It sounds quite like the voice that talked you out of making any of those calls all throughout the day.
Learning how to “seize the phone” requires investigating the voice, that talks one out of making the necessary prospecting calls that advance anyone’s sales business. There are plenty of programs to assist sales professionals become more efficient during the calls, and certainly it's always beneficial to hone one's skills. But too many sales professionals report that it isn't the sales process that trips them up, but rather, actually picking up the telephone and placing the call to Mr. Prospect. There always seems to be a reason why it would be better to wait and call later.
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their hea
Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened “Premier Coffees”. The names would be far more descriptive than their current ones. But they wouldn’t embody the essence or spirit of the companies they represent. Even if they offered the exact same goods and services, it’s unlikely Yahoo! or StarBucks would enjoy the same market share they now possess if given the more descriptive, and arguably accurate, names.Now why is that?In short, great brand names leverage our emotions. They resonate with the experiential right side of the brain vs. the logical left lobe. And emotions carry more motivational “charge” than logic. People buy emotionally and then justify rationally. And because great brand names create mental “pictures” they equate to a proverbial thousand descriptive words. They are the zipped files, the condensed soup, the computer macros, that all expand and unfold in our m
• Calling certain prospects could really influence your business in a big way. When you’ve mastered the new techniques/scripts you learned, you’ll be able to advance very quickly. It’s best to master those techniques before calling such influential prospects. You don’t want to ruin your opportunities just because you weren’t better prepared.
• It’s too late to call prospects. They’re getting ready to leave work. Arrive here all the earlier tomorrow morning, and you can get all those calls completed before noon.
If any or all of those suggestions sound familiar, you probably know what it's like to hear a voice chastising you on your drive home from work because you didn't make the calls you were supposed to make. Strange, isn't it? It sounds quite like the voice that talked you out of making any of those calls all throughout the day.
Learning how to “seize the phone” requires investigating the voice, that talks one out of making the necessary prospecting calls that advance anyone’s sales business. There are plenty of programs to assist sales professionals become more efficient during the calls, and certainly it's always beneficial to hone one's skills. But too many sales professionals report that it isn't the sales process that trips them up, but rather, actually picking up the telephone and placing the call to Mr. Prospect. There always seems to be a reason why it would be better to wait and call later.
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their hea
In any event, getting the process right is a vital component. The credibility of the change managers will be scrutinised closely enough on the issue itself, with all processes in place. If process is at fault too, then things can get very messy indeed.LegalitiesLegalities of how you are dealing with people issues must be resolved first and a clear understanding of HR technicalities requires the right level of expertise. Within this are elements of fairness, consistency and honesty. Although subsets of the well-researched HR framework, they save a lot of time, energy and emotion if considered in advance and protocols carefully positioned.TimescalesAppropriate timescales in changing people issues, will need to be carefully dealt with as part of the HR overview, but it can be easy to slip. A good way to work is using a simple project management process for the whole event, working for as far bac
If any or all of those suggestions sound familiar, you probably know what it's like to hear a voice chastising you on your drive home from work because you didn't make the calls you were supposed to make. Strange, isn't it? It sounds quite like the voice that talked you out of making any of those calls all throughout the day.
Learning how to “seize the phone” requires investigating the voice, that talks one out of making the necessary prospecting calls that advance anyone’s sales business. There are plenty of programs to assist sales professionals become more efficient during the calls, and certainly it's always beneficial to hone one's skills. But too many sales professionals report that it isn't the sales process that trips them up, but rather, actually picking up the telephone and placing the call to Mr. Prospect. There always seems to be a reason why it would be better to wait and call later.
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their hea
Yes, you can fill a workshop when spending is down and buyers are wary. If your topic is clear, your marketing materials well-done, your product solid and your title catchy, success shouldn’t be tough. The fact is that people are as hungry as ever for the inspiration and stimulus a workshop provides, even when they’re nervous about money. And even though most bum economies recover over time, you may find the following tricks helpful enough to keep using even in good times!1. Tailor the workshop to the economy. In other words, acknowledge the problem. So if your workshop is about helping women over 50 live their dreams, change it to Living Your Dreams Over 50 … Even When the Economy is Down. Or make it about finding your dreams after being laid off, or managing fear while pursuing your dreams in a poor economy. Your fundamental message doesn’t have to change … you just dress it up in slightly different clothing.2. Use unconv
Most sales professionals understand on a gut level that waiting for a better time to call is only cheating them from further expanding their sales business today. But getting past a relentless, fear inflicting voice in their heads is no easy task. Of course, if it were, top sales professionals wouldn't be so desperately needed or so highly paid.
One day, while musing through a book by Dr. Seuss, I Had Trouble Getting to Solla Sollu, one of the poems seem to jump out at me like a jack-in the box:
I learned there are troubles of more than one kind
Some come from ahead and some from behind
But I’ve bought a big bat; I’m all ready, you see
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me
In the sales profession, most troubles come from ahead and behind the telephone. In honor of Dr. Seuss’ little poem, I refer to those troubles as the "trouble thoughts.” Trouble thoughts often bombard one before and after reaching for the telephone to make a prospecting call. In my coaching experience, I discovered the novice as well as executive relates to those trouble thoughts I described above.
Indeed, even sales professionals with very outgoing personalities can find themselves in a petrified state before picking up the telephone. It seems that no matter how much success they might have experienced, they still undergo sales call resistance. Some of my clients divulge that their previous outstanding sales history does little to convince them that they have what it takes to keep making prospecting calls today. There are even those who admit that a month after starting a new sales position, they have yet to place even one prospecting call. According to good ol’ Dr. Seuss, they simply need a big bat to give those troubles a little trouble.
From my own sales experience, I learned that the best time to call a prospect is as soon as I think about calling him. Waiting for a better time usually results in one of two things - never finding the right time to call that prospect, or waiting so long that by the time the call is finally placed, the prospect is already doing business with someone else and no longer requires the suggested product or service.
So how does one get oneself to the point that he can walk right past all those nagging reasons to wait and call later? Is it necessary to thoroughly examine his past and everything that has fueled his fearful feelings? I don’t believe so. The most effective method to change a present situation is to keep one's focus on the present, not the past.
When sales professionals become aware that it's actually possible to seize the phone, or as I say "Carpe Phonum," when they lack courage, they stop waiting and start calling. In order to create that awareness, I use an analogy of a baseball player going up to bat, and naturally h
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