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.