Why Do You Need a “Quick Connect” Anyway?
Calling to set up meetings on the phone is a process that unfolds differently with every call you make.
To be on top of your game you need to “connect quickly” at the beginning of your conversation.
You typically have 2 minutes to do the following:
- Introduce yourself.
- Deliver your bullet points of services/products.
- Close to set up a meeting or phone call for the next step.
I have 4 children, one son and three daughters. When we would go on vacation my wife and 3 girls would love to do their “girly” shopping time. For my son Blake and me; we have our own thing. At age 6 I encouraged Blake to start a pocket-knife collection. BOOM! We had our own shopping tradition.
Searching pawn brokers, junk shops, antique malls, dime stores and sporting goods stores we moved up and down isles on our quest for really “cool” pocket-knives. Our collection grew.
It was a great time to connect with my young son and we quickly bonded together in our treasure hunt for the right pocket-knives.
You need to do the same connect in your calling to the person on the other end; saying a brief “How are you today?” along with a “happy FRIDAY!” Or make a comment about the heat this summer; “I am ready for it to be over how about you?”
Create your list of “quick connects” that touch on the weather, sports topic, TV spectacle or current news flash.
Then move right into your spiel with the rest of the script.
The automatic connector; moves you closer to the person you called; showing your human side and helps to relax them, softening their guard about the call.
Having an edge over the competition by learning the quick connect tactics; gives you leverage and will affect your bottom line sales.
Try it, you’ll like it!
The SCRIPT is a key and vital part of any cold calling program.
Script development should be simple, short, sweet and to the point! Remember a script is made up of an introduction, next a body of information, then a close.
Here’s the script, with explanations of each element:
Introduction
Hi, Gary. My name is Tony and I am with Aegis Environmental Services.
Identify yourself in the intro, or the contact may hang up on you.
Did I catch you at an OK time?
This question demonstrates respect for their time and an understanding that your phone call is not the only thing on their agenda for the day. Whether they say, “Yes,” “No,” or “No, but go ahead,” the next statement makes the response entirely moot.
Gary, I respect your time, so I’ll be brief.
This statement still allows you to continue regardless of how they initially responded to you, rather than rescheduling another time to call. This is a good thing, because you’ve finally got a prospect on the phone, so the last thing you want to do is hang up and attempt to catch them at another time.
Body
We provide environmental consulting and hazardous waste management for the items you are currently disposing. Our prices typically reduce our clients costs 20% to 40%.
The purpose of these sentences is to create a compelling reason for the person on the other end to continue the conversation. From this brief statement you could save him up to 40% on haz waste.
Aegis will work with you every step of the way to develop feasible alternatives and identify the most compliant and cost effective options for YOUR company. We are committed to providing the highest level of Service, Safety and Convenience, delivered on-time by highly trained professionals.
This eliminates a potentially adversarial posture, lowers their resistance, and brings down their guard. It is a very straight forward statement of what you do and how you take pride in your professional services, nothing here is intimidating.
Close
“The purpose for my call today is to set up a brief 15 minute meeting with our president Tom Hart, to introduce our company and find out exactly what your haz waste materials are, and see if we can save you MONEY!”
(slight Pause) His best days to meet are Tues/Wed/Thurs, how does your schedule look next week?
Set the appointment!
The classic close is simple yet to the point. If you can craft the script to be very targeted, not sharing too much information in the body, having a value that you can offer the prospect, and then finish with the standard “my purpose for the call today is to set up a brief meeting or phone call” then you increase your effectiveness of your cold calls to meetings, that generate proposals, which turn into sales that make you MONEY!
One final important note: Do not read the script, under any circumstances. Instead, practice, practice, practice the script as written, then practice it from memory–so that the words transcend naturally, as if you just thought of them, the moment you began speaking.
The more fluid you are and comfortable with the script, it comes across on the telephone, you gain more respect from the listener and often set up more meetings.
For more information visit my website: www.busconcon.com or contact John Eyres, President of Business Connections Consulting at 314-495-2089.
“DIFFERENTIATE YOUR COMPANY” from the competition
in your cold calling program.
One important key to making cold calls is understanding the concept of CORE vs. NICHE. What is it about your company that helps to differentiate you from your competitors business. There are basic core services that most companies cover internally and then there are niche services that businesses outsource to help them with their various internal needs. As a business owner or sales person you want to promote your business with niche services, where you are the expert in that field, therefore they outsource to you for that expertise and it is more cost effective for them in pursuing this interest.
You need to establish 5 Specific Selling Differentiators (SSDs) to use in your calling program. Write down your list of 5 SSDs and be specific/strategic in how they represent your company. Here is an example of my list:
Differentiate your company:
1. BCC uses a virtual office environment vs. a large cubicle desk calling center
environment.
2. Our talented team members have skill sets in phone calling, personally
trained by John Eyres.
3. We add contacts to your pipeline.
4. We assist your team to increase sales.
5. We generate an uptick in revenue.
Changes:
Three ways to offer niche services can include; 1. Value you bring to the prospect.
2. Problems you solve to your clients.
3. Execution and delivery to build business revenue.
Also, once you have written your 5 SSDs, I recommend following a very simple voice mail campaign once per week I have devised. (this can be used for the hard to reach top management levels)
Call the prospect leaving a voice mail message each week using your 5 SSDs:
Call 1 Use your basic introduction message
Call 2 Message references SSD 1
Call 3 Message references SSD 2
Call 4 Message references SSD 3
Call 5 Message references SSD4
Call 6 Message references SSD5
This method of being able to differentiate your company with CORE vs. NICHE can really work well if you plan out the technique very strategically. Ask other members of your team for their suggestions to get the best possible differentiators. This is a solid selling tool to use over the phone.
For more information visit my website www.busconcon.com or contact John Eyres at 314-495-2089.
Understanding the Psyche of COLD CALLING
Cold calling and telemarketing are one of the strong tools in the “marketing tool box” that most owners and sales people need to address. Cold calling is ONE of the main mechanisms to the successful sales person. It is important to realize the phone is your best friend, not the enemy. Calling is a means to an end; to take you from point A to point M eeting!
Strategic skill sets include; being disciplined, having persistence and topping that off with consistency will equal the KEY to your BREAKTHROUGH every time.
What you do on a daily basis has a huge impact on your future sales. Your attitude determines your altitude. (How high you fly)
The decisions you make about cold calling, guide your direction, which determines your destiny. (Dollars in your account)
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.” Colin Powell.
Sales Rule of Thirds
As a sales person or business owner, make sure you comprehend the sales RULE OF THIRDS.
You get 1/3 of your sales, no matter what you do. And 1/3 of sales you are not going to get. It is the last 1/3 of the sales which are up for grabs, and that is where excellent sales people separate themselves from the mediocre sales people.
Leveraging the last 1/3 of the sales process and knowing that you are the person responsible for making things happen, so take goal oriented action and increase your sales.
A Look at the Psyche of Cold Calling
Sales people typically see cold calling as fearful, unpleasant, boring and repetitive, pressurized, confrontational, getting rejections, and demoralizing.
Let’s look at how the prospects see cold calling done poorly. They view it as a nuisance, unwanted, dishonest, tricky and shifty, contrived, unprepared, indiscriminate, insulting and patronizing.
Now adopt a new perspective and reverse your mindset. Let’s look at what successful cold calling really means. It should be straight forward, honest and open, interesting and helpful, thoughtful and reasoned, professional and business like, enthusiastic and upbeat, informative, thought provoking, along with credible and reliable.
Read the above psyche areas over and over, understand what YOU view cold calling as to your personality. Then realize what the prospect feels on the other end of the phone, and make cold calling the success side it needs to be to generate meetings that finalize in proposals, that pump up the sales that make you money. Be a winner on the phone and don’t let cold calling slow you down.
Have an attitude of “I am the best caller on my sales team”, and be passionate about conversing on the phone, sharing your smile, happiness and confidence which plays through the phone, then the prospect will respect the call and in return set up that meeting!
“The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do.” Dennis Waitley
Be the best at your sales craft, study the psyche of cold calling, translate to what the prospect will be excited to hear in your sales pitch, and GAIN that last 1/3 of the sales that you are due, never looking back, only moving forward to the next phone call to repeat the winning process over and over and over again!
John Eyres, President of Business Connections Consulting, works with many sales people and business owners to sharpen their cold calling skills and better understand the process of telemarketing. John resides in St. Louis, MO and can be reached via phone at 314-495-2089 or email; johneyres@busconcon.com
St Louis Telemarketing 