People make it complicated.

How many salespeople do you know who demand to be taught the "advanced" stuff because they already know the basics?

Probably quite a few.

This is partly due to ego but is also due to the gap between knowledge and skill. Take open questions as an example…

Very few sales or business people do not know what the difference is between an open and a closed question yet few consistently ask good open questions falling back on bullying, predictable closed questions in the heat of a tough sale…

This is because when we hear something simple (e.g. the difference between open and closed questions) we "understand" it therefore we don´t spend enough time practising (because we think we "know" it) so it never becomes a skill.

We have the knowledge but not the skill.

Most sales and business people fail at sales because they do not have simple skills at their disposal. They may know them but like many things in life they don´t actually do them…

Knowing what to do is not the same as doing what you know.

Related posts:

1. If Selling Is So Simple Why Can’t Everyone Do it?
2. Selling In A Recession – Why Some People Are Going To Crash And Others Are Going To Fly

Last week I was on the train travelling back from London having run two of my sales seminars – No Fear Cold Calling and Professional Selling Skills – and I was reading the Evening Standard.

On page 12 (Comment – Thursday 1st May 2008) there were a few pieces written by Charlotte Ross and a picture of Kevin and Sara from The Apprentice. Underneath it was written the following…

A bunch of true believers

Salespeople have always mystified me. This year, most of the Apprentice contestants are drawn from that world, so every Wednesday we witness team hugs, air-punching and yells of, “We’re going to smash them!”

But what they lack in intellect they make up for in self-belief that borders on the delusional. As Kevin, the comically thick leader of the losing pack, said, “There’s nothing I can’t sell. I had my first Porsche by 23. By the time I’m 40, I’ll be the most successful businessman in Britain.”

Needless to say, Sir Alan fired him.

As those of you who know me must have guessed already… I have plenty to say about this…

First off, these people are not salespeople…

We have seen little sign of any of them being salespeople as yet. Between them they have shown precious little sales aptitude or application. To those (including Charlotte) not in the know – selling is not about fast talking, closing and "whooping", it is about questioning, understanding and expertise…

Secondly, good sales teams as all good teams have energy and commitment…

But they do not whoop and holler like a pack of hyenas. This lot are pathetic. What’s worse, their boastful gloats are very quickly found out. Top salespeople under-promise and over-deliver not the other way around…

Thirdly, good salespeople are not stupid nor are they necessarily intelligent Charlotte.

Agreed, salespeople do not need degrees (by enlarge). Agreed, salespeople do not need MBAs. Agreed, salespeople do not need MENSA level IQs.

But salespeople do need common sense, something that is desperately missing in today’s society. Salespeople do need to be able to get along with others, they do need to be able to build rapport with a wide variety of people, they do need to be able to understand the problems and issues that a multitude of different people face and, most importantly, they do need to be able to help their clients to make the right decisions to solve those issues in the right way.

If they’re smart too then all the better! But it’s not what you have that matters in sales, it’s what you do with it that counts!

Smart in this situation is not labelling all salespeople based on a narrow minded and stereotypical view. Particularly one where the writer, by their own admittance, starts, "Salespeople have always mystified me."

Fourthly, Kevin was not a salesperson, he was a bank manager.

People talked about being a bank manager at school (albeit several years ago now) in the same breath as law, accountancy, journalism (touché) etc. Certainly not in the same breath as sales.

And Kevin certainly wasn’t sales anyway.

Had he have been a better salesperson he would still be in the show. Had he have been a better salesperson he would probably never have been on the show. Had he have been a better salesperson he would no doubt have come across far better. Had he have been a salesperson he would have been far more aware of the real persona that he projected rather than the imaginary one that he thought that he did.

Finally, because I’m bored and could go on all night, salespeople are not boastful.

They know the value that they add for their clients and they don’t have to brag about it. There are great “salespeople” in every profession and every industry. They are at all at the top of their fields. If you want to get along in life you need to be able to sell. Whether you’re selling a product, an idea, a concept or yourself – sales is one of the most important skills that you need if you want to get on.

Whether you’re a business person, a solicitor, an accountant or a journalist… your ability to sell will help you to maximise your success. Far too many people never deliver on their true potential because of their inability to "sell" what they do.

Enough!

Related posts:

1. Work Life Balance For Salespeople – Realistic Or A Pile Of Steaming Dung?
2. Selling In A Recession – Why Some People Are Going To Crash And Others Are Going To Fly
3. If Selling Is So Simple Why Can’t Everyone Do it?

Do you ever get bored of listening to your clients’ voicemails? Do you grow tired of repeating the same old same old and never getting any call backs? Do you wish there was some magic way to get clients to ring you back?

You’re in good company! Complaints about voicemail, the electronic gatekeeper, are one of the biggest issues that many of my seminar delegates face.

If only they could avoid voicemails! If only they could speak to more decision makers! If only there was a magical technique for guaranteeing that their prospects would ring them back!

Get over it! There isn’t.

But voicemail is so  much worse than it was 10 or even 5 years ago Gavin. Soon I won’t be able to speak to anyone!

Is it? Maybe. Maybe not. In my experience there were plenty of industries even 10 years ago where many clients used voicemail as a way of filtering their inbound calls. When I was a sales director and got 35 to 40 inbound calls a day I used voicemail to filter my calls.

This is not a new phenomenon. Nor is it likely to change. I did not have time to take 35-40 calls per day and neither do your prospects!

So the most important thing here is that you get over it. Don’t fight with what is! You’ll lose. If it were easy to get through to decision makers, everyone would get through. Then, where would you be? Getting through to decision makers and making voicemail work for you requires hard work and persistence.

No magic wands here! Dealing with voicemail is part of your job so accept it and start working at standing out from the crowd.

As a sales director my sales staff  frequently used to moan about voicemail. “I know you wanted me to contact XYZ company Gavin but the DM (decision maker) is always on voicemail. I have left loads of messages and they just won’t return my call.”

On several occasions I picked up the phone and reached the decision maker… but how?

Here are my top 10 tips for outwitting the electronic gatekeeper.

1. Don’t leave messages

Hang on a minute Gavin, you said that you would give me some tips for outwitting the voicemail not avoiding it!

Patience, my friend! I will but I also believe in being straight. I’m not going to give you these methods just because you want them. I’m going to give you sales strategies that will make you money and I honestly believe that leaving oodles of voicemails all day long will not help you or anyone else much at all.

Here’s why:

Leaving voicemail after voicemail is tiring! I used to sit next to someone who used to leave somewhere in the region of 50+ every day. He used to turn to me at lunchtime often and say, “Wow! I’m zonked. I’ve done so much today”.

When you looked at it however the reality was often different. He felt tired because he was tired of talking to himself! What’s more, people rarely rang him back. Worse, when they did, he was often caught on the hop! Unprepared and out of control he often “blew” hot prospects.

Because I didn’t waste time speaking to voicemails I had often spoken to twice as many decision makers as he had during the same period of time.

Result!

Most salespeople resort to voicemail way too early in the sales process. Particularly on a cold call this is not a good strategy. Just because you got voicemail the first time you called does not mean that you will get it the second time or the third. Exiting your sales call without waiting on hold to speak to the voicemail beast will save you a lot of time in the long run. Why not make two extra calls in this time?

2. Do a good old one-two and sidestep the electronic beast!

Dancing around voicemail is a powerful sales strategy but it requires patience and persistence. I have to admit that many salespeople seem to lack the persistence that they really need to succeed!

I’m often told, “I can’t get client names” but then when I ask what action has been taken to find them, it’s minimal. Getting around voicemail is a similar situation. If you put your mind to it there are many methods for doing this, you just have to put them into action.

Ring before 9am and after 5pm. Many decision makers turn their voicemails off out of hours because so few salespeople ring then. They are often also allowing family and friends to ring them directly as they have no PA at that time of day to route unwanted calls to their voicemail.

Why not send an email instead or contact them through Linked In. It may well get no response but it’s worth a try (Don’t use LinkedIn? It’s free, why wouldn’t you? As a reader of mine I would be delighted to welcome you into my LinkedIn network).

What about getting their mobile number and ringing them on that instead.

Or speak to someone in their department who is not protected and get them to put you through directly.

3. Believe and achieve!

Even though I rarely left messages for prospects as a salesperson I actually left more as a sales director! This was more as a personal challenge to demonstrate to my team that it could be done and that confidence was the key.

I remember one occasion when four separate team members had rung a potential prospect whom we really needed to talk to because we wanted to help on a project that they were undertaking. The team had targeted this project as a “must have” account. They were reporting back to me that the account was “uncrackable” as the prospect had a permanent shield and would not return calls from us.

I decided to take this on and leave a message. Clearly, this was a high-risk strategy as had the call not been returned it would have vindicated my team and proved me wrong!

My call was returned within 30 minutes and a face to face meeting set up!

Luck? Maybe.

Timing? Possibly.

Skill? Surely not!

The telling difference was that I believed that my call would be returned and they did not! I knew how much value we could add for this client and I knew that they (and us) would benefit from us talking together.

Because of this I sounded like I expected my call to be returned, like it was important enough to be returned and therefore the prospect wanted to talk with me.

4. Get passed down

Most salespeople start to low. On my travels I see business owners, entrepreneurs and salespeople alike burning time, effort and money speaking with the wrong people. There’s possibly no bigger anti-sales police than someone too low in the food chain!

My advice has always been to start as high as you think the decision maker can possibly be. Sometimes, even higher. Deliberately targeting the head man or woman is a strong sales strategy provided that you plan and prepare and know how to converse with them.

What’s more, senior people are less likely to hide behind voicemails because they have real, live people to filter their calls for them. They’re called PAs!

After your sales conversation with ythe “top dog” you are often passed down to the real decision maker. With a well crafted voicemail how can they not return your call? It’s a no brainer. That said, so is respect. You need to ensure that you are respectful, you do not want them to feel that you are manipulating them.

5. Listen to their voicemail message

People give away a lot of clues not only in the way they answer the phone but also in their voicemail messages. If someone really is on “permanent” voicemail and you are planning to leave a message why not listen to their message a couple of times and learn all you can about them before you leave it?

I always suggest this when coaching and amusingly, the client quite often answers the phone on one of these occasions so make sure that you are also ready to “sell”, so to speak!

One of the most telling things that you can hear on voicemail is how your client speaks. How we speak is underneath our conscious awareness for the most part but it can make a huge difference in whether we get rapport or not. This may or may not compel your sales prospect to call you back but it will certainly help.

The three core areas to listen out for are:-

Tone or emotion in the voice. Do they sound serious, happy, enthusiatic, bubbly, fun etc?

Pace. Listen to the speed at which your sales prospect leaves their message. Is it fast or slow?  Your prospect is telling you unocnsciously that they think that this is the speed that people should communicate on voicemail. Leaving your message at a similar pace is a sound idea.

What’s more, the speed of speech has been shown to often be an indicator of the speed at which people assimilate information. Going to fast could cause your message to blur out, going to slow could put them to sleep!

Pitch. How much variety of pitch does your prospect use? Do they sing a song or are they somewhat monotone? Do they have a deep resonating voice or a high squeaky one? Don’t copy verbatim of course but subtly mirror by altering your voice an acceptable amount,

Another thing you can listen to is whether your prospect changes their voicemail regularly. Prospects who start their message, “Today is X and I am …” interact frequently with their voicemail and are likely to pick up your message quickly.

Listen out for dates and times when your prospect is away. There is no point leaving a message whilst they are away or even on the day they get back. If they are a sought after decision maker they are going to be swamped with messages and activities and your message will no doubt be swept away in the avalanche.

Finally, check the detail in which your prospect leaves their message. The more direct they are, the more direct you need to be in your message. The more detail they use, the more detail you may consider using.

6. Plan and prepare

Picking up the phone with no idea what message you are going to leave is a bad idea. I hope that I have already sold you on the fact that making the decision to leave a voicemail is not one to be taken lightly! Voicemail is unforgiving. You have no feedback whatsoever from the machine and no ability to “take back” what you said!

Creating a compelling message without planning is hard. It rarely ends in success. Here are two common call types that result as a lack of planning:

The Lazy One

Hello Gavin. This is John from Going Through the Motions, I’m just calling you to introduce myself and my company. Can you give me a call back on 0800 TIME WASTER please?

Errr, yeah. I think not!

The Belly Flop

Gavin. This is John from I’m Trying to Intrigue You .com We’ve got an interesting opportunity at the moment that I would like to to talk with you about. Give me a call back on 0800 MUGS ONLY today, I think you’ll be glad you did.

Maybe next time.

7. Create a compelling message

Leaving a powerful and compelling message can be difficult but it can be done. When you leave a message you need to respect several core truths:

Your prospect is short of time.
They  will delete you the moment you lose them.
They have various questions that they want answered.
They want to make their decision as fast as possible.

The primary questions that your prospect wants answered are: Who are you? Where are you calling from? What’s the call about? Why are you calling me? What’s in it for me?

For this reason your message needs all of the above information. This information must be delivered succinctly and in the right level of detail for your prospect or all will be lost.

Do not feature bash! Do not bore them talking about specific products!

Use a “hook” if you have one and (for those familiar with my work) a “Sales Bridge”.

All messages must have a CTA or call to action. The prospect needs to know what they are expected to do, they must know why and there must be a benefit for them in doing it.

8. Play the Power Game

Business people like information. One of the reasons why salespeople often get in as much hot water as they do when selling is that prospects want “free information” and “free consulting”.

Business today is all about information. Knowledge and how you use that knowledge is power. Power means business success and riches. For this reason, your clients want to know what’s out there, what it can do for them and what others are doing with it. They may not buy it but they want to know.

For most salespeople, business owners and entrepreneurs this game plays out against them.

Prospects often agree to meetings to appraise themselves of what is going on in the market with little or no intention of either buying the product or, at least, not off you, anyway! (Check out my Professional Selling Skills sales programmes to discover how to stop this happening to you).

But here, we can use it in our favour. Try using a company name, a new technology or a specific problem that will peak your prospect’s interest. One that will get them wanting to call you to find out more because they think that you may well have information that can help them. Be careful not to give away confidential information, this will destroy your reputation and lower your chances of a return call.

9. Be ready for the call back!

I said it before, this can all go horribly wrong if you get your call back and then blow it. When you are making outbound sales calls you have all of the information you need to hand and you choose the time and the place. You also have the element of “surprise” as you chose the timing of the call.

When your client returns your sales call from a voicemail message you do not have any of these. They may return your call quickly, slowly or not at all. You might be ready, you might not.

You need to consider how you are going to deal with the call if you are in the middle of something else. What if there are distractions going on in the office? Even worse, what if you cannot put your hands on the relevant paperwork or information?

Then again, what if you are on the phone and they get your voicemail? Will they leave you a message and if they do, what happens next?

Do you give out your mobile number? Is this better or worse? Now they could ring you in the pub, the gym or the supermarket? If you want this, fine, but how do you ensure that you make a strong first impression when they do ring?

10. Have a voicemail strategy and be select

I know that this sounds a little grand but you need a voicemail strategy. It doesn’t have to be complicated but you need one none the less. Leaving voicemail messages willy-nilly when you feel like it is akin to sitting in your office and making a bonfire with your commission. Don’t do it!

Don’t leave too many voicemail messages for the same person either. This may annoy them which isn’t good. It may amuse them but that may well be at your expense! And it most certainly doesn’t position you well at all.

Have a plan and work it. Mine used to look something like this,

• General cold calls to normal prospects – never leave a message.
• First 5 calls to “serious target” prospects – no message.
• Call all “serious targets” out of hours at least twice before considering a message.
• Try to get mobile number or get “referred” through.
• Plan message and time when I am available and ready to take the return call.
• Check all current data to ensure I have not missed anything.
• Leave message.
• Rinse and repeat no more than twice more. Continue trying other methods of contacting the prospect throughout.
• Give up and move on.

You can devise your own voicemail strategy based on your experience, your industry and your clients.

So there we have it, 10 strategies for outwitting the electronic beastie that is the voicemail. Why not share your ideas and strategies for dealing with voicemail in comments below?

Related posts:

1. Cold Calling Tips For Getting Through To The Decision Maker

I love everything about sales and the psychology of selling and I read as much as I can on the subject. I always have a book with me to learn from, to inspire me and to keep me on the sales edge so that I am constantly refining the processes and strategies that I teach in my books, audios, DVDs and seminars…

As you might expect I am not particularly squeamish when it comes to closing people down however over the last few nights I have been reading a book on closing written in the mid-1980’s. It is appalling and what’s more some of the tactics in it are based on the cheesiest of theories. Here’s one tip from the sales training book…

Hold up the book and tell them that it describes customers like them!

One of the closes describes how when the customer objects saying that they need to think about it that you should hold up the book itself and tell them that the book describes customers like them and tells you exactly how to answer their objections! It then says to continue and tell them that it outlines their personality and attitude and that you know that they don’t really have to think about it. Infact all they’re really worried about is the finances! It then says to talk to them about money!

Is this sort of rubbish still being taught?

Did this ever work? I doubt it! Is this sort of rubbish still being taught? I hope not! But then maybe it is as the book’s still for sale because I bought it not 2 months ago! And it has dozens if not hundreds of equally creepy closes within it’s covers! This is by no means the worst!

Is it any wonder that some people see salespeople as slimy and uncaring when there are lines like this being spouted around the globe?

This approach is not only cheesy, it also makes massive assumptions about what the client’s real (money in the writer’s opinion) objection is. Manipulative, cheesy closes like these should have sunk with the Titanic. When you care about your clients and understand what they need and want then simply asking for the business is all the closing that you should be required. I think I am going to write a book on closing one day… it will be short.

Find out what the client needs and why they need it and then ask for the business!  

I’m afraid that much of my musical taste is still stuck in the 1980′s but sad as that is, it doesn’t affect my sales. If your sales techniques, like my musical tastes, are stuck in the 1980′s then maybe now is the time to catapult yourself into the 21st century!

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1. Sales Training Strategies From The Politicians? Whatever Next?

So come on – hands up. Who´s been following the shenanigans of our governing politicians? Everyone? No-one? And who cares…?

The general consensus of opinion seems to be that people don´t care enough about politics to force politicians to do anything about the current state of affairs. Because few people are saying anything, no-one thinks it really matters whether a politician is true to their word or not…. 

So what if we’re not in the streets shouting and rioting!

Now I don´t think this happens to be true. I think we all care. Everyone I talk to cares when they´ve been lied to, cares when our politicians (whatever flavour) say one thing and do another, cares when no-one seems to be connecting with us on a one to one level. So what if we´re not in the streets shouting and rioting… that´s because we´re all getting on with our lives.We have more pressing issues to deal with… at the moment…

But the moment will come when it IS important enough for us to take action and the politicians will be punished – whether at the polls or in some other way. 

So hang on Gavin – what does this have to do with sales training?? 

Well, the same is true in sales. On my sales training travels I see individuals and companies who mislead, lie to and poorly service their clients and potential clients and say that it does not matter because their clients don´t say anything. Sure they don´t, they just leave, eventually. It´s called client turnover! That´s why many companies are constantly searching for new business. I know one company who have been going for well over 5 years and they are still operating at 95% new business. 

Wow! Does that put a strain on the sales teams or what?!!! 

As sales people we should care. We should tell the truth to our clients. We should deliver what we say we are going to and then some more. It´s not optional, it´s essential.

It´s sad to say it but in today´s marketplace, sometimes all that is needed to stand out is to ensure that you take these simple guiding philosophies to heart.

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1. Beware The Dark Side Of The Sales Training Force
2. What The Mile High Agony Aunt Can’t Teach You About Cold Calling