Art Sobczak, writing on Hubspot, recently wrote about the two phrases he believes force buyers to lie. He begins by saying that when listening to recorded sales calls in preparation for a sales training program, he heard the same two, worthless call endings over and over. These were ‘Well, keep us in mind, OK?’ and ‘Here’s my number in case you need anything…’
Art goes on to suggest what you should do and say instead, including determining if there would ever be potential for a sale and proactively give the buyer something to think about. He points out that if there is potential for a sale, salespeople should give them examples of situations to look for and associate them with the problem they can solve. When they experience these problems, they might then think of the salesperson.
Rob Ferber wrote today about the four steps sales professionals can take to help avoid wasting time on bad sales opportunities. He points out that salespeople love the feeling of uncovering a good opportunity, however they are not always what they seem and they fail to gain traction.
Rob recommends four steps to prevent this happening and to help make smart use of time, including:
- Don’t mistake an interested prospect for a promising opportunity
- Ask pre-close questions right away
- Focus on quality (not quantity) in your pipeline
- Keep your bases covered
Paul Castain’s recent post looks at what to do when a cold sales call ends with someone hanging up on you. He begins by asking salespeople what would they do when a potential (cold) client hangs up on you, following it by saying that they shouldn’t call back saying ‘’I’m sorry, but I think we got disconnected’.
He goes on to detail the things he believes sales professionals should do in this situation, including take a look in the mirror and assessing your behaviour when making calls, try not to take it personally, consider sending them a card thanking them for taking the time to speak with you and let them know that you will keep in touch, get up and walk away for a few minutes and call someone worth of your attention.
