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50 Shades of “Not Interested.” A Sales Rebuttal Objection Strategy.

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Funny story. Newbie in training relates a call in which the decision-maker replied “not interested.” Get this. The newbie actually thought that meant they were “not interested.” Hilarious.

Newbie reps, they are so innocent.

When your prospect says “not interested.” The least likely reality of this blow off is that your decision-maker is actually “not interested.”

If your objection handling response assumes that there is an element of truth present when you hear the “not interested” objection prospecting blow off, you are losing a lot of opportunities and future closes.

Here are some examples to deal with this common sales objection that work better than begging them to not hang-up.

The “Not Interested” sales objection: What is really going on?

First consideration: Your sales prospecting scripts invited that response. What you said and how you said it are the reasons why you hear this common sales objection over and over again.

Sad but true. If you are hearing the “not interested” sales objection too often and want to craft a more effective responses, the first place you need to look is your mirror. Why? The words you spoke prior to hearing the “I’m not interested” objection probably caused the sales objection blow off you now feel a need to overcome.

Your first step is not to focus on overcoming this sales objection blow-off, and most of the time it is a blow-off, not an actual statement of truth. Your first focus is within.

When you hear “not interested” as a sales objection, your decision-maker may actually by saying one of these things.

“I don’t understand what they do so “I’m not interested.””
“Sounds like another dime a dozen service provider requesting a demo and not worth my time, even though I need what they offer so “I’m not interested.””
“This person sounds like the other idiot sales reps who call me and waste my time with a weak sales message so “I’m not interested.””
“I need this but I’m going to select the salespeople I talk to so “I’m not interested.””

Your sales objection and rebuttal script strategy in overcoming the “I’m not interested” objection starts before your prospects even say it.

How to overcome the “not interested” sales objection and “say something” syndrome.

Second consideration: Human compulsion to fill silence in conversation with something. When calling, blather will do.

When it comes to cold calling many inside sales teams suffer from neurological auto verbiage impulse compulsion. When callers don’t know what to say they say something anyway.

When precision crafting your “not interested” sales rebuttal better salespeople appreciate that many times “not interested” is the equivalent of “I don’t get it,” “I’m buying but this person isn’t worth my time,” “I’m buying but this company sounds pretty run of the mill, I’ll pick someone more credible,” “We are making this decision sometime in the future, not now,” or “I need more time to grasp what is being said.”

It is key that your response assume that what was expressed was not literally true. It is not because “buyers are liars.” It would be convenient for us if that was true because we then would not have to accept responsibility for causing that objection by our confusing, bland, non-credible, benefit-light sales scripts. But buyers are not liars. They may not understand what we offer, get our value, why we are more worthy than the rest or how they will benefit from meeting with us. That is on us, not them.

So your sales objection handling strategy for the “not interested” blow-off starts by understanding that when you hear “I’m not interested” what is really going on is…

1. They don’t understand what you do.
2. They need more time to grasp what you are saying.
3. They don’t think you are worth their time even though they have a need.
4. They will have a need in the future but don’t see the value in meeting now.
5. They will have a need in the future but don’t feel it is worth mentioning to you.
6. They have a need but have already or will pick their own providers to speak to. You don’t seem worthy.
7. They have no need now or in the future.

The least likely reality is #7.

The Worst Response to the “I’m not interested” Sales Objection Assumes it is True.

Third consideration: You need techniques to double-check what the potential customer is really thinking .

So, if you don’t know what the decision maker really means( frankly, most of the time the decision-maker doesn’t know what they mean or is still processing what you said) you have to give them more time to process what you say and reinforce the clarity of what you do, your credibility and value, and what they will get if they commit to a next step with you.

So your objection handling response to “not interested” assumes that what you are hearing is not literally true and gives the decision-maker more time to process what is being said and absorb what’s in it for them.

Your rebuttal to “not interested” must restate and reinforce what you do, your credibility, your benefits and specifically what they will get if they spend more time with you. [Shameless plug: Sample rebuttal scripts and examples can be found in my books available on Amazon.]

If their response is still something other than “yes,” you need to do one more thing. Check for future business needs.

Remember, when you hear the “I’m not interested” sales objection one of the more probable things it really means is “We will have a need in the near future, but not now.”

In my world most of my training and coaching clients sell longer sales cycle offerings. Their sales process acknowledge and reflects that reality. It is far more likely they interact with a decision-maker at a time when they are not in active buying mode. Many of those decision-makers will buy within the next 6 – 18 months. They will buy from a competitor if you are not there.

When you hear the “not interested” objection they may really be saying “not now.” So you have to enable them to tell you how to sell them.

So after starting with your impactful benefit and credibility laden “set the appointment” pitch,” and responding to the “I’m not interested” objection by repeating and reinforcing what you do, your credibility, the benefits clients get from you and what they will learn at a meeting… end with this.

“Not an issue, don’t want to be on your back, but obviously we do a lot of this. Could you suggest a time for me to be back in touch with you?” Then say nothing. Nothing.

You will be surprised at how many times after hearing the “I’m not interested” objection and hearing it again delivering your response, that you hear “Call me in two weeks, call me in a month or call me in 3 months.”

Your simple response when you do. “Happy to do that, is there a particular reason why that is a good time to call?” Be quiet. They tell you. You promise to call, say thanks and then hang-up.

Your “not interested” decision-maker just turned into a qualified opportunity. Ka-ching.

The next time you hear “not interested,” be ready.

Door to Door Sales Scripts 911 Rescue. “Sell Now or Die.”

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Door to door sales challenged? Door to doorers take heed of this true tale of cold calling on front steps success.

Mark from TX creates 6-figure income knocking on doors with new door-to-door sales scripts and techniques.The 911 call… the 5 step turnaround… the effective opening pitch and sales strategies.

Could you engineer a similar cold calling improvement? Why not?

Short story illustrates the power of a door knocker understanding proper script structure. When you can craft good phone scripts you can craft scripts that will work in other sales and marketing situations, even door to door. Mark got a good result approaching home after home with a solid door to door sales pitch. He learned what the components are of a total front step sales pitch process that will convert to contracts.

Door salesman need to know how to establish a solid foundation to close a deal, what is counter-intuitive about top scripting pitches and just how rapidly the closes can come when you get it right.

When Mark first called me my initial reaction was not good. He was a failing and frustrated door to door salesman and needed a sales opener pitch script and some techniques that worked right away. Didn’t know whether to laugh out loud or just politely bow out.

Mark needed to make this commission job work. He told me he was door to door prospecting with the mindset of someone approaching a haunted house. He was working like a dog but making nothing. His scripts and sales techniques were not working. It had been 4 weeks of doors slammed, “not interested,” and just send me something.

Mark was in a “sell now or die” situation. Job prospects weren’t good for Mark after getting laid off and he needed to sell now. Something about his door to door sales techniques were off.

The top people were closing 3 or 4 per three-hour shift and making 6 figures a year. He was closing one every other night and eating Ramon noodles. He desperately needed to improve his door to door success rate.

Bottom line? Within two weeks he is closing 3+ a night and buying steak. Solid sales scripts and sales techniques can do that for you.

Totally revising his opening lines and script structure and the way he thought about interacting with prospects between a barely opened door did it. Let me share some of the best tips and lessons.

Mark was door to door prospecting and his company was selling cable digital fiber optic upgrade services. When the business installed a new area, after the mail and phone blitz they sent people door to door to try to convert the stragglers and close more deals. Mark was part of this business team.

1st step. Get congruent with what those already successfully selling door to door what you offer.

Learn from their opening line techniques and pitch process from start to finish. Write down sales pitch examples. Your open door front stoop sales verbiage must be congruent with the selling scripts and blather that is working for others.

The business Mark worked for provided zip for training. You felt that you weren’t walking door to door, rather you were walking off a cliff. The scripts the sales manager provided were worthless. Not even close to a door to door sales script with a door bells chance of working. Might as well have thrown rocks at the house and called their mother names.

When we started along the yellow brick walkway to door to door sales success, I asked Mark if he could identify top sellers and speak to them, arrange to shadow them. Find out what they were doing. He was able to do that quickly. Note for emphasis here. Mark was starving. He needed to close on those door steps desperately. Yet he spent three days trudging down walkways with door to door salesman far more successful than he. Three days spent with no chance of earning a sales commission for himself, yet giving him a chance, a chance, to turn his door to door job of drudgery into something that would bring home big bucks. Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.

Step two. Break the door to door sales script down line by line and understand the components.

Any sale is only as strong as the foundation it is built on. The reason why Mark’s door to door sales success rate was low was due to an extremely weak cold calling foundation. His opening lines and sales pitch started with a lie, then asked an irrelevant question, then babbled on about stuff he had no idea whether the prospect might value, then asked multiple “qualifying” questions, then never stopped closing until the door was shut… or slammed. Very dumb.

Here are the sales script components used with Mark’s new door to door sales pitch

The revised pitch opened with a sentence that aroused curiosity and stated a major benefit… which earned cause for pause. A door that was opened a crack stayed open.

Then stated a legitimate truthful reason for them to approach the home and knock on the door. Credibility.

The sales script pitch path then made reference to the popularity to the plan and three major reasons why people liked it. More credibility and a chance to hit a hot button. The door is opening a bit more.

Then some questions to find out what benefits the homeowner most valued.

Then a very clear statement of a powerful offer. The prospect understood it and could say yes or no, all while you conversed on the door step.

Step three. Go back and massage your opening line each component of your sales pitch.

Once we had a sales script draft that made sense we went back and focused on each component to make sure it would work in a door to door sales prospecting environment. It might have been a sentence or just a phrase, making sure we had an effective open. We punched it up and made it more powerful.

Mark was beginning to understand strategically how a total sales script path worked and why the company provided travesty was only helpful in getting doors slammed in your face.

Step four. Go out and hear a lot of doors slam.

Mark wrote down the best sales pitch he could from start to finish. To be a top door to door salesman you must write down the best words you could use to accomplish your sales objective. Same as cold calling, but here you are door to door cold calling. Write down the best pitch you can using the most common scenarios you face in the door way. Then Mark went out and used his new sales script and revised his door to door sales techniques. After every call made and door slammed he made note of the questions, reactions, stall points, blow offs and objections he was hearing.

He then anticipated these responses and altered his opening lines and sales pitch path to head them off at the pass. It is better to avoid objections than have to overcome them.

Step five. Write it down. Revise it.

I insisted that he write down every variation of his door to door prospecting plan and what he was hearing from homeowners on every call. He then thought about each repetitive scenario and prepared for it.

The bottom line… from a door to door sales script success rate horror story (one close every other night) to 3+ a night within a few weeks… just by following a process and proven sales script structures.

He went from being a door to door salesman approaching homes with a feeling of doom similar to entering a haunted house, to being a door to door salesman approaching the house as if he owned the house.

I see a lot of people like Mark, very capable yet not working the right process or using the right sales techniques and strategies to get the results they should.

Mark told me the 2 biggest thing that made a difference for him to keep that door open and close more contracts was seeing the sales pitch script as distinct components that had to accomplish a specific objective in order for him to close a deal. He kept the pieces that were working and left the pieces that were not on the steps.

The 2nd key thing for him was understanding that it wasn’t what he did that mattered, but how the homeowners mind moved through the stages necessary to buy. When he started to realize that his words and sales techniques must move the prospect though certain stages in order to close deals, and understanding what stage they were in and how to move them from stage to stage, then he started to have some fun with door to door sales and improve his success rate and closing ratio.

Mark rose to walk among the very few that master door to door selling. If you are cold calling, an inside sales rep or need to improve a phone script, the scripting turn-around process is the same.

Mark was working very hard and earning little. He was just a few steps, little knowledge, a little organization and a little focus away from an income explosion.

You may be able to engineer the same kind of door to door sales jump-start. Mark’s story is not unusual.

5 Key Right Now Priorities For Sales Teams

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The battle for client acquisition has begun.

Those that work effective business growth strategic plans will win. To that sales teams must their sales tactics and behaviors with those strategies, with leveraged focus and action.

The amount of client dislocation coming will be unprecedented.
The unprepared and the weaker (financially, strategically) will see their account base shrink and not be able to compete for ideal accounts with new needs open to new providers.

Here are 5 priorities for sales teams during this pandemic.

  1. Reassess or get a solid strategy in place.
    Strategy is different from goals, tactics, activity. Without a sound strategy defeat is certain.
  2. Be realistic about current situation and what must be achieved.
    Stone cold hard core realistic. Wishful thinkers will be trampled.
  3. Leverage, leverage, leverage, on steroids.
    Time is short, money is tight. Work 80/20 within 80/20 to laser focus resources for biggest bang.
  4. Lesson your weaknesses.
    Gaps in systems, sales behaviors, skill sets that were tolerated in good times are now a ball and chain that will sink you. Plug your gaps.
  5. Identify and interact with your ideal prospects (only)
    ID, know-how and be prepared (content, scripts, process, emails, calls, free pens) to interact with them. If you do not meaningfully interact with them you are doing nothing.

This is the time for the biggest goals of your life if you own a business or are a CEO, VP sales or sales leader.

Coming Sales Shakeout: Will You Rise or Regret?

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If you own a company, or are a CEO or sales leader, this is a moment of truth.
What you do or don’t do NOW, will largely determine where your company or sales team sinks or swims during (and after) this recession.

What to do? What are the differences between companies that did not survive, survived weaker, and those that outperformed their competition in recession?
(There are links to studies and articles on this at end of this article)

We have been through this before:1980-82, 1990-91, 2000-02, 2007-09. Do you wish to be a company or sales organization that rises rather than regrets in this economic downturn? There are patterns among those that outpaced their competition during recessions. Some even achieved breakthrough performance.

Let me outline the best combination of moves based upon a comprehensive study of companies emerging from three recent recessions, and my own personal experiences and opinions.

But first, reality is startling. Seventeen percent of companies don’t survive a recession: They go bankrupt or get bought out. Three years after recession, 80% of the survivors had not regained prerecession growth rates for sales/profits. 40% of the survivors had yet to reach pre-downturn revenue/profit levels. Those are sobering conclusions of the HBR study. Yikes.

But, but, but, nine percent of companies significantly outperformed rivals after the slowdown.

Here are the key factors that will determine whether your company will rise or regret.
Let’s headline the keys then do a deeper dive on what this means for sales growth strategy.

  1. Improve sales and operational efficiency: Cutting costs does not equal increased efficiency. In fact, to improve efficiencies you may have to increase spend in certain areas.
  2. Secure the business you have now: Minimize your loss of current accounts. You will soon find out how strong your “relationships” are. Assume nothing. Interact in a meaningful way with current customers more frequently. If you don’t, prepare to pay a very steep price.
  3. Develop new markets: Customer needs and priorities will change. Be prepared to meet the new needs of potential ideal clients in new markets.
  4. Strengthen your infrastructure: Bargain prices for assets and improvements will abound. Invest strategically now and be able to respond faster/better to customer and ideal prospect needs than your non-investing rivals when sales start to rebound.
  5. Plug your gaps: Every sales organization has weaknesses. Identify them and be less weak.
  6. Leverage your efforts: You must get the most bang for your time and money. The 80/20 rule applies on steroids.
  7. Extreme clarity about target markets and target accounts: Most importantly, this means deciding (clearly and distinctly) what business you WILL NOT be seeking. For those of you soiling your pants now, this is a major reason why. Don’t repeat it.
  8. Do not be mumbling “woulda, coulda, shouda” three months from now: Imagine what you would have done the last twelve or eighteen months, the different situation you would be in now, if you could have predicted this disaster. Resolve now to not be saying “woulda, coulda, shouda” in three months as to the things you could be doing immediately.
  9. Get moving now: Want to know the biggest difference between those who survive or perish when faced with all types of disasters? Those most likely to survive act immediately. When faced with a “decisive moment” they get moving. Boom. Those most likely to perish sit, ponder, evaluate, wait to see what others do, and wait for a “better” time to do something.

Balance the need to cut costs with necessity to invest

Those most likely to sell more than competitors after a recession are realists. You need to survive if you wish to be around to outperform the competition. Cutting costs is necessary. But investments in some areas is also required if you wish to outperform competitors and pick up new clients and market share that simply would not be possible in normal times.

Improving sales efficiencies is best way to cut cost of new client acquisition

Those that are most likely to outperform focus on improving sales and marketing efficiency rather than across the board cuts. That might mean reducing head count and other expenses, but the end goal is to be more sales efficient. To generate a lead and convert that lead at less cost than you did before. In order to increase sales efficiency, you will cut some costs, but you also might have to invest some time and money to make your sales process more efficient.

Indiscriminate cuts in sales expenses or layoffs may cut costs faster but your ability to compete short-term and when the recovery begins can be crippled. Focus on cuts that reduce your costs of sale long-term. When the recovery begins you will be able to sell more, sell faster, and at less cost per sale. You focused on improving sales efficiency.

Invest to survive and better meet new client needs when demand returns

This might be the best time to invest in your sales process or infrastructure. Reality is that a lot of things that would help you be competitive are going to cost less for a while. There could be a lot of “good deals” on things that would help you meet future demand.

This is also the time to invest in new markets. Major client dislocation is happening now and will escalate as ideal potential clients have new needs and are open to those that can best meet them. There will be fewer competitors and many that survive will be weaker. Ideal prospects are going to have new needs based upon whatever is the new normal.

If you have had your eye on a new market, this could very well be the time to make a bold move

What is your right balance between achieving sales efficiencies and investing in new sales assets/infrastructure and/or new markets?

You need to answer that question. Right now.

9 Keys to outperform your rivals in recession

Let’s expand a bit on the points above. The concepts of improving operating efficiencies, moving into new markets and investing in new assets come from the HBR article I cite below. There are other links to articles I recommend you read.

  1. Improve sales efficiency

Focus on cutting some selling costs but also possibly make investments in some areas with the goal of permanently reducing costs of acquiring a qualified lead and converting it to a new account. Focus on improving sales productivity and effectiveness. Selling more faster and at less cost.

  1. Secure the business you have now.

Assume nothing. If you are a weaker competitor your rivals are going to do everything possible to better meet the new needs of your clients. They will try to rip your clients from your cold clutching hands. Head that off at the pass by doubling or tripling your communication with accounts. Be helpful. Be genuine. Be of service. Secure your current relationships at all costs. Those costs will pale compared to what it will take to get a new account for the next few years. When in doubt do more.

  1. Develop new markets

This seems a contrarian thought when so many are worried about survival. But if ever there was a time to be bold this is it. Clients are going to have new needs and be open to better options. Their current providers may be bankrupt or just hanging on and unable to meet their needs.

  1. Strengthen your infrastructure

You need stuff to sell more and more efficiently. Information, data, expertise, scripting, process, tools, training systems. Things you put off before due to cost may very well be available for far less now. To improve prospecting and sales productivity this may be the time to invest in assets, infrastructure, guidance to improve your systems and competitive advantage.

  1. Plug your sales gaps

Let’s face it. Pretty much every sales team has weak spots. Weak spots that were not a priority when the economy was healthy. Maybe your sales database crm is bloated with thousands of outdated low probability leads, maybe your script paths were weak, your reps were varying from plan and winging it too much, your proposal and sales conversions were lower than they could have been. Maybe you had some marginal performing cream-skimming non-creators of sales demand and revenue growth that you tolerated.

Gaps must get plugged right now. Marginal performers? Nice knowing you. Bloated databases filled with outdated lousy leads? Gone in a keystroke. Reps winging it on your dime? No more tolerance. Get moving.

  1. Leverage your efforts

There is no time. There is less money for most. You need to work the 80/20 rule on steroids right now. You must decide where to allocate time and money for best results with the same care that a surgeon decides to cut.

Not all actions are equal when it comes to your ability to survive and be able to outsell your competition. You won’t be able to do a lot of things, maybe most things, but you must absolutely do the things necessary to put you in the best position to outsell others when demand rises.

  1. Extreme clarity about target markets and ideal client targets

I can really sound like a jerk quick right here. Deciding who to target for best sales results in tough times also means clearly defining who you WILL NOT target.

When the economy was great the biggest reason sales teams would underperform (IMHO) was failure to laser focus on the highest-probability highest-value targets. Sales leadership was often content to let their sales teams work a database or leads that were the equivalent of a manure pile which contained a gold nugget or two, rather than jackhammer into a solid boulder of gold easily identified.

If you have any hopes of surviving this recession or having any chance of beating your rivals in the race for new clients that has already started, you must have absolute clarity on who to target, who not to target.

  1. Avoid “Woulda, coulda, shouda” Deja vu

Reality is that we probably didn’t do half of the things that we knew had to be done and should have been done to improve sales efficiency and productivity before the downturn. Many are holding their heads in their hands lamenting their woulda, coulda, should of’s.

Three months from now, six months from now, don’t be filled with sorrow and regret, and suffering the consequences of the things you could be doing right now, but never did.

  1. Get moving

If you are a business owner, CEO or leader of a sales team, you must get your organization moving in the right direction right now.

Think it is tough now? Wait a little while until your financially stronger or more strategic hustling rivals start peeling off your best accounts. Then you will be a real professor of pain.

This is a “decisive moment” in the life of your business or sales career. You must act now on the right strategic response and balance defensive (cost-cutting to survive) and offensive tactics (new investments, new markets) to emerge able to compete and quite possibly outperform competitors.

The study I cite found that over three recent recessions 17% of companies did not survive. Three years post-recession less than 10% had outperformed rivals to achieve breakthrough performance. The rest were struggling to get back to where they were.

Where are you going to end up?

Article that highighted some key points in this post and got me thinking about others.
Roaring Out of Recession

Other articles with surviving recession strategies
When A Recession Comes, Don’t Stop Advertising

How to Market In a Downturn

Sales Contrarian: Time for Biggest Goals Is Now. Don’t Settle for Survival.

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This is very contrarian given the times, but I really believe it.

If you are in business, this is the time to have the biggest goals of your life.

Why do I say that when so many are staring at disaster? Wondering if they will barely survive?

Because major disruption of client relationships is happening and will escalate.
You will never (hopefully) have an chance like this again.
To dislodge your competitors best clients/accounts.
To pick up market share by better meeting the needs of those looking for more value… and very willing to ditch current providers to get it.
To fill the void when a good number of your competitors go out of business.

Make a note of this.
The battle for new clients/accounts has already begun.
It does not start when the recovery begins. It has started now.

Many companies know that shortly there will be fewer competitors and a lot of weaker competitors. They are preparing now to pounce on those willing to change providers and those whose providers went out of business. They know some companies will have new needs/new priorities when the recovery begins and they plan on being there at the right time, with the right offering in front of the right client.

What used to be done in months or weeks, is right now getting done in weeks/days.

Companies are closing gaps in their systems, processes, capabilities right now in anticipation of having only a short window of opportunity to leapfrog the competition and pick up new accounts in numbers just not possible in normal times.

I guess you could wait…
Good things do come to those that wait.
But only the scraps leftover from those that took decisive action.

What woulda, coulda, shoulda things would you have done a year ago if you could have predicted this black swan event?

Those things need to get done right now. And you need to do those things and strategize with the 80/20 rule in mind. You need to leverage your time and resources for the greatest impact on results. The virus picks the time period, you don’t.

Let me tell you what the clients I am working with right now are NOT doing.
They are not rewriting their responses to objections or other matters trivial to meeting the challenge ahead.

They are laser focusing and executing on systems, processes, offerings, behaviors that will enable them to emerge from this mess stronger than they were before. That is the way I urge you to think.

Final word, these times are not an “opportunity” in the normal sense of the word. For those of us (including me) that have loved ones on the front lines caring for the sick and dying and stress about their safety every day, and know a lot of people who will be financially ruined, this is not a positive event in any way shape or form. Far from it.

But this crisis is a reality. These are the cards that have been dealt. We must deal with them.

Those that were financially weak before are toast. It would take extraordinary strategy, focus and execution for those weak before the crisis to survive. Unlikely.

Those that were strong before this in a financial, structural, talent and sales capabilities sense. They are positioned well to pick up your best clients and greater market share in this tsunami of change.

To all the firms that were in the middle of the pack, whether you survive, thrive, go under now or suffer a slow financial death will largely be determined by what you do now, in this decisive moment, not months from now.

Set big goals right now and take massive action on them.

Are you thinking woulda, coulda, shoulda about things you wish you had done in the last year or two?

Three months from now, don’t multiply the consequences of that by thinking woulda coulda, shoulda about what you could have done starting right now.

Sales Survivor or Casualty: 2 Things Will Decide

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“You don’t want to realize economic recovery has begun by seeing competitors’ close clients that should have been yours” Scott Channell

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not another train.

Next few months will be super rough. Companies need to survive the present but be ready for the recovery.

Before you even get to sales strategy, tactics, scripts, qualifying or closing there are two qualities you must possess to come out of this poised to rise.

Objectivity and willingness to accept stone hard cold reality.

Let me share a little secret I have learned in the training business. “People” in general do not like having a mirror held up to them. They do not respond well to hearing that they have made mistakes, that lack of results was within their control, that things could have been managed better. No way. If I write an article about common mistakes to avoid or anything reminding people of things they may not be doing right, those articles have the lowest open and time on page rates.

If I write an article on scripts or some super success story. That gets read over and over. People are attracted to what they want, not necessarily what they need.

Interestingly, “people” in general act very differently than those that are most successful.

The most successful, whether it be an owner, manager or sales rep, are very open to hearing “the whole truth,” warts and all. They don’t take it personally. They use such input as an opportunity to learn. To make better decisions in the future.

When accurate reasoned information is provided as to why database quality is poor, 50% of more of their sales time is being wasted, why their scripts are not helping them, the top performers are objective, willing to move on and learn from it. They do not take it personally. Most “people” don’t. They will regale you with stories as to why they did it that way waiting to hear “It’s ok. You did the right thing. It’s not your fault.” PS: they don’t hear that from me.

I wanted to mention these concepts because those that can be objective about their strengths and weaknesses and accept reality quickly, are the ones that will be able to focus on what needs to be done to be ready for the economic recovery. The recovery will come. The question is will you be ready for it.

Good consultants (and sales trainers) are willing to deliver news that is uncomfortable for clients to hear.
The most successful clients want to hear it. Actually welcome it. 

I will often speak to prospective clients that describe their situations and mention that they have hired a couple of sales coaches, tried a couple of programs (Usually flavor of the month miracles,) that nothing has worked and express reluctance to try again. It sucks to be them as they will typically do nothing or make another bad decision. They are doomed to fall farther behind.

I have often wondered how it is that a company can hire multiple “experts” to help them and yet perpetuate systems, practices, scripts that are not close to being right. Either their experts were incompetent, or unethical in the sense that they were not willing to share observations or advice the client would not like to hear. They chose to keep the client comfortable rather than tell them what they needed to hear to improve their business condition.

If you are going to get through this, you do not have time to have your ego tenderly massaged. Time is of the essence. Those that are most likely to survive disasters be it fire, airplane crash or terrorist attack are those that act in “decisive moments.” When faced with mortal peril there are three stages: denial, deliberation and the “decisive moment” where those that survive decide to act and move. Those that do not survive, wait, ponder, pause, see what everyone else is going to do. They are far more likely to perish.

I see companies and reps in three categories. One is unlikely to survive. One is highly likely to do well despite the economic crisis. They third group, whether they come out of this competitive or falling behind depends upon what they do in this “decisive moment.”

Those that were weak in the strong economy be it financial, sales or skillsets are probably toast no matter what they do. It is not in their DNA to change or improve. That is why they were weak when most were strong. Bye bye.

Those that were top performers be it company or sales rep will probably not only survive but gobble up a lot of market share as weaker players disappear or can’t compete effectively. They have the systems, talent and know how. As a sales organization they have been identifying and cultivating ideal clients, have a quality database, higher margin accounts, low client churn and a lot of quality prospects. Ka ching Ka ching.

But the middle group is being presented right now with a “decisive moment.” What they decide will determine whether they go under, fall further behind or are ready to pick up market share when competitors disappear or are not able to compete.

If you cannot be objective right now you will not make the right decisions.
If you cannot accept cold hard truth and reality you will squander valuable time and not pivot in time to compete.
This crisis is a “decisive moment.” Your action or inaction in a very short window of time will probably decide your fate.

What is your decision?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tale of B2B Appointment Setting: How an IT Salesguy Increased Prospecting Results 5X in 3 Months.

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How an IT sales guy increased prospecting results 5X in 3 months with the economy tanking. Three tips I gave him to get even more results.

Russ from Georgia calls me. Sells IT services. Very competitive, commonly perceived to be “generic” in the eyes of prospects. So, no easy task to stand out and find worthwhile people willing to meet with you.

Three months ago (in 2009,) Russ decided to “get serious” with his prospecting. The last 3 months he set 28 qualified appointments. In the previous 3 months he had set only 5, which was typical. Russ handles the complete sales cycle. He sets the appointments, goes on the meetings and closes the deals. Very difficult to juggle.

The big picture view: Competitive industry, hard to differentiate yourself service industry, economy tanking. Yet Russ is meeting more qualified prospects, has increased his closing ratio and is selling more. How??

Before I share with you three ideas discussed to increase his productivity even more, let’s summarize what earned him these results the last 3 months.

    1. Chose his targets more carefully. Got very serious and spent just a little time about profiling his targets. Now 100% of his prospecting time goes to high-probability targets. No more calling everyone and saying, “You never know.” He picked his spots.
    2. Created a system of sequenced touches. Calls, Emails, Voicemails. Rather than call intermittently and haphazardly, he calls in accordance to plan. He works that plan to the end for every record, then lets it go. Next!!
    3. He reworked his scripts to go from “Hey, how are you doing.” (his words) to a benefit laden pitch. People respond.
    4. He uses a contact manager. If you are not, you simply cannot sustain sales improvement. It is self-defeating and simply nuts to not use one of these tools properly.

So, Russ, who had increased from 5 appointments set in 3 months to 28 set in the last 3 months, had a couple questions. Here they are…

1. Russ asked: What is the proper sequence of calls? He says that many times he calls, and the only option is to leave a voicemail, which he does. Is that good?

My advice: Feel free to hang-up after being transferred to voicemail without leaving a message. I would make at least 3 dials without contacting my target before leaving a message. You want to make enough dials to have a reasonable expectation that someone will pick up the phone, but you also must leave touches. So, three dials, then leave your voicemail, send your email. That way people get 2 or 3 touches. Do this every three-business days for 3 cycles. That way people get at least 9 dials and 6 to 9 touches. Results will shoot up.

Russ was kind of doing this but not making enough dials in the sequence.

2. Russ asked: I use three voicemails. Is it a good thing to have different voicemails to leave at different times?

My advice: I never did. It’s hard enough to come up with one good voicemail never mind multiple versions. Consistently builds credibility and recognition. Use one.

3. Russ asked: I track my conversations to meetings set ratio and it is about 3 or 4 pitches to one meeting set (pretty decent,) how can I increase the number of conversations?

My advice: Two strategies. Use all those gatekeeper interactions to increase the odds that you will get them to pick up the phone in the future. That usually means getting more direct dial and extension numbers. We discussed some script path and gatekeeper interactions strategies to accomplish that.

Also, use “power calling,” which simply means calling select groups of records to which you have extension numbers in a certain way, before and after regular business hours, to have more conversations.

Strategies used to have more conversations with decision-makers are very different from the strategies you will use to convert a conversation to a meeting. Know the difference.

The biggest lesson from Russ’s experience? Even in tough economic times buyers are out there. People still are running companies and have needs. People are buying from your competitors.

Russ took a little bit of time to greatly increase his efficiency to find more qualified prospects to sell to. He also improved his ability to communicate value to break through complacency and “we have no budget.”

There are buyers out there. Work the right plan, the right strategy. You can get them.

Your B2B Appointment Setting Lead Generation “But’s” are Killing Your Results

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Nothing quickens the heart… and stimulates sales, better than a flurry of meetings with qualified prospects.

There is no greater torture than to stare at an empty calendar with the belief that making a call or sending yet another email is the equivalent of waterboarding yourself.

How do people turn it around? When you are working hard but sales are not happening. When the economy is tough and fewer are buying. How do you make the sales you must make?

It’s more than “techniques.”

You must lay your “butts” bare and do what works.

What works works.
Whether we like it, are comfortable with it or choose to accept it.

You must do what works without exception or watering it down. You must dedicate focused time to it.

Particularly when you are economically challenged.

Lots of people prospect successfully. The wheel has been invented and there is a process that tends to work.

But, when what has been proven to work is explained, instead of following it, start with the “but’s.” “But” in my industry, “but “my locality, “but” my customers… on and on ad nauseum.

So, with their “but’s” they rationalize why what works for the best, the leaders in their industry, those that generate high probability prospects consistently and at a reasonable cost, won’t work for them. They then do something totally at odds with top prospecting producers and wonder why they don’t get results. Nuts.

In another article you read about Craig from MI whose 5-person in-house prospecting team went from 20 to 100 appointments a week in the middle of a bad economy. He is one of many that turn it around.

Susan D. from CA called me after listening to that interview to happily report a tremendous turn around in appointments and an end to torturing herself. She said the Craig interview helped a lot.

How I asked, expecting to hear stuff about scripts, process, etc.

She said, and this is critical for you to apply, “Craig kept going back evaluating what he was doing and making constant tweaks to the behaviors of his team.”

Let me rephrase that. He paid attention to the details, tracked stuff, made changes and went from 20 to 100 meetings a week in the middle of a bad economy.

I hear a lot of result stories like that.

Two lessons. This is where you lay your “butts” bare and turn around your prospecting torture train.

  1. You must do what works without exception or watering it down.

Example. Last week got a call from a seminar attendee who asked that I review her scripts. The scripts were the exact opposite of what were taught. Contained 3 things I told them never to do.

Hello! If you are taught exactly what to do and choose to do the exact opposite, you are not going to win. The more you vary the harder you make it for yourself.

I see and speak to people all the time that “get congruent” with behaviors of successful appointments setters and go quickly from frustration to getting qualified meetings consistently.

  1. Make time and bear down.

Answer me this. Why do people have time to do what doesn’t work, things that don’t move them forward, that are even counter-productive, yet… they don’t have time to do what works?

Like Craig and Susan above those that turn it around get ruthless about carving out time to focus and implement. I’m not talking about doing more on top of what you are already doing. I’m talking about stepping up to the plate, facing reality as to all you do that is not contributing to success, and making ruthless no excuses break the furniture type change.

Stop clinging to what you are comfortable with and wish would work and ruthlessly eliminate it from your life. Break the furniture.

This stuff is not rocket science. Tons of people are doing it well and earning new accounts. They may not love it, never met a person who does…heck, I teach the stuff and don’t love doing it, but the point is that there is a way of setting appointments and generating b2b leads that works and gets you the results you need.

Recognize that people are successfully doing it. Even when times are tough.

You can too.

 

Sales Slowdown: Lessons of the Leaky Bucket

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If you are like many (and being honest with yourself,) there are parts of your selling machine that are less than OK. Maybe your scripting is weak, your crm/contact manager is outdated or poorly setup, maybe your list is aged or not well prioritized. Your people could use some training.

Bottom line is business has been good and you let these things slide.
It was more uncomfortable for you to fix them, than to continue as is.
Maybe it was money or time. Maybe you just didn’t want to change.

Reminds me of the story of the farmer with the leaky bucket. Every day the farmer must haul water from the pump to the animals. The bucket was full of holes and by the time he got to the animals, most had leaked out. But the farmer persevered. Every day he filled the bucket and went back and forth, back and forth. One day a visitor, seeing this waste of effort says “Your bucket is leaking. You should fix that.” Farmer says “I know it’s leaking, but I don’t have the time to fix it. I’m too busy carrying water.”

A lot of businesses are like that. When business is good, many are perfectly happy operating with some leaky buckets as the bills are being paid and the business is making money.

But…

When things change. When the economy slows down. When sales are harder and fewer people are spending, the ones that win in tough times are the ones who plug the holes in their scripts, systems, lists, closing process, yada, yada, yada.

How do you sell in times of economic crisis?

The answer for businesses is the same for individuals faced with disasters.
Those that have the highest chance of survival are those that take immediate action. They move.

Read a book many years ago “Who Survives When Disaster Strikes?’ It was about who survives when faced with a life or death disaster. It might be a building fire, airplane crash, earthquake, terrorist attack, whatever. All sorts of stories, studies and examples of the difference between those that survive crisis and those that don’t.

Those that made split-second decisions to get moving had by far the greatest chance of survival. By far.

What do most do when faced with a potential disaster? Smell smoke? Explosion? Plane crash? Most look around, see what everyone else is going to do, wait to see exactly what happened, how bad it is. Then they do something. But for too many it is too late. That pause costs dearly.

For most of us, economic reality for the next few months to a year or more will be challenging.

Most of your competitors will act just like most people do when faced with disaster. Wait. Those that were already weak will probably fail. Those that don’t fix their leaky buckets greatly increase the odds of failure.

When you sell in tough economic times you must be more focused, more efficient, more effective.

Those that make excuses or wait “No money, no time, no one is buying” will be financially crippled. Those that act quickly, fix their leaky buckets and start to market and sell smarter, more efficiently and more effectively, will survive, maybe even thrive.

Don’t be like your competitors that are waiting to see what happens.

Act now. Sell smarter. Take the lead.

 

 

 

 

 

How A Farmer Turned IT CEO Thrived in Recession

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How does a business not only survive, but thrive, in times of economic crisis?

Here is one story that illustrates how to move forward.

Had a client with 25+ outside sales reps and a 5 member inside team. This CEO was a farmer before he was an IT CEO. He told me a story about how his company came out of a recession stronger. A recession that knee-capped IT companies. It always stuck with me.

He said “Scott, our sales fell about 40% in the recession. I decided that what I needed was not more sales. What I needed was $X,000,000 (I forget the number) in margin dollars. So, I totally focused on generating margin. My thinking was that even though sales had fallen, if I generated the same amount of margin dollars, we would be ok.”

And he did. And he was right.

That IT company came out of the recession financially strong when most were limping if they were still around.

That story has always stuck with me. Here are the lessons:

  1. Need for financial intelligence. You must know your numbers. Really know your numbers. If you do not have complete up-to-date real time financial information on your business, you will lack the clarity to make the best decisions in tough times.
  2. Need for the right objective. Margin dollars, not just more sales, was what he needed to survive a recession. He laser focused on the right objective and won.
  3. Need for the right strategy. In order to generate the same volume of margin dollars when sales were falling 40% required strategy. Think of strategy as the higher-level decisions you make to reach your objective. It is the big picture “how” you are going to reach your objective. Without the right strategy, you are just feeling around in the dark.
  4. Align tactics with the strategy. This IT CEO that was seeing sales plummet in a time of economic crisis did not spin the sales wheel of fortune to decide what to do. He selected tactics that aligned with his strategy in order to meet his objective.

What that company did not do is also illustrative. They did not worry about “what to do about voicemail,” “making more dials” or “how to get through the gatekeeper.”

If you don’t have the right objectives, are not working the right strategy, and your marketing tactics are not aligned with your strategy, you are just spinning the sales wheel of fortune and hoping for the best. Your efforts are akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You are running around doing something, but the result is still guaranteed to be bad.

I worked with the inside sales team for about a year. They ended up booking more than 3,000 (Yes, 3,000+) C-Level sales appointments. Those meetings fueled a lot of growth and profit.

That story told over dinner always stuck with me. How do some companies not only survive, but emerge stronger, when most other businesses are taking a hit during challenging economic times?

The right objectives.
Financial intelligence.
The right strategy.
Tactics aligned with the strategy.
Do the work.