Tel-E Sales Tip of the Week
May 21, 2009

Published By Art Sobczak, Business By Phone Inc.
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Newly Updated and Expanded Teleseminar
"How to Easily Create Telephone Call  Openings that
Stimulate Interest, and Avoid Resistance-(AND Get
To More Decision Makers, AND Have Success With Voice Mail)"

This Week's Tip:
Creating Interest in 10 Seconds or Less


Greetings!

This has happened more often than I'd like:

I’ll be in a training session working on opening statements
with sales reps, and someone will say, "This won’t work
in my market. My prospects are busy people. They
won’t listen to this fluff. They want something direct."

So then I’ll ask, "Ok, what do you say?"

"I’m Jay Nelsen with AB Services. We’re an
information technology consulting firm and I’d
like to talk to you about your IT needs."

It takes all the tact I have to resist saying,

"Are you kidding me? You're telling me that your
prospects are important, busy people, yet you
expect them to listen to you despite the fact
you have given them absolutely no reason to do so?
The fact that your prospects/customers are busy
is the very reason why you need to have a value
statement in your opening. Otherwise they have
no reason to stay on the phone with you.
Prospects and customers don’t care what you sell.
Their only concern is what they get."


It really isn't that tough to come up with a
compelling, benefit-loaded opening, if you try.
For example, fill in these blanks for an
initial call:


"Ms. Prospect, I'm _____ with _____. We specialize
in working with (fill in with a type of company,
or title of a decision maker) in helping them to
(fill in with something they want to get or avoid)
so that they can (fill in with another desired
result). I'd like to ask a few questions to see if
this might be of some value to you."


For example, "Ms. Prospect, my company specializes
in working with network administrators who have
been told they need to come up with ways to limit
personal use of the Internet on company computers.
We help them implement a simple system to help do
that, that doesn't make management look like it
doesn't trust their employees. How much of an issue
is personal use of the Internet at your company?"

Now, this example does not use any personalized
information that you should be able to come up with
by doing a bit of research, which I certainly suggest
you do.

(In the new Opening Statement Teleseminar I show you
how you can get great info and use it in your opening
so the listener feels like he is the only person you have
called all day. http://www.businessbyphone.com/teleseminar2.htm)

WORKS WITH VOICE MAIL ALSO
And I always tell my seminar participants that
there's no secret to a great voice mail message.


It's the same as your great opening, modified
slightly. We could take the aforementioned opening
and tweak the ending slightly:


"... depending on how much of an issue this is at your
company, it might be worth our while to talk. I'd
like to ask you a few questions to see if you'd like
more information..."


==========================================
I heard a great quote: "Too many people begin talking
before they have something to say." That is especially
true as it relates to the openings of calls. Script
out your openings, but never let them sound scripted.
==========================================


Speaking of that last point, a business owner called
me inquiring about my "How to Sell More in Less Time ...
Volume 2," and said she was going to get it, but was
going to wait. She had just hired a new person to make
some inactive account calls for her industrial supplies
business and said she would let her get acclimated and
make some calls on her own first. I asked what she would
have the new rep say. She replied,


"Oh, just call and let them know that she has taken over
the account ... and then, I guess, just go from there."


My reply: "And you're expecting them to say, 'Oh, you're
now handling my account? Great, I haven't bought from
you from two years, I don't even remember buying from you,
but now you can have all my supplies business'."


She said, "Heh, heh, yeah, I guess that would be nice."


"But in reality," I said, "you know what they'll probably
say, don't you? They'll likely say, 'So what?'"


I suggested that a better opening would be,


"Mr. Inactive, we had the opportunity a while ago to
provide you with ___, and if you're still using those,
and other supplies, we might have a few options that
might help you (fill in with the results you deliver,
i.e. cut down on your overall supplies costs, make
the acquisition process a little easier, etc.) What
types of ___ are you using now?"


You can't just call and "go from there" with openings.
Oh, I guess you can, but you step straight into the
path of resistance.


Start your calls well, and the rest becomes easier.
 

Learn How to Write Your Own Interest-Grabbing Opening
And Avoid Demoralizing Resistance
Without a doubt, the most important part of your phone call
is the first 15 seconds. You can have the greatest product
or service in the world, but if you can't get past the opening,
you're sunk.

Most calls sink.

But it's not that difficult to say the right things to create
interest and avoid the things that most salespeople say
that ensure they get blown off the phone. I share these
ideas, strategies, process, and word-for-word examples
in my teleseminar, "How to Easily Create Telephone
Call Openings that Stimulate Interest, and Avoid
Resistance"

Plus, as part of participating in this seminar by phone, I
will personally review your opening and make my
comments or suggestions. And if you can't attend, you
can still get the 90-minute seminar on two audio CD's, and get the
bonuses and review. For more info and to register
go to http://www.businessbyphone.com/teleseminar2.htm

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

=========================================
 

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