B2B sales appointments discovery calls sales & Phone Scripts

Blog

Results Driven Sales VP’s Check Under The Covers

By

” Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” Charlie Munger

Let you in on a dirty little secret in sales training. Most people don’t implement.

Yup, people are human. Change is hard. Most people, sales reps included, will resist altering habits, no matter how poorly the present practice is performing or how obviously beneficial a new method would be.

That’s why the best performing teams I have seen have sales management that checks under the covers. Are the scripts being used? Are meetings conducted in accordance to plan? Or, do reps drift away from well planned solid practices because 1) they can rationalize why they should, and 2) they can get away with it.

People are far less likely to steal from you if they know systems are in place and they know they will get caught. And guess what? Reps are far less likely to resort to lowest common denominator, what’s easy at the moment, skim the cream off the top sales practices if they know their manager is going to peek under the covers to make sure they are adhering to the plan. If they go off plan they know they must be able to articulate a damn good reason why they did.

Received a call recently from a sales VP that told me a new rep wasn’t opening up the first meeting with a well structured “commercial” but had developed some top notch questions, seeking advice on how to get that rep to open up meetings correctly.

I was surprised to get a call like that because they are too rare. Once companies invest to reach conclusions about how best to close more sales and teach reps those methods, most of the time, they are not implemented. Only the top-performing organizations regularly check under the covers to make sure that reps are implementing according to plan.

There should be no hiding in sales.

“If you don’t do what Scott says you can’t work here.” Yikes. That is how an EVP of sales opened my training sessions for new reps. It wasn’t because I was super special. He said that because they had a way of doing business, prospecting for new opportunities, how to conduct initial sales meetings, that worked for them. Either the reps were willing to execute the sales strategies and behaviors that this company felt gave them the best chance for new business, or they could not work there anymore.

And guess what? Management checked under the covers to make sure reps were doing things correctly. They gave reps plenty of support and guidance to be great salespeople, but at some point, if they weren’t willing to follow company practices, it was buh-bye.

Guess it worked as the company went from $15m to 100M in about six years.

There is not a more powerful force on this planet greater than people’s ability to rationalize why they don’t have to do what they don’t want to do.

Reps will do mental gymnastics worthy of Olympic champions to rationalize why they don’t have to do something they are not comfortable doing. Even “you would have to be an idiot not to do this” type change is resisted.

So you have to check under the covers.

First Sales Conversations, Discovery Calls, Demos and Meetings: Do You Qualify, Close or Runaway?

By

There is a first substantive interaction to every multi-step sales process. Whether you label it a first sales meeting, discovery call or demo, the first interaction may be the biggest influence on whether you close a deal or not. That’s right; it’s not the magic words you try to come up with when a deal is slipping from your grasp that matters most, it is how you laid the proper foundation for the close that matters most. Do the right things in the beginning and you don’t have to grasp at straws at the end.

The first interaction clarifies your strengths and creates a solid foundation and springboard toward a close. Or, can be a great opportunity lost because your prospect didn’t grasp your value and enough reason to move forward.

Conduct future sales calls with a plan that communicates your value, positions you favorably against competitors and gains commitment for the next step in the sales process.

Here are some key concepts.

Closes hinge on the 2% difference. Your first meetings and discovery calls extract that 2% difference.

You win or lose most accounts by a hair. You need to be just a bit better than others to win, a 2% difference. It is in the earliest stages of your interactions that you extract and clarify that 2% difference so that when push comes to shove at the very end, you have the substance and specifics to nose out the competition.

Proposals should be confirmations, not explorations.

Think very carefully about this. Are your proposals explorations or confirmations? Proposals that end up closing are much more confirmations of concerns & terms already discussed, than fishing expeditions hoping to land the big one.

If you think of proposals as confirmations, then you must discuss the core components of your proposal to resolve differences or concerns. If you are collecting just enough basic information to deliver a pretty much standard boilerplate proposal, thinking you will find out what they think and adjust from there, your closing percentage is nowhere near where it could be.

Top producers and closers prepare questions; the rest prepare presentations

If you believe, and I think you should, that closes hinge on the 2% difference. And, that proposals should be confirmations, not explorations, then you will have to decide how best to find out what the 2% difference is in the mind of your buyers and have an actual conversation to confirm the major points of your proposal. Prepared presentations do not lead to that.

There shall be no proposal before its time

Like a fine wine, there should be no proposals before their time. Too many companies and individuals seem to think that making proposals is a goal. It’s a numbers game the knucklehead’s shout. But if the proposal is built on sand because the proper work hasn’t been done to include the things or confirm the things that would make it acceptable, it’s not a proposal; it is a waste of time.

You sell by appealing to actual needs and wants. Not by discussing what you think they need, not by trying to convince them of anything, but by drawing out issues that make the eyes of your prospects light up. Good questions, preparation, and practice make that possible.

Will the juice be worth the squeeze. What would it take for your prospect to buy? To change vendors?

You might think having a better widget or providing superior service is enough. That, if the prospect concludes that you are “better,” that you will get the deal. Nope.

Your prospect may conclude that you are a superior vendor, that you are worth the time, but many times, that is not enough. Your decision-maker has many many demands on their time. You might be “better” and yet not be more important than the other 25 demands on their time.

You might win the battle of “being better” yet lose the war if that difference is not more important than all the other demands on time and resources.

If there is no 2nd meeting, there will be no check

Virtually all of my clients have a multi-step sales process. There are typically multiple meetings/interactions before a deal is finalized. If it typically takes 5 meetings/interactions to close a deal, and you don’t earn the 2nd meeting, there will be no check.

During the discovery call or first sales meeting, you are not trying to make a sale so much as you are trying to lay a foundation for a sale. That foundation includes additional interactions. You had to “sell” the first meeting, and you also have to sell the 2nd and 3rd to make sure it happens.

Break the discovery call into three parts: The commercial, the questions, confirming the next step.

The Commercial

After very brief pleasantries you need to start working on your meeting objectives. You want to frame the discussion, orient to your strengths, relate credibility and minimize your weaknesses.

You might get down to business by saying something like this. “Would it help if I took a minute to review my background and why people choose to work with me?” The answer is always “Yes.”

I might say something like this. “Almost all of my clients, start their sales process with a face to face meeting or discovery call. When they get in the door at the right level, they can close, but if they are not at the right door at the right time, their competitors get the account. I have done work for recognizable names such as Wells Fargo that sent me into every one of the sales territories years ago and Jan-Pro, which is the #1 franchisor in the country and venture-backed startups, but most of my work is mid-size or emerging companies that need a process that works to get in the door. Have written two books on the topic and my scripting book was on Amazon’s list of top sales and selling books for more than three years. Every project is a bit unique, but the common themes are getting to the right people, scripting, communicating value, objections and follow-up. The most common comment I get from clients is “wish we had done this earlier.” Most of the quantum leaps come from organization, focus and consistently implementing the basics well rather than the latest greatest strategy of the month. Many companies who use me to get meetings, ask me to help them to convert those initial meetings to solid 2nd and 3rd steps. People seem to like that I actually did this before teaching it, set more than 2,000 C-Level appointments and is based on real world experiences rather than a standardized course. So that is a little about me, tell me about your situation and what you are trying to achieve.”

Notice in that spiel that I was trying to set the agenda, relate credibility and expertise and highlight the issues that are typical client hot buttons or play to my strengths. You should be doing the same.

The middle, questioning stage of the first sales conversation

You will sell and close based upon what people tell you matters to them.

At this stage, big picture, you are trying to…

– earn a commitment for the best next step you can get

– uncover specifics that motivate the buyers

– crystallize the options and consequences

– rub salt in the wounds.

Remember, the clock is ticking

First sales conversations have a time limit. It might be 30-60 minutes, maybe more, maybe less. But the bottom line is that you must flush out things sufficiently so that you can close on a solid next step that could lead to a close. You must make sure there is enough time left at the end for you to secure the next step.

“Oops, times up, got to go.” “I’ll be in touch, send me something, or my people will be in touch with your people,” often leads to the prospect never talking to you again.

“Great meetings,” after which the prospect vaporizes, were not that great.

How often has it happened? You sweat and with tremendous effort gain a commitment for a discovery call or first sales meeting. The meeting goes great, you are superior to their current situation, the pricing is right, and then they vaporize. You call and call to touch base again and hear nothing but crickets. Happens all the time.

You must properly choreograph your discovery calls or those “great meetings” will vaporize

Remember, if you don’t secure the 2nd or 3rd interaction, there is usually no deal. Your early interactions, particularly the first interaction is where you lay the foundation for the next meeting on the way to the close.

If your first meetings or discovery calls need to convert at a higher level, contact us to discuss.

Discovery Calls & Appointment Setting B2B. Top 10 “Scottisms” for Success

By

Success in scheduling discovery calls and appointment setting B2B, Lead Generation and sales prospecting all boils down to some basic core principles.

Over the years of smiling and dialing and helping sales teams to do the same these core principles have been embodied in “Scottisms.” Stupid simple sayings that capture the essence of appointment setting and lead generation success.

Top 10 Scottism’s and what they stand for…

  1. Don’t make it easy for them to lump you in with the idiots.
  2. #1 reason people don’t meet with you is that you don’t give them enough reason to meet with you.
  3. If you think your competition is saying something, don’t say it.
  4. It is not about qualification. Focus on active disqualification.
  5. Focus on buyers only. Throw the rest down the stairs.
  6. Its’ better to not make the calls and not get the meeting, than to make the calls and not get the meeting.
  7. ‘No’s” are perfectly acceptable. “Maybe’s” will kill you.
  8. “Great sales scripts” are not going to save you.
  9. If you are not using a contact manager, you are swimming with weights on.
  10. Never try to convince anyone of anything.

Don’t make it easy for them to lump you in with the idiots.

Buyers get a lot of sales calls. Most of those calls are from people who are unprepared, who are winging it and waste their time on the phone. If you act like or say the things that idiot time-wasters say on the phone, guess what? Buyers will lump you in with all the other knuckleheads that waste their time and immediately disregard you. Don’t say the things that the knuckleheads and time-wasters say when seeking to schedule a sales appointment. Even if you, in fact, have a great offering and high credibility, your prospect won’t know as they tune you out as soon as you sound like a time-waster.

#1 reason people don’t meet with you is that you don’t give them enough reason to meet with you.

Reality is cruel. People not agreeing to meet you? The reason why can usually be found in your mirror. Sad fact is that you are not communicating enough value. Rip out every word that does not relate to providing buyers info they need to determine you are worth more of their time. Communicate what you do and why you are credible clearly, succinctly and quickly.

If you think your competition is saying something, don’t say it

Are you saying things like “We help companies just like yours,” “I’ll only take 20 minutes,” “How are you?” “Do you have a moment?” or anything else common and ordinary? Stop. If you can easily imagine your competition saying something. Don’t say it. Most callers waste the time of buyers. Don’t sound like all the rest. Be different so that they will listen longer. They are aching to find a reason to dismiss you and when you say things that time-wasters say, they immediately dismiss you in their mind. Once their mind clicks into “This person has nothing for me” mode, you are toast, no matter what else you say. They are not listening.

It is not about qualification. Focus on active disqualification

There are some major myths out there in appointment setting land. One is that you should focus on qualifying. Uh uh. As someone who has set more than 2,000 B2B sales appointments, I can tell you that your focus should be on ACTIVE DISQUALIFICATION. The faster you can identify those worth little or nothing, the less time you waste on them. Critical to lead generation success. If you typically make 10 calls to a prospect, would you rather find out they are worthless on the 1st call or the 10th? Don’t try to keep leads alive with rationalizations and wishful thinking. Actively try to root out the worthless early in your process. All those calls not made to the worthless can now be made to those worth your time.

Focus on buyers only. Throw the rest down the stairs

Everything you do and say should revolve around how it plays with BUYERS you speak to. Of course, when you start speaking you don’t know you are talking to a buyer so you must assume they are. Worry only about how buyers will respond to what you say. Do not spend one-second thinking or worrying about what the non-buyers will think. Throw them down the stairs.

Those seeking to book appointments and discovery calls worry way too much about non-buyers. Many of those who are unsuccessful water down what they say so that they can have more comfortable conversations with those that are never going to agree to meet. Forget about them. Say the words that buyers need to hear to recognize that you are worth more of their time. Forget about what the non-buyers think.

Its’ better to not make the calls and not get the meeting, than to make the calls and not get the meeting.

Think about that statement. Many want to make more dials, never give up, follow-up endlessly on anyone who whispers a sweet nothing… ridiculous. If you allow yourself to make calls that have a high probability of getting you nothing, those calls can’t be directed where you have a much better chance of achieving your sales prospecting result. Better to not make those calls.

‘No’s” are perfectly acceptable. “Maybe’s” will kill you

“Maybe’s” and their close cousins… “call me back” and “send some info” are lead generation cyanide. They pile up and pile up and are guaranteed prospecting death. Everything you do should be structured to get a clear “yes” or “no.”

“Great sales scripts” are not going to save you

Is this you? Your prospect list is poor. You are essentially calling the phonebook, picking leads off the internet (awful,) and really don’t have a firm grasp on the differences between a good list or a bad list. You are calling off paper or spreadsheets. If you do have a contact manager you are not using it well. Do you call haphazardly without a consistent call process? Sound familiar? If so, “good scripts” are not going to save you. There are no magic words that will transform garbage into gold. Scripts only work if you are communicating with the right people and enough of them. If those other components are broken, good sales scripts won’t help.

If you are not using a contact manager, you are swimming with weights on

You simply cannot be consistently successful in generating worthwhile appointments and opportunities if you don’t use a contact manager properly. If you are not, you are swimming with weights around your waist, ankles and arms. You may keep your head up for a while, but you are going down.

Never try to convince anyone of anything

The buyers are out there. Right now there are a ton of buyers doing business with competitors or contemplating buying what you offer. Your goal is simply to bump into them and let them know what you do, why you are credible, the benefits your offer and what you want. They decide. You move on. Do not put the burden on yourself to convince anyone of anything.

Hope these Scottisms get you thinking about your appointment setting process.
If you or your sales team could use some help, contact me.

Stoopid Phone Script Phrases. Part To.

By

 

Being consistently less stupid than the competition is often the road to success.

The goal is to attract prospects, not to chase them away with a stick. Yet, when good people work the phones to get face-to-face meetings, discovery calls, webinar or event attendance, that is often what they do. Chase the prospects away with a stick.

You want to say things that communicate credibility, value, and worth. You want valuable prospects to conclude that it is worth their time to explore your offerings.

So let’s eliminate the self-sabotage and stop shooting ourselves in the foot by eliminating these self-defeating phrases from our phone prospecting vocabulary.

We would like to stop by for 10-15 minutes…

Is that all you are worth? Then you must not have much to offer. Good bye.

A short visit is not a benefit. You communicate value, let the prospect tell you if they have an issue with time.

Plus, when you set expectations like that and end up staying longer, you have started the relationship off with a lie. They know you misrepresented something to get a meeting. You are building a relationship with sand.

How are you?

Write down this Scottism. Don’t make it easy for them to throw you in with the idiots. Your best prospects are barraged by time-wasting worthless phone prospecting calls. If you say the things that idiots say that waste people’s time, you will also be perceived to be an idiot.

You think you are being “nice.” That has nothing to do with getting results. The first few seconds of a call are most important. Instead of using it to communicate value and credibility, you chose to fill those seconds with something of no value to buyers and is said by many that waste their time.

Be professional, but get to the point and lay the proper foundation for them to conclude that you are worth more of their time.

Are you the person in charge of….

If you didn’t know, why did you call them? If they were identified as the decision-maker why ask this question? Launch right into your pitch. If they are the right person you have a shot at a next step. If they are not, if they know what you do and perceive you as credible they will refer you to the right person. Asking this question is self-defeating.

I know you are busy…

Really? You don’t “know” anything. Are you a professional with worthwhile info and expertise that can help or are you a peon begging for a few seconds audience with a superior? People buy from peers. You won’t earn time from worthwhile prospects if you project an image of a 3rd class citizen begging for whatever scraps of time can be thrown your way.

It won’t take much of your time…

Again, this phrase projects weakness and uncertainty. Short meetings are not a benefit if you are perceived to have no value. You spend the few seconds you have to communicate credibility, value, benefits and what they will get if they spend more time with you. Let them tell you if they have an issue with time.

You shoot yourself in the foot and diminish your value when you say this.

We work with companies just like you…

The lies begin. The decision-maker on the other end of the line immediately thinks “BS. They haven’t met us or know what our objectives are or what we are trying to do.” They mouth “All set, have a vendor we love” or another excuse to get off the phone with you but they are really thinking “This person is clueless, making assumptions and a waste of my time.”

If that statement is true, then say things which enable your decision-maker to conclude that you have experience worthwhile to them.

Don’t state what you wish them to conclude, lead them to it. Much more powerful.

Do you have a minute?

Really bad. You are handing control of the conversation over to your prospect before you have communicated value and credibility. Why should they have any time for someone who has given them no information to conclude they are worthwhile? Bye-bye.

Giving you a quick call to…

Again. Don’t waste your precious upfront seconds with a promise of brevity which provides them no information to conclude you are worth listening to and sounds like all the other schmucks who waste their time.

Sometimes being smarter than your competition isn’t the answer. Being less stupid is.

Evaluate your phone and sales scripts for self-sabotaging language.

Always say things that communicate value and credibility to buyers.

NEVER say things that diminish perceptions of your value. Seconds matter.

Go forward and be less stoopid on the phone.

Discovery Call Formula of Success: 50/20/20/10

By

I used to believe in the 60/30/10 rule when it came to be booking sales appointments and discovery calls. That rule stated that 60% of your prospecting success would come simply by hitting the right targets, 30% will come because you have the right message and 10% will come from all other reasons combined.

With the benefit of 25+ years of experience, I think that a better rule is 50/20/20/10.

50% of the results come from interacting with the highest-probability highest-value targets you can with the time and resources you have.

20% of results come from your process of interaction. When do you call, voicemail or email? How many times? You must work a total process of outreach from start to finish calculated to get the result you seek. The quality of that process and the quality of your execution is 20% of the reason for your discovery call success.

20% of the results come from your messaging. Does your messaging give those with needs sufficient reason to meet? Does your verbiage communicate value, credibility, and benefits clearly and concisely?

10% of your results come from everything else.

50/20/20/10

50% of your results come from just hitting the right targets. Here’s the biggest mistake I see over and over again. Rather than carefully profile the best targets to call, you grab some local list that is free or easy. Or, major assumptions are made about a list that is good enough. The result of this is that your net is cast far too wide and you are pretty much doomed to fail no matter how good your call process or scripting is.

When your list is not properly selected you and your team spend way too much time reaching out to low-probability and no-probability targets. A major cause of appointment setting failure. If your target list is not properly selected you and your team are doomed before you make your first call. All the odds are stacked against you, and it is your fault.

Get this right, and you can screw up a lot of things and still be successful

Even if you have an average message and screw everything else up totally, if you select the right targets, you can have a successful prospecting program.

If you select the wrong targets, no matter what else you do, no matter how good your message is, no matter how efficiently you work, no matter how good your process is, you are guaranteed to fail.

How do you pick the right targets? Very simple. Make a list of your best clients. Make a list of your competition’s best clients. Make a list of the specific accounts that you know would be great, profitable accounts for you to have. Then go to a database and look up those specific companies. Create a chart that notes their SIC or NAICS codes.

Every industry has a code. Do you sell to consultants, restaurants or retail? They each have a code. Find out what the SIC or NAICS codes are of the companies you are profiling. Make a note of their revenue range or number of employees. This information can be obtained for free using publicly available databases such as referenceUSA.

In addition to the information you find in public databases, make a note of how your best clients/customers/accounts first found you. What needs did they have when they first became your clients?

Write it down. What did your clients tell you their problems were when they first came to you? Write them down.

Do this enough times, and you will have an accurate profile of the people whom you should be calling. That is to say; you will know the exact industry codes and the size of the businesses you should be calling. These are the only people you should be calling.

DO NOT FOCUS ON “NOT MISSING ANYONE.”

Let me tell you one of the biggest mistakes you can make. The phrase that I hear that tells me I am talking to someone doomed to prospecting failure… “I don’t want to miss anyone.” Surer words predicting prospecting failure will never be spoken!

The point of prospecting and appointment setting is to generate the most results for your limited time and resources.

When you start, you should call only those that fit the profile of your best potential clients. Usually, there are more of those targets than you could reasonably call in six months or more. So, you are not limiting yourself in any way. After you contact all your targets that fit your “best suspect” profile and do it very well, then you can start thinking about contacting others.

Let’s discuss a close to real life example. You make some assumptions about whom to prospect, and your list universe has 5,000 targets. If you do some basic research and analysis, you might find that about 7% of that list, 350 targets, most tightly fits the profile of your best clients. Let’s call those your “A” targets. Another 7% or so, about 350 records, are close to your best target profile. Let’s call this the “B” group. Then you have “all the rest,” about 4,300 records that maybe possibly might become clients in shades of decreasing probability.

Who are you going to call first? The A’s, the B’s or all the rest?

If you are like most that just jump in and call without knowing which targets are in the A or B group, you are going to spend 86% of your time calling “all the rest,” while the A’s and B’s get very little of your time and attention. A recipe for guaranteed failure. A scenario that is all too common.

This is where the self-destructive thinking comes from. We all have clients that are great clients who don’t fit the profile of our very best clients. For example: if most of our best clients are businesses that have at least $2.5 million in revenue, we probably have some great clients that are much smaller, only doing say half of a million or a million a year in business.

It may be true that there are some businesses out there that only do half a million dollars in revenue which could be “great” clients. But, if you tried to prospect companies in that revenue range, you would lose your shirt trying to find those “great” clients.

You Want to Jack Hammer Through a Solid Vein of Prospecting Gold. Not Work Through a Pile of Prospecting Crap Trying to Find a Nugget of Gold.

You are not “giving up” on anyone when you resist the temptation to dilute the quality of the suspect pool you call.

It is financial suicide and sheer madness to invest limited prospecting time sifting through sludge panning for a few small nuggets of gold when you could spend the same amount of time jackhammering through a solid vein of gold.

The more you vary from a suspect pool that most resembles your typical “great” client, the more you can expect that your success rate in scheduling appointments will be lower. Your conversion rate from appointment to sale will be lower, and your average order size of the sales you do make will be lower. Do not make this mistake. Initially focus and prospect only those companies who fit the profile of your very best clients.

Once you finish prospecting that pool and have a baseline of results, you can then selectively start prospecting other pools of suspects.

50% of your results will come just from communicating with the right targets.

20% of your prospecting results come from your process of interaction. How many times do you call, voicemail or email and when? If you don’t do enough or interact the right way, you will fail. If you do too much and work past your point of diminishing returns, your results will plummet. If you don’t do enough, maybe call just a few times or haphazardly, then you are not doing enough to get steady results.

So assuming you are calling the right targets, you must work an effective process when you interact with those targets. That process moves you through your high probability group very efficiently and increases the odds that you will “bump” into a high-value prospect at the right time.

50% of results from calling the right targets.
20% of results from working the right process.

20% of results from effective messaging. Very simply, when you call the right people and work a system which earns you their attention for a few moments, don’t screw it up. Have something worthwhile to say. Communicate what you do, your credibility and value clearly and succinctly.

In those few crucial moments of attention, you worked so hard to get you must communicate words that enable buyers (those that recognize a need) to conclude that you are worth more of their time. If your message is weak, watered down or non-existent in those moments you are toast.

50% is the list.
20% is the process.
20% is the messaging.

10% is all the rest. All the other issues that suck up your time and attention that are on the fringes of what matters, they have a very little impact on results. I am generous when I say they impact results 10%.

Call the right people, the right way and have something worthwhile to say and you are 90% there. Don’t let other issues divert your attention.

Top 10 Benefits of a System that Consistently Spits Out Sales Appointments and Discovery Calls

By

Quality appointments and discovery calls improve your budgeting, cash flow, and profit margin.

Let us review all the benefits that come to us when we can consistently and cost-effectively generate substantive first sales conversations with those who can authorize checks, that would clone our best and most profitable clients.

1. You can move beyond your personal network and referral sources
2. You add a tool to your prospecting toolbox. You improve the mix of your interaction.
3. You can scale growth.
4. When your other marketing and social media efforts are not delivering you have another option: Go directly to the buyers
5. You avoid sales peaks and valleys.
6. You don’t miss out on opportunities that are out there anymore.
7. You gain control over your sales life.
8. You can value from the unreachable and No’s
9. More accounts, revenue, profits, and higher margins.
10. Your closing ratio improves.
Bonus. You can easily follow-up for future sales.

1. You Can Move Beyond Your Personal Network and Referral Sources

This is a call I get a lot.
Companies that have grown and done very well relying on repeat business, word-of-mouth, their personal networks, and referral sources, now have to reach out to strangers for new business.

Sometimes the repeat business slows down. The referrals just don’t come in like they used to. The marketing that used to work does not deliver what’s needed anymore. Sometimes the Rolodex and personal network have no more to give.

Now what?
Talk to strangers?
Yikes.

What is sufficient to close a deal with those who know you or referred to you, will not close a deal with strangers.
What you said to get a meeting with those familiar with you will not be enough with strangers. You will need to move through a larger group of targets systematically to have any chance of success. You will have to prepare new things to say.

Strangers will cut you loose much faster if they don’t perceive value. This will be new to you. Working a process will not be easy. You will need to be disciplined in ways you never had to be.

But the good news is that the methods of gaining traction with companies or with people that could be great accounts have been invented. It is rooted in rock-solid basic marketing and sales principles that can be learned.

2. You Add Another Tool to Your Sales Tool Kit

Outreach to set appointments and discovery calls is not for everyone. It’s not for every business. It makes sense in some places, is foolish in others.

For some businesses being able to set discovery calls or in-person appointments is the core of new business development. For others, it is just part of a larger picture.

For those of you new to this, you add another option to your sales and marketing kit. For those of you already setting appointments, you get to sharpen a tool you are already using.

Think of appointment setting as a tool to be used as needed. You might use it very strategically to infiltrate a new vertical. You might use it to avert trouble when business slows down. You might use it day in and day out as the core of your new business process.

It is neither good or bad. It is a tool.
Use it if it is the tool you need.
Use it in the right place.
If you use it, use it correctly.

3. You Can Scale Quickly

Sometimes you need to go from zero to 60 in seconds flat.

In some situations, you can’t wait for the biggest buyers to bump into your content. It might be too big a stretch to assume that your other marketing initiatives and social media efforts will translate to qualified leads and sales in enough volume to meet goal.

If you are in a venture-backed situation, you scale or you don’t get the next round.
When you need to scale quickly, you need a system. Fast growth is not an accident.

4. When Other Marketing Methods and Social Media Efforts Are Not Delivering What You Need, You Have Another Way.

Sometimes marketing methods stop producing.
Longtime dependable sources of business dry up.
Word of mouth and referrals reduce to a trickle.

Sometimes you can’t wait. You need business now. You need to interact with buyers directly.
A system which puts you in direct contact with buyers solves that problem.

5. You Avoid Peaks and Valley

How many times have you have had this problem? You either have more business than you can handle or are dying for dollars. When you are in that boom or bust cycle, something very bad is happening.

When you’re dying for dollars you take business you should not take; you make price concessions you shouldn’t make, and you make promises for delivery and quality that are unrealistic.

When you’re in a rush to book business, you often short-circuit your production or service processes. Before you know it, you have no processes, just chaos. The odds of a dissatisfied client and unexpected problems go way up.

When you can generate a steady stream of first sales conversations, you won’t feel pressure to cut your profit margin to seal a deal. You won’t be tempted to make unrealistic promises or work outside of your service delivery systems.

You no longer trade short-term cash for longer-term success.

6. You Won’t Miss Out On Opportunities Any Longer

Good clients are just waiting for your call. Great clients are searching their emails for messages from you. But you are nowhere to be found.

A sad reality is that there are a lot of really great accounts out there, buying from competitors unaware that you exist.

You didn’t identify them or get their attention. You were not there at the right time. If you did speak to them or get their attention briefly, your messaging did not communicate your value or credibility.

They, therefore, lose the opportunity to work with you. A provider they would be thrilled with. You lose a great client who would pay well and provide a steady stream of profits for you over a long period.

7. You Gain Control Over Your Sales Life

You are in charge. Not your prospects. Not your clients. You.

When somebody wants you to take 10% off, or they threaten to go to a lower priced competitor, you’ll tell them to take that deal. You won’t care.

When somebody asks you for impossible delivery times or tells you that they have expectations that are not realistic, you’ll walk away. You won’t care.

You’ll drop all those small accounts that are a pain in your neck… all those low-margin or no-margin accounts that you currently service.

You see, when you know (really know) and have confidence that new leads and inquiries will continue to come on schedule as a result of your system, you’re going to be far more selective about whom you do business.

8. Gain Value From the Unreachable and Those That Have No Immediate Need

What do you do with the majority of people you cannot initially reach? What do you do with the majority of people who you do reach, yet don’t immediately agree to see you? Are those calls wasted? Far from it.

In a big-ticket or complex sales environment, most people are unreachable. Most people you interact with will say “No.” Many of those same people, at some time in the next 3-18 months, will recognize a need and be prime candidates for the services or products you offer.

A good system enables you to identify those that say “no” now but will write a check to a competitor in the near future.

9. More Profit, Margin and Accounts

You get revenue. More accounts. Higher margins.

These rewards are the natural result of a prospecting engine that is running smoothly.

You will be meeting with more qualified prospects so you can choose to work with the best and say goodbye to the rest. You can now negotiate from strength on proposals. Why shave the margin to get a piece of business when you know from your full sales pipeline that you are already on target to meet or exceed your sales, revenue and profit goals?

10. Your Close Ratio Improves

I once conducted a prospecting intervention for a $100 million company with 27 salespeople. After my coaching intervention, which lasted a few months, the closing ratio of this team increased by 25%.

There were two reasons for this increase. Better closing ratios are determined, in part, by the quality of the prospects and the quality of the sales process.

Quality of the prospects: There is a certain pool of prospects that is ideal for your company. You understand their needs; you can service them and keep them happy. The problem is always getting in front of them and being able to tell your story to the right person.

The process I teach helps you to infiltrate a much higher percentage of their ideal target group and get in front of the top decision-makers.

Quality of the sales process: Because they were in front of more prospects, this client got more practice and became more proficient at each step of the sales process. They focused on what to do at a first meeting to advance a sale, how to better cross-sell, how to best avoid and respond to resistance and how to improve proposals.

If you get more appointments with widget sellers, you get better at knowing what to do to advance and close a widget deal every step of the way.

Bonus Benefit: You Can Easily Follow-up

I hear again and again and again from salespeople: “ I don’t have the time to follow up.”

No offense. But it is just downright wasteful and insane to spend all that time smiling and dialing… asking questions… and getting tons of information not to follow up.

The biggest investment of time is your initial foray to the prospect. The largest dollar expense is buying the target list, getting it into the database and investing the time to work it the first time through.

Easy follow-up is something planned for before you make your first call.

Follow-up can be simple when you have planned for it, and you work with “groups” of prospects.

You invest a lot of time and money to make the first pass to a prospect. It takes just a fraction of that time and money to follow-up when you have a system to do it.

Do you have a system?
Is your system delivering these benefits?
If not, contact us to discuss options.

How Much Faux Sincerity is Necessary to Communicate Trust?

By

How much fake sincerity does it take to earn trust?

Do you know your biggest challenge as a vendor or service provider?

Your prospects don’t trust you.

They have been on the receiving end of too many exaggerations, part-truths, and distortion. Too many reps have misrepresented their capabilities and experience. They have wasted too much time with salespeople who could not stick to the truth.

I attended a meeting last week conducted by four experts on inside sales. A very sharp and knowledgeable group. They put forward the idea, backed up by some studies I can’t remember, that the biggest complaint buyers had with vendors was misrepresentation. They thought too many potential vendors were less than totally honest.

Here are some of the ideas shared by participants at that meeting as to how to get in the door.

– Find out from Linkedin what college they went to and send them some knick-knack or clothing item with their college logo on it.

– Peruse social media to find out a cause they believe in or hobby they have and mention it in your pitch.

– Communicate with two decision-makers within the same company. Send one a letter with a key. Send the other a package with a letter and a box. The executives would have to connect to unlock the box (to extract some item or small gift certificate), and I assume to discuss the merits of meeting with you.

There were a lot of clever ideas shared along these lines about how to get a prospect’s attention, get a conversation and book a demo or discovery call.

Two Problems With The Faux Sincerity Approach.
One of them is Math.

There is a very practical reason I didn’t like these approaches. Math.

You need to communicate with a lot of targets to meet sales goals. When you are personalizing to this degree the size of the pool you are prospecting shrinks substantially. When you spend that much time looking up personal information on prospects so that you can seem interested, you call far fewer prospects.

There is another reason I didn’t care for these ideas. Reality.

Buyers have seen it all. As soon as they sense a whiff of insincerity or that their time is being wasted, you are done. And for those that do agree to speak, the no-show rates are high and the closing rates are low. Your closing rate is going to be lower when you start the relationship faking genuine concern and interest or rely on gimmicks. That sales relationship is built on sand.

Who’s calling? Mr. Jones from the I.R.S.

True story. Extreme but true. Many years ago met a rep who proudly shared this technique to get decision-makers to come to the phone every time. When the gatekeeper asked “What is this regarding?” the rep would say “This is Mr. Jones from the I.R.S.” Of course, when the decision-maker picked up the phone to learn that Mr. Jones was from the Increased Revenue Service, they were not very pleased. The rep closed not one deal with this. Start with a lie, end with good-bye.

Now any idea will work on some people some of the time. Doesn’t make it good. Certainly doesn’t make it the idea that will work consistently to deliver the best outcomes over time.

I’m picturing two highly paid executives authorized to make major purchase decisions chasing each other to unlock a Starbucks gift certificate. Some might think it clever, but many will not be pleased their time is being wasted.

And sending items with college logos on them or striking up a conversation about a prospects hobby or cause they believe in  The gift is obvious manipulation and faking interest in items found on their social media is very easy to see through.

If you were going to send something, it should relate to the outcome you can achieve for clients.

So How Much Sincerity Do You Have to Fake to Earn Trust?

You can go in another direction. Many do. Rather than waste time with all these gimmicks and tricks and spending time digging for something on each sales suspect so that you can “sincerely” relate interest or caring on some topic, why not just lay your cards on the table.

Clearly and consistently state what you do, why you are credible, the benefits you deliver and why you are worthy of their time and trust. Relate that message over and over again. Respect your suspects enough to deliver a message they can clearly understand and then let them say “yes” or “no.”

You will communicate with a larger group of suspects as you are not wasting time searching for items to be sincere about and those with needs can conclude you are worthy. That starts your sales relationship off on a foundation of trust.

As Franklin Roosevelt said, “Be sincere; be brief, be seated.”

Why You Need to Write Gooder Scripts, Emails, Voicemails and Stuff

By

Are you snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?

Let me throw a few statistics at you. Seemingly unrelated but give me a moment.

It takes 18 dials on average to connect with a buyer. (My rule of thumb always has been 9 – 12 dials.) This number is moving up, and it is no surprise.

About half of those that agree to a meeting will end up buying or switching vendors within 18 months. Most of the buying occurs between months 4 and 18.

It takes more touches to get a lead.

Those “touches” need to be a mix of phone calls, Emails, Voicemails, at times Linkedin interactions. Some companies go on unscheduled office visits to leave materials behind as a touch to their system. Texting is getting more attention as a touch.

Since mobile has arrived, attention spans have dropped. From an average of 12 seconds to 8 seconds. Goldfish will pay attention for 9 seconds.

It takes working an ever-increasing pool of suspects to squeeze out the same level of qualified prospects.

What Does This Have to Do with Writing Gooder Sales Scripts

It takes more effort to speak to someone.
It takes more touches to get their attention.
You have to prospect more and more people to get the same result.

When you do get someone’s attention, it will be just for a few seconds or a glance before they make a decision. Will they stay or will they go? Keep reading? Keep listening? Say “yes” or send a response?

You have just seconds to get them a bit further. If they have needs and what you say is perceived well enough, you get a meeting. If they have needs yet you fail that few seconds test, they are gone, and you did all the work but got nothing.

Whether you meet your sales goals may depend on what you say in the first moments to someone who doesn’t know you. Getting a close may have far more do with those few seconds than it does with your pipeline management and closing skills.

No meeting, no nothing.
Get the meeting; you end up adding to your pool of those highly likely to buy from someone within 4 – 18 months.

You and your team are working harder and harder to get a chance to sell a meeting to someone highly like to buy. Whether that future buyer jumps in your boat or stays out turns on a very short interaction.

Are Your Sell the Meeting Interactions Communicating Enough Trust, Credibility and Value?

If your team is winging it, has not prepared the words on which sales success hinges, does not have a “pile of words” that contains all your key points, all the phrases of your top performers, lists out all your key credibility points, the key benefits your clients get from you, future sales are falling right through your fingers.

Not because you are not working hard enough or are not capable. But because your verbiage could be better.

So revisit your phone scripts and email communications. Don’t lose out on discovery calls and meetings simply because your verbiage wasn’t gooder.

If you need help making your scripts gooder, contact us.

Worst Sales Script Phrases to Set Discovery Calls/Sales Appointments

By

When it comes to scheduling more discovery calls with high-probability buyers, there are a lot of people working very hard and shooting themselves in the foot.

It is unfortunate (ridiculous, actually) that someone would invest the time to dial, dial, call, voicemail and email. Then when a potential client who would love to hear about new options, work with a better vendor or solve a problem they have picks up the phone, at the moment of truth, the salesperson chooses words that CHASE THEM AWAY. Rather than choose words that enable them to conclude that more time with the caller or the caller’s company would be worthwhile.

Here is a laundry list of phrases that you should ban from your “set the discovery call” script.

That is, what you should not say when that qualified high-level decision maker you have identified picks up the phone, and you have less than few seconds to enable them to conclude that you are worth more time and ask them to meet.

In the end, I will share the two big misconceptions that drive salespeople to use phrases that chase great prospects away and four things that SDR’s get wrong about setting discovery calls.

How are you?
How is your day going?

You have seconds to communicate what you do, your credibility, how you help and what you want. In the most important first three seconds, you choose to communicate none of that?

Did I catch you at a bad time

Is this a good time to talk…

Do you have a few minutes…

Do you have a moment to answer a quick question about …

We can assume that people who can authorize big checks are busy. In fact, don’t we hear over and over again that “everyone is busy” and “no one has time?” So why waste precious seconds with a question you know the answer to? It makes you look like all the other knucklehead time-wasters that don’t get to the point, and turn control of the conversation to your prospect to boot? Makes no sense.

If your thought is that you are “nice” or respectful to the person you have interrupted, you are wrong. You have already decided to interrupt them. Respect them by saying something that would help them decide if you are worth more time.

I know you are busy, I’ll be brief

You “know” nothing. You sound just like many time-wasters that call me so why should I keep listening. And you are not brief by wasting seconds with verbiage that does not help me at all.

Just want to ask a quick question. Giving you a quick call to…

The reason I called is …

The reason for the call today is

Get to the point. Just say it. This drivel is not providing information helpful to your suspect. Precious seconds are wasted. Tick tock tick tock.

We help companies just like yours

You know nothing about us. The lies are starting already. If that is true, relate specifics so that they conclude that on their own. It is immediately discounted 100% and throws you in the same trash can with the other time-wasters. Particularly unfortunate when that statement is true. You turn off the prospect before you can get there.

Asking a question in your initial pitch, any question.

How are you handling that?

Would you like to save money?

If I could wave a magic wand, what is the one thing…

This will not go over well with the herd, but it is a strategic blunder for you to ask a question, or heaven forbid, multiple questions, during your initial 30-second or less set the discovery call pitch. When seeking to set a discovery call with a qualified prospect the only question, you ask initially is “would you have some time in the next week or two?” That is the only question at this point.

Your goal is to set up a meeting. Everything you say must relate to that goal. When you ask a question, they are now in charge. They rarely have the same goal as you at this point.

You must lay a solid foundation of clearly communicating what you do, your credibility, the value delivered and what you want. You must do that without exception first.

Asking questions derails that objective and puts them in charge. Once they get what you do and why you might be worth their time and what you want, then you have the option of maybe asking some questions, not until.

Are you the person in charge of …

Are you the person that handles X

Or worse…. I spoke to so and so who told me you were the person in charge of X. Is that true?

Most of the time you are calling someone that you feel is the decision-maker. Why waste precious seconds confirming something you already know. In the few cases where you are wrong, if you are clearly communicating what you do, the person you are speaking to will recognize that and redirect you. 95% of the time those are wasted words, and you are providing no info of value to your suspect in the most crucial first few seconds.

We provide the best, most affordable, unique, leading widget services

Stay away from any hype words. As prospects don’t know you, any hype words you use are immediately discounted 99%. Initially, Stick to fact-based statements they will not immediately discount.

I this, I that, I want, I, I, I.

Nobody cares about you. Rip out every “I” or “we” you can from your scripts. Rephrase to a “you” perspective.

We want to get to know your business and see how we can help you.

What we would like to do is…

What we would like to do is meet with you and see what kind of value we can provide …

Nobody cares.

Looking to find 15 minutes to meet, discuss,

Among the most common example of sales prospecting malpractice, shoot yourself in the foot, steal defeat from the jaws of victory in discovery call setting land.

If you are saying this, you need to work on your self-esteem. If you are not worth their time the fact you will waste only 15 minutes is not a benefit. If you are a worthwhile credible, trusted advisor who can deliver desired outcomes to me or my organization and has valued information to share that is helpful for us to hear, why are you worth only 15 minutes? It must be because you are not worth it. Bye.

You diminish your value in the eyes of your best prospects when you drivel out this phrase.

If top people have an issue with time, they will ask

Four reasons why these worthless phrases are used.

  1. Callers think they can out-nice the competition.

Don’t get me wrong. You are always professional and courteous in your communication, never rude, never pressuring. But you make a mistake confusing being direct with being rude, too-salesy (don’t get me going) or pushy.  You think that if you are super nice, nicer and more considerate than the rest, that it will win you some points. It won’t.

You win points among BUYERS with a well prepared pithy pitch professionally delivered that enables a busy decision-maker to decide if you are worth more time.

  1. Callers fear annoying someone, so they do verbal backflips not to offend.

Here is a bulletin. You have already decided to interrupt them. The same verbiage that will be welcomed by those most likely to buy, those that recognize a need and understand what you do, your credibility and value you deliver, will be rejected by those with no needs or happy with their situations.

Adding verbiage that communicates no helpful information at all to BUYERS, so that you can have more comfortable conversations with those who will not be receptive to your message is not helping you. In fact, your effort to “not annoy” is increasing the annoyance you create.

In the same amount of time, you spend groveling and apologizing, beating around the bush and trying not to annoy you could say something worthwhile. So that those you speak to can “get it” and say “yes” or “no.” That is being respectful to your prospects.

  1. You are not trying to set a discovery call with everyone you speak.

You should be focused on those you speak to who are BUYERS. A buyer is someone who if they heard the right things would write a check or change vendors.

Not everyone you speak to is a buyer.  Only a small percentage might be. Stay focused on choosing words and phrases that would enable BUYERS to conclude you are worth more time. FORGET THE REST.

When you water down your verbiage or delay getting to the point to have a more comfortable conversation with those that will not meet or buy, you are diluting your message to the buyers. You, with the verbiage and behaviors you choose, have chosen to deliver a weaker watered down message to BUYERS, in the hopes that non-buyers might be less annoyed. Makes no sense.

  1. It is not your responsibility to convince anyone of anything

Relieve yourself of the burden of thinking you have to set a meeting with everyone you speak to. That is the wrong mindset. It is your job to work a total system so that you bump into more qualified prospects at the right time. And when you do bump into them, you deliver the words they need to hear to conclude you are worth more of their time. Some will, some won’t. Next.

Hope these phrases and comments challenge your thinking and help you rewrite your scripts.

CRM / Contact Manager Functionality for Appointment Setting

By

A CRM is not a CRM is not a CRM. Especially when it comes to booking sales appointments and discovery calls. Appointment setting has some special requirements as to functionality and layout you want to be aware of. What works and might be acceptable in one sales environment is woefully inadequate when it comes to setting sales appointments.

Many times, the easy choice on day one, or the newest program, or one with the most knobs and the shiniest knobs is not the one that will enable your team to book the most appointments. If you do quick and easy up front without understanding the functionality you need to book meetings, that choice will cost you big time every day as you work your program.

The following is a short list of considerations to selecting a CRM that will add efficiency and effectiveness to your lead generation program. (At the end I will let you know my preferred program for small teams.)

Two big reasons why you must get this right.
1. Call efficiency: If you don’t pick the right tool, with the right layout, with the right customization and sorting options, it will slow your appointment setter down. If info is not organized so that “at a glance” callers can be prepared to pick up the phone and call, time is wasted. You lose opportunities and it takes more effort to get results. The good callers flee poorly setup environments as it is much harder for them get results and make money and they get frustrated with a tool that slows them down.
2. Call effectiveness: As your team smiles and dials repeatedly they need to differentiate the time wasters, from the worthy accounts from the very few that represent the largest opportunities. They need a place to note those factors which enable them to make those judgments. You as the manager and the callers need to be able to “slice and dice” or segment the list by potential value so that you can properly allocate resources. Time and money. Don’t have this capability or enough of it? You are doomed to investing a lot of time on records not worth your time. And those that are worth more than the rest? They won’t get the attention they deserve as you won’t know who they are or be able to zero in on them quickly.

Things you need in a CRM to set sales appointments.

1. A “one look and call” setup. You need your caller to pull up a record and immediately see on one page, with a glance, all they need to know to make the call. Boom.

If your callers must open 3 or 4 pages, and scroll down them no less to find info and know what has happened on this record and what to do on this call, that significantly slows things down.

2. Ability to organize the layout: Part of #1 above is having the ability to move the fields around and group the data for easy absorption and action. Example: In my preferred layout info about the contact is in one row, info regarding the company is another, and all the worth info re business needs and revenue potential is in another. Boom. Quick glance. Know what is going on. Call.

3. Ability to customize fields and dropdowns: You need the ability to add a good number of customized fields and dropdowns. You will typically need fields for worth, current vendor, criteria for clues as to potential worth or product/service used, product/service they might buy, estimated spend on items annually or by project, contract expiration dates, review dates, on and on. When you create those fields, you want to be able to create dropdowns for ease of use and consistency of labeling.

Important. Every bit of worth, or what they might buy data, or how much, must have a separate field so that you can find it, access it and sort by it. If the answer is “it’s in the notes” that is totally worthless, as you can’t access it quickly or sort by it.

4. Ability to sort by multiple fields. You want to be able to “slice and dice” or sort by pretty much any variation of multiple fields. You should be able to search for all your “A” value targets, that are left handed, in zip code range 02210-05936, where you have a decision-maker identified, a direct dial or extension number and a review date within three months.

Why is this so important. You need to prioritize.

You need to properly allocate limited resources of time and money where it will do you the most good. If you can’t segment and sort by multiple criteria of your choosing you will be working very inefficiently, resources will be squandered and it will be much harder to get results.

5. You need to use a program popular enough so that you can get training or easily find people that have used it when you need help. You can waste a lot of time setting things up, trying to customize or troubleshoot problems on your own. Assume you will need help and you want someone that has used your program in your environment. Many times, the help from the software developer is not very practical, particularly if the tool is very new. Give me tried and true every day.

6. You want to be able to get help at a reasonable cost and quickly. Questions come up. Glitches arise. Who are you going to call and how much will it cost? Select a program where you can get help where it won’t cost you an arm and a leg and there won’t be a 5-day delay every time you need assistance with something.

7. You want to be able to make basic changes yourself.

You need to think ahead in choosing a CRM for appointment setting.

I advise my clients to think ahead to when they have called hundreds, typically thousands, or if a team is involved many thousands of companies have been called. All sorts of recon and data has been collected about potential value, current vendors, products or service lines they might buy, on and on. The better programs are set up to access that info and make better decisions and properly allocate resources.

The less successful programs are stuck with trying to call faster and faster to make up for poor planning or poor infrastructure. A lousy place to work form.

If you are setting up an appointment setting program or changing tools, that setup or switch is a very big deal. If you get it wrong, you may very well be stuck with it. You may suffer, and many do, with underperforming programs or opportunities identified at a higher cost because they didn’t pick a CRM / contact manager with the right functionality.

If you pick the wrong program it may be harder to keep decent people. Prospecting and appointment setting is a job filled with repetition and drudgery. If on top of that you make it much harder for your callers to call, or add unnecessary clicking and scrolling and page bopping on top of what is already a monotonous job, the good callers will run away from you.

These posts will give you insight into what I use and expand on the above.

Why I use ACT for appointment setting B2B

B2B prospecting pro and contact management consultant opine on ACT CRM

Good luck.