“Hi. Am I looking for Sharon Morgen?”
“Sharon DREW Morgen”.
“What? Sharon Morgan?”
“No. Sharon DREW”
“Um. Hello. Are you Mrs. Drew?”
“Ms. Morgen. That’s me. Is this a sales call?”
“Um. Hello. No. I’m with XYZ bank and I’m going to give you a service call.”
“About what? I’m not doing business with you. And you’re not supposed to make me a telemarketing call. So what kind of service do you offer for free?”
“Well, it’s not free. But we thought you’d like to learn about our new banking services.”
“Ah. So it IS a sales call.”
“We’re not allowed to say that.”
This call actually happened.
Years ago I lost a large chunk of business because I advocated telling prospects, “This is a sales call.” For some reason the Director of Sales was called to announce that it was a sales call. Who would prospects think they were talking to? His wife from him? His mother of him? A relative? A friend? I’m a stranger, obviously. And why would I call them? Was I from your son’s school announcing a problem? Or from the neighborhood, with a report of a house on fire? How about a person from the dry cleaners, telling them I lost their new suit?
What’s wrong with telling prospects that you’re making a sales call? They’ll guess anyway when they don’t recognize your voice. It will also be obvious because your opening remarks will likely sound awkward, like a stranger calling a stranger.
But it does not have to be like that.
NO NAME, NO TIME
Let’s start with the name game. Dale Carnegie used to recommend that salespeople repeat the prospect’s name because he thought people loved hearing his own name. Either because the telephone systems in 1937 weren’t that great or because it was a commonly accepted belief, that’s not the case anymore. When we really know someone, we rarely use his name. Intimacy means never having to say someone’s name; there’s just this eye contact that people have, or a special way of saying ‘Hello’. It’s me.”
Of course you use people’s names, I’m being a bit of a joke here, but not repeatedly during the same conversation, and not often when you know someone well.
When you overuse a prospect’s name, it becomes a ploy to manipulate them into liking you so you can fantasize that you are their friend and convince this person that you want or are in A RELATIONSHIP.
But it is not true. Hearing his name spoken repeatedly by a stranger makes prospects feel even more distant.
And what about the assumption that they’re sitting there, waiting for this call, with nothing else to do but take the call, even if it’s a bank they do business with or a charity they donate to?
What is it about a sales call that makes it about the salesperson anyway? What makes you about the product? Why is this even a sale?
Why not make a sales call, even a prospecting call, as one aspect of your brand? A way to show your prospects that you’re supporting them and their product, through a collaboration (rather than a sale)?
FEAR OF COLD CALLING
Let me back up for a moment. I have trained many thousands of salespeople; I can name, for one thing, the number of people who have eagerly sought out cold calling (and I am one of them. I LOVE IT, what fun! What a great way to meet people!). Why? Because sellers don’t want to impose themselves on strangers. Because you think prospects don’t have the time or attention. Because they reject you. Because your ego says that prospects should call you.
But none of that has to be true. Let’s look at the pieces, and then proceed to understand how each can be mitigated with shopping facilitation.
impose on strangers
When you make a call to a stranger (either prospects or clients that have been turned over to you by a previous salesperson) they don’t know who you are, naturally, and you have no relationship with them. By definition, you are taxing. In addition, you are making a call to get something for yourself, and you are actually trying to take something from them. Whether it’s to ‘make them’ listen to you, buy you something or do something for you. It’s not like you’re calling to give them a million bucks: you want them to do something, like listen to you, buy from you, or make change for you in some way. So you want something from this person.
But this person is a stranger. Why should this person give you anything, unless she is already predisposed to want what you have anyway? Remember that before someone does something (different or not) they must make the decision to do it. And all decisions are based on specific and unique criteria, not information. Therefore, all the information in the world that you may have to share is irrelevant if the person does not know how to decide what to do with it.
Weather
Your prospect is obviously not sitting by the phone waiting for a call from you. He/she is doing something. Whatever it is, he’s doing something. To earn the right to use some of this person’s time, you must request it and announce why they should use their time. Asking if this is a good time to talk (not the same as saying ‘Do you have a moment?’ – the implication here is, ‘you have a moment FOR ME’) will help here.
Rejection
Why do they reject you? Because you are trying to get something from this person that YOU want to get. And they say no.
What does ‘no’ do? Causes a stop action. There is no possibility of advancement when ‘no’ is pronounced; the person who is negative has the power in any relationship.
As long as you continue to try to cold call your needs, try to get someone to listen to what you want to say, try to get someone to buy something, even an idea, you will continue to be rejected by everyone. of those people who do not consciously recognize the need for what you are promoting.
When you are lucky and receive a positive response, it will be from those who have already determined a need and then you become a commodity. You better have a ‘good price’ for those people who will take your call, because they won’t know how else to choose you once you join the ranks of similar providers.
USE SHOPPING FACILITATION TO SUPPORT MUTUAL DEALING
Using shopping facilitation as the basis for the call will not be to take anything, sell anything, push anything, or even find out anything. Your job is:
1. Help the other person recognize if there is something missing in the category that your product can support, and if so, how to start the process of designing a solution that will fix their problem (yes, even in a cold call, you can help the prospect start the process of a complex sale);
2. Help them discover their criteria for considering whether it’s time to fill a void by doing something they haven’t done before.
It’s not about you, or your product, or what you’re offering. Until or unless a buyer recognizes that what they are doing is not working, and until they are ready to do something different to fix/change the status quo, nothing they say will be listened to. Remember: people do not make decisions based on information.
Using purchase facilitation, your job is to help people make the necessary decisions that will support the change they should go through to do something different from what they are already doing.
Use your cold calling to help people decide. And start the call by going into the report and inviting people to collaborate with you:
Caller: “Hello. My name is Sharon Drew Morgen. This is a sales call and I am selling sales training. Is this a good time to talk?”
By using this opening, you are telling people who you are and why you are calling, telling people that you are respectful of their time, letting them know that you are an honest person, saying exactly what you are calling and not trashing your name. (somehow the name in front of you is never the right person or is never the right name). And just one thing I’ve found to be true: Unless you’re calling from a well-known brand name, saying your company name is unnecessary—they won’t recognize or remember it.
If the person says it’s not a good time, ask if there is a better time to call back. Don’t try to throw a fast pitch, just ask if there’s a better time. If the person says they have a few minutes, say:
“I appreciate the time. And if the call goes on longer than you have time to complete, we can end it when it’s good for you and pick it up at another time.”
In this way, you are giving the person permission to have control over the call. After all, they are in control anyway. By using this opening, it’s actually the first step in the Facilitated Buying Method®, you’ll have already dealt with the timing and tax issues, and the rejection won’t be on you.
And remember: make your call to help them make discoveries and decisions. Don’t use your time to push anything. Otherwise, you’re wasting a great opportunity to find a new customer and introduce your brand of integrity.
