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- Eliminate Common Hiring Mistakes
- Interview Questions
- Reliability and Validity of Assessments
- Reasons to Use Profile Assessments
- Department of Labor Recommendations
- Using Job Match Patterns
- Solve Employee Performance
This month's tip:
"Failures do what is tension-relieving, while successes do what is goal-achieving."… Denis Waitley
Here is our weekly tip from Art Sobczak … by the way; the tip reminds me of a consultant who once told me his clients pay him to read the books they should be reading.
Art’s Brief Sales Observations
Greetings,
Each month in my Telephone Prospecting and Selling Report eight-page sales tips newsletter, which you can get online and as a hard copy, as a member of my Telesales Success Inner Circle, http://www.TelesalesSucccess.com, I have a regular feature where I dump out my file of random sales observations, rants, pet peeves, and other items. Here is a sampling from a recent issue.
Men's Health magazine article focused on the fine art of conversation. The author, a college professor shared the story of how the students' final exam grade in the nonfiction-writing class he taught was totally based on a two-hour, full-class, Q&A session with a 92-year old man.
They knew nothing about the man.
After 15 minutes of basic, boring questions ("Where do you live? What do you do
for a living?), one exasperated student blurted out, "Just what makes you so
special?"
That's when the magic started.
He is in the Guinness Book for the world's longest-serving bartender, having served his first drink at midnight, April 7, 1933, the moment Prohibition ended. The incisive questions and fascinating answers came fast and furiously after that.
A major point here is that there is something special about everyone and everything. Think of "special" questions you might ask to gain deeper knowledge about your prospects and customers.
Some companies have the stupid policy of not allowing switchboard operators to give out the names of employees (like that's going to stop the scam artists—who the policy is intended to prevent from infiltrating the company—from finding a way in anyway).
Recently I've had success by going to the PR department of
a company, calling the name listed on a press release listed on the company's
site, and in another case, calling the Customer Service department.
Makes perfect sense. After all, these folks are trained to be helpful and answer
questions. And of course, you can always ask for the Sales department.
______________________________
I see that McDonald's is going after Starbucks big time in the
coffee market, expecting it to be a 1 BILLION dollar a year increase in sales.
In their test markets they make fun of something I've long
laughed at, and think is quite arrogant: Starbucks' labels for their sizes of
drinks. Vente, Grande...are you kidding me?! McDonalds is going with small,
medium, and large; there's a concept...using the language your customers
actually use.
Related to the previous point, to communicate on the same
channel as your prospect or customer, it's good to listen for nuances in their
vocabulary and adjust yours accordingly.
Reminds me of a story shared a few years ago by a sales rep with James &
Douglas, a company providing new construction project information to architects,
engineers, and contractors. One of their reports is called the "Medical Project
Report." That's how he referred to it...unless he heard the prospect say, "We
deal mostly in ‘healthcare' projects." He then referred to his report as
"healthcare" reports. A small change, but one that can make a big difference in
the listener's mind.
I love those Mac commercials with the geeky PC guy and the cool
Mac character. On one I saw during a football game, PC guy says something like,
"I have this referee here so you do not
say something crazy like Leopard is better than Vista."
Mac-guy responds, "I didn't say that. The Wall Street Journal said that."
Brilliant. Any time you can use a third party to make your point it adds more
credibility. Whenever anyone, whether they be a media source talking about your
products, or a satisfied customer, be sure to document it and use it when
appropriate on your calls.
A habit that some people have is prefacing their questions with
"May I ask...", as in "May I ask how many locations you have?"
When you analyze it, this is a waste of words and also implies that the inquirer
is tentative and unconfident in asking for the information.
Those who are guilty might argue that they don't want to appear pushy with their
questions. Nonsense. As long as you've shown the prospect what you can do for
them, you've earned the right to ask for information.
Plus, you can make your questions sound non-threatening with your tone of voice.
Why not simply say, "How many locations do you have?" in a sincere tone of
voice?
Another related offense: "May I ask you a few questions about
your organization?"
If you say this, you just did ask a question!
The problem here is that their thinking now focuses on whether or not they want
to answer any questions.
However, contrast that with, "Tell me a bout how your organization is structured
by region."
Now they aren't debating as to whether or not they want to answer your
questions. They're thinking about the answer to your request.
That's why questions are so powerful. They prompt the person to think about
precisely what you ask them.
Now Go and Have Your Best Month Ever!
Thanks to Art Sobczak for his contribution. See a different Sales Tip and Quote each week at his website, http://www.businessbyphone.com.
