SalesHQ

I don’t know about you, but I can always tell when a telemarketer is cold calling me. From the moment they begin speaking, “Hi is that Mr. Brooks?” to the way they fumble through their scripts, I have them pegged before they get past their first sentence. And like I’m sure it is with you too, I am immediately not interested. ...

In the old way of making cold calls, we offer a sales pitch to a perfect stranger, cross our fingers, and hope for the best... isn't that right? This really doesn't work very well in building a business relationship (or any other relationship, for that matter). This is done best by stepping into the world of the other person and finding ...

I’m a salesman. I sell sales training, management consulting, coaching and speaking presentations. My clients are companies, individual salespeople, business owners, and business and industry associations. I prospect. I have to if I want to stay in business. I, like every other salesperson, am constantly looking for potential new business. I also market my services and myself. I have to invest ...

I have seen many articles, blogs, and books professing to help sales people never cold call again. I like the idea myself. In fact, I wish people would give me business without ever writing a proposal or having another meeting again. Unfortunately as the old cliché goes: “Sales is a contact sport.” Networking, publicity, great websites etc. are all great tools ...

"I always hear people talking about how e-mail is today's 'killer app,'" my coaching client Janice told me when we were discussing ways of making contact with prospects. "But I'm afraid that people will think I'm spamming them if I try to e-mail them when we haven't met yet. I know I hate spam with a vengeance!" "You're not the only ...

Here's a great list of questions that every salesperson should consider before making a sales call: 1. What do I believe prospect will find most attractive or beneficial about my product or service? 2. What might they find least attractive or beneficial? 3. What questions are they likely to ask me? 4. What are the most essential questions I need to ...

Wouldn’t you like to make cold calling pleasant for both you and the other person? The best way to achieve this is to completely eliminate sales pressure. Whenever potential clients feel sales pressure, they almost always respond with defense and resistance. Hidden sales pressure takes many forms. If we can avoid the ways we bring sales pressure into our cold calling, ...

Early in my sales training career, I used to do about an hour on how to work with gatekeepers. Today, you no longer talk to live gatekeepers. Instead, you go straight into the prospect's voicemail system. Polite, patient executives who would never think of hanging up on you feel nothing when they delete your voicemail after one sentence. The typical businessperson ...

Most of us dread our days of making cold calls. We take a deep breath, pump ourselves up, and prepare to talk with a perfect stranger. Is there any wonder a gray cloud sometimes hangs over our desk? It really doesn't have to be this way. Cold calling can be an interesting, intriguing, fulfilling adventure. How do you do it? You ...

Have you noticed that the old "tried and true" cold calling techniques which were once successful have completely lost their effectiveness over the years? They just don't work anymore. Nevertheless, many salespeople are still use them because that's all they know. They're working from that old, ineffective cold calling mindset. And they're making the same mistakes over and over again. These ...

There it sits on your desk—the telephone. You hold ambivalent feelings about using this device. On the one hand, you hear high-income professionals testify that they “dialed for dollars”—almost fanatically—on their way to the top. On your more successful days, you agree with them. Yet at other times, when you struggle with gatekeepers, voice mail connections instead of live respondents, unreturned ...

1. Who Needs What You Have? Don't say everyone. This attitude makes cold calling overwhelming, and you'll get lots of rejections. You must establish a list of criteria, and here's where your boss and other successful salespeople can help you. Ask them, "What are the characteristics of our/your 3 best customers?" Get them to think deeply about the specifics -- the ...

Cold calling is dead, but still kicking. It's not to say that cold calling doesn't work, but everyone will agree, it's highly inefficient and very demotivating. Therefore, cold calling should go away, but it won’t. I stopped at my Starbucks today and saw a vitamin or similar sales rep recruiting a new employee. I overheard some words such as "pitch" and ...

Never approach a customer unprepared. According to a survey by Purchasing magazine, lack of preparation is the number one dislike buyers have about sellers, with a lack of interest or purpose following close behind. "Hello, your account has just been assigned to me," is blatant behavioral evidence that the salesperson is going through the motions. A better opening would be, "In ...

Imagine being in a crowded concert or bar. All of a sudden, a fight breaks out between two men who’ve had too much to drink. You happen to be a few steps away, and the next thing you know, one of the men turns to you and looks as if he’s going to take a swing at you. What's your first ...

Its an awesome sales cold calling tips book

...If the buyer just isn’t that into you, the provider's marketing team needs to help the salespeople find the buyers who are. There are lots of fish in the sea and salespeople need to be in the right places at the right time to catch them.

What's the difference between novice, average and truly professional salespeople? Unknowledgeable salespeople try to sell products. Product Marketing is the activity centered on products: defining them, positioning them, comparing them, etc. Average, competitive salespeople sell solutions, not products. Most sales professionals spend an extraordinary amount of time translating product feature/function information into something the customer will value, turning the "product" into ...

Details (yuck!) are the bane of a sales professional’s existence. None of us want to crunch puny little numbers throughout the day. Save that for the accountants who eat that stuff up. Let us be free to sell, sell, and sell some more. The only puny numbers we’re interested in are numbers like ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’, as in the number one ...

1. Create the urgency to buy more from you today! example: I have heard from other customers that the price is going up later today, or there might be a shortage on that item. Are you sure you only want 3? 2. Incetivize your customer to buy more today! Offer a deal if he buys more from you today. Example: if ...