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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Unlock the power of a simple phone call to boost your sales with guidance from a world-renowned expert In Pick Up The Phone and Sell: How Proactive Calls To Customers and Prospects Can Double Your Sales, sales expert, consultant, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Alex Goldfayn delivers a comprehensive roadmap to one of the most important weapons in any salesperson's arsenal: the phone. From the author of Selling Boldly and 5-Minute Selling, the book teaches you techniques to supercharge your sales by making the proactive call the tip of your selling spear. In addition to critical advice on how to call people you don't know, this timely and important book includes: * A thorough introduction to the power of a proactive phone call and links to free call planners and trackers at goldfayn.com * Direction on how to use text messaging as an adjunct to phone sales * Instructions on the appropriate role of social media, including LinkedIn, in boosting telephone sales * Guidance on how to stop being afraid of phone calls and how to effectively warm up any cold call. Perfect for new and experienced salespeople alike, who are more comfortable with email, videoconferencing, social media, and text than they are with the telephone, Pick Up The Phone and Sell is an indispensable guide to one of the most important and lucrative tools in the selling profession.
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Seitenzahl: 241
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: THE LOST ART OF PROACTIVE CALLING IN THE SALES PROFESSION
CHAPTER 2: AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: HOW TO PICK UP THE PHONE AND SELL
CHAPTER 3: LEAD WITH THE PHONE: MAKE IT THE TIP OF YOUR SELLING SPEAR
DEFINITION: WHAT IS A PROACTIVE CALL?
PROACTIVE CALLS FEED THE SALES MACHINE
PHONE FIRST: LEAD WITH THE PHONE
THREE TO FIVE CALLS A DAY
CHAPTER 4: THE PHONE IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE AND UNDERUSED SELLING TOOL WE HAVE
REASONS THE PHONE IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE SELLING TOOL
PHONE CALLS MAKE US SINGULARLY MEMORABLE, BUT EMAIL MAKES US FORGETTABLE
WHAT ABOUT MEETINGS?
CHAPTER 5: WHY WE AVOID THE PHONE
PRACTICAL REASONS WE DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE
MINDSET ISSUES FOR WHY WE DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE
CHAPTER 6: THE PHONE COMPARED TO OTHER SALES COMMUNICATIONS PATHWAYS
THE PROACTIVE CALL
IN-PERSON MEETINGS
VIDEO CONFERENCES
TEXT MESSAGES
HANDWRITTEN NOTES
LINKEDIN AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
CHAPTER 7: PLANNERS AND TRACKERS TO HELP YOU PICK UP THE PHONE AND SELL
CREATE YOUR TARGET 60: A RUNNING LIST OF CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH
PLAN YOUR PROACTIVE CALLS FOR THE WEEK
FINALLY, LOG YOUR CALLS
PART TWO: YOUR MINDSET AND YOUR PHONE
CHAPTER 8: IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO OUTSELL YOUR MINDSET
SPORTS AS A PARALLEL
WHY IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO OUTSELL OUR MINDSET
THE MINDSETS THAT MAKE PROACTIVE CALLING EASY
THESE MINDSETS GO TOGETHER
OUR MINDSET IS NEITHER FIXED NOR PERMANENT – YOU CAN DEVELOP IT
CHAPTER 9: FEAR IS THE ENEMY OF PICKING UP THE PHONE
ON FEAR IN SALES
FEARS ARE NOT GROUNDED IN REALITY
SO, WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THIS FEAR?
CHAPTER 10: LET'S TALK ABOUT OUR SPECIFIC FEARS AROUND PHONE SELLING
REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE MOSTLY CALLING PEOPLE YOU KNOW
THE FEAR: I DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN AS A USED CAR SALESPERSON.
THE FEAR: I DON'T WANT TO BOTHER THE CUSTOMER.
THE FEAR: THEIR PHONE IS ALREADY RINGING OFF THE HOOK.
THE FEAR: IF THEY WANT TO TALK TO ME, THEY'LL CALL ME.
THE FEAR: I DO NOT ENJOY GETTING PHONE CALLS, SO PEOPLE OBVIOUSLY DO NOT
LIKE
TO TALK ON THE PHONE.
THE FEAR: NOBODY ANSWERS THEIR PHONE ANYWAY, SO WHY BOTHER?
A FINAL NOTE ON FEAR – THESE ARE
OUR
DISCOMFORTS
CHAPTER 11: BELIEVE IN YOUR VALUE AS MUCH AS YOUR CUSTOMERS DO
CHAPTER 12: PERSEVERANCE IS A SALES SUPERPOWER
THE DEFINITION OF PERSEVERANCE
OURS IS A REJECTION PROFESSION
SALES SUCCESS IS LIKE A RARE AND VALUABLE ROOKIE CARD
PERSEVERANCE IS TWICE AS IMPORTANT AS TALENT OR TECHNIQUE
THE NEXT EFFORT MAY BE THE ONE THAT GETS IT DONE
PERSEVERANCE EVEN WHEN IT FEELS HOPELESS
HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF AND THE PROCESS
TWO KINDS OF PERSEVERANCE
THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF MULTIPLE EFFORTS
WHO DESERVES FOR US TO PERSEVERE?
AND, AT THE TOP OF THE LIST OF THOSE WHO DESERVE FOR YOU TO APPLY PERSEVERANCE TO YOUR SELLING WORK: YOU!
CHAPTER 13: THE FIRST PHONE CALL IS THE ANSWER!
JUST MAKE THE FIRST PROACTIVE CALL.
PART THREE: CALL TACTICS, MECHANICS, AND STRATEGIES
CHAPTER 14: HOW PROACTIVE CALLS CAN FIT INTO YOUR SALES PROCESS
WHAT PROACTIVE CALLS CAN DO FOR YOU
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH PROSPECTS BEFORE YOUR SALES CONVERSATION BEGINS
START NEW SALES CONVERSATIONS WITH NEW PROSPECTS
PROGRESS EXISTING OPPORTUNITIES TOWARD A QUOTE OR PROPOSAL
FOLLOW UP ON QUOTES AND PROPOSALS TO CLOSE THEM
BEGIN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS OR SERVICES FOR YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS
NOTE: YOU KNOW THESE PEOPLE
CHAPTER 15: PRE- AND POST-CALL COMMUNICATIONS
PHONE FIRST: MAKE CALLS THE FIRST COMMUNICATION IN YOUR SELLING WORK
THE OPTIONAL PRE-CALL COMMUNICATION
SEND A POST-CALL COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER 16: WHAT TIME OF DAY SHOULD YOU CALL?
EAT THE FROG
CHAPTER 17: HOW MANY CALLS PER DAY?
THREE PROACTIVE CALLS DAILY IS ENOUGH TO DRIVE UP YOUR SALES SIGNIFICANTLY
SO, HOW MANY CALLS PER DAY IS THE RIGHT NUMBER?
CHAPTER 18: THE POWER OF A POMODORO TIMER
WHY USE A POMODORO TIMER?
HOW TO USE IT
CHAPTER 19: ALWAYS LEAVE A VOICEMAIL: SIMPLE SCRIPTS TO GET YOUR CALLS RETURNED
COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE VOICE MESSAGE
SEND AN ELECTRONIC MESSAGE AFTER LEAVING YOUR VOICEMAIL
CHAPTER 20: AN EFFECTIVE PROACTIVE CALL HAS THREE PARTS
ALTOGETHER, EACH OF THESE CALLS LASTS 5 TO 10 MINUTES – NO MORE
MOST PEOPLE ARE CHALLENGED BY THE THIRD PART
CHAPTER 21: SILENCE WILL MAKE YOU RICH
IT'S OUR DISCOMFORT, NOT THE CUSTOMER'S
THE CUSTOMER SHOULD TALK AT LEAST 75% OF THE TIME
CHAPTER 22: WHY IT'S CRITICAL TO LOG YOUR CALLS
PART FOUR: WHO SHOULD YOU CALL? MOSTLY, CALL PEOPLE YOU KNOW
CHAPTER 23: YOU KNOW HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WHO CAN BUY FROM YOU – CALL THEM!
CURRENT CUSTOMERS
PAST CUSTOMERS
CURRENT PROSPECTS
PAST PROSPECTS
THESE CALLS ARE LIGHTNING FAST
THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS
HOW TO PLAN WHO TO CALL
CHAPTER 24: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO CAN BUY MORE FROM YOU
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO CAN BUY MORE
CHAPTER 25: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO JUST RECEIVED PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO JUST RECEIVED PRODUCTS OR SERVICE FROM YOU
CHAPTER 26: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO HAVEN'T MADE THEIR REGULAR PURCHASE IN A WHILE
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO USED TO BUY SOMETHING REGULARLY BUT STOPPED
CHAPTER 27: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO EMAIL YOU ORDERS AND INQUIRIES
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO EMAIL ORDERS AND INQUIRIES
CHAPTER 28: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE A QUOTE OR PROPOSAL
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE A QUOTE OR PROPOSAL
CHAPTER 29: CALL CUSTOMERS YOU HAVEN'T TALKED TO IN THREE MONTHS OR MORE
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS YOU HAVEN'T TALKED TO IN THREE MONTHS OR MORE
CHAPTER 30: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO USED TO BUY FROM YOU, BUT STOPPED
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO USED TO BUY FROM YOU BUT STOPPED
NOW, PIVOT TO THE SALE
CHAPTER 31: CALL CUSTOMERS WHO ARE HOUSE ACCOUNTS AND RARELY HEAR FROM YOUR COMPANY
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO CUSTOMERS WHO ARE HOUSE ACCOUNTS
CHAPTER 32: CALL PROSPECTS YOU'VE TALKED TO BUT WHO NEVER BOUGHT FROM YOU
ABOUT THIS GROUP OF CUSTOMERS
WHY CALL THEM?
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO PROSPECTS YOU'VE PREVIOUSLY TALKED TO
PART FIVE: COLD CALLS: CALLING PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW … YET
CHAPTER 33: AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON COLD CALLING
CHAPTER 34: THE BENEFITS OF CALLING PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW … YET
PROSPECTS DON'T KNOW YOU ONLY ONCE: AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST CALL
CALLING PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW QUICKLY BUILDS THE LIST OF PEOPLE YOU KNOW
YOU'RE FILLING YOUR PIPELINE AND INCREASING YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
MORE PEOPLE WILL GET TO BE HELPED BY YOU
CHAPTER 35: THERE ARE NO COLD CALLS, SO STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM THAT WAY
PERSONAL AREAS IN COMMON
PANDEMIC AREAS IN COMMON
BUSINESS AREAS IN COMMON
YOU HAVE ALL THIS IN COMMON – SO PLEASE STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM AS COLD CALLS
CHAPTER 36: HOW TO FIND PROSPECTS YOU DON'T KNOW YET
ASK YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS
WHO ELSE
BUYS WHAT YOU SELL
ASK YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS FOR REFERRALS OUTSIDE THEIR COMPANY
ASK KEY CONNECTORS FOR REFERRALS
MINE YOUR COMPANY'S PAST CUSTOMERS
CALL PROSPECTS YOU SIMPLY KNOW ARE BUYING ELSEWHERE NOW
IF YOU NEED EVEN MORE, GO TO LINKEDIN
CHAPTER 37: SCRIPTS FOR QUICKLY WARMING UP COLD CALLS
YOUR SCRIPT: WHAT TO SAY TO PROSPECTS YOU DON'T KNOW (REMEMBER, THESE AREN'T COLD CALLS, BUT RELATIONSHIP CALLS OR HELPING CALLS)
CHAPTER 38: LET'S FOCUS ON WHAT WE CAN CONTROL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
Guide
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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ALEX GOLDFAYNWall Street Journal Bestselling Author of 5-Minute Selling
PICK UP THE PHONE AND SELL
HOW PROACTIVE CALLS TO CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS CAN DOUBLE YOUR SALES
Copyright © 2022 by Alex Goldfayn. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 9781119814603 (Hardcover)ISBN 9781119814641 (ePDF)ISBN 9781119814658 (ePub)
Cover design: PAUL MCCARTHY
To my mom, Jane Goldfayn, who makes proactive calls to me every single day.
She was the first writer in the family.
PART ONEINTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1THE LOST ART OF PROACTIVE CALLING IN THE SALES PROFESSION
This is the most obvious book I've ever written.
You're reading my fifth book on sales growth, but none has been as clearly necessary and important to write as this one. Especially now, in a post-pandemic world, where we cannot see our customers nearly as much as we previously could.
In the selling profession, only the phone is so universally understood to be the key to success and, at the same time, so widely avoided. A surprisingly large number of salespeople even dread it.
In the 1980s and so many of the decades that came before, if you wanted to sit in your office and communicate with a lot of people quickly, the only option you had was the wired landline telephone.
So a lot of salespeople had no choice but to be really good at using the phone.
In the late 1990s, we got email. It was faster. And easier.
And, over time, many of us moved to email as our preferred method of communicating with customers and prospects.
Then we got cell phones.
And text messages.
And then social media rolled in:
We could have Facebook pages.
And LinkedIn connections.
And we could tweet at people.
All of these things were also faster, easier, and far less threatening than the phone.
So we went to them.
Because on these platforms, rejection is usually simply silence, whereas on the phone, it's intimate and personal and spoken directly into our ears.
Of course, we still have meetings, and we're good at them because we never really stopped having them.
But how many meetings can you have in a day? About as many as an hour's worth of phone conversations.
And so, over the last few “Internet decades,” the entire sales profession has moved away from what so many used to excel at: proactive phone calls to customers and prospects.
What's a proactive call?
Communicating by phone with customers and prospects when nothing is wrong.
I run a large solo consulting practice, working with business-to-business organizations to grow their sales. My clients average 10–20% in additional new sales growth annually directly from our work together. Even large companies, in mature industries. Even companies that have been stagnant and have not added significantly to their sales in years. Even these companies add 10–20% in new sales.
Individually, many salespeople double and sometimes even triple their sales when applying the techniques I teach them – techniques I lay out in this book.
How would doubling your sales numbers improve your life?
Or maybe “only” increasing them by 50% … what would that do for you and your family?
How do my client salespeople achieve this kind of growth?
Centrally, with the phone.
By letting customers and prospects hear from them proactively.
By being present.
By being interested.
By demonstrating that they care.
How?
Almost entirely with the phone.
Before the pandemic, I did 75 to 100 speeches and workshops each year focused on my techniques for sales growth.
When the pandemic besieged us, I continued doing live sessions virtually, but because salespeople couldn't see their customers any more, I doubled down on how to use the phone to grow sales.
Many of these sessions were in multiple parts – often a series of three sessions, with the same audience each time.
By the third webinar, after spending at least two hours exploring the ins and outs of telephone selling, I would ask the attendees what they'd like me to focus on. I like to go where my audiences want me to go.
I would even give options:
Do you want to talk about selling more to existing customers?
Or asking for referrals?
Or following up on quotes or proposals?
What about asking for the business?
Or do you want me to go over phone selling some more?
(Keep in mind, this was the dominant topic of the previous two sessions these same people had attended.)
Via the chat function, people made their requests. The vast majority of topics salespeople wanted to cover centered on selling over the phone:
When should we call?
Who should we call?
What if we don't have the customer's cell phone number?
Do I leave a voice message?
How many times should I try before giving up?
And then, inevitably, these kinds of comments would be raised:
I don't like selling on the phone, but I know I need to
.
I hate getting cold calls
.
I don't have time to call people
.
Nobody returns my calls anyway
.
These questions and comments illustrate the obvious: there is a hunger for instruction on how to sell with the phone. And there is discomfort about doing it.
We've gotten away from using the phone as a selling tool, but innately, we know how useful and effective it can be.
To complicate matters, there is a dearth of resources on this topic.
Search for books about social media selling, and you'll find hundreds of them – and thousands of blogs and podcasts, and tens of thousands of “experts” on the subject. (Ironic, since business-to-business selling success over social media is extremely challenging.)
But try to find a recent book on phone selling, and you will have very few choices.
In fact, you can count on one hand the phone-selling books that have been written in the last decade.
And not one of them looks at selling with the phone in combination with the digital tools at our disposal: virtual meeting tools like Zoom, text messaging, email, and, yes, social media like LinkedIn.
Want to look for a blog or podcast about phone selling? When I Google “phone selling,” I get “selling old cell phones for cash.”
So, I wrote Pick Up the Phone and Sell.
My goal is to arm you with a quick and simple guide for attaining significant sales growth by proactively calling your customers and prospects.
Get good at using the phone, and you will be in rare air in the sales profession.
Because the great majority of salespeople are not very good at using the phone.
I'd say 90% of salespeople are reactive in our work.
We're very good at answering the phone and solving problems.
But not many of us regularly pick up the phone to call customers and prospects proactively when nothing is wrong.
This is where relationships are built.
This is where trust is formed.
This is where you get to help your customers and expand your business with them.
This is where the money is made.
The rare salesperson who regularly and systematically makes proactive calls gets to stack these successes one on top of the other, with customer after customer.
Among my clients, the salespeople who most often proactively call customers and prospects are the most successful salespeople in their organizations.
Ninety percent of salespeople are reactive and don't call.
Want to launch yourself instantly into the top 10% of all salespeople?
Follow the approaches you're about to read, and leverage the power of proactive calls.
There's a book for that now!
DOWNLOAD YOUR PICK UP THE PHONE AND SELL TOOLS
The tools, forms, planners, and trackers that appear throughout this book are available as a free download at my website, www.Goldfayn.com.
You can also get various tools there, like my sales growth instructional videos and free weekly email newsletter.
Go to Goldfayn.com and arm yourself with the resources to pick up the phone and grow your sales.
CHAPTER 2AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: HOW TO PICK UP THE PHONE AND SELL
Here is a lightning-fast executive summary of the approaches laid out in this book:
In my experience with tens of thousands of salespeople, clients, and workshop attendees applying my sales growth approaches, the single most effective – and avoided – selling action is the phone call.
I believe that we salespeople should lead with the phone.
That is, it should be the first action in our selling day and also the first effort in our selling sequence with individual customers.
At the start of your week, make a quick plan of who to call.
Call first. The reasons why are in the next chapter.
Create your Target 60 list of customers and prospects to focus on for the coming month. This planner is presented in Chapter 7.
Next, lay out your Simple Proactive Call Planner for the week, identifying current and past customers you will call, and current and past prospects. This planner is also in Chapter 7.
Aim to call three to five customers or prospects per day, first thing in the morning.
Who should you call? First, call people who you know – current and former customers, and current and former prospects. Call people who recognize your name or at least your company name. Too many people assume proactive calls only mean cold calls. In fact, you can grow your sales dramatically by only calling people you know and offering to help them (more).
We will revisit this in Chapter 23, but for now, these are the people you should be thinking about calling proactively, with the groups in order from right to left – always focusing on the people who know you or at least recognize you or your company.
If you prefer, send a quick text in advance to set a time to speak.
When you call, you will frequently need to leave a voice message (scripts are in Chapter 19), which you should absolutely do.
After leaving the message, send a short text to let the customer know you called, and invite them to get back to you by text or phone, whichever is easier for them. This gives them a choice of how to communicate with you.
With this voicemail-text message communication combination, you will find that about two-thirds of your customers and prospects will get back to you.
On the off chance that the customer picks up the phone, great; you will have a nice, positive conversation. (Simple scripts are throughout Parts 4 and 5.)
Log your communication in the Proactive Call Tracker featured in this book or your own action-tracking or CRM system.
Log the return communications as well, so you remember who you have reached out to and who got back to you.
Update your pipeline daily, because this approach will create countless opportunities for you, as well as a daily progression of customers and prospects toward a quote, a proposal, or a close; and, of course, you'll be securing a lot of new business.
It all starts with a proactive call to a customer or prospect when nothing is wrong.
Make that the tip of your selling spear.
Make it the first action.
And then start making plans for a sudden and significant influx of new business, because the floodgates are about to open.
CHAPTER 3LEAD WITH THE PHONE: MAKE IT THE TIP OF YOUR SELLING SPEAR
DEFINITION: WHAT IS A PROACTIVE CALL?
The proactive phone call, for our purposes in this book, is defined as calling customers and prospects when nothing is wrong.
Your call can be scheduled with a text message.
While many salespeople only talk on the phone when the customer calls them, this generally focuses the conversation on problems you need to resolve. But this book is about calling the customers proactively, which almost always becomes a conversation about opportunities for you to help the customer.
PROACTIVE CALLS FEED THE SALES MACHINE
Proactive calls feed the machine of your business growth:
They flood your pipeline with new opportunities and advance existing ones.
Specifically, proactive calls expand your pipeline by
- Uncovering new leads
- Turning leads into prospects
They move prospects toward a proposal or quote.
They move quotes and proposals toward a close.
They close new business.
They
expand
your business with existing customers.
They build relationships in less time than any other communication pathway we can utilize.
They make you stand out to the point of making you singular, simply because nobody else is calling.
They make it clear that you care about your customers and prospects and that you are thinking about them.
Nothing else is this effective.
PHONE FIRST: LEAD WITH THE PHONE
The key activity in this book is making the proactive phone call (as defined above) the first interaction in your sales process with your customers and prospects.
Not the email inquiry without a call.
But the proactive phone call, when nothing is wrong, for the sole purpose of trying to help the person you are calling.
You can set up the call with a quick text message. That's okay.
You might even send a text or LinkedIn message in combination with a voice message, if you leave one.
But I want you to consider the proactive call the first effort in your selling process.
Before emailing.
Before sending your marketing materials.
Before dropping off your business card with the receptionist during an in-person drop-in with somebody you don't know.
Phone first, rather than waiting until you have a call scheduled much later in your selling process, perhaps to discuss a quote or negotiate.
Lead with the proactive phone call.
Call your customer or prospect and say, “Tom, it's Alex. I was thinking about you. How's your family?”
Catch up.
Connect.
Then pivot to the business:
