If you are uncomfortable with sales calls or maybe you’ve just realised that you do need to make them in order to build on your pipeline of work.Do not build a script! This is probably the best advice I can offer and there is a simple explanation behind me saying this and it is purely because you should never prepare what the person on the end of the phone will reply with because when they don’t reply with what you’re expecting you will be thrown and panic.

Take time to answer the following nine hidden buyer questions. You need to have these answered before you even consider picking up the phone…

Your prospective customers may not ask these questions but they do need them answering in order to make a positive decision.

1. Why should I take your call you?

2. Why should I take time to listen to you?

3. What’s my problem?

4. What benefits have you to offer my business?

5. How will you support these benefits?

6. Why should I trust you?

7. Why should I trust your company?

8. Why should I make a decision to proceed?

9. Why should I proceed today?

The STORY:
Jenny got back to the office at 3:00pm on Wednesday with every intention of putting together the preliminary proposal for what could be one of the biggest clients she’d ever have. A two-hour job at most. She had promised to have a preliminary proposal to them first thing in the morning.

There, in her inbox, were one after another of 24/7 “While You Were Out” messages. Working through the list of call back messages, Jenny decided that they could all be called and dealt with within an hour. Some of them could be pushed off until the next day.

No problem, she thought, I’ll run right through these. Take maybe an hour. That will leave me at least two hours to do the preliminary quote. I’ve got all the time in the world.

As she dialed the first return call, Jenny felt good. If I land this account, it will mean we have a really profitable client.

“Ah, yes, this is Jenny; I’m returning a phone call from…”

An in a very methodical fashion, the “While You Were Out” messages disappeared.

Returning the last phone message, Jenny wondered why no one was answering. Guess he’s not in, she thought. Never going to succeed by keeping banker’s hours.

Putting down the phone, she finally looked at the little clock in the corner of the pc screen. 6:10PM. No, thought Jenny, this must be wrong. The clock on the iPhone perched neatly on the desk confirmed the time. With a loud sigh, Jenny spent about 10 seconds wondering if she’d ever get home before 9 or 10 o’clock at night. She realized she could not remember the last time she’d cooked a meal at home.

“That’s the price you pay to succeed,” she said aloud to an empty office, “that’s the price.”

The RESULT:
Jenny spent another night working at the office. Perhaps the preliminary quotation would be accurate. Perhaps, with lack of proper rest, she’d still be able to make a good presentation the following morning, but none of this had to happen.

DISCUSSION:
One of the great, and usually destructive, tales of business handed down from one business owner to another, and from older salespeople to younger salespeople, is the burning of the midnight oil. “The only way to succeed is to burn the midnight oil.”
“The sooner you start burning the midnight oil, the sooner you will have success.”

This tale, this myth, is so powerful that many burners of the oil truly believe that long hours are really a sign of success.

So it is obvious Jenny has pledged allegiance to the miraculous effects of burning that oil. She will arrange her day to make sure that the oil will be burned.

Which of the following do you think Jenny would see as a sign of hard work leading to greater success:

1. Leave the office at 6:00 pm.

2. Leave the office at 10:00 pm.

Time’s up. Make your choice.

If you picked number two, you are a true believer in the curative effects of midnight oil.

APPROACH:
How could Jenny have dealt with her phone calls and need to produce a preliminary quotation by 6:00 pm? It’s as simple as a three-minute egg timer. Here’s how it works. Jenny had 28 phone calls to return. Of those, at least half would result in voice mail, an answering machine, or the person would not be in. That left, at most, 14 contacts.

At the beginning of the conversation, all she had to do was state, “I’ve got three minutes to talk. Can we take care of your concerns in that time or should we schedule a phone call for tomorrow when I’m not limited?” Flip the egg timer over.

Jenny would have spent, at most an hour on the phone. That would have brought her to four o’clock instead of six o’clock.

The egg timer solution is not high tech; it’s not fancy; it’s not even expensive. But it works. And Jenny could have been out of the office by six.

THOUGHT:
Burning the midnight oil produces no light and ho heat. Why do it?

The facts speak for themselves – some examples:

• A Consumer goods company saved $ 3billion over 5 years using best practice consulting skills in their internal consulting team.

• A US software firm won the largest deal in its history ($165m) (previously their largest deal was $40m) through integrating their products and services and preparing a compelling business case.

• An IT services leader increased services margins from 25\\\% to 67\\\% by improving their diagnostic services and bundling their follow up services with more innovative products.

• An engineering firm won an additional $20m and 8 projects in a sales situation where they predicted they would lose the deal completely by improving their CXO conversational skills.

• An oil and gas global leader saved $2billion in 18 months through rigorous analysis and change management from their internal consulting group.

• An IT services firm built one of the largest global services organisations in the world and increased the size of product deals tenfold through shifting from a product to a services focus.

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_{DISCUSSION:
If your prospect has been living half way up a mountain for the past 15 years, without any radio, TV, newspapers, or contact with the outside world, he/she may not have any idea what your product or service costs.}

That person doesn’t exist.  Everyone who walks through the door, calls on the phone, or requests a meeting with you has some idea what the price is.  It may be too low or too high, but they do have a price in mind.  Everyone – without exception.

Here’s why:  The prospect finds him/herself in need of what you are selling.  He/she starts looking around, asking friends, researching on the net, perhaps even reads a couple of magazines.  Based on all of this, they then decide on what the price will be.  Keep in mind, neither of you know the other exists at this point.

Only then does he/she go looking for you.  You may cold call them, they may walk in or respond to a direct mail; how you learn of each other’s existence doesn’t matter.

Probably one of the most important for you to understand is that when you do eventually meet, however that may be, they have almost certainly decided on what the price will be.  Find out what the preconceived price is!!!

APPROACH:
No one is suggesting that the first thing you ask the prospect is “How much do you want to spend?” (that’s salesperson speak!). Most prospects, despite what they say, will think “As little as possible.”  You are then setting yourself up for a session of objection, overcome, objection, overcome, etc.  There are other approaches.

For example, “What other models have you looked at?”  If they have looked anywhere else (and they will have) and they tell you (which they will as they are already in the bargaining mindset), you are beginning to find out their price.

The conversation should be along these lines: “If you have looked at other models, why didn’t you buy one of them?”  Besides learning more about the price, you’ll also learn about what your prospect considers to be important features.

If the prospect shows any knowledge of your product, you respond; “That’s interesting you know about that.  How did you learn of it? is it something you consider to be an essential or a wishlist feature?”

Knowing your prospect’s price allows you to focus on their pain (or desire if you are taking the consultative selling route).

THOUGHT:
Every person who buys anything from you has already decided, before they have even met you, what it will cost.  Find out if they are being realistic.