Objection Handling

Objection handling:

All sales reps will encounter objections throughout their cold calls, inbound lead qualification discussions and follow up calls.
There are the standard ones such as "No thanks, I am not interested", "it is too expensive", "I am too busy now" and "Send me information via email please".
There are also some others, but in general most experienced sales reps can list their top ten frequently heard objections.
The important part is to not be scared away when faced with these but to learn the necessary skills to overcome these and move on to the next stage of your sales cycle.

Almost everything I know about handling objections is from Mr. Inside Sales, Mike Brooks. I love his chapter on this subject, and I have had amazing results from implementing his tips.

He created the 5 step plan to handling objections.

1 – The first step is to make sure you hear them out completely and then you should respond with a softening statement such as  “I understand that” or “ I hear what you are saying:”

It is vital to allow your prospects to express fully their opinions and to make sure they know you are truly listening to them. This is not a trick; it is real; you must listen fully to their objections to ensure you know exactly what you need to overcome this hurdle. Then the softening statement lets them know that you really did listen and that you are not responding in a confrontational manner. 

2 – The second step is to “Isolate” the objection without answering. Make sure you are both clear exactly what the objection is, so that once you respond to it there is no room for maneuvering or finding other excuses. This is done by asking the prospect if they would be interested in your product assuming this specific objection is overcome.

The main example is to respond to a price objection by saying: “I understand. If the price can be worked out to fit within your budget then is this something you would move forward with today”?

3 – The third step is to always use a scripted rebuttal. Again preparation is the key. After some practice you will be able to write a list of the common objections you face, and then plan and script your perfect response.

Let me take this opportunity to say that I love scripts and I hate scripts. What I mean by that is that I love scripts as everyone needs to have them perfected but I hate it when salesmen simply read the script. You need to learn them off by heart and make sure they sound genuine and conversational.

This is now your opportunity to respond to the objection with your perfect (and pre-planned) response. You should definitely practice and perfect this objection response.

4 – Once you have responded fully with your perfect rebuttal the next step is to Confirm your answer . This is achieved by simply asking a simple question such as “does that make sense to you”? Or “Do you see how that works for you“?.

This is the method for finding out if your prospect agreed with and accepted your rebuttal. If yes, then great you can move on. If not, then you should start this objection handling process again.

5 – To conclude this entire technique the last step is when you now directly ask for the next step or action to be taken.  Whatever the next step is that you want to move on to (whether it is to sign a contract or set up a meeting), always directly ask for it after you have listened to, identified, isolated and responded to your prospects objections. Now is the time to get what you want and cognitive dissonance will usually push the prospect to respond positively now that you have responded fully to his objections.

Here are some other tips on handling objections:

- Never repeat an objection. If you are told the price is too high then never ever say “oh you think the price is too high”. This only reinforces the objection rather than help you overcome it.

- Question the red flags – Don’t leave any objections or issues for a later point in the sales process as it will just make it harder to overcome and waste your valuable time. Leads don’t magically get better so make sure to handle objections immediately without delay.

- A typical objection is called the “Brush Off”. This is when people don’t have any interest in your product but don’t want to reject you. A usual example of this is when people request for you to send them information. A good response to this would be to say: " I would be happy to send you some information, and if you like what you see would you be ready to place an order?“ or “What exactly are you interested in receiving?”.

Growth of Inside Sales & Sales Development

Growth of Inside Sales

As discussed briefly in Chapter 1 (Inside Sales / Sales Development Definition) Sales is growing both as a viable long term replacement to traditional field sales and also as a career option for sales professionals around the world.

The Bridge Group announced in March 2013 that there has been an increase of 54% in Inside Sales job and career demand, specifically within the SaaS industry. This shows that more organizations are choosing the Inside Sales model and it also shows that more people are choosing Sales Development / Inside Sales as their career choice.

There are many benefits both to the company as well as to the individual salesman for choosing this route.

Benefits for the Company:

Global economic markets are getting tougher each year and new reports are constantly being published proving that business competitiveness is on the up. Therefore the majority of organizations (including small & medium businesses, government agencies and large corporate enterprises) are striving for greater efficiency, streamlining their business processes and ultimately trying to cut their bottom line costs.

Inside Sales offers these organizations a simple way of achieving this cost saving goal.

Organizations are turning to this model because it is a pure form of professional sales with the added benefit of saving companies time & money on travel expenses.

Many organizations are permitting their Inside Sales teams to work from home offices thus reducing costs even further.

Another advantage for the organization is that now that sales reps are no longer expected to travel they are more productive and efficient with their time.

This has all been made possible by the introduction of new technologies such as video conferencing, screen sharing, web chats, advanced email automation and smart phones.

Apart from cost savings another benefit for the Organization is that they can now hire reps without any geographical restrictions as the reps no longer need to necessarily live near their target market for travel purposes.

Benefits for the Individual Salesman:

Job seekers are also now choosing this new career path as they see the increasing demand for their skill sets within today’s modern and evolving market.

Sales professionals no longer view travel as a benefit as they are now realizing the need for a healthy work life balance. As mentioned above, many organizations are permitting their Inside Sales teams to work from home offices, thus providing a double benefit both to the organization as well as to the individual.

The emergence & growth of professional organizations, specifically the www.aa-isp.org , is enabling sales professionals to view Inside Sales as viable, well respected, long term career option that can offer them personal growth, job satisfaction and a re

Measuring Soft Skills

Measuring Soft Skills

As mentioned in a previous chapter, when managing an inside sales or sales development team, there are 2 main methods of measuring their performance: (1) Key (hard facts) metrics; (2) Soft measurements.

 This Chapter will discuss the second method. (The first method was covered in a previous Chapter).

(2) Measuring Soft Skills:

There is a lot less to be said about this method but please note that this is no less important than the first method.

Measuring these soft skills is probably harder because a manager cannot rely on factual data, and instead must hone his own managerial, training, coaching skills.

·         Job Satisfaction & Motivation: It is always important for a manager to determine his teams overall job satisfaction and motivation. A sales rep can make all the right noises, say all the right things, call all the correct people but if he is not motivated to make the sales then the lead will not want to buy from him. The old adage is still true: people buy from people.

·         Phone Manner: The same can be said about this point as well. If the sales rep does not perfect his phone manner then the product/solution will not sell itself. It is part of the manager’s responsibility to determine whether or not the sales rep is communicating clearly, eloquently, politely etc..

·         Sending correct emails & Collateral: Email communication is still a fundamental part of a salesman job. A manager must ensure that the emails are engaging, coherent, timely and relevant. A manager must also find out if the rep has a good grasp of the marketing collateral available.

·         Product Knowledge: It is important to determine the level of knowledge the sales rep has of the product itself. The sales rep cannot be expected to sell the product if he/she does not have a sufficient in-depth knowledge of the product itself. It is therefore not only important to find out if the rep has this knowledge but also whether or not the rep has the ability / intelligence / drive to gain any lacking knowledge.

·         Sales Skills: All sales managers must measure their team’s general and basic sales skills. This includes qualification questioning, negotiation, listening skills, objection handling, sales pitch, demo abilities and deal closing skills. This is clearly linked to the key metrics mentioned in the previous Chapter as they give the manager an indication as to which element his team member needs assistance with. The main method for measuring these soft skills is by role playing, attending sales meetings & demos and by listening into sales calls.

In conclusion I believe that it is important to measure an Inside Sales or Sales Development team on all of the above (including this Chapter and the previous Chapter), both hard facts and also soft skills. Focusing too much on one is not the correct method. In fact, focusing too much on only one aspect of one style is also not correct. A classic example of this is not to focus too much only on the bottom line $$ amount but to make sure that the entire process is being performed correctly. The flip side is to make sure not to focus only on the number of dials made but to make sure these are dials of quality to the correct people and that the right soft skills are being implemented to maximize the results that come out of these calls.

The key is to find the balance between the quantity and the quality of the calls.

How to Create a Value Proposition

How to Create a Value Proposition:

Most of us know why our products and services are good, what problems they solve and what our competitive advantages are.

But unfortunately not everyone else knows this and for sure they wont know this information without someone explaining it to them.

The purpose of the value proposition is to help us clearly explain to others all of these things in a manner that is easy to understand, concise, speaks directly to their individual needs and answers most of the common questions we receive.

If you enter a prospecting call with this value proposition already in mind you will be fully prepared to introduce your product in the best possible way.

If done correctly your Value Proposition statement will explain exactly what value you offer, why you offer it, exactly what problems you set out to solve, to whom it is beneficial to (which is hopefully the person you are speaking to) and what your competitive advantages are. You can also sneak in a reference to current customers that are experiencing similar pain points and how you assisted them.

This section of the conversation usually also overcomes many common objections before they even come up.

Unfortunately I cannot tell you what your value proposition is – sorry!

What I can do is pass on the techniques and strategies I have been taught in order to properly build your won.

The best thing to do is to answer a series of questions in order to create your perfect value proposition. Then all you have to do is learn how to concisely and clearly give this over to your prospects.

• Who are the different people involved in the decision to buy your product?

Then answer all of these questions for each one of these people:

• What does their daily work look like? How are they measured in their jobs? And how will CoSign make it better?
• What do buyers want from this type of product?
• What do buyers want to avoid from this type of product?
• How are we different?
• Can we help cut costs?
• What value have we provided others already?
• Do we help an inadequacy?

Based on these answers you will be able to create your value statements.

Remember: value is not the same for everyone:- end-users, managers, executives.

Therefore you should create a different Value Proposition for each person you will encounter along your sales cycle.

This does take a bit of time to put together but is definitely worth it. I can assure you the top performing sales reps are doing this and this is what sets them apart.

Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch

An Elevator Pitch is a succinct and persuasive sales pitch. It short be short and to the point.

It is important to keep your elevator pitch short and concise, probably 2 sentences long. 

Include 

(1) Your specific target market. 
(2) What specific benefits and results you achieve for them (not product) based on their problems or pains.

It is also important to make this sound conversational.

I once learnt a great technique to help with delivering your elevator pitch.

This was phrased as having:

3 Elevator pitches instead of 1

Instead of saying everything at once, the elevator pitch should be split into three stages.

You only move onto the next stage if the Lead has shown enough interest to listen more.

(1)

Know:  -  Explain what they absolutely need to know about your service/product . 

For example: "CoSign is the leading digital signature solution."

(2)

Understand:  - Then there is the second phase which is called UNDERSTAND. Only move to this stage if they were interested by your opening KNOW statement. In this section you explain what they need to know to understand exactly what you do, who for and the benefits & value you offer your clients.

An example is “ We assist Government Agencies in the US go paperless, automate their business processes whilst maintaining high levels of security and complying with industry regulations".

(3)

Engage:  Only if they show interest do you move to the third stage which is to engage with them.

This is usually achieved with a short and simple open ended question in order to find out if they are interested in discussing this with you in more detail.

An example is to ask: - “Is this something you are interested in learning more about?”.

Intro Statements

Intro Statements

I am fully aware that my previous blog post entitled "Opening Statements" was very helpful in knowing what NOT to say in your opening statement.

But what does that actually mean we should say??

As usual I want to stress that to be successful we need to plan and so I strongly advise you to plan properly every step of this process and that includes what exactly you WILL say in your opening statements.

Here are the 4 sections you need to include within your opening statements.

1 – Introduction – introduce yourself and your company. When relevant and if helpful also state your job role, especially if this is a crucial factor.

2 – Verify – verify that they are the person you want to speak to.

3 – Purpose of your call - State clearly and concisely the purpose of your call. A strong example is to say “The purpose of my call is..”

4 – Transition Question – The next step is to transition into a qualification question to maintain their engagement, interest and cooperation. This also gives you an early chance to understand their needs better. Make it a simple and open ended question that guarantees a “yes” or positive response. An example would be “Am I correct in understanding that you are in charge of choosing your printer supplier and that you are currently paying $10 from your current supplier”.

This shows you have done your research and opens up the conversation as opposed to it being a monologue from your side.

Opening Statements

Opening Statements:

First impressions are crucial in all aspects of life, and never more true when cold calling someone.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Make a strong first impression that leaves the recipient wanting to hear what else you have to say. 

The reason we all remember the line Good morning Vietnam is not only because Robin Williams was so funny but because it was such a different opening statement to what we are used to receiving on the radio.

It was positive  and memorable. Robin Williams read the audience very well and understood what was needed to be different and to match the occasion.

Now there is no way I am advocating and recommending you go and do the same on your phone calls but there is something to be learnt from that story.

For example in order to be slightly different and to be upbeat you can replace the typical  “how are you today” with something more memorable such as :

• How is your Tuesday so far
• How’s the day treating you
• You sound like you are having a good day
• Hoping your having a good day

ALWAYS listen to the answer. Far too many salesman call me and don’t wait for me to answer this greeting, they just go straight into their sales pitch. I find this rude and puts me right off.

Do not mention any information on your products too early without mentioning the results which they bring . Mention the benefits and end result - not the service. Don’t try to sell them the product in the first sentence. This will not convince them at all and will only convince them that you are not worth listening to.

You need to build a rapport with them and understand what they want/require before moving to the next level (value statements).

Small talk – only if you are comfortable with it. Don’t open a can of worms. Remember you are in control of the conversation so choose your words wisely.

Here are my Top 10 Sentences to avoid:

1.“Just” – just calling to ask, just a minute of your time, just wanted to know,…

2.“I wanted to introduce myself..” – It is simpler and more straightforward to say “May name is David Garcia..”

3.Anything negative or embarrassing – Don’t tell them they have hard to pronounce or unusual names or that they are hard to reach.

4.“As you know we are the top provider..” – Assumptions like this make you look haughty.

5.“Are you the person there in charge of..” – You should have done your research.

6.Don’t ever apologize for taking their time and don’t ever thank them for taking your call.

7.“calling to check in / touch base..” – Be clear what your call objective is and don’t shy away from this.

8.“As you can guess this is a sales call” – Its awkward and shows you are nervous about what you are doing.

9.“I am not trying to sell you something” – This is a lie and if you believe in what you offer then there is never any reason to be untruthful.

10.“Do you have a few minutes to talk” - If he doesn't, be assured he will tell you anyway.

Bonus = 11.  “show..and ..tell” – These are bossy words that should be avoided. It is more productive to simply show them the demo or tell them about the feature benefits rather than to say what you will do.

When I started following these rules I immediately saw positive results. I received less hang ups, engaged my prospects quicker and generally felt more comfortable holding conversations. The recipients reacted positively to me and seemed to be far more responsive.

Time Management

Time Management:

Time Management is not a subject specific to phone sales, nevertheless it is still of the utmost importance. This is especially true when your job is to call prospects all day as part of a lead generation ,lead prospecting or lead qualification team.

It is important to manage your time accordingly to make sure you have enough time each day to call your new leads as well as your long term follow up calls. Make sure to take breaks to maintain your full energy levels.

One strategy that helps me is to write down my tasks for the next day at the end of every working day, then review this list at the start of the following day. This daily activity plan helps you maintain focus and increases your chances of completing all your daily tasks. If possible arrange the list in order of difficulty or importance and then tackle the hardest (or most important) task first – thus guaranteeing every day to be a successful day.

Remember that you are in charge of your schedule so don’t let your inbox, calendar or colleagues dictate your daily schedule. Shut off all distractions and take back control of your own time. This does not mean saying no to meetings or not responding to emails but instead try to schedule meetings at a time that does not interfere with your calling schedule and ask colleagues to respect that. Your own voice gives clues to others on how you manage your time.

The same goes for your clients or prospects. Make sure you control your own time and therefore it is important to know when a prospect is wasting your time so you can learn the “NEXT” technique set out by Mike Brooks (Mr. Inside Sales). He teaches methods for knowing when to move onto the next prospect once you have realized that you no longer have anything to gain from the one you are speaking with now.

Setting yourself small daily, weekly or monthly targets ensures you maintain a healthy level of motivation.

Don’t take rejection too seriously and definitely don’t take it personally. Try to gain some small wins even within the rejections so that your mindset is always positive when making that next call.

Sales enablement and sales acceleration tools can assist you in being more efficient and productive. I will discuss this in detail later on.

A nice tip I was once given was to group my calls. This means calling similar prospects one after the other allowing you to build up momentum with the similar and repeatable tasks and/or sales pitch.

Later on we will also discuss the importance of planning before each call you make. Having a clear call objective can make all the difference in turning your calls into successes. 

When is the best time to call your prospects?

Art Sobczack in his book “Smart Calling” quotes the survey conducted by www.sellingpower.com  which found the following:

•Thursday is the best day to contact a lead. It was 20% better than Friday which was the worst day

•8am to 9am is generally the best time to call business people. Then 4pm -5pm is the second best time. This is especially true for decision makers in managerial / executive positions because they are primarily in meetings during the day.

However “Smart Calling” throws all of this out of the window and says it does not matter what time or day you call!!

It matters what you say and how you say it! 

If you are not calling all day then what else are you doing and how do you expect to succeed?!
Don't waste valuable time; make sure you spend as much time as possible on the phone calling your prospects. 

However there are industry specific rules that must be followed. Such as not to call a restaurant at lunch time (their busiest time) and also always be aware of time zones for different geographic locations.

The key is to measure your own success in your industries to find your own winning formula. (breaks, lunch times, in-between meetings..)

Here are some proven techniques you can adopt to ritualize your calls:

•Set fixed times to focus only on calls (no emails, meetings, messages, colleagues..) and always stick to these times. Some people call these POWER HOURS. These work best when all distractions are turned off and all your pre-call planning has already been prepared. generally these should be scheduled for 3 times per week.

•End with a positive note every day, even if it is a small win such as a secondary target.

•Best days to call are days no one else is calling (late December, early Jan, Friday afternoons, before 7, after hours, weekends (be careful with this one), bad weather days such as snow etc…

•Follow up calls – always ask when is best. Ask the PA or the prospect himself. Make a note of when they have answered and not answered your calls so far.

•Warm up the prospect before making your call – If legal add to mailing list and send intro email before calling with news or relevant intro.

•Send snail mail – old school but works. Even sending unusual items can work.

What time management techniques work for you?

Planning for Success

Planning for Success

In order to have a successful phone call you must do your pre-call planning. 

This involves 3 main stages.

1. Define your goals & objectives for the call 
2. Intelligence Gathering
3. What will you say?

I cannot stress how important it is to go through these planning stages before each and every phone call you make.

Let’s start with the first stage of planning which is to define your Call Objectives.

Before starting any phone call make sure you know how you want the call to end.

what do you want to achieve from this call? What is your aim? What is the best possible (and realistic) outcome?

The call objective needs to be split into two – the primary objective and the secondary objective.

The Primary objective must be higher than what you would expect (aim high) and must be an action you expect the prospect to do. For example set an appointment and invite colleagues. Don’t set your primary objection as simply to send them introductory information about your product/service.

Think big – always aim for the stars with your goals and objectives. Donald Trump once said “As long as you are thinking anyway, think big”.

Rejection: it is vital to never take rejection personally and try to find small wins such as getting them to read your email, finding out why they said no or who they already buy from, or simply to be put on newsletter. This will keep you positive and motivated.

Even when rejected stay polite, professional and positive on the phone. Leave them with a good feeling about you and the company as you never know what the future holds.

The Secondary objectives is about planting seeds for the future. If rejected on your primary objective then make sure to achieve your secondary objective.

It may be to remember you in the future when reassessing things in the future, or for them to agree to be added to your drip marketing and newsletter.

An example of this was written by Art Sobczak: (I 100% credit him with a lot I learnt on this entire subject).

“I know it is not a fit for today but if you find the volume gets too much for your current supplier (as he is limited unlike us..) then please promise me you will remember to get in contact with me keeping in mind this is exactly what we specialize in and can help solve this exact problem”.

The benefits of having a secondary objective are that it ensures you will never be rejected again because you will always have some type of win; and it allows you to plant seeds for the future that you might harvest later.

Moving on to the second stage of planning – Intelligence Gathering. You should gather intelligent & relevant information about the person you will be calling, his background, his company, his colleagues, his role, challenges, interests and so forth. 

The absolutely crucial information you always need to know before calling someone is their Basic company facts (size, location, industry, products..) ; Recent company news (mergers, new contracts, new personnel, expansion, layoffs..) ; Trigger events from outside world (change in industry regulations or compliance) and their Personal Information (name, job title, location, background, responsibilities).

If possible try to find common ground such as a shared acquaintance or a common interest.

You cannot successfully pitch your product to someone if you don’t know what their pain points are, what challenges they face and how your product/service can assist them.

It is therefore important to do your homework beforehand to be as prepared as possible.

With regards to intelligence gathering it is important to remember that quality is better than quantity.

Where will you get this information?

Most of this information can be found on the internet, company website & blogs, Google news alerts, your own internal database, LinkedIn and data providers such as Hoovers / OneSource / Data.com etc..

I even know a salesman who often buys 1 share in their stock in order to gain access to shareholder information.

Another great way to get this information is through social engineering. Gather information from your prospects’ peers, colleagues, employees. Ask the gatekeeper (PA or secretary) for information, listen to voice-mail messages to know when they are on vacation (so you can chat about this on the phone and/or so you know when to call back) .

In order to plan the third stage (what you will say) you will need to know your opening statement, your value proposition, elevator pitch, qualification criteria & questions, FAQs, and how to close the call with actionable follow up items. 

These will be covered individually in the upcoming future chapters.

Again, I want to repeat that these 3 steps need to be taken before each and every call.

General Phone Skills

Today I would like to discuss some basic telephone skills that are essential no matter what the purpose of your phone conversation. It does not matter whether it is a full on sales call, an introduction chat, a follow up call or even a demo of your products or services – these basic necessities must be covered for you to guarantee that you are giving yourself every possible chance to succeed..

Most of this is obvious but unfortunately most people ignore these totally.

Lets start with your telephone equipment: It is important to use good phone equipment for every single call you make.

The phone connection is actually your real first impression and its essential this is a good first impression. Nothing annoys people more on calls than not hearing clearly what the other person is saying.

Check you have a good microphone, speaker, the phone itself is comfortable to hold and use, do you need a headset and if so make sure you use a modern good quality one. Also, always check the volume is clear, that there is no static, a good connection and no echo. Make sure everything works. 

The bottom line is that I strongly advise you to invest in good quality equipment.

Your environment must also be 100% conducive to having productive phone calls. Therefore no distractions, no external noises, no dogs barking, no family members disturbing half way through your call etc…

Make sure your room temperature is comfortable as well. Not too hot or cold – It is totally true that people can hear it in voice when you are shivering cold or sweating from heat.

Your voice is of course essential. Now I am not asking anyone to change their voice J, nor am I asking people to go on a voice training course.

However there are certainly some things that can be done to improve the way we sound and the impression that our voice gives to other people.

Speak with a calm, honest, slightly enthusiastic and happy tone. This will show that you truly believe in your product / service.

Try not to be overly enthusiastic as that will make you sound fake and can be overwhelming for the person on the other side.

It is important to speak slowly but not like a boring robot and definitely do not read from a script. On the other hand do not speak too fast as then people will be unable to understand your words. The average speed is about 130 words per minute but everyone knows there own balanced speed after some practice. Ask friends & family for feedback if required.

Don’t shout but make sure your voice is clear. Speak clearly & concisely as people find it hard to listen and concentrate to overly long sentences.

The last advice I have here is to try not to sound too clever with long and complicated words.

Even though we are discussing phone skills, your overall body language is equally important.

If you are not fully concentrating then the person on the other side of the phone will pick this vibe up and himself will lose interest.

Some small tips to help you: Don’t fiddle with your pen, don’t type at same time (write notes with a pen and type them up afterwards if necessary), don’t surf the internet at the same time, and definitely don’t temporarily place your phone on mute whilst you chat to someone else – even if only briefly.

One of the best tips I was ever given was to stand when speaking on the phone. This opens up your lungs slightly and gives you a more authoritative tone of voice. This tip is used by salesmen when negotiating deals.

Listening is just as important as talking. Even if you are the salesman. Try not to babble on too much, keep your sentences concise and always listen. Listen to their answers, listen to their tone for their level of interest and listen for specific objections. The more you listen the more you will learn.

Phone sales is an art and like any art & skill it needs to be learnt and practiced in order to constantly improve. Practice to see what works well for you. Only you can know what you feel comfortable saying and what you prefer to avoid.

Feel free to practice some of these skills with me, with your peers & colleagues and on your prospects. I sometimes just call my friends and practice. Another technique that is successful was suggested many years ago by Stan Billue, a top telemarketing sales trainer in the late 1980’s. He claimed that you could double your results in 90 days by recording your calls. By listening to your own calls you will be able to hear yourself and know what needs to be done to improve.