• Reading From A Script. There is nothing more boring to a prospective customer than to pick up the phone and hear the caller (after usually miss-pronouncing their name) to launch into a written script. This screams of a complete lack of professionalism, as well as making the customer feel like just another name on the list, rather than as someone special.
• “You have been selected”. This dreaded cliché sounds as phoney as it is. Think about it. Why in the world would the customer be selected by a company that has probably never done business with them before? Is it the customer’s lucky day? They usually don’t think so.
• Lack of Passion. This is related to script reading. Many callers sound like they are human zombies, just going through the motions. If there is anything to cause the customer to hang up, this is it, and this leads us to the next mistake.
• Failing to connect emotionally with the customer. If the caller sounds bored and mechanical, the listener will pick it up. After all, if the caller is not excited about the offering, why in the world should the potential customer be?
• Giving opportunity to say “no”. Anytime the caller asks the prospective customer a question, there should never be the opportunity for the customer to say “no”. For example, instead of: “Would you like to have one of our sales reps come out next week?”, the correct question should be: “Our reps will be in your area on Tuesday and Thursday. Which day is more convenient for you?”. This gives the customer a choice, and produces far superior results.
• Not targeting the calling prospects. Working off a random list should be avoided if at all possible. If the target list can be narrowed to customers who have bought similar products/services in the past, the calling campaign will be more successful.
• Not doing it. This speaks for itself. To succeed, the callers must make the calls. It is really that simple.

Avoiding these mistakes will make cold calling a profitable activity for your business.

Cold Calling Mistakes: Top Tips To Avoid is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

The first step in fighting the fear of cold calling is teaching yourself to not take the calls personal. In this business you will encounter rejection all the time, but the key is knowing that the consumer is rejecting the product or service, not you personally! Once you understand how to separate yourself from the product/service, you will gain the confidence you need to press forward and handle each call accordingly.

Focus on the positive not the negative. Every time someone rejects the product/service, just look at it as an opportunity to make room for those customers that are interested and/or are willing to buy. If you think about it, sometimes the only real way in distinguishing your buying customers is to weed them out from the non-buying ones.

What are some tips on what to avoid when cold calling? What can you do to fight the fears? When it comes to motivating yourself to do more cold calls it can be a challenging task. Here are some tips on finding motivation:

Adopt a powerful physiology. Did you know that your body & mind are connected? If you’re frowning, having a bad day or feeling down, this physiology can influence your attitude. Believe it or not but you can bring out that negative energy or lack of enthusiasm to your prospect via the phone. For tips on building strong physiology…try smiling, standing up, shaking your body out, stretching, taking deep breaths, sitting up straight, etc.

Visualize total success. Your attitude will reflect whatever you’re focusing on. Free yourself from distractions, don’t get sidetracked with less important business and focus on the positive. Visualize a time when you closed a big deal and focus on that energy.
Rehearse your script. Words are powerful and can make or break a deal. Be confident & knowledgeable in what you’re saying.
Be realistic with your goals. In the end remember it’s all about the customer.

Due to today’s economy not only is there a limited client base, but the competition is fierce. Fighting your fears of cold calling & finding inner motivation are crucial keys to your success.

To learn how to fight your fears (not just in sales) get the Audio CD: Fight Your Fears, Worries and Frustrations in Thirty Lessons.

How to Handle the Fear of Cold Calling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

• You can practice reading from it before you call to help you sound more knowledgeable, professional, and in control
• The script contains a list of common objections, with suggested responses
• Reviewing the script will allow you to become more familiar with your product/service

However, there are a few disadvantages of using a script:

•  It may sound like you are reading from a script and just going through the motions. This is often done with no passion whatsoever, and many potential customers will pick up on this immediately
• Many people who are forced to listen to a script reading will feel like their intelligence is being insulted, and may also feel like they are not being addressed personally – but instead are being treated like a number, rather than a person
• Many new cold callers will read through the script too quickly, and consequently fail to pick up any responses from the listener…until the line disconnects
• Scripts are often filled with cliches such as “Congratulations! You have been selected…” or some phoney sounding story such as “you won’t believe this, but our warehouse has just been damaged, and we are getting rid of out inventory at unbelievably cheap prices, so this is your lucky day” or “put your buying hat on, and grab your buying pencil” or some other such nonsense.

Therefore, when all things are considered, most successful cold callers use a script – but make it sound like they don’t. This means knowing what you are going to say, and how you will handle objections.

The keys to this are to adapt a conversational tone; don’t rush through your introduction and listen – really listen – to the person you are talking to. At times, this may mean that you will deviate from the script somewhat: but that is okay, as long as you are developing rapport with who you called and a friendly conversation is developing.

Finally, read the script, and if there are words in the script that you normally don’t use, and feel uncomfortable using them, then don’t use them! They will sound phoney and insincere, and may result in losing many sales.  

By keeping these ideas in mind, the script can be a fantastic and useful tool.

Setting Up Your Cold Calling Script is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

When you’re cold calling, your best chance of success is to be self assured, confident, and 100% well versed in what you are selling. If you’re using the word ‘maybe’ in your sales scripts, you run the risk of sounding wishy washy. It either is or isn’t. Pick one.

Don’t

In fact, any negative, when describing your product or service, is a definite no. You want to list the positive attributes – not the negative. So instead of thinking about what you don’t do, can’t offer, or won’t provide, think about what you do, can and will. Then write about those.

Hope

When you tell your client you’re ‘hoping’ for something, you’re not sure, are you? If you’re not sure, then why should they be? Never let a prospect hear that you’re not 100% behind your product, your company or your service, or it’s entirely likely you will lose the sale.

Contract

It may sound innocuous enough, but the word contract conjures up all sorts of unpleasant pictures of lawyers, being ‘tied down’ and other negative thoughts. When you’re writing a new sales script, you want to avoid those negative ideas, so make sure that any words like contract that indicate your prospect will be locked in are on your list of what to avoid when cold calling.

Cheap

We all know people want to pay less for goods and services, but the word cheap just sounds, well, cheap. Think ‘cheap and nasty’ and you have some idea of what’s going through your prospects mind when you say cheap. Stick to ‘cost effective’, ‘value for money’, or ‘highly competitive pricing.’ All of them sound better, and say the same thing, without making your prospect think of badly made, low cost goods or services.

This certainly isn’t a complete list of words to avoid when you are wondering what to avoid when cold calling, but it’s a start. As a general rule of thumb, you should avoid any word that has a negative connotation, even if you use it in a positive way. Consumers tend to hear the negative word, and form a negative connection with your brand, without even realizing it.

Always remember that it’s not only what you say, but how you say it, that determines sales success!

What to avoid when cold calling – part 2 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

As annoying as cold calling can be, it is a game of probabilities and the more you do it, the more sales you will make. 

What to avoid when cold calling? is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

• I don’t want to bother anyone
• They probably won’t be interested
• I don’t want to be yelled at
• I don’t like reading from a script
• I don’t really know what to say
• What if they act like they may be interested, but still won’t buy?

There are probably several other objections, but these are the common ones. The bad news is that these are real – and they represent potentially huge barriers for any company’s marketing efforts. The good news is that with a different way of approaching cold calls, this can change from a feeling of dread to a feeling of enthusiasm and actual anticipation – and this is not as hard to accomplish as it may seem.

The first and most important step is to realize that you are not bothering your prospective customers/clients. By not calling and introducing your products/services to them, you are really doing them a disservice.

Think about that. If you really believe in your company’s products and services, why wouldn’t you want to tell the whole world about it? Your customers need what you are offering, and cold calling is one way to make them aware of the benefits you can offer them. This is an important first step in changing the way you think about cold calls.

The next step is to put yourself in the position of who you are calling. They have problems; you have solutions. Why in the world are you hesitant to offer to help them by making their life easier? There is no good answer to that question. Once you have identified your targeted market, and what they are concerned about, the calls will begin to flow naturally, and the phone will no longer weight 10,000 pounds.

To help overcome the fear factor, ask yourself this: what is the worst, the very worst thing that could happen? You hear an obscenity and the phone slams down? BIG DEAL! If anything, you will learn to enjoy results like that, for the simple reason that those “No’s” are leading you to the next “Yes’s”.

As you can see, it all begins changing the way you approach cold calls. And that is totally under your control!

How To Approach Cold Calling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Clammy hands?  Blank mind?  Have you become an expert at creative avoidance?  No one actually looks forward to cold calling, yet it’s a necessity for successful selling.

Happily, there are some simple cold calling techniques you can use to become much more comfortable, move past your fear and enjoy the positive results you want.

These cold calling techniques can really help:

• Acknowledge your anxiety.  Even professional athletes psych themselves up, put on their game face and focus only on desired results.
• Be prepared.  Know exactly how each prospect can benefit from doing business with you, how your company and products can improve their operations or bottom line.  Talk with current customers to learn how they’ve benefited to get ideas and examples.
• Assume prospects are interested.  Unless you’re merely opening the phone book and blindly selecting numbers to call, you’re making appropriate contacts.  They just haven’t met your company or products yet, so it’s a teaching opportunity for you.
• Anticipate objections.  You can be a hero by helping resolve problems or allaying  concerns about pricing, budget, timing, usage, etc.
• Pretend you’re speaking face-to-face.
• Speak normally.  Know the points you want to make, but let your personality show.  People buy from other people, and they prefer to do business with people they like.
• Stand up.  Your voice will sound better and you’ll be less tense.

Don’t overdo it. 

Set yourself up for success, by scheduling short cold calling sessions – say, ten calls or 15 minutes — and rewarding yourself after each session.  Rewards should be something you really like, such as calling one of your best customers to check in, reading for a few minutes (limit the time) about sales tips or market trends, even tapping into a short podcast or video.

Short sessions and frequent rewards make cold calling manageable and focus on the positive, energizing you for your next round of calls.  Get up and move around between sessions, too, because stretching improves blood flow to your body and your mind.

These cold calling techniques can improve your results.  And remember, cold calling is not a goal.  It’s the first step in a winnowing process, so naturally you’ll find some “chaff” along the way.  But with every call, you’re expanding awareness of your company’s brand and products, and you’ve introduced yourself so you’re no longer a complete stranger.  You’ve planted a seed that might some day grow into a customer.

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I’ve been nominated as one of the Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management in 2011 by Sales Lead Management Association. Voting is open until November 30; please vote for me only if you feel I am contributing to the sales community:

http://www.salesleadmgmtassn.com/50most2011/top50_vote.htm

Cold Calling Techniques is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Don’t be afraid to ask questions that will help you understand your customer’s situation. Don’t be afraid of what objections your prospect might bring up. You will actually make your sale much easier with the good fact-finding. You want to uncover your prospects needs and wants even if they don’t realize he or she has them at this point.

Also you will probably hear some negatives from your prospects, and by uncovering those objections you will be able to tailor your presentation to deal with those potential negatives in the most effective way.

A good fact-finding shows that you are concerned about the customer’s needs and you are not like every other sales person who is simply trying to sell the product to him.

 To quote myself from the book Trigger Events, “All needs are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”

Remember: Fact-finding IS selling.

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Get the book Trigger Events today and start selling to new customers tomorrow!

Fact-Finding Is Your Mission is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

The power of suggestion is just as effective when used for a lawful and honorable purpose as for an unlawful and dishonorable one. Karen, one sales person I know, succeeds where others fail, largely because of her greater suggestive power. She draws such a vivid description of the products she is selling, makes it seem so very desirable, that her prospect feels he must give her an order.
 
Karen knows she is selling a good thing that it is to his customer’s benefit to buy. The transaction is therefore of mutual benefit to both parties, the buyer as well as the seller.

So what is suggestion? Suggestion has been defined as “whatever creates or inspires thought.” As a science, suggestion shows us how to start and steer thought.

Over 100 years ago James Allen said, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This is the essence of auto-suggestion. Thought is a creative force. It is a motive, impelling, sustaining force. Suggestion can help you to upbuild and develop yourself, to educate and train yourself in spirit, mind, and body. It can also help you to shape the desires and direct the will of the customers you seek to influence. In the first place, we direct the will of our customers by our very personality, which has been developed through auto-suggestion. Then the various steps of attention, interest, desire, and, finally, resolve, in the customer, must be induced by suggestion.

Our customer must forget himself and his own senses, ultimately; or at least, he must have had all his knowledge and experience so brought into harmony with those of the salesperson that he readily accepts the salesperson’s ideas. If you remember that suggestion is merely the working of the subjective mental force, you have a pretty clear idea of the use that may be made of suggestion in the progress of a sale.

The simple study of psychology reveals that the activities of the will must be stirred up by approaching and capturing the intellect and feelings.

We get attention through the senses, increase attention to interest through the intellect, change interest to desire through the feelings, and finally, in decision we have induced the will to act. There is no mathematical dividing line, no architecturally apparent flights of steps; nevertheless, you should be perfectly conscious of the different stages of progress of the customer’s mind, and you should lead him easily and naturally from one to the other.

A sale is a mental process, and depends largely upon the quality and the intensity of the mental suggestion, and the confidence communicated to the would-be purchaser’s mind. Suggestion is properly used in the conduct of a sale when it is unobtrusive, and should be honest and well aimed. It should help the customer’s mind and inspire confidence. Suggestions to the customer should have the goal of not to overcome the will, but simply to guide and influence it.

Character is largely made up of suggestion; life is largely based upon it. Selling is pretty nearly all suggestion. You will become much more successful once you learn how to use suggestion to help the mind of the customer, without making him feel that any influence is being exerted. You simply lead your customer to buy.

Let the customer feel that he is buying, not that you are selling to him.

Every salesperson should study psychology. You should be able to understand the mental laws by which the mind of your prospect acts, so as to be able to read his or her mental operations. Psychology in selling is in reality only a different name for the principles which good business people, expert salespeople, have used in all times. Diplomacy, tact, cheerfulness, the good-will habit, and the suggestion of confidence – all these form an important part of business psychology.

How Suggestion Helps in Selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Based on my recent experience, I will talk here about the dental industry which has seen success with employing the following direct mail strategies through dental newsletters and postcards.

The first step is to strategically target your direct mail campaign. There are many different ways to target. It can be done using a combination of geographic and demographic factors.

Targeting by location is also an effective tactic for dental marketing because many people choose a dentist based on proximity and convenience. Target more than 5,000 households in the area around an office, then move out to surrounding zip codes if the first mailing is successful and the demographics match your target new patient. Demographic targeting is a solid strategy. Healthcare industry research shows women make the majority of healthcare choices for a household, so targeting content to the female head of household may be valuable. If a practice’s services are high-end, it may want to target higher-income areas and neighborhoods.

In defining the target audience, consider some of the following points:

• Prospect’s trust must be earned, so regular and consistent communication is critical
• Experienced marketers know that in relation to performance there are three keys that will impact a successful direct mail campaign; in order:  the quality of your mailing list, your offer and your creative.
• Discount offers and deadlines create urgency to respond and can also support and highlight your unique competitive advantages

And finally your creative content must grab attention and focuses on an individual practice’s strengths. Appealing visuals can go a long way towards standing out in a stack of mail. Choose stock images that feature individuals with excellent teeth and attractive smiles, or for a more personalized – and effective feel – use images of the actual dental staff. Best practices say not to use images of people actually in the dentist chair.

The messaging will be different for each audience and mailing list. The message for senior denture care would be very different from the messaging about invisible braces for teenagers. The messaging should also highlight the practice strengths that set it apart from the competition. If an office has convenient appointment times, specializes in gentle procedures or has excellent pediatric dentistry, that message that should be front and center on the dental marketing piece. Customer testimonials also can help tell the story of a specialized dental practice.

A critical but often overlooked part of ensuring the success of a direct mail piece is checking all the contact information is correct.  It is important to confirm (and phone) the phone number, ensure the office address and any other contact information is accurate before approving. A small map of the office location are proven to be more far more effective, than an image of the practice, for example; to a dental postcard.

In the end, putting striking visuals and a clear message in the right mailbox can help boost client numbers and revenue for any dental practice.

Direct Mail Marketing with Targeted Postcards is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer