A lot of us do feel the negative effect of prospect after prospect saying "no". Our staff make prospecting calls all day & even though we hire people that are naturally less phased by a "no", articles that give a fresh perspective on this aspect of their role are very useful.

This week Becky pointed out an article by Paul McCord from the current issue (number 56) of the NZ Sales Manager called The Secret of Handling Rejection. Paul says in his article;

It seems we need to find a format that will give us the opportunity to offset the rejection with success.

If cold calling is a part of your role then this article is worth a read. Sales people are often hired for a number of skills & prospecting is just one of those skills. Paul offers some valuable ideas on how to manage the way you structure your daily activities to help in handling rejection.

The ideas I have found in the NZ Sales Manager & heard at the RevUp events & put into practice have been extremely valuable to me. If you are a Sales Professional I strongly recommend subscribing to the NZ Sales Manager (its free!) & attending the next Rev-Up on Wednesday 16th November (click here for details)

Video testimonials have set us apart from our competitors as real, local & worth talking to.

We aren't in the Social Media Marketing space but I'm excited about the impact we've had from posting a couple of short videos on our testimonial page & wanted to share :)
If you are a SOHO business in the professional or business to business space perhaps you could get value from posting some short, simple videos from your top clients.

Prospects have told me that having video drove them to check out our website ahead of others. One person said that they thought the videos identified us as a real kiwi business & not the New Zealand office of an off-shore call centre.

When preparing for shooting the video we gave some thought to previous comments made by our client in a testimonial or conversation with us about the results acheived by working together. With our client's agreement we met & spent 10 to 20 minutes shooting as many short (1-3 minute) video clips as we needed to get a concise message we were both happy with. Video was shot with a Flip camera but most current smartphones will provide comparable quality.

The scripting was "off the cuff" to keep it natural & real. One client provided an intro & a few short videos on specific points so that we could edit these into one longer video or post each one individually. Other than that we have posted the videos without editing - once again it keeps it real!

We didn't dream this up in a vacuum. Our friends in the marketing team at SOHO Solutions gave us the idea & pointed us at the tools & we did the rest. They are great at educating their clients & helping them get the best Social Media Marketing for their budget.

Give them a call on 078490289 & ask for Russell or Jodie - remember to mention this post when you call

Never sound disheartened or angry if the call does not go in your favour, keep your emotions in check and maintain good phone posture.  Rushing off the phone with a hasty goodbye or hanging up too quickly will leave them feeling negative about your company.

If the call was successful and you have finalised an appointment, then thanking them in a professional and friendly manner will leave them confident about their decision to meet.

You have reached the call objective and you’re about to book the appointment so be careful not to let all your hard work go to waste! 

Don’t get too excited, remain professional and on to it as you remember to confirm all relevant contact and appointments details, nothing worse than turning up in the wrong place – or at the wrong time!

Before ending the call, repeat the appointment time and date to the client so you can be sure it has been entered correctly into their diary.

Always email your prospect to thank them for your time, confirm the appointment time and date and provide them with your contact details so they can get in touch if they need to reschedule for any reason.

Having asked all the appropriate questions and gathered as much information about the prospects current business situation as possible to judge whether they are in the market for your offer now, in the future or if it will never apply to them.  

When you have determined which of these categories the prospect falls in to you can then either proceed with booking an appointment, keep their name on file with a reminder to get back in touch in the future or delete them off your list entirely.  

Take care not to delete a future prospect by not asking enough questions – you don’t want to burn an opportunity that may present in the future!

If the prospect has agreed to have future contact make sure you record the correct time to get back in touch so as not to miss the window of opportunity when they will be in the market for an offer like yours.

If they do result in a lead or appointment then you want to be able to recall the phone conversation and its key points so you can ‘pick up where you left off’ when you meet in person, this means you can re-visit topics or issues that were mentioned when you attend the appointment.

• If your product or service is not relevant to their business then find out why - Are they with a competitor, under a contract, no money left in the budget? 

Ask open ‘probing’ questions to get them talking so you can gain a better idea of their business situation.

You do not want to ‘close’ a prospect purely because you did not ask the right questions to determine whether or not they could become a future lead instead.

Sticking to the script at the same time as listening and conversing is a must. 

A well thought out and prepared script means that you know how the conversation should play out and helps you to focus on the objective or result you want to achieve.

Having the ability to think on your feet and adlib a little is always a bonus,  but following the basic outline of the script will help to keep the conversation flowing and heading in the desired direction.

If they inquire about something off topic - acknowledge it - answer the question as best as you can, then bring them back to the main reason for your call.

Following a script will guarantee all appropriate information about your product or service has been given to the prospect and that no vital details have been missed, it also saves you the embarrassment of repeating yourself or losing your train of thought.

Have you ever been asked the same question more than once whilst speaking with a Telemarketer?

Having to repeat yourself is rather frustrating isn’t it?

• Discover early in the conversation if your product or service is a good fit and applicable for their business.

• Take note of additional information they provide, allow them to speak, often this will determine if the offer is relevant. If you let them explain also why they are not interested in what you are offering then you will understand and not be tempted to push them into an irrelevant appointment – it is a numbers game, but leads and appointments need to be well qualified!

Sometimes we can be rather lazy when it comes to the English language with all kinds of words being adapted, shortened and pronounced incorrectly.  

• Saying “Yup” and “Nah” does not sound very professional, does it?

While keeping your phone posture in mind you also need to be conscious of your phone speech.

The basic rule of good phone etiquette is to use professional words in context – absolutely no ‘slang’ or abbreviations!

 If you have a long sentence in your script and want to avoid ‘reading a novel’ you can raise or lower the tone of your voice to add effect and keep the prospects attention.

• Pausing at the right time and emphasising the right words makes the sentence structure flow naturally without sounding ‘speech-like’

While keeping up a professional phone manner try to match the prospects pace by mirroring their style of speech.  You can pick up on the prospects personality early in the conversation so you can adapt your speech appropriately.  

In saying that, if they swear or sound ‘brash’, remain professional and don’t stoop to their level. Keep in mind that you are trying to form new business relationships and you want to gain their respect.

Phone posture is another basic skill that needs to be mastered.  Yes, you will come across angry or rude people and it is human nature to feel upset or want to retaliate – neither response is advisable, you will immediately lose their respect.

You need to realise that your call is an interruption to their day and a rude response can be a reaction to some news they are dealing with, let it roll off you like ‘water off a ducks back’.