B2B sales appointments discovery calls sales & Phone Scripts

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Sales Objectives vs Strategy vs Tactics: What’s The Difference? Why It Matters.

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What is your sales team objective? Strategy? Tactics?
Do you know the difference between the three and does it matter?

Yes, because without clear objectives and the right strategy, sales leaders focus on tactics. When that happens, you lose focus. You do not get the results or all the accounts that should have been yours.

Objective
Your sales team should have objectives. Objectives are very clear business goals. Objectives tend to be changed or refined every 12 – 24 months.

Your objectives might be some combination of specific sales volumes, margin generated, number of new accounts, number of new accounts in a targeted vertical, percent of sales generated from repeat buyers or referrals, reducing client churn by a specific percentage, you get the drift.

Strategy
Your strategy is the choice you make as to a focused approach to reach your objectives. You would typically have 3 – 5 different strategies to choose from that you think could reach your objectives. Think of the strategy you select as your best bet. Your choice among all reasonable options that you feel is most probable to reach your objectives. Strategy is about probabilities. Think of it as the “how” of reaching your objectives.

If you were at war and fighting a battle, to win you would need to pick a strategy. Frontal assault? Guerrilla attacks? Snipers? You select the right strategy or mix multiple options, deciding how to allocate time and resources to each. That becomes your bet, your choice among multiple plans that you feel provides the highest probability to attain your objectives.

Can you imagine what would happen if an intentional and focused approach as to “how” the battle would be won was not chosen? Maybe start with a frontal approach but halfway in you think “Hey, guerrilla warfare might work, lets stop the frontal approach and use guerrilla warfare.” So, you stop the frontal attack and before you can start a guerrilla war you think, “Ah, you know what. I think snipers is a good approach. Ya, snipers.”

What do you think the odds are of winning that battle?
Nil. Defeat is certain. Because there is no intentional well-thought out intentionally chosen strategy.

You must pick a strategy, your “how,” your best bet, of achieving what you wish because every sales team has limited resources. Limited time. Competitors will move up if you falter or fail. If your strategy is weak or you have no strategy, you will fall further behind.

Think of strategy as the high-level choices you make to succeed.

Your strategy must be well thought out and represent your best bet that you will succeed. There are no absolute guarantees that your strategy will work. But you must choose, make your best bet, based upon solid facts, research and serious evaluation of all your options. You may have to make changes or tweak your strategy, but you do not want to be constantly flipping coins or revising strategy on whims.

Tactics
Tactics are the specific actions you take to implement your chosen strategy to achieve your objectives. Tactics are the never-ending list of things you could do that might grow your sales.

Tactics would be things like:
Blogging
Cold calling
Direct mail
Social media
Pay per click advertising
SEO
Webinars
Dancing hotdogs
Seminars/events
Your story
Writing a book
Setting appointments
Content marketing
Newsletters
Yada yada yada

Think of tactics as the lower level choices you make to succeed.

Without a clear strategy, a lot of tactics seem reasonable. When you are working with a well-thought out strategy, you make better choices about which tactics to use. You have a much better sense of which are more likely to work, and which will be failures. Anecdotes of success won’t sway you. Every good story of something that “worked” will not tempt you. You will make better tactical choices and stick with them.

Would you run a road race with a blindfold on? Not recommended. But that is what you are doing when you are not making decisions with a solid sales strategy. You may run hard and work up a sweat, but the odds of you getting where you want to go, never mind winning, are low.

Summary…

Hope this message has helped clarify your thinking. To recap:

-Your sales objectives should be a clear and concise.
-You must think strategy-first to have the best chance of reaching your objectives. What is your best bet overall high-level plan that provides you the greatest probability of reaching your objectives?
-You will choose better tactics to reach your objective when you are working with a well thought out strategy.

If you think your strategy could be improved, check out our strategy-First Blueprint.

Crafting Your Prospecting Sales Scripts: Key Issues In First 3 & 30 Seconds

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Fact. People think 10X faster than you can talk.
That means while you are yapping, they have time to think, ponder, evaluate, doubt, disagree, and form judgments about what you are saying.

If you give them things to think about or doubt, guess what? Their minds will be thinking or doubting and not focusing on what you say.

“Thinking” Is A Bad Thing.
Simple short verbiage that does not activate preconceptions, bias, or previous negative experiences is what you want.

Stay away from hype words or obvious puffery.

When you use words like best, superior, top rated, you are asking them to make a judgment. Are they going to accept what you say or not? As they don’t have the information to agree or disagree with your hype words, they immediately discount what you say.

As soon as they start wondering whether they can believe what you say, you are doomed.

Stick to solid, straightforward statements of fact.

Your goal is to say things they can grasp, process, and then say “yes” or “no.”

If you say things that get them thinking, they cannot say “yes.” Why? Because they are thinking.

The First 3 Seconds
The first 3 seconds are key as to whether they will continue to listen or not.
You cannot botch the first three seconds and expect to win. Not happening.

Once you hear “hello” you must activate something within that enables a buyer (someone who recognizes a need you can fill and if they heard the right things would agree to participate in a reasonable next step with you) to determine that you are worth listening to a bit longer. That is it.

What Are The Important Issues In The First 3 Seconds?
First, your presence. Do you sound like a peer? Do you sound like someone capable of helping them? Are you perceived to be cool and confident? Or, has just the slightest hesitation, lack of confidence, or touch of confusion crept into the first few seconds of your interaction?

If so, you are toast right from the beginning.

If you don’t sound confident about what you are saying, why would a top decision-maker feel confident about spending some time with you?

If they cannot immediately grasp what you do, they will not invest time trying to figure out if you are worth their time. Buh Bye.

You must pass this initial 3-second test.

The 30-Second Test.
All right, they are listening to you. Now what?

You must communicate the proper foundation for them to conclude that you are worth spending more time with. You must touch all the necessary bases to enable them to conclude that within 30 seconds.

For them to meet with you in-person, over the phone, via skype or string phones, you need to cement all the bricks in place necessary for a strong foundation. You are not working from strength if your foundation has holes in it, or worse, you are building on sand.

These are the building blocks you must communicate within 30 seconds to maximize your shot at selling the next step.
Who you are and where are you calling from.
What you do.
That you are credible.
3 benefits clients/accounts get from working with you.
What they will get at the first meeting with you.
(Worth their time even if they don’t buy.)
Ask to meet.

Be Professional
Your goal is to earn the next step: To sell a meeting.

That is your sole objective, and you must stay locked onto it.

Be professional and respect the person you are talking to.

That means being prepared and quickly communicating a message they can grasp and say “yes” or “no” to.

In my opinion, you show respect for those you are purposely interrupting when you are prepared and take the least amount of their time possible. Say what you need to say, then let them respond “yes” or “no.” Done.

Many seem to think that they first must communicate that they are kind, considerate, and nice — not the kind of person who would rudely interrupt someone when they are busy. But the fact is, you are interrupting them. When you call you have decided to interrupt them. That is the point. To interrupt them and get them to focus on you. So, the insecure feel compelled to start with “how are you, is this a good time?” or “I know you are busy so I will be quick.” Or other such drivel. This has never made any sense to me.

You are interrupting them. Nothing you say can change that.
Once you decide to call you have decided that interrupting busy people is acceptable. That being the case, why not make that interruption worthwhile for those you can help. For those who have needs you can fill, who would love to speak to a top-shelf credible, experienced provider. Make the interruption worthwhile for them.

Nice is not the issue. Enabling those you can help to conclude that you are worth more of their time is the issue.

Busy people in positions of authority say “no” to nice people all the time.

Think of it another way. The people you are communicating with get dozens of calls a day. Most of those calls are quickly perceived to be a waste of time, and the callers are thrown down the stairs. Many of those who find themselves at the bottom of the stairs are nice, kind, considerate callers who started out apologizing for the interruption, promising to be quick and acknowledging that the suspect is undoubtedly a busy person. They still find themselves at the bottom of the stairs.

Do you really think you are separating yourself from the rest by somehow being nicer or more considerate than the rest?

Don’t Confuse Being Prepared, Concise And Direct With “Salesy.”
How often do you hear “I don’t want to sound “salesy.”

After 20+ years of sales training, I have concluded that “salesy” is anything that a sales rep doesn’t want to do or feels uncomfortable with.

“Salesy” is your issue. Not the issue of those you speak to.

You earn the next step by saying things that enable buyers to conclude that you are worth more of their time — nothing else.

Communicating what you do, your credibility, benefits, what they will get if they spend more time with you and exactly what you want, have a chance of earning you that next step.

Anything else does not.

The above is an excerpt from my newest book “Sell The Meeting.”
Find it on Amazon.

13 Tips to Improve the Quality of the Prospecting Sales Scripts you Use

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1. Three-second rule.

You have mere moments to ignite something in your prospect’s brain that says “Whoa, maybe I should listen to this.” Once those seconds have ticked away, and your prospect’s brain thinks “waste of time,” your odds of success plummet, no matter how good you are or how much you might help them.

So, if you work hard to get a quality prospect on the phone and start with “How are you?” “Got a minute” or “I know you are busy I will be quick.” You are providing no information that is helpful to them and driving them to the conclusion that you are a time-waster.

Particularly painful if you happen to connect with someone that needs your service and would welcome a new option. You lose opportunities if you don’t hook them immediately.

2. There must be immediate absolute clarity as to what you do.

Your “what we do” statement must be easy to grasp and understand. Long multi-part sentences are hard to understand and knock you out of the box immediately.

3. Relate to what is familiar to them

The themes you touch, the benefits you speak of, the examples you give must be familiar to them. If they can’t relate, what you say will not resonate, and you will not achieve your objective.

4. Sell hope.

In the beginning, more than anything, you are selling hope. That given what you do, your credibility, your track record, your record of results, the long list of companies that you have helped, you enable prospects to conclude that you might be able to help them.

5. Stay focused on what matters.

You need to stay focused on objective specific behaviors that will advance a sale with a qualified prospect. Sorry to burst some bubbles out there but being conversational, sounding natural, keeping it short and not sounding salesy (don’t get me going) should not be your goals.

Are you saying the right things that enable possibly great future accounts to conclude that you are worth more time? That is the only thing that matters.

There are plenty of hard working underpaid reps that focus on the wrong things such as not sounding salesy. But guess what, what sounds salesy to non-buyers is what your next great account wants to hear. Focus on that.

6. Create some suspense and tease a bit.

It takes multiple interactions to build trust and comfort. Different prospects absorb and process information at different paces. Many times, without a second or third interaction, you are not getting a check. Earning that next interaction is key.

Hint that if they spoke to you again that there would be something delivered worth their time. Strategies, proven methods, case studies, examples, lollipops, something.

7. Don’t leave a giant hole in your script: Credibility Statement

Want to know the most common giant sinkhole in scripts that sucks away qualified prospects? The lack of a credibility statement. Mind-boggling.

Companies or individuals that have proven track records, plenty of satisfied clients, that could rattle off the names of reputable, well-known companies that have chosen them that could relate impressive results obtained, say absolutely nothing about any of it. Nothing. Not one syllable.

Without a credibility statement, callers don’t know whether you are reputable and maybe worth their time or calling from your parent’s basement. And don’t get me going on the knuckleheads that think it sufficient to mention saving them money. They are truly a lost cause.

Why should someone invest time with a provider without knowing if they are credible? They won’t and don’t. They go to Google and with a few keystrokes find possible vendors worth their time.

If you have credibility, use it. Be so credible your prospects think “ I may not find someone this good online, I’ll meet.”

8. Be believable and fact-based. Avoid hype.

Understand that when you are prospecting initially, as there is no familiarity, history or trust with you, that prospects will discount anything you say that may seem hyped or they are not sure they agree with. If you use words like “best” “superior” or make a claim that seems exaggerated, your prospects immediately discount the claim, and you are on shaky ground.

In the beginning, keep your claims matter of fact without hype or anything that suggests exaggeration. A strong fact-based no hype script will get you more “yes’s” as it will be believable.

9. Don’t lead with price.

I am at a loss as to how to sugar coat this. There are so many factors that go into a buy decision. If you lead with the price, you are not relating more important points likely to get you deeper into the pipeline. Leading with price is a very thin foundation upon which to build a sale and attracts the wrong type of customer.

If you are one of those that call people up and say “We can save you money,” you need to unlearn everything you think you know about sales. You truly are doomed.

10. Vary your pace and vocal tone.

People don’t absorb every word of your scripts. Not all words are equal. They absorb words and phrases that stand out to them. Make sure that your most important points are emphasized by varying your pace and vocal tone on those points. Lowering your voice and slowing down a bit makes important points stand out.

Have you been chosen by “500 companies in the East Yazoo area?” Is your typical result to “improve ROI by 22% within six months?” Make those points stand out by altering your pace and tone.

11. Eliminate the boring parts

When you write, you should delete the parts that people will skip.
When you write sales scripts, you should delete anything that sounds like the same old same old, heard it before, here is another one, yada yada yada. Delete that crap.

If you can envision a competitor saying the same thing, don’t. Don’t waste words. Keep it fresh.

12. Eliminate “I” and “we.”

Keep what you say focused on your prospect and your happy clients and accounts. “I think” “I want” “I’m calling today to” “we think” “We would like to.” That is the totally wrong focus. No one cares a whit what you think or what you want.

Turn your “I’s” into “You’s.” Keep the focus of your scripts on them.

You will have to say “We do X” But other than that, all your focus should be on them and the experiences of your current and prior satisfied accounts.

13. Remember that value knocks down doors.

Every syllable of your sales scripts should ooze with credibility, benefits, specifics, and value. Value knocks down doors.

If you are communicating value important to top prospects, they will forgive that you sound a little scripted or what you might consider being too salesy. (Don’t get me going.) If you are saying the things they want to hear, need to hear, you will open doors.

I have seen plenty of reps that were not the smoothest or most natural talkers, that sounded a bit scripted and salesy even, rack up opportunities consistently. Why? Because they are communicating value and the words your next great account wants to hear.

Many reps make the fatal mistake of not understanding that a lot of people don’t need what you are offering. You get rejected because they don’t need you. Not because you don’t sound natural, are not conversational enough or sound too salesy. Those are your insecurities.

Don’t water down your verbiage to have more comfortable conversations with those that have no need and will say “No” anyway.

Keep your scripts laser-focused on communicating value to those that do have a need. They will ignore what you might consider imperfections in delivery if you are communicating value and credibility important to them.

Value knocks down doors.

Have fun out there you crazy kids.

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.

B2B Appointments: Qualified Sales Leads Metrics to Set Your Expectations

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What are some basic rules of thumb for time invested in a B2B appointment setting campaign?

Whether you are the appointment setter or the the manager of a b2b sales team, particularly an inside sales team, you need to have a reasonable grasp of the following metrics. Your numbers must make sense, otherwise your lead nurturing efforts will generate nothing but frustration.

1. How many sales appointments to expect per week.

2. What is a reasonable b2b lead generation rate? (If you complete your appointment setting process with 100 companies, how many qualified appointments should you expect?)

3. How long is the typical set-the-appointment conversation?

4. Once you hear “No,” how many can you turn into a qualified lead?

5. What is a reasonable closing ratio from these meetings?

6. How many weeks does it take to go from lead generation and appointment setting chaos to a complete efficient effective lead gen system?

7. How many hours does it take to get a cold calling system setup?

A successful appointment setting system requires proper management.

Most focus first on better b2b appointment setting scripts. Big mistake. Your great telesales scripts do you no good unless your sales reps are talking to the right people and enough of them.

It is your total lead generation campaign system which serves up those primo sales conversations so that your great sales scripts can do their job. No system, your sales team will scramble to try to turn garbage leads to a decent lead. Good luck.

When you know your numbers you greatly increase the odds that the appointment setting efforts of your sales team  will result in the closed accounts necessary to reach your sales goal.

Lets review some prospecting numbers from my experience to know if you are on the right track and when to make adjustments.

The answers…

1. How many sales appointments to expect per week?

Prospecting 15 – 20 hours weekly should net you 4 – 8 high level qualified appointments. Less means you are either calling the wrong prospect list, your appointment setting campaign process (How often you call, when you call, stop calling, your sales and marketing “touch” strategy and more) needs adjustment or your phone scripts lack impact. I have seen more, but 5-7 is very typical. More tend to be of the drive-by variety, which you don’t want.

Sales managers may push for and celebrate a higher number of meetings per week but what good are b2b leads that don’t convert.
If sales management just pushes for more and more meetings appointment setters and salespeople respond by booking lower quality meetings to get the manager off their back. Looks good temporarily but those meetings won’t convert.

Not only that but those lower quality “prospects” that don’t convert to clients distract from being able to nurture and close the quality meetings that are set. So more meetings for the sake of more meetings is not always a good thing.

2. What is a reasonable b2b lead generation rate? (If you complete your appointment setting process with 100 companies, how many qualified appointments should you expect?)

Please note the phrase “complete your appointment setting process.” An appointment setting campaign process will include multiple calls (minimum nine) and multiple touches ( minimum of 6) which usually are voicemail, email and in some very very limited circumstances snail mail.

Prospecting results will differ greatly in these inside sales team scenarios…

Call a specific named decision maker within 100 companies with a planned sequence of a minimum of 9 dials and 6 touches over two weeks. (900 dials.)

vs

Placing 900 calls to 900 different targeted suspect companies. (900 dials.)

vs

Placing 900 calls to god only knows how many companies erratically. Some get one call, some three, no real plan or call process just make dials. (900 dials.)

Which scenarios is your sales team closest to?

But lets get back to the question, if you execute your complete call process with 100 targeted decision makers within 100 different companies, how many qualified meetings should you expect. Answer: 9 – 13 would be the norm. Use 10% for planning purposes.

3. How long is the typical set-the-appointment sales conversation?

2 ½ minutes. If your conversations are typically longer prospecting results will plummet. Fire your best core script verbiage right up front and get a clear “yes” or “no,” then move on.

4. Once you hear “No,” how many can you turn into a qualified lead?”

Some decision makers won’t be able to grasp your concise benefit laden and credibility building verbiage right away so they say “no.” You hear a sales objection not because your decision maker “gets it” and says “no,” but because your decision maker is still processing your verbiage. They feel they have to say something so they say “no.”

Of course, because your business to business sales team is working a total lead gen call process and not just making dials, they are prepared and eloquently deliver the carefully crafted verbiage which is most likely to achieve the business result you seek.

25% – 33% of your appointments will be set after you hear “no,” “send me some info,” “call me back,” or “we are all set.” If you understand what is going on and are managing a strategic sales process you have anticipated all common repetitive scenarios and are prepared with proper rebuttals, you will get meetings.

Look at it another way, you boost productivity by 25%/33% just by being prepared, not by working harder or blindly “making more dials.” You are already making the calls. Use every opportunity you can to turn dead end calls into qualified opportunities.

5. What is a reasonable closing ratio from these meetings.

If you are working a pure cold calling program and you are looking to close a client that has not been referred, has not sought you out or does not know you by reputation, then the best closing ratios I see from these types of leads is 20% to 25%.

These are usually bigger ticket multiple-decision maker multiple step type sales. Closing 1 in 6 or 1 in 7 is often acceptable but if your closing rate is less than 1 in 10, something is seriously seriously wrong. Margins and cost of sale have a big impact on what is an acceptable closing ratio.

If your closing ratio is less than 10% then you need to go back and reevaluate your prospect list management, your call process and phone scripts and how you are “qualifying” these meetings.

The greatest reason by far for a low closing ratio is determined before any dials are made.

If the prospect list is crappy or watered down the best call process and phone scripts in the world won’t help you to close. All too often I see sales teams calling crap when high probability prospects are not feeling any love at all.

Closing ratio is not the only issue you should be concerned about. Customer retention and average lifetime value of these closed clients are major determinants of success. A close is not a close is not a close. You want to close them, keep them and have them refer others to you.

Sales managers, sharpen your pencil, make some reasonable assumptions and determine if your lead gen efforts even have a chance to work out. If the math doesn’t work on paper it certainly won’t work when your salespeople start to call.

Get  a handle on…

Suspects called to appointments set ratio.

Appointment to closed account ratio.

Average new account size.

NOW THE B2B COLD CALLING FUN BEGINS. PLAY “WHAT IF?”

To generate X volume of sales per month, I need to close Y accounts, which means I need at least AA number of appointments, which means I need to launch my process with BB number of new suspects every month.

If the prospecting math makes sense, you now know how many decision makers you need to call, at what pace, with an acceptable appointment setting success rate and closing ratio.

If your numbers don’t make sense, these are common scenarios.

IF YOUR SUSPECTS CALLED TO APPOINTMENTS SET RATIO is much more than 10/1, then you need to focus on your calling efficiency and effectiveness. You are probably working with a paper system or calling haphazardly, and almost always calling the wrong target group. Tighten up your call process and prioritize the target groups you are calling.

IF YOUR APPOINTMENT TO CLOSED ACCOUNT RATIO isn’t in the 5/1 or 8/1 range, than you need to tighten up your first meeting skills and probably need to re-evaluate how you are communicating value (it always comes down to perceived value), and executing the multiple touches necessary to manage a sales pipeline. Again, a root cause of low closing ratios is that the targets were lower probability to begin. If you are certain your team is calling the right decision makers within higher probability companies then look to your first meeting skills and how you are managing the sales pipeline.

IF YOUR AVERAGE ACCOUNT SIZE IS TOO LOW it is always because you are calling too many of the wrong targets. Go back and evaluate the industries and size of companies you are calling on and you will probably find that you are calling on too many companies that cannot reasonably be expected to buy at levels necessary for you to justify the prospecting effort.

Doing the prospecting math before you call tells you whether you even have a chance of success, and where you need to make adjustments to reach your sales goals.

6. How many weeks does it take to go from prospecting chaos to working a complete efficient effective system?

10 days from “go’ you are setup and trained on a customized contact manager like Act or others, your targets have been profiled and carefully selected, you have a call process plan and all your scripts are written. You start calling with your new system and booking appointments. It takes another 7 – 10 days to write and get comfortable with your response to resistance scripts/strategies and power calling techniques. After that it takes about a week to set up your Plan B.

7. How many hours does it take to do all that?

Install, customize and get trained on a decent contact manager. 3 hours.

Profile, select, import best targets to call. 2 hours.

Write decent starter rocking phone scripts. 3 – 5 hours.

Map out your call process. 90 minutes.

What is b2b appointment setting? Its mostly organization and process.

You don’t need advanced technology to be very successful in high level call environments. The biggest key is not the scripts (everybody wants to focus on scripts but they shouldn’t) the qualification of the prospect call list and prioritizing that list so that the higher probability lead groups gets called out before the average quality lead group, which is called out completely before you even think about calling the lowest quality lead group.

If you don’t know with a high degree of certainty based upon facts, research and verification the highest probability leads to call, you are doomed. Guessing and assuming which companies should be called is a great way to drive a company into the ground.

So, before you start to call, set reasonable expectations for each of the component parts of your b2b lead generation campaign. Know the metrics of a solid lead generation campaign and adjust your component parts to get congruent with those numbers.

And ultimately success is determined by how much is spent on the prospecting effort and how much profit is generated.

Model Responses to Cold Call Objections. Sales Scripts to handle Blow-Offs and Sales Resistance.

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MODEL SALES SCRIPTS OBJECTION RESPONSES TO “SEND ME SOME INFO”, “WE ARE ALL SET”, “CALL ME BACK”, “I WILL MEET WITH YOU BUT CALL ME IN SIX WEEKS”, “TELL ME WHAT YOU DO” AND “I GET 20 CALLS LIKE THIS A DAY.”

In a previous article we summarized the six underlying phone scripts concepts you must understand to effectively respond to “sales objections” when appointment setting B2B over the phone. It is the death of inside sales teams if the sales reps don’t appreciate these six concepts.

1. You must overcome gravity.
2. What you hear are not substantively “sales objections”.
3. The reason most people don’t meet with you is that your sales scripts don’t give them enough reason to meet with you.
4. You must keep the sales conversation focused on your agenda.
5. Every word in your sales script counts.
6. It’s not only what you say, it’s how you say it.

One comment before we get into specific objection handling techniques. Keep in mind that when phone prospecting you should be working a process, not just making random calls rapidly in the mistaken belief that more call activity alone will lead to better results. Your lead generation process should be a distinct part of your overall successful sales process.

What you are really trying to do with your objection response scripts and the way you handle blow offs is to re-shuffle the cold calling deck in order of selling priority. You call to identify your best opportunities and set appointments with those that you have a reasonable shot of closing a deal with. You identify your no opportunity or low opportunity targets and ruthlessly discard them. In the middle you have various shades of gray and must prioritize your prospecting and appointment setting time. You seek to close on the highest possible sales step you can with every sales conversation. These closing and objection scripts will help you to achieve your sales objective.

Which leads us into a sales techniques preview of a future installment – Your “PLAN B” for how to handle blow off objections.

Reality is that most people will reject our request for a sales meeting, but that doesn’t mean that something very substantial and substantive can’t be accomplished with that sales conversation. Your objection and response scripts must anticipate that.

In the next article I tell you exactly what to do to accurately prioritize your prospects and how to build a solid foundation for future contact. You want a good solid relationship based upon respect, benefits, value and an appreciation of your abilities – without phone calls and without the cost of mailings.

Now, examples of top model responses to 6 common cold call objections.

1. OBJECTION HANDLING SCRIPT FOR RESPONDING TO THE “WE ARE ALL SET” BLOW-OFF.

This objection is sometimes expressed as “we have a vendor we love”, “we already have five vendors”, “we have a contract with 22 years left to run which is unbreakable”.

Reply: “That’s fine. Does that mean you are never going to look at new options, or could you suggest a time to call you in the future.”

Or try this, “That’s fine. Look, we wouldn’t expect anything to happen quickly anyway, that’s not the way it typically works in this industry. We do an awful lot of work with companies like Mega Corporation, International Amalgamated and Acme Intergalactic, and there are good reasons why companies like that decided to work with us. We would just be looking to introduce ourselves, give you some information on programs and service strategies that others have found valuable, and if in the future you are looking for options or a back-up vendor, we hope you think of us. Would that be worth 30 minutes of your time in the next few weeks?”

With the first phone script response you have virtually no chance of scoring a meeting as you have not provided additional benefits or asked to set an appointment. This short script response is best with someone who is gruff or appears very rushed.

With the second sales script, what you have done is lower their expectations and reassure them that you are not asking them to change.

You have established credibility by dropping names. Your phone script kept control of the conversation and asked for the meeting. If they say “no”, it’s on to plan B. If you are going to learn how to handle objections you must learn scripts & methods that keep you in control of your lead generation process. What the prospect says does not control how you handle objections, you control what happens in a sales call, not the prospect.

2. RESPONDING TO THE “SEND ME SOME INFORMATION” PHONE OBJECTION.

Let me be blunt. If your objection handling response to “send me some info” is “um, OK”, you are a wimpy sales rep and have doomed yourself to sales prospecting frustration and the waste of your time and company sales team resources. Many times this request is a cold call objection blow off in disguise. Your prospect is not interested in you or has no need. Let me ask you, do you want to get on this treadmill of calling back 15 times to maybe – maybe – talking again to someone who barely remembers you and can’t recall what you sent them.

If you get on this treadmill with your objection scripts, it is your fault, not the fault of your target. But there is even something worse about a sales professional quickly agreeing to this sales objection. The purpose of prospecting is to re-shuffle the deck and sort your prospects in accordance with their sales potential and worth. Your sales scripts and responses to objections must give potential high value – we are looking for a new vendor – we have a big order coming up – type prospects, the opportunity to identify themselves. If your sales scripts paths and prepared responses to common phone objections don’t do that, how will you separate the great opportunity sales calls from the time wasters?

The next time you get the “send me some info” or “just send your material” blow off, try this sales script response example. Remember, You must enable your prospect to reveal how you can sell them.

“You know, I don’t send out general information. The corporate stuff I would send you is just going to tell you what I just told you. We do A, B and C. Get results like 1, 2 and 3, and, have clients like E, F and G. If there is something specific that would be helpful to you, if you have a purchase coming up, or a project we might help with, I would be happy to put something together and send it out. Do you have anything specific in mind that I can help you with”? At this point do the most difficult thing.. say nothing and wait for your prospect to speak.

If the prospect can’t respond with something specific, your cold calling script plan should be to go right into your “Plan B” objection handling response.

What if they do come up with something specific? Do you immediately agree to put it together and just send it right out. OHHHHHH.. NOOOOOOOO.

You don’t do that. What you can do which may very well set you an appointment then and there will be discussed in a future installment.

3. RESPONSE TO THE “CALL ME BACK” PHONE SALES OBJECTION.

When you hear this, there is something you have to know. Is this a run me around the block, time wasting, no need, go nowhere, prospect who thinks that on their whim I am going to cold call and call and call, and who is going to suck every bit of motivation and energy out of my body by having me chase them .. or, is this someone who would legitimately welcome a phone call from you for a legitimate reason? You can find out now, or find out 10 phone calls later. Your choice. You should be ready with a sales script and written objection handling response.

Try this. “I would be happy to do that. When would you suggest I call you”? Once they give you a specific time period say, “Is there a reason why that is a good time to call you”?

If your phone script has established credibility with your initial set the meeting 30 second pitch, they know who you are, what you do, the value you provide and that you are worth consideration. If they have a reason they will tell you. We are going to buy one million dollars worth of stuff you sell and I won’t have the specs till then, that’s when we are planning a review of our vendors, that’s the quarter I will have the budget for a planned purchase …whatever. Once you know they are viable, it’s “thankyouverymuchcallyouthen” Click.

If they can’t give you a viable reason, see if you have the guts to use this phone sales objection response. “You know, I would be happy to call you back, but look, we provided companies like A, B and C about a zillion dollars worth of this stuff (or these services) last year and get more than our share of business. I don’t want to be on your back. If you are not open to a new source of supply, just tell me and I won’t bother you.”

With preparation and proper handling of a common phone objection, you can find out whether this prospect is a waste of time now, or 10 phone calls from now. Your choice. Your surgically prepared cold calling scripts save you time and capture sales opportunities.

4. RESPONDING TO THE “I’LL MEET WITH YOU BUT CALL ME IN A MONTH” COLD CALL OBJECTION.

Keep in mind that only half of those who specifically promise a meeting in the future, will actually book a meeting. Half. And that half only books after you get them on the phone again. No small achievement. Those that are good at objection handling will give it a shot now.

Try this. “Sure, I would be happy to call you then. We would probably be looking to get together a few weeks after that, which would put us into the week of July 20th. You know, I am in your area regularly and would be scheduling other meetings along with this one. If you feel comfortable, could we pencil something in for that week. It would help me with my planning and I would call the week before to make sure it still works for you. Would you feel comfortable penciling that in”?

About one-third will agree to the meeting. You have obtained their commitment.

5. HOW TO RESPOND TO THE “TELL ME” OBJECTION.

This usually rears it’s ugly head with words like, “Who are you”, “What do you do”? Your best objection handling response is to tell them what you have already told them and again, ask to set the appointment. Just repeat a variation of your set the meeting script.

“We work with companies like A, B and C. They selected us to provide 1, 2 and 3 and use us because we save time, administrative headache and costs. We want to introduce ourselves and tell you about some things we do differently that companies have found valuable. Our program X or methodology Y may have some benefits for you and I’m asking for 30 minutes to give you that information. Would you have some time in the next few weeks, say April 28th or 29th”?

Your phone objection response script should not delve into new areas or provide new information. If you give them too much to think about they will hesitate, and if they hesitate they will not set an appointment with you.

6. RESPONDING TO THE “I GET 20 CALLS LIKE THIS A DAY” COLD CALL OBJECTION.

That sales objection only tells you that sales representatives lacking your talents have called before you. It is a signal that your target has pre-conceived notions about you and is eager to say “no”. You well crafted sales script objection response is very similar to the “tell me” response above.

“Look, I don’t want to be on your back. We are a $50 million company and companies like A, B and C have selected us to provide their widgets. I don’t know if we might help you, but we do a few things differently that companies find save them time, administrative headache and costs. If getting info on some ideas or options to improve your situation is worth 30 minutes of your time, that would be great. If not, that is fine also. Would you have some time in the next week or two”?

So what you have done is re-establish your credibility and tell them about some powerful benefits they get when they meet with you. You also ignored their agenda, which was to moan about people calling them, a fact meaningless to you, and kept the conversation on your agenda.

Those are the most common cold calling phone objections and one form of response to each. There are harder and softer forms of response that you may choose depending upon your strategic goals and your cost per meeting, cost per sale realities. Use these sample objection handling scripts to challenge your sales practices.

Study the structure of these responses to resistance and you can craft improved scripts to overcome sales objections.

Best wishes for prospecting success,
Scott Channell

Sample Appointment Setting Script was Super Successful

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Here is a sample appointment setting script that helped a salesperson go from 2/3 appointments a month to 10-15 a week….. more B2B prospects found by calling while increasing the size of the average sale and closing conversion rate.

Learn sales script structuring techniques that will help you craft your best ever phone script for appointment setting with top decision-makers.

Here is a sample sales script template that will help you do it.

Brief background: Salesperson calls me starting new job, starving for qualified leads and wants some sales script techniques and examples for b2b appointment setting. Wants to get off to a fast start but has no calling script examples for setting appointments. Within 2 weeks he is on fire with appointment setting, setting 10-15 appointments a week with his new favorite appointment setting scripts that work. Company owner is inviting him to baseball games in the corporate box. He starts to set appointments with companies he thought were beyond him.

Caution: This is only the first 30-second or so front end of a total appointment setting script path. It doesn’t give you insight into how he organized himself to have the conversations with the right people, and enough of them, to be successful with his new appointment setting scripts that work. It also doesn’t give you the script structures used to respond to sales objections that were used to turn “send me info,” “we are all set” and “call me back” into scheduled appointments. You need to have those ready along with your phone script for setting appointments.

Below is an example of an effective appointment setting script … then a brief analysis.

” Hi, this is ________ from Better Benefits Corporation.

We specialize in helping companies select and manage employee benefit plans.

Over 500 companies in the East Wazoo area work with us to control their health insurance costs without reducing core benefits.

Our proprietary data analytics and predictive modeling tools have proven to reduce overall benefit costs.

We would like to introduce ourselves and relate the methods and strategies that others have found effective in controlling their benefit costs. I know you will learn some things and if you think of us in the future that would be great.

Would you have some time in the next week or two?”

Your first mistake…. Thinking that the above b2b appointment setting script structure wouldn’t work in your industry, with your prospects.

Wrong. This is a great sample of a cold calling appointment-setting script that works and a structure that gets consistent results across all industries over many years.

Notice….

1. This appointment setting script format is initially very direct. Don’t confuse direct with pushy. If a prospect has a need you can fill, you must tell them what you do, that you are credible and the benefits you deliver. Don’t let anything… anything… get in the way of your telemarketing script delivering that message.

How is a top-level person supposed to decide you are worth some time if your appointment setting script doesn’t give them some reasons?

The #1 reason why a conversation with a solid prospect doesn’t turn into a solid lead is that you did not communicate sufficient reason to meet. That is what excellent telemarketing scripts do. Turn a prospect into a lead by providing enough reason to meet.

2. There is clarity. No confusion. What they do, the benefits delivered and what they want is crystal clear… up front. Setting sales appointments scripts that work are crystal clear and value can be immediately grasped by your decision-maker. Appointment setting scripts that work will not let them ponder , question or think about what you mean for even a moment.

3. For an cold call appointment setting script to have a chance at success, you must promise them something AT THE MEETING that is worth their time. Remember, you are not selling your product or service at this point, you are selling a meeting. That’s it. Sell more meetings, you have a chance to make money. Sell no meetings or fewer meetings, you have NO CHANCE to make money. That business will go to a competitor.

Even if a prospect doesn’t think they will do business with you (and let’s face it, at this point, they are not) they should be thinking it would be worth it to meet with you, as they will learn something. Scripts for sales appointments that work don’t promise or allude to benefits way in the future (and they certainly don’t mention price or pricing.) Remember, your cold call appointment setting script must promise to deliver benefits AT THE SALES MEETING.

4. Tell them exactly what you want with your sales script… to meet, to introduce yourself, to share some valuable information.

5. Take the immediate pressure off. Tell them “if you think of us in the future, that would be great.”

6. Ask. Do you have any time in the next week or two?
You have a number of options when crafting an effective cold call appointment setting script…

…as to how you phrase your credibility and benefit statements. There are a number of ways to ask for the sales meeting at the end and to manage your phone script transitions.

Remember that your telemarketing script is only one part of a total b2b lead generation system.

Appointment setting scripts that work don’t help you if you are not talking to enough of the right people. Your script paths must also provide you a model response for repetitive scenarios, forms of resistance and objections. You also must have a good Plan B follow-up system and know how/when to integrate other marketing tools into your process for even greater cost-effective results.

Best wishes for crafting sales scripts that work.
Check out my book “7 Steps to Sales Scripts” on Amazon and the additional articles on this site,
Scott Channell