Through the years we’ve done sales calls in a number of ways and at times it varied by rep. Today we’ve truly mastered these calls. We sometimes have multiple calls. In each of our businesses, our price points are relatively high and so we never push on a one-call-close. This is out of respect for our prospect and it can foster a much stronger relationship. Besides, we’re never in a hurry and we’re always ready to say that we don’t believe it’s a good fit if we know it’s the case. If at any point during a call we don’t believe we can bring them value then we put this on the table immediately as we don’t want to waste their time or ours.
You can enter calls with organic leads as well as prospects you’ve done cold outreach to achieve. Absolutely, cold outreach initially puts you at a disadvantage, but that can be quickly moved to an advantage if the call is conducted properly.
This is the agenda and rules to all of our sales calls. Use it and you’ll love the results.
- Take control of the call and never relinquish it. This means that after the greeting you explain to them how you will conduct the call and what you’re going to discuss. If at any point they attempt to take control of the call. Stop, listen, then firmly, but politely review the agenda for the call and bring them back to the point you left off. If they persist, then this is a strong indicator that any relationship with them will more than likely be problematic. It would not be unprofessional to bring that up and or cut the call short with a quick explanation as to why.
- Stick to a rigid soft-scripted call structure. This means that the steps in the call need to be adhered to at all costs, but scripting leaves room to keep it a natural conversation. Before the call you should have a clear understanding of their product and market. Use 3 questions (These are for consultants, but can be changed to fit your market and client goals. For instance in the education markets we serve, we ask questions related to their achievement and goals in those academic areas). What are your current sales? What are your sales goals? What is keeping you from reaching those sales goals? The answers to these questions will help you frame a very structured conversation about how they need to generate leads and acquire customers. With our consulting clients we go over exactly how to channel a conversation to reach an outcome that is most beneficial to them revealing what the true problem is for them achieving their goals.
- Begin with an assessment of their situation that asks them what they think their greatest problem is and why they haven’t solved it themselves. Again, the 3 questions assist you both in getting to the bottom of why they’re not growing as they desire. They most likely know why they are not reaching their goals and you need to help them bring that to the surface. This assessment is crucial and it’s often not something a business owner can accurately do by themselves as easily as they can when someone is prompting them and helping to search for the hidden issues.
- Review their assessment and solution with them. At this stage we make sure that we’re on the same page and they agree with the assessment and solution. This is a very important step and should never be skipped.
- Explain how we would help them achieve the outcome they desire…then wait and let them speak next. This is simply you emphatically stating that you can help them with the solution discussed and left open ended it should sound like the balls in their court and they only need to speak up and say that they want to proceed with you.
Any follow-up call needed should be with a similar agenda and just review of your last call. Anything more means that they do not agree with the conclusions you came to, don’t believe you can get them the outcome they desire, or they don’t have the funds to make it happen.
TCA, LLC 