Section 2. Your phone cannot fail you
Telephone marketing cannot fail.
The phone is the most powerful sales tool in your office
As Ron Holland (talk and grow rich) says
‘The orator is king’
Use the written word to give useful information.
Use conversation, either face to face or on the phone to sell (From Ron’s Book Talk and Grow Rich)
Providing you have more than a few hundred potential customers, an integrated telephone marketing campaign (phone + email + web + content) cannot fail.
The telephone – tried, tested and integrates with all other forms of marketing
The first and by far the most important secret in selling
is to learn to take no for an answer.
The second secret is to ask...
conversational questions and listen to the answers.
The process that succeeds over and over again...
Call a potential customer and ask if you can send some information.
Send the information
A week or two later call them back, refer to the information in passing and ask a relevant open question
Wait for the answer and start a short conversation. (Drawn from Bill Good’s book Telephone Sales Methods That Really Work).
Ask if you can send some relevant information and keep in touch.
Keep in touch by sending interesting, useful and relevant information.
When the time is right the process will change into ‘sales mode’ when the prospective customer starts asking about price, delivery etc. It will happen naturally and you don't need to force it.
The opening line should be something like, “My name is A B from xyz. We make/do/provide ABC and I thought this might be of use to you. Ermm... at this stage I just wondered if I could send you some information?
Try it now...
The numbers game!
Between 92 and 97 out of every hundred people you contact will not be interested (this is why you need to take no for an answer). However the 3 - 8 people/hundred will be interested.
About 40% of the people who express an interest will become customers. This equates to one or two out of every hundred who expressed interest when first contacted.
A genuine anecdote that sums everything up...
A friend of mine started a successful electronics company.
We were in the village pub one night when someone asked him how he did it.
This is what he said,
“ I decided to make 100 phone calls to see if I could find some customers.
After making the 100 calls no-one was interested. But I decided to make just one more call and they said yes.”
The company that said yes was Dolby and my late good friend Paddy Lynch was on his way...
If all you do is this - you will succeed
Find a list of prospective customers..
Make low key, inoffensive phone calls asking for interest - my name's x from abc, we make/do xyz, can I send you some information? Most people will say no, just accept this.
Send those who express an interest an email with some basic information. Make emails personal, informal but professional.
Call them back about a week later.
Refer in passing to the information and ask an open question ...
Be the first to hang up
When a prospect says they are not interested (however they say it) reply with sincerity,
“OK, no problem, sorry to bother you.”
Then put the phone down before they do. Make sure you are sincere with no hint of sarcasm. They may call you back in a few weeks. But if you pester them they won’t.
Of course we are disappointed when we’ve researched a company, know they could buy from us and they are not interested.
Just put the phone down and move on to the next call
Action Step 1. Find a list of customers
Search lists of your potential customers on the Internet. Some of the best lists are intended for buyers rather than sales people.
Action step 2. Make test calls
Do the same as Paddy Lynch and make 100 calls just asking if you can send some information. Between 3 and 8 people will agree. About half of those who said yes to receiving information will become customers. This seems a small percent - about two out of every 100 but your business will grow!
Learning from experience
Practise asking open questions that get others to open up to you in different settings. The best conversationalists are the ones who do the listening, not the ones who do all the talking.
Setting targets that can be achieved.
Set performance targets not outcome targets
Do this and you’ll get better results.
Almost all sales managers tell their sales staff how many new customers or leads they must get per day, week or month. OLD SCHOOL!
Although it's the bottom line that counts; it's how you get to the outcome that needs to be the focus of the target setting.
The performance targets in telephone marketing can be measured by the:
· Calls per day
· Letters sent
· E-mails sent
· Low key 'keep in touch' calls
· Follow up calls
· Information sent out
· Follow up letters
· Quotes
· Appointments made
· Inbound calls
· Length of time spent in conversation with a prospect.
Let the salesperson set his or her own performance targets.
All salespeople have an individual style and there is a wide range of skills. The full range of skills available in a team can be used and each member of the team should be encouraged to share their skills. This leads to mutual coaching and support. This leads to higher performance levels, more sales and better customer relations.
Sales people tend to fall into the following types:
· Some like to make a lot of quick calls. Ideal when prospecting.
· Some like to chat and have conversations. Ideal when following up prospecting calls.
· Some like to send letters and emails. Ideal for prospecting and building interest. (coach them to make more calls however).
· Some salespeople are quite serious and introspective. Ideal for selling to large organisations and on complex tenders etc.
· Some are outgoing and exuberant. Ideal for sales that happen quickly.
Performance targets should reflect the style of each sales person and unified in a team.
Let a team manage itself.
This is the hardest, yet the most important thing any manager can do.
A team is stronger than the individuals in it. Working as part of a team is one of the most rewarding experiences humans can enjoy. It can make going to work a pleasure.
A team tends to exclude non members and a manager cannot be part of any team s/he is managing because a team will appoint its own leader.
A manager can't even build a team but s/he can provide the circumstances where a group of people are able to work towards common goals. If these circumstances are provided a group of people will form a team.
Once a team has formed it should be allowed to set its own goals and the performance targets needed to achieve them.
A manager acts as a guide and consultant to a team and not as a supervisor.
A common practice in British Industry is for managers to break up teams. The psychological pressure on a manager is high when s/he has a strong team because the team works extremely well without apparent supervision and will take decisions on their own. A manager can feel excluded and rejected.
Team building management style
· Provide facilities and environment for working as a team
· Manage conflict areas such as holidays, sickness
· Mediate arguments because teams argue a lot more than a bunch of individuals
· Facilitate at team meetings and guide rather than direct conversations
· Provide ongoing feedback and encouragement
· Identify and integrate skills.
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