The Secret Method few People Use

When I ask business owners what they want most, there are a few top answers including:

  • More time;
  • Better business skills; and
  • More profitable sales;

But when we boil it down, it really turns out that what they need is more appointments with qualified prospects… because that turns into less time wasted and more profitable sales.

I love the fact that this is their biggest desire, because the solution is right there in front of you: a piece of equipment that you already own and use often… your mobile phone.

It makes sense, when you think about it. Email and social media are overcrowded, you may even be overwhelmed by text messages, but when you call, you stand out.

Maybe you find cold calling intimidating… even terrifying. Lots of people do, including the team I worked with which was the basis of my book, “Confident Closing”. But, it’s a great way to create opportunities, make appointments, and generate income, and, if you use it in conjunction with social media and email, it doesn’t even need to be all that “cold”.

My 9-Step Cold Calling System

  1. Know your product or service inside and out;
  2. Make a list of all the reasons it would be worthwhile purchasing it;
  3. Uncover all the questions prospects might ask about it;
  4. Find meaningful answers to those questions;
  5. Create a script to explain your product or service, record that script, and learn it by heart;
  6. Think of 3 ‘hook statements’ you could use to introduce yourself. These are things you could say that would make your ideal prospect really curious about your solution and you can also use them if you need to leave a voice message. Have a 10 second version ready as well;
  7. Identify 10 people who would be ideal prospects.
  8. Mentally prepare yourself for the call and visualise a successful outcome.
  9. Pick up the phone and test your ‘hook statements’ and script by calling your prospects. Do this in a single block while you’re in the mood and have momentum. If a person doesn’t answer, leave a voice message using one of your ‘hook statements’.

You’ll notice this is not an effortless process – like most things that get results it takes real work and thought, but you’ll be surprised at how many appointments you can actually generate using this process…

I usually end up with about 8 or 9 appointments from every 10 calls, if I’ve chosen my candidates properly (and I often close almost 85% of my appointments), but anything over 3 out of 10 represents a significant number of potential sales and, if you’ve done a good job of outlining your product or service during the call, you can expect to close over 70% of your appointments.

#TuesdayTips

I am one of those weird people that sort of enjoys cold calling – within limits.  My results have always been good, and that has given me the confidence keep going when I am rejected.  But there’s a reason why my results have usually been so good, and that’s what I’d like to tell you about.

One of my early sales positions was in a highly competitive industry with very thin margins.  Our performance was judged on the number of calls we made, not on the number of appointments or sales we got.  I always thought that was a mistake because it put the emphasis on the action, rather than the outcome and it seems to me that if you expect really poor outcomes you’ll probably get them.  Anyway, my outcomes were excellent and I ended up booked out for weeks ahead because I used this system.

People often said, “It’s all very well for you Chandell, you’re a natural salesman so it’s easy for you to get these results.”  And I’d kind of smile and think, “Well, if you knew how hard I worked before I ever picked up the phone you’d probably realise that there’s not much natural about it!”

When I became sales manager I started to teach my teams the system I was using, and you know what?  Most of them became ‘natural salesmen’ too!

So here’s my 7-Step Sales System – it works for cold calling, and helps you close sales in other contexts as well because it gives you confidence in what you’re selling.  The one thing that makes it even more powerful – which I talk about in another post – is principles of observing your prospect and understanding what’s going through their mind.  I learned those through neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and they supercharged my results because they also helped me identify prospects who were not a good fit for the product or service I was selling and to offer them an alternative (or suggest they just keep what they had).

A 7-Step Sales System That Really Gives Results

  1. Become familiar with the core literature for your product or service;
  2. List all the reasons it would be worthwhile purchasing it;
  3. Uncover all the questions prospects might ask;
  4. Find meaningful answers to those questions;
  5. Create a script you can use to explain your product or service;
  6. Make a recording of the script to help you learn it and listen it it often;
  7. Practice the script and keep adding questions.

You’ll notice this is not an effortless process – it takes real work and thought.  It is fantastic when you have a team of people who can brainstorm features, benefits, and objections way beyond the ones in the handbook, but it works almost as well when you do the process alone and then practice it on friends or relatives to refine your script.

Most Objections Fall Into 3 Categories

Handling objections is usually the hardest part of sales, but it’s much easier once your realise that no matter how complex an objection seems, it usually has roots in one of 3 categories:-

  1. I don’t have enough money;
  2. I don’t have enough time;
  3. I don’t have enough resources.

Once you practice mentally identifying which of these 3 categories you’re facing, you’ll be able to answer almost any objection that comes your way, without much difficulty and that will give you added confidence in any sales situation.

It’s amazing how much difference this level of preparation gives to both your outcomes and your attitude.  Several times each year I run a sales training workshop called Confident Closing – it has that title because I’m passionate about sales and I believe that everyone can learn to close more sales, but the ‘Confident’ part is just as important as the closing in my mind.  It’s rather like going into an exam knowing you’re well-prepared – it doesn’t matter what the questions are, you are confident you’ll be able to deal with them – and as a result your answers demonstrate that confidence.

If you’d like to learn more about my Confident Closing Sales Training go to CONCLO.

Meta Description: A 7-Step Sales System that gives results even when you use if for cold calling – and which will help you close more sales than you ever imagined was possible.

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By popular demand we have turned many of our multi-day workshops into multi-week online courses with a live day to kick them off. Learn more at https://businessgrowth.mykajabi.com/masteryoursales

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