Archive
Monthly Archives: February 2015
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
Should you leave a message on voice-mail?
You've got past the gatekeeper and the decision-makers secretary is willing to put you through to her boss. The secretary then?puts you on hold and you sit back in anticipation of finally reaching the one-person who has the potential of making or breaking your sales day. As your call is being transferred, you prepare yourself to deliver an appropriate opener that will get you an appointment, only to find yourself being put through to message bank.?What shoulddo you do, should you leave a message on voice-mail?
In yesterday's post, I shared with you my experience of making multiple successful sales calls after hours. But like you, in some instances, the mobile number I phoned?transferred me through to message bank. Did I leave a message? Did I call back? In this post, what you will learn may well change the way you view prospecting by phone. I have finally got the answer to "should you leave a message on voice-mail?"
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
Is There a Right Time to Make a Sales Call?
At my last sales workshop, I was asked whether there was a right or wrong time to make a cold call. Since then I've had several thoughts about this topic and if my experience from yesterday is anything to go by, hopefully this article will shed some further light on the subject.
Yesterday was one of those days when all my plans seemed to fall in a heap.?By 5.00pm I realised that I had not made enough appointments for the next two days.?Not wanting to waste a minute and miss out on an appointment, I shut down my e-mail program, quickly put together a list of potential prospects and started to cold call.
By 6.00pm I had made five new appointments, but then it dawned upon me that maybe I should stop phoning as it was getting late.
What happened next gave me the answer to the question.
- in Motivation , Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
Sales Procrastination – How To Cure Yourself
Nothing will destroy your sales career like procrastination! But how do you cure it? Is there a cure?
In this report, I reach out to one of the most experienced business people I know for an answer. His thoughts are well worth considering.
Yesterday I was having one of those days we all suffer at some time or another in our?sales career - 'sales procrastination day'. Even though I have had a sales career spanning 30+ years, for some reason when I least expect it?'sales procrastination day' rares its'ugly head and leaves me feeling depressed and hopeless. Maybe you have days like this as well?
I tried everything I could think of to pull myself out of the spiral of procrastination?and finally in despair, I contacted Peter, a friend, who at 78 is still active in the business world?advising companies on how to better operate and grow.
Having had my little pity-party over the phone with Peter he emailed me?some information. What Peter shared is well worth considering. It puts a different slant on procrastination ...
- in Sales Management by Trainer Ken
Top 3 Reasons Sales Managers Succeed
What are the top three?reasons sales managers succeed? In this report, we examine why some?sales managers succeed. We also give you a three step plan that will help you improve the way you manage.
A couple of weeks ago I presented a one-day sales workshop. The subject of cold calling came up and the?attendees shared?a whole heap of reasons as to why most salespeople felt cold calling was a waste of time.
Speaking with one of the sale managers, who had brought a large group of salespeople to the workshop, he shared with me in one of the breaks, "How can I expect?my salespeople to cold call when I can't do it myself?"
Having reflected on his comment, I started to look back at the various sales managers I have worked for over the years and how they helped me sell more. What did I learn?
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
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5 Steps to a Successful Sales Week
It's the?start of another sales week. What was last week like for you? Did you make heaps of sales or did you fail dismally? Whatever the case, the slate is now clean and I'm?going to reveal five steps you can take to make this a?successful sales?weeks.
In my experience, there are two types of sales people.?The first group, the majority, find a lot in common with their cousins who are beginning a career?in the creative arts.
Speak to any writer, setting out to write?their first book, and they will tell you that they have to be in the mood to put pen to paper.?Whereas an author with a successful track record will tell you they have no time to wait for the right mood. Many years of experience have taught them that the mood comes once they have completed their first 1500 words. Whereas this group of sales people sit in coffee shops wondering why they are not more successful. Success only comes from picking up the phone and making a call
The second group of sales people have a lot in common with religious nuns, living in a convent. Nuns are known to?revel in the security of having a set routine - maybe that's where the term holy orders comes from.
Imagine life in a convent,?waking up at 4 AM, on a cold winter's morning, to head out for?morning of prayer in a cold, dimly lit, Church Abbey.?For most of us who?enjoy the modern day comforts of life, their lifestyle looks extremely uncomfortable.?Do you think those nuns have to be in the 'mood' to make morning prayer??Obviously not, it is there in a devotion to God and their order that enables them to wake up with a cheerful spirit and enter the sanctity of religious prayer. Their positive mood comes from taking action.
Well like the nuns, our second group of sales people have learnt that discipline and sticking to a set number of calls and appointments is the key to their long term success.
In this article, we are going to put?aside your emotional makeup and instead look at a series of five steps you can take to make the most of your sales week. All of these steps apply to both temperaments ...
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
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How to make a cold call (Part 3)
In my?last post, How To?Make A Cold Call ? Part two, I explained where the office supply salesperson had gone wrong with his cold calling approach.
In this final post of my three part series on Cold Calling, I will explain to you why you should stop acting like a salesperson.
Plus, I will share with you an approach I use to develop a cold calling script.
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
The Best Cold Calling Strategy for 2020 (Part 2)
The Best Cold Calling Strategy for 2020
In part one of the best strategy for cold calling in 2020, we examined the concept of cold calling and why some sales reps fail at cold calling while others are extremely successful. At the end of the last Post, I shared with you a telephone call I took from a sales rep, selling office supplies, and once I had finished the telephone call, how I walked away amazed at his terrible selling approach.
So where did the sales rep go wrong cold calling?
We reeval the best cold calling strategy for 2020.
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
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How to make a cold call (Part 1)
Do you hate cold calling? Why is it that some people succeed at cold calling while others completely fail? In this three-part series, I will examine the problems with cold calling and provide you with a very simple solution that has enabled me to cold call business decision-makers in small businesses, with five staff, through to CEOs of publicly listed companies.
Once you understand?this approach, I know from personal experience you can turn your sales career around
- in Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
How to Increase Sales
In this special report, I?share with you five proven steps?for increasing your sales performance in only one week:
1. Keep up to date -?each industry has its own source of information and you should be tapping into this pipeline of insider knowledge
On a daily basis I keep in touch with what is happening in the industries I am targeting by reading the business pages of various newspapers (both print editions and online). What you find are news stories announcing developments in your sector.
In my case, I once read about an interior design company who had just completed a major project and were receiving many accolades for their work. I cold called their CEO?and suggested that we could?produce a newsletter featuring a major profile on this project with testimonial comments?from their clients. They could send the newsletter out to their database of prospects
No sooner?had I started my telephone conversation with the CEO he responded, "I am so glad you telephoned, we had just been discussing how we could?get more mileage out of the exposure this project had given us".?That week he signed up to a newsletter program and has been a client of ours now for the past five years.
If I had not been reading the business pages each day in the?Australian?Financial Review,?I would never have seen the editorial that led me to make that?telephone call.
- in Motivation , Sales Techniques by Trainer Ken
How to start your sales week
Do you hate the thought of Monday morning sales meetings? Do you find it hard to drag yourself out of bed, let alone fight your way through traffic, hoping you won?t be late?
When I first started my?sales career, I belonged to the?group of sales reps who had to drag themselves to every sales meeting. Once the sales meeting had finished we were the salespeople?who?headed to the local coffee shop to bury our sorrows over a cappuccino or a danish.
It hadn't always been like that, initially I had been full of enthusiasm. I had been offered a position that had the potential to provide an unlimited income. But as time moved on my lack of experience resulted in me struggling to make enough sales each week. With every knock back, my confidence started to give way to negative thinking.
Having worked at that company for six months, I found every day a struggle to be on time. Feeling sorry for myself, those sessions in the coffee shop allowed me to vent my disappointment with my colleagues.