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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Master cold-calling and eliminate rejection forever In the newest edition of Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling, celebrated author and sales trainer, Art Sobczak packs even more powerful insight into what many people fear: prospecting by phone for new business. This best-selling guide to "never experiencing rejection again" has consistently found its way into the Top 20 in Amazon's Sales category, because its actionable sales tips and techniques have helped many minimize their fears and eliminate rejection. The newest edition builds upon the very successful formula of the last edition to help sales professionals take control of their strategy and get more yeses from their prospects. With new information, this info-packed release provides powerful sales insights, including: * The foundational concepts of cold calling, featuring real-life examples you can carry with you into your sales career * Multiple case studies and messaging from successful salespeople across the globe, providing even more insight into what works and what's a waste of your time * New methodologies that are proven to push you past your fear and into the world of successful prospecting * Free access to Art Sobczak's Smart Calling Companion Course, where he builds on the many techniques and strategies in the book, and will update it with new material and tech resources so that you will always have the current best practices and tools. If you're failing to convert your prospects into dollars, Smart Calling will help you push past the obstacles holding you back until you're an expert at taking a "no" and turning it into a "yes."
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Seitenzahl: 428
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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More Praise for Smart Calling
“I recommend Smart Calling to all my salespeople to give them more confidence in their ability to sell. By showing them how to sell more efficiently, honestly, and effectively over the phone, this book has reduced our sales training period from weeks down to days. By getting our salespeople up and over the sales learning curve quickly, we have been able to significantly reduce employee turnover while increasing employee satisfaction. This book delivers real sales results.”
—Mark Doggett, Owner, Batteries Plus
“I have been a top salesperson for many years in several industries but, as I have gotten older, I realized that I’m not prospecting like I used to. Reading and re-reading Smart Calling, and attending a live session with Art, has helped me improve and reinvigorate my prospecting. I have new confidence and a renewed passion for prospecting. I’ve got a solid track to run on, and the heart to become a top producer once again.”
—David Wiener, National Account Executive, CSS, Cost Segregation Services, Inc.
“If you want to learn to be great at basketball study Michael Jordan. If you want to learn to be great at golf study Tiger Woods. If you want to learn to be great at sales, study Art Sobczak. With an easy-to-duplicate, tried-and-true system for selling, Art systematically breaks down each facet of the sales cycle and reveals the small nuances that separate the amateurs from the pros. In a short time I went from being a newbie to being up for President’s Club. Knowledge is power and Art’s materials are powerful!”
—Michael Steinhardt, Sales Executive
“I am a fan of the Smart Calling approach. The book lays out specific, actionable tactics that make sense in the real world. In addition to the thorough step-by-step analysis of a logical sales process developed over the telephone, the book addresses the negative perceptions and responses that telephone salespeople encounter. Smart Calling is an incredibly valuable resource to achieving success in telephone selling.”
—Lee Folger, Sales and Business Development Executive, Progressive Business Media
“I have read many sales books and Smart Calling is the best on the market! I used the opening statement template/examples in the Smart Calling book to come up with my own tailored opening statement, which piques people’s interest and fills my calendar with curious and interested prospects wanting to hear more. People in my office ask how I book so many qualified appointments and close deals. I tell them four words: ‘Smart Calling Opening Statement.’ If you are looking for a sales book that will take your sales to the next level with no fluff and BS, this is it!”
—Erik Darnall, District Manager, California Chamber of Commerce
“Picking up the phone used to be my biggest fear … I did not know what to say. In my first seven years in sales I hardly reached my quota; this year, using Smart Calling, I have already reached it easily and will double it next year.”
—Juan Martinez, Sales Rep, Kaeser Compressors
“Your book changed my professional life. I have my Smart research down to a science and produce about three leads every hour.”
—Sam Shenker, Associated Global Systems
“I’ve been using the phone to sell for seven years, and before I picked up Art’s Smart Calling book I thought I knew it all. But after reading through the first few chapters I quickly realized that I knew nothing. Just the section on call openings and voicemails has transformed my career and skyrocketed my results to new levels. This book is a must for anyone serious about selling over the phone. Art really delivers.”
—Shane Varcoe, Regional Sales Manager
“Art Sobczak understands the difference between direct marketing and cold calling, which many sales gurus simply don’t. Smart Calling is a phenomenal resource for anyone that truly wants to excel in sales. The advice is obviously from experience, and Mr. Sobczak offers sound techniques that everyone could use.”
—Chris Lott, VP of Sales, DataTel Communications
“I love your book! In the first week of reading, I not only saved a one-location sale that was quickly being lost to (the competition) and ended up with an appointment with the COO for four locations.”
—Alida Ruiz, Sr., Account Executive, Integra Telecom
“Smart Calling may be the best book on using the telephone I have ever read. I recommended it to all of 100 + agents in my office.”
—Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, Keller Williams Realty Professionals
“I keep fewer than a dozen books on my quick reference shelf, and Smart Calling is one of them. After a seven-year absence from cold calling, I have found that done right, it can and does bear fruit. Thanks for your excellent coaching in the book.”
—Greg McDermott, The Reverse Mortgage Team, Leader One Financial
“I read it once over a week period. Implemented recommendations and approaches to Smart Calling. Result: my calling productivity has doubled! I am now getting the same number of appointments but with only half as many calls. The quality of my calls is much better! I now actually reach decision makers more frequently. What Art recommends does work! I have just finished my second reading of this book. Got even more out of it.”
—Terrence Manuel, Owings Mills, MD
Smart Calling
Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling
Third Edition
Art Sobczak
Copyright © 2020 by Art Sobczak. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
First edition published 2010, second edition published 2013, both by Wiley.
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.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-1-119-67672-0 (Hardcover)ISBN 978-1-119-67673-7 (ePDF)ISBN 978-1-119-67674-4 (ePub)
Cover design: Wiley
CONTENTS
Cover
More Praise for
Smart Calling
Preface
The Backstory
Who Will Benefit from Smart Calling?
Taking Action Is Required
Part One: The Smart Calling Concept
Chapter 1: Cold Calling Is Dumb, but Prospecting Is Necessary: Smart Calling Is the Answer
Why Telephone Prospecting Is Both Essential, Profitable, and Still Works
Cold Calling Myths, Smart Calling Truths
Still Think Prospecting Doesn’t Work? That’s News to Sales Pros Doing It
The Answer: Smart Calling
Smart Calling versus Cold Calling
Part Two: Pre-Call Planning
Chapter 2: Creating Your Possible Value Proposition
Don’t Talk About Your Thing
Understanding Your Prospects and Why They Might Buy from You
Pain and Gain
The Easy Way to Provide Possible Value
Are You Able to Help Cut Costs?
How Are You Different?
The Value You Have Already Provided for Others
Do You Help Inadequacy?
Value Is Not the Same for Everyone
Chapter 3: Intelligence GatheringMaking Your Calls Smart
What Information Do You Want about Your Prospects?
Identify and Look for Trigger Events
Getting Personal
He Won This Sale
Where to Find Your Smart Information
How to Steal Business When Your Competitor Undergoes Changes
Social Networking—or Social Not-Working?
Chapter 4: Using Social Engineering to Gather Intelligence
With Whom Should You Engage?
What Questions Should You Ask?
More Social Engineering Tips
An Example of Social Engineering in Action
Social Engineering Feedback, and an Answer to an Objection
Chapter 5: Setting Smart Call Objectives and Never Being Rejected Again
Primary Objectives: Thinking Big Gets Big Results
Secondary Objectives: How to Never Be Rejected Again
Chapter 6: More Smart Ideas for Prior to Your Call
Don’t Let Sales Statistics Affect Your Calling
Best Times to Call?
Ritualize Your Phone Time
When You Are on a Roll, Stay in the Zone
End with a Positive
Great Days to Call: When Others Don’t
Other Unconventional Times to Call
Best Times for Follow-up Calls
Combo Prospecting
Warming Up a Smart Call
Emailing before a Call
Multimedia Messages
How about Sending Unusual Items Prior to the Call?
Get Direct Numbers
Part Three: Creating and Placing the Smart Call
Chapter 7: How to Be Smart with Voicemail
The Goal of Your Smart Calling Voicemail
Be Prepared
Say You’ll Call Back
How Many Messages to Leave?
Should You Vary Your Message on Repeat Calls?
Listen to Their Entire Voicemail Message
Listen for Their Tone on Voicemail
Put the Directions in Your Notes to Save Time
Opting for a Live Voice
Use Your Prospect’s Electronic System to Gather Intelligence
Call Back Immediately
Call at Different Times of the Day
Give Your Number Twice, Give Your Number Twice
Review Your Message, but Don’t Assume You’ll Always Have the Option
Make Your Voicemail Message Stand Out from the Clutter
Before You Give Up, Use a Last Resort Message
“Just Hit Reply”
Handling Unreturned Voicemail Messages
Shady Voicemail Tactics to Avoid
Chapter 8: Working
with
Assistants
Gatekeeper and Screener Myths
What to Do
Be Prepared to Sell the Assistant If You Need To
Tips for Working with Assistants
Getting Your Messages to the Buyer
Will You Help Me?
Go to the Highest Level
Being Hesitant Can Help You Move Forward
Chapter 9: Opening Statements: What to Avoid to Minimize Resistance
“Can You Help Me?”
Don’t Apologize for Wanting to Help Them
Asking for a Decision, or Even Hinting at One
Being Assumptive in the Opening and Using Declarative Statements
Reacting to Unusual Names
How Are You Today? Use It or Not?
Chapter 10: Creating Interest with Your Smart Call Opening Statement
The Jim Furyk Theory
Two Objectives for Your Openings
Scripting
The Smart Call Interest-Creating Opening Statement Process
Putting It into Action
Does Length Matter?
The Time Issue
Weasel Words
A Unique Addition to Your Opening
Using “Status Alignment” in Your Messaging
Create Your Smart Voicemail Message
Chapter 11: Handling Early Resistance on Your Smart Calls
Use a Pattern Interrupt
The Softening Statement
Sound Dumb
Responding When They Are Happy with Their Present Supplier
How to Answer “Send Me Some Literature on That”
“Why Should I Consider You?”
Responding When They Try to Rush You
Simple Response to a Quick “Not Interested”
What to Do When They Hang Up on You
Handling the Early Price Question
Chapter 12: Using Smart Questions
Use Your Possible Benefits to Create Questions
How to Use Assumptive Problem Questions
How to Create Assumptive Problem Questions
The Loaded Benefit Question
Practice the Iceberg Theory of Questioning
More on Quantifying Needs, Pains, Problems, and Desires
Avoid Questions That Scream “I Just Picked Up an Old Sales Book”
Personalize Questions for Greater Sales Success
Questions about the Decision-Making Process
Determine What Annoys Them
A Questioning Mistake
Clarify the Fuzzy Phrases
The Quality of Your Question Determines the Quality of Your Answer
Don’t Ask What They Like Best about Their Present Supplier
Use Benefit Questions Instead of Inane Leading Ones
To Get More Information, Tell, Don’t Ask
Chapter 13: The More Important Side of the Question: Listening
Your Most Powerful Listening Tool: The Pause
Listen for Their Key Terminology
How to Make Eye Contact by Phone
Practice “Extreme Listening”
Listen When They Lower Their Voice
What Is Your Listening-to-Talking Ratio?
It Would Be Tougher to Listen Your Way out of a Sale
Chapter 14: Recommending the Next Step
Pitching Is for Sports Only: Recommend Instead
The Smart Call Recommendation Process
Use the Words of Others to Be More Persuasive
Using the Principle of Consistency
In the Sales Recommendation
You Are Absolutely Going to Love This
Chapter 15: Getting Commitment for the Next Action
The Commitment Phase Validates What Has Happened So Far
Your Attitude Is More Important than Your Technique
Get Commitments on Every Call
Get Commitment with Nonthreatening Words
Why Not Try This Question?
The Perfect Close
Help Them Realize They Have Nothing to Fear
Asking for More Gets More
Ask for Action, Not Permission
Be Like a Waiter and Ask for the Order
Chapter 16: Wrapping Up Calls and Setting Up the Next Action
The Success of Your Follow-Up Call Is Determined on the Previous Call
Summarizing the Call
How to Set a Specific Time for the Follow-Up Call
What to Put in Your Notes to Ensure a Great Follow-Up Call
Use a Last-Resort Question Before Giving Up
Part Four: Putting It All Together
Chapter 17: How to
Sound
SmartEffective Telephone Communication
Don’t Sound Like a Salesperson
Record Your Calls and Review Them Regularly
Legalities of Recording Calls
Stand for Sales
Voice Improvement Self-Study
Chapter 18: Getting and Staying Motivated
To
Do
, We First Need to
Be
Never Get Rejected Again
Overcoming the Fear of Calling
Remember the Wins, Forget the Losses
Size Does Matter as It Relates to Your Thinking
Change the Stories You Tell Yourself
Will You Go for the Big Jump?
Sell More by Being a Kid
Chapter 19: More Smart Calling Success Tips
Send an Email to Find the Buyer
Easy Way to Find More Buyers
Use a Calling Card
Draw a Decision-Making Organizational Chart
Follow Your Buyers
Be Ready When You Are on Hold
Get Referrals from within Their Company
Give Information on Your Voicemail Greeting
Smart Calling Fellow Alumni
Include a Compliment in the Referral Opening
Let It Ring Longer to Make More Contacts
Does That Sound Familiar?
Don’t Create Interruptions
Take Notes on What They Say
and
Mean
It Takes PAP to Be Successful
Chapter 20: Smart Calling Reviews, Case Studies, and Makeovers
How One Rep Used the Smart Calling Process to Craft an Effective Opening
An Opening Statement Review
A Voicemail Statement Makeover
Another Opening Reviewed and Enhanced
Two Voicemails Reviewed
Review of an Opener to Small Business Owners
A Freight Broker Opening
An Opening Makeover
Beware of the Bad Information Floating Around
Time for Action!
Resources for Smart Calling Success
Recommended Reading
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
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Preface
When I wrote the first edition of Smart Calling in 2010, I had a feeling it would do pretty well. I had been teaching the same things in my training programs for years; it was field tested. Even so, the book’s reception blew me away.
The book hit number one in the Sales category on Amazon on the very first day and it stayed there for a while. It was named Top Sales Book of 2010 by Top Sales Awards, beating out some other very fine books by big-time authors. It continued to sell well, and the process was embraced and implemented by individuals and organizations worldwide.
Three years later, Smart Calling continued to thrive, so it was updated. The second edition included success stories from Smart Callers using the process.
Now, 10 years after its original publication, it is humbling and gratifying that Smart Calling is more than a good read; it has changed lives.
This book has helped people who had been terrified to pick up the phone and talk with a stranger. Some readers find success on their very first call and others have become millionaires. This edition includes both kinds of stories.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of companies, groups, and associations, helping them implement and succeed with this common-sense way of prospecting—one that removes the cold.
While the fundamentals of the Smart Calling process have not changed much, it is time to share more of the best practices and success stories of Smart Callers.
Technology changes daily, so this edition also includes some updated Smart Calling tools and resources. To help readers stay current, this book includes access to the Smart Calling Companion Course. This is a free online resource where you will find additional content and valuable updates about the latest tech tools and other resources. Be sure to sign up for it free at SmartCallingBook.com.
The Backstory
If you are reading Smart Calling for the first time, welcome aboard! If you have read an earlier edition, welcome back.
To fully understand what Smart Calling is all about, let’s go back a few years. Okay, a lot of years. I wish I had had this book back in 1982, when I started my first corporate sales job with the old AT&T. It would have prevented a lot of grief and helped me make much more money.
There was no Internet and PCs were just making their appearance. Sales intelligence meant going to the library and finding a list of businesses that belonged to a trade association. Even without the benefit of today’s technology, the pure prospecting and sales process in this book would have worked 30 years ago, just as they do today—and will 40 years from now and beyond.
Back then, I knew that typical cold calling—phoning people I didn’t know anything about and giving a pitch—didn’t make sense and was quite painful. I always tried to find a better way, an edge that would get superior results. I was constantly reading, listening to tapes, attending seminars, studying, and tinkering with my own approach. I always did well in my sales positions, but I knew that I would never be satisfied and that there would always be more to learn. My quest continued through a couple of other corporate sales jobs and then at my own company, where I pounded the phones to acquire clients for my fledgling firm.
Eventually, I found a better way, a smarter way to prospect. My process makes sense, gets results, and does not require you to sound like some cheesy salesperson.
This book is a step-by-step guide that will show you how to call people you do not know, engage them in a conversation, and ultimately get them to take some action. And I will also show you how to avoid the morale-killing rejection that is usually associated with telephone prospecting.
I’ve built my business and reputation over the past 30+ years on delivering very specific how-to tactics and strategies. Many sales trainers and authors tell you what you should do on the phone: create interest, get past the screener, leave a compelling voicemail. But readers are left wondering how in the heck to do it. I’ll answer that for you and give you a precise recipe for success.
This book is long on practical how-tos and short on big-picture strategy. I’ve always been somewhat of a simple, get-to-the-point kind of guy, as you’ll soon discover. What I’ve learned from delivering more than 1,500 training sessions and studying human behavior is that people learn best when topics are entertaining and relate to their world. I try to do both by using real-life examples.
First, I will guide you through a telephone prospecting call using my Smart Call methodology. You will learn the same time-tested process and techniques that I present to my training clients. I’m confident these methods can work as well for you as they do for the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who already use them.
Unlike some gurus out there, I don’t claim to have all the answers and I don’t believe that my approach is the only way to realize success. That’s why I will point you in the direction of other experts when it feels appropriate.
You may not agree with everything I say. That is good because it means you are thinking about what you read and applying it to your situation. All I ask is that, when you disagree, you react as you should when you get resistance in a sales situation. Ask yourself, “How might this be true? How well am I doing this now? How could this work for me?”
Who Will Benefit from Smart Calling?
Anyone in traditional sales—meaning anyone with sales or business development in their title—will learn a lot from this book. But anyone who picks up the phone to call a person they don’t know—with the objective of persuading that person to take some action—will learn from this book. For example:
Freelancers of all types
Independent professionals
Sports recruiters
Writers looking to get published
Job seekers
Fundraisers
Many others
Smart Calling primarily is focused on those who sell business to business, but the fact is that businesses don’t buy from businesses. People buy from people. If you are using a consultative sales approach, it doesn’t matter if you sell primarily to consumers. Insurance agents, financial advisors, and home improvement contractors all use the Smart Calling process very successfully.
Regardless of whether your career relies on regularly calling people to get new business or whether you have one person to whom you want to sell an idea and may never place a prospecting call again, this book will help you do what is necessary.
Taking Action Is Required
As much as I like to think my writing is enjoyable to read, I don’t want you to just read this book. I want you to do this book.
As I tell my training workshop participants, everything I will share with you is totally worthless—until you do something with it. I know this material works, but only if you do.
My friend Larry Winget—who is known as “The World’s Only Irritational Speaker”—says in his book It’s Called Work for a Reason—Success Is Your Own Damn Fault that many people are “spectators rather than doers.” I agree, and I have seen too much evidence of that among the ranks of salespeople who do nothing to improve themselves—even when the resources are provided to them. You have taken the first step by investing in this book. The payoff will come by putting in the work.
There are a number of exercises throughout the book that ask you to research, write, and practice. At the end of each chapter, I also ask what other action you will commit to as you act on the concepts.
Prospecting and sales are a lot like golf: You can read all you want to become knowledgeable about it, but you will become excellent only by practicing.
I’m ready if you are. Let’s begin making your prospecting calls smart!
—Art Sobczak
Scottsdale, Arizona
May 2020
Part ONEThe Smart Calling Concept
CHAPTER 1Cold Calling Is Dumb, but Prospecting Is NecessarySmart Calling Is the Answer
Cold calling. Just hearing the term causes chest-tightening anxiety for many people.
It may trigger the memory and distaste caused by a telemarketer who, three seconds after you answered the phone, mispronounced your name and robotically read a poorly written script, trying to pitch you something you’d never be a prospect for.
Few people can argue that cold calling is pleasant.
The mere notion of cold calling arouses fear, which is why most people are reluctant to do it. Add that to the fact that many cold callers lack the knowledge and ability to do it well. They think their only option is to rely on the cheesy, sleazy, salesy-sounding techniques that make people instinctively reject them.
There’s also this crazy notion that to sell over the phone, you should love rejection. Tell me how that would be possible in the real world?
Making cold calls is distasteful—and it’s dumb. In fact, after finishing this book, I want you to never use those words again when referring to professional telephone prospecting.
The great news is that soon you will be able to confidently call people you don’t know, who are not expecting your call, engage them in a conversation, and interest them in speaking with you—and ultimately buying from you. Imagine never having to place a cold call again.
But how will you know what never to do again, and what to absolutely do instead? Let’s begin by defining a cold call: It takes place when a salesperson calls someone he does not know, and—with little or no information about the prospect—robotically dials number after number, giving the same pitch to everyone who answers.
Of course, these calls are destined for failure. To illustrate the absurdity of the concept, let’s look at this scenario: An entertainment writer is assigned an interview with Beyoncé.
He begins his conversation with the world-renowned personality by saying: “So Ms. Beyoncé … or is it, um, just Beyoncé … ah, anyway, I’m going to do the same type of interview I’ve done with hundreds of other people. Now, what is it exactly that you do?”
Ridiculous, right? Such a scenario would never take place.
Now imagine this: A sales rep phones a company, gets someone she believes to be a decision maker on the phone, and says, “Hi, I’m Erin Nelson with Able Supply. We sell maintenance supplies. I’d like to tell you about our products and talk about becoming a vendor for you. Now, what is it that your company does?”
Though equally absurd, conversations like these occur every day—I know because I get them regularly. Unprepared salespeople blindly make phone calls, using tired, old-school sales techniques, hoping that because they picked up the phone and made a call that they will find someone who will agree to do what they want.
But hoping is clearly not enough.
Why Telephone Prospecting Is Both Essential, Profitable, and Still Works
Now that we have thoroughly trashed the concept of cold calling, let’s get something else perfectly clear: Telephone prospecting is essential for business sustainability and growth.
That’s right. Prospecting by phone is a necessary part of new business acquisition and growth.
Ideally, it’s not the only way, but it’s a vital component of the model. Businesses that merely react—waiting for the phone to ring, hoping a prospect will reach out because of a brilliant tweet, for web orders to stream in, while relying on business from existing customers—are not nearly as successful as those who employ proactive telephone prospecting as part of the mix.
Think about it: Every business has customers who quit buying for lots of reasons—bankruptcy, downsizing, switching vendors, death, lack of attention from the vendor, and more. Therefore, you need to replace that business just to stay even. If you hope to grow, you need to add even more clients. And telephone prospecting can do that for you—quickly.
Of course, it needs to be done in the right way—the Smart Calling way—as we’ll discuss soon.
Of course, there are detractors out there, people who believe that prospecting is dead. They use the term cold calling in their denouncements, but they usually are referring to phone prospecting in general. Some of these anti-cold-calling gurus have made names for themselves and profited by preying on the fear of cold calling.
Many of them are pushing their own programs on “social selling,” “email marketing,” “content marketing,” or whatever shiny fad makes people who are afraid of the phone feel good about themselves by doing something else instead.
These resources typically suggest either getting people to refer you to decision makers, creating social media and inbound marketing strategies and campaigns, writing lots of online content, or doing old-fashioned direct marketing to generate leads so that people contact you.
All of those activities accomplish certain objectives, and they are preferable to cold calling, given a choice. If you have the time, ability, and money to engage in those types of marketing programs to generate leads, I suggest you take advantage of them. They all work, and smart companies realize that there are many avenues that lead to new business. I use them all myself. In fact, I have personally generated millions of dollars in sales from direct-response advertising, a process wherein people I’ve never spoken to simply placed orders with us over the phone, through the mail, and online.
Here’s where I differ with some of the new-to-the-scene gurus: many of them suggest that their method is the only thing you should be doing, and you should not be using the phone.
I suggest you use a mix of them to complement your calling.
In reality, all these forms of marketing are just that: marketing. And when a sales rep—whose primary job is to sell—spends precious selling time drafting email campaigns, putting out door hangers, posting on social media sites, and completing other administrative busywork, then he is avoiding his most important function: talking to people. I’ve seen many sales reps who thought they were being productive by sending out email. In fact, they were just busy. In many instances, they were afraid to make the calls, so they deluded themselves into believing that they were engaging in sales behavior, which, in actuality, was avoidance behavior.
I love the environment we operate within today. As I’ll discuss later, social intelligence makes it so easy to place a Smart Call. Even easier than 10 years ago when this book first came out. And many forms of social media make it easier to make ourselves favorably visible to our prospects, to connect, and even frame a positive premise in the prospect’s mind before speaking with her. We’ll touch on those later. But despite what the “social selling” crowd wants you to believe, these techniques are not selling. When someone gets too caught up in ancillary activity and makes it their main focus, it is time that is not being devoted to your most high-value activity: talking to another human, in real time, speaking with your voice.
Mike Weinberg, author of the great books New Sales. Simplified., Sales Management. Simplified., and #SalesTruth says it perfectly: “Sales is a verb.” He adds, “Top performers in sales don’t wait for anything or anyone … Top performers act … Waiting is the key for new business failure.”
I couldn’t agree more. When you have identified a prospect you feel would be a great customer—someone you just know would benefit wildly from a business relationship—you may very well grow old and poor waiting forever for that person to respond to a marketing campaign.
In fact, one rep, Brian Switzer, shared how that actually happened to him after buying into one of the cold-calling-is-dead programs.
Signing up clients without prospecting to 10–20 strangers? Hell yeah. I was in.
I traded in my calling methods of business development and put that other fella’s plan into action. And when I say put it into action, I mean followed it to a T; no skipped steps, no doing it my way.
And then, crickets. Upfront I told myself to give it a full year to pay off. After one calendar year, it has been by far the worst year of my career. A total disaster. Sales were running at about an 80 percent decline, and it has been a huge blow to my financial situation.
When I hear someone definitively state that using the phone in prospecting no longer works, they instantly lose credibility with me. I wonder what else they are wrong about. They might as well say, “Electricity is dead. It no longer works.”
The fact—proven by those of us who have made fortunes doing it and those showing success right now—is that prospecting by phone works. And when done the right way—the Smart Calling way—it is wildly profitable.
According to studies by the respected training and consulting firm, the Rain Group:
57% of C-level buyers prefer that salespeople call them.
About half of all directors and managers prefer the call, too.
69% of buyers accepted a call from new salespeople in the past 12 months.
82% of buyers accept meetings when salespeople reach out to them.
Telephone prospecting is the quickest, cheapest, and most interactive way to make a contact and a sale. Many of you reading this could pick up the phone right now, call someone you don’t know and who never has heard of you, and have an electronic payment transaction minutes later.
Let’s look at some of the other benefits of telephone prospecting:
You can enter a buying process that already is in progress.
You may have been on the other end of this. Think of a situation where you were several calls, weeks, or months into a sales discussion with a prospect. Perhaps you were already well into the proposal phase. Then, suddenly, you are informed another competitor has entered the picture. What? You’ve done the tilling, planting, and nurturing, and they come later attempting to harvest the crop! Well, that’s fair in business. But
you
want to be that guy, and prospecting does this for you.
Phone calling creates immediate opportunities for you that you never would have had previously.
Hopefully, this does not come as a shock: Only a minuscule percentage of the world’s population is looking for what you sell right now or is looking to buy from someone different. Writing a blog post or liking someone’s LinkedIn article likely won’t move them to contact you the minute you write it or do it. But a phone call can. It can start a sales process immediately—even when they were not previously considering doing anything differently.
Calling creates future opportunities.
To somewhat contradict the previous point, you can surely create immediate opportunities, but let’s be real: Most of the people you call will not enter into an active sales cycle with you at that immediate moment. Some will simply and flat out
not
be prospects. However, there may be a
future
fit with others, even if the timing is not right today. Therefore, with regular prospecting, you methodically fill your pipeline with qualified prospects whom you subsequently enter into your automated stay-in-touch marketing campaign, so that when the time is right, you are top-of-mind.
It sharpens your sales skills.
Anyone can react to an order or respond to a warm lead who contacts you. But the more you practice regularly—doing the right things—the better you become. Many salespeople left the profession over the past five years because it simply isn’t as easy as it used to be. Good prospectors, however, are always in demand.
It’s motivating!
When you take action on anything and move toward a goal—especially if it is just a
bit
scary—it is impossible to feel down or depressed. Your mind becomes preoccupied with the task at hand, and you inherently find ways to accomplish it.
Cold Calling Myths, Smart Calling Truths
Before we go any further, I must dispel some prospecting myths that have been perpetuated over the years. Some of these beliefs are still held by sales managers and reps, and in all cases they are just plain wrong. They contribute to all of the negative opinions that surround telephone prospecting and general sales prospecting.
Cold Calling Myth: “It’s just a numbers game.”
Smart Calling Truth: It’s a quality game. It does not matter how many calls you place; what’s important is the number with which you have success. A baseball player could swing at every pitch, but only the quality attempts have a chance of hitting the ball. Casino games are numbers games; sales and prospecting are a quality game. And with all of that said, quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive. You can place a lot of quality calls by doing the right things, which we will cover.
Cold Calling Myth: “For every no you get, you’re that much closer to a yes.”
Smart Calling Truth: You are no closer to a yes unless you are doing the right things to get the yes. Activity solely for the sake of activity does not get you closer to success. In fact, if I am doing the wrong things, I am getting further away from my goal—not to mention generating frustration.
Cold Calling Myth: “You need to love rejection to be successful at prospecting.”
Smart Calling Truth: You want to avoid rejection. It is a state of mind based on how you react to what happens to you. I’m not a psychologist, but I would say it is impossible to love rejection unless you have some type of mental illness. Smart Calling shows you how to get a win on every call—even when you get a no.
Cold Calling Myth: “The telephone is just for setting an appointment.”
Smart Calling Truth: Salespeople are using the telephone to sell every type of product and service. Limiting yourself by getting off a call too early unnecessarily lengthens the sales process. Your sales model might involve a face-to-face visit, but that visit will always be more productive if you take your call further. One of the biggest challenges prospectors face today is actually getting someone on the phone. Why would we want to quickly end the call when we finally get a chance to speak with them?
Cold Calling Myth: “Never give the screener any information.”
Smart Calling Truth: The screener may be a decision maker or influencer and needs to be treated like the buyer.
Cold Calling Myth: “No one answers their phone anymore.”
Smart Calling Truth: Actually, they do. Granted, insidious robocalls make many of us leery of picking up a call from a number we don’t recognize. As for the truth about people actually answering, consider these facts from Jeb Blount, author of Fanatical Prospecting:
The myth that the phone no longer works—because people don’t answer—is disproven daily in our Fanatical Prospecting Boot Camps. The myth is disproven by our sales team at Sales Gravy and with thousands of sales teams across the country that survive and thrive on the phone. The statistics don’t lie. We see between a 15 percent and 80 percent contact rate on the phones depending on the industry, product, and role level of the contact. For example, in the business services segment, contact rates are consistently between 25 and 40 percent. This, by the way, is far higher than response rates with email and light-years higher than those of social prospecting.
Still Think Prospecting Doesn’t Work? That’s News to Sales Pros Doing It
Smart Calling Inner Circle Coaching member Sean Jones owns a successful merchant services credit card processing company, Revolution Payments.
At one point in his life, through a series of choices and circumstances, he essentially was homeless. He decided to turn his life around, moved to different city, got into reading personal development books, and got a cold calling job in the merchant services business. That led to him starting his own business and selling for himself, which he has now done for over 20 years.
It has made him a millionaire.
“I can attribute almost all of the success I’ve had in business to cold calling,” Sean said.
And, he is not resting on his success, but instead, continues to build on what got him to where he is: “Even though we have salespeople, I still prospect 50–100 new contacts per week.”
(I did a video interview with Sean. Find it in your Smart Calling Companion Course in Chapter 1, SmartCallingBook.com.)
Smart Calling Success: How One Company Is “Cleaning Up”
Rob Ponnwitz is the Master Franchise owner of Vanguard Cleaning Systems, a commercial office cleaning business in the Pacific Northwest. Many Vanguard franchises have adopted the Smart Calling methodology with great success. Rob said that within just 30 days of having his rep do Smart Calling to prospect, his average job-quote size doubled, and average closed job, in terms of monthly revenue, tripled!
Okay, you might be thinking, all of this makes sense. Maybe you already knew you needed to pick up the phone to accomplish whatever objective you have to meet. The problems, though—the real reasons you bought this book—might still be gnawing at you: the how part of it.
How can you make it more palatable to call someone you do not know?
How can you show success doing it?
How can you overcome the fear of the
no
?
How can you avoid using outdated, salesy techniques and sounding like the cheesy cold caller that everyone dreads?
How can you avoid turning into a Jell-O-legged stutterer who sounds like a total doofus when confronted with the inevitable resistance?
The Answer: Smart Calling
The subtitle of this book is Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling. I’m not being very humble when I say that I’m proud to have come up with such a great title. However, it’s not about me. It’s about you and about how, together, we’re going to do just what the title promises.
Let’s define in three steps exactly what Smart Calling is:
Acquiring intelligence about people—and their situations—companies, and industries prior to speaking with a decision maker.
Using that information within a proven prospecting and sales process, engaging in a consultative conversation that puts both you and the prospect at ease.
Consequently helping prospects take actions (meeting with you and buying from you) that they feel good about and from which they gain value.
As a result:
You get through to more buyers, more often, since gatekeepers not only provide you with information but also become part of the process and your sales team.
Buyers are more receptive initially, in the first 10 to 20 seconds of the call—the time during which most calls fail.
Buyers don’t view you as a typical salesperson or vendor but rather as someone who has their best interests in mind and can provide real value and return on investment.
You become more comfortable with your calls and confident in what you say—even in difficult situations.
You will never be rejected again. (You might be skeptical about this one, but you’ll see exactly how and why this is the case later in the book.)
Smart Calling versus Cold Calling
Let’s look at two sales calls from the same company.
One is a dumb call, very typical of what many salespeople do every day. The other is a Smart Caller who uses the process, strategy, and tactics we cover in this book.
Dumb Call Approach
Here’s a very typical opening: “Hi Mike, I’m Dale Dufus with Insurance Partners. We provide employee benefits, including health insurance. I’d like to take 10 minutes of your time to tell you what we do and show you how we could save you time and money. I’ll be in your area next week. Can we meet either Tuesday or Wednesday morning?”
In this brief, four-sentence opening, the caller made a number of dumb errors that would probably cause him to be rejected:
First, he assumed that the prospect went by a nickname and began by calling him “Mike.” The list that Dale was working from had the contact name as Michael Jacobs, and Michael quickly corrected him. Ouch!
He merely stated what he sells: employee benefits and health insurance, with no explanation of value for Michael. There are hundreds of companies that sell the same thing, many of whom call and email Michael. Regularly. And he ignores most all of them, because he is not looking for “benefits and insurance,” since he, of course, already has those things in place. People do not buy products or services
themselves;
they buy the result. Simply talking about products and services typically elicits a reaction of “We already have that” or “We are satisfied with what we have.”
He wanted to
take
10 minutes of Michael’s time. Suggest to people that you want to
take
something of value from them without giving anything in return, and you immediately create resistance. You might as well say you want to take $200 from them.
He was going to
tell
what he does, to which listeners instinctively react by thinking,
Here comes a sales pitch. I’m outta here!
His only attempt at a value statement is the old, worn-out “save you time and money.” This phrase is so overused and nondescript that it is just noise. It means nothing to most people.
Is Michael supposed to be excited that Dale will be in his area? Come on!
He asked for a decision: an appointment. Are you kidding? Michael does not see a reason to
stay on the phone
for another minute; he certainly would not waste time with a face-to-face meeting.
Now, let’s look at a different sales professional from the same company, selling the same thing.
Smart Call Approach
This approach with Michael is quite different.
“Hi Michael, I’m Pat Stevens with Insurance Partners. Hope you enjoyed your golf vacation. In speaking with your assistant, Suzanne, I understand that you are in the process of evaluating your competitive edge in the employment market and what you can do to attract and keep the top talent in your various locations. We specialize in working with IT companies competing in this tight talent market to lower their recruiting and hiring expenses and increase their retention of managerial staff. I’d like to ask a few questions to see if I could provide you some information.”
Using the Smart Calling strategy, process, and techniques, Pat was able to do a number of positive things:
She used Michael’s first name, since she knew that he was an informal guy and no one called him “Mr. Jacobs.” However, she also knew that he hated to be called “Mike.”
She knew that Michael was a huge golf nut and had just returned from Arizona on a golf weekend with his buddies. She was able to mix in a little golf talk later in the call.
She referenced Michael’s assistant, Suzanne, which gave credibility to the information she was relating.
Pat mentioned she specialized in working with IT companies competing in the tight talent market, which added credibility to what she does, and helped Michael identify himself as someone in that situation.
She knew that the company had recently lost some managerial candidates who were hired by the competition because of a better benefits package, as well as some existing employees who left the company for the same reason.
She did not talk about insurance or benefits and instead discussed the
results
of doing business with his company—the precise results that addressed the issues that Michael now faced.
And all of that took place during the opening of the call—in the first 10 seconds or so. Later in the call, using the Smart Calling process and techniques, Pat also:
