APSCo Members Conference, 2010, Brave New World
I am delighted to have been invited to speak for the 2nd time at the APSCo Members Conference on Thursday 30th September at the Hilton London Tower Bridge. I spoke at the APSCo (or ATSCo as it was then) conference in 2008 (ATSCo 2008) and it was a great event. I know this isn’t for all of my readers but if you are in recruitment and you’re a member, then why not come along? This may well be the only recruitment specific event that I attend in 2010.
The APSCo Members Conference is firmly established as the largest sales conference in the recruitment profession in the UK and is market specific, content rich and enlightening day for both sales and sales management professionals in the recruitment sector. The focus is on providing information, techniques and tactics that will help to improve the consistency of success for even the most experienced of recruiters. Speaking at the event this year are…
- Ann Swain, Chief Executive, APSCo.
- Anthony Hilton, Financial Editor, Evening Standard. The Business Lessons of The Post Credit Crunch Recession.
- Chris Matchan, The Chris Matchan Partnership. Engagement in a Brave New World.
- Me, Gavin Ingham, How to Make Quantum Leaps in Your Sales Results.
There will also be several break out sessions away from the main stage with options for managers (Charles Bates, Know Why & Keep It Right & Duncan John, Transactional Analysis & Communication), salespeople (Graham Smith, How to Let Other People Have Your Way & Colin Forster, The Sales Relationship in a Brave New World) and executives (Rob Gee, Authentic Leadership).
The conference will the finish up with a panel discussion on “How Can Recruiters Adapt to Provide the Service Clients Need in Today’s Environment – And Still Make Profit?”
You can see the full APSCo Members Conference brochure here. And you can find members and non-members booking form on the APSCo website here.
When Your Prospect Or Customer Says, ‘No!’, What Do You Hear?
Here’s another question that came up recently. “When your prospect or customer says, “No!”, what do you hear? How do you react? Rejected or challenged? What advice would you give to somebody just starting out?”
As a sales motivational speaker I see the negative consequences of sales and business people dealing with this badly every day so here is my advice…
It’s not what is said, it is your interpretation that does the damage. How many people every year die of snake bites? The answer is none. People die of the poison, not the bites. Salespeople are not undone by “No” but by how they interpret that “No.”
If someone says to you, “We have an existing supplier”… what do you hear and what do you think?
Do you hear, like most salespeople, “We have an existing supplier so we’re not interested. Go away!”? And then think, “This job is rubbish, no-one ever has a need for our services.”
Or do you hear, like sales superstars, “We have an existing supplier which means that we’re in the market place and already see value in what you do”? And then think, “All I have to do now is find a way to demonstrate how we can provide a better service.”
One of the keys to being a top salesperson is getting, keeping and cultivating a positive, sales mindset. This can be done by reading good sales books, listening to sales audios, attending sales seminars, mixing with sales winners, employing a sales coach, learning from sales experts, focusing on what’s good about any event….
To someone starting out, avoid negative mood-hoovers,whingers and whiners, associate with sales winners, make sure you get plenty of the good stuff. Protect your positive mindset like it is a pot of gold…
Because it is!
What Are The First 15 Words To Say To A Prospect To Get Them Hooked Into A Conversation?
Here’s a question that one of my contacts asked recently that I thought I would share with you, “So I have got past the gatekeeper – after the introduction, what are the first 15 words (or so) I say to a prospect that’s going to get them hooked into a conversation?”
And here’s my answer…
One of the questions I always ask delegates in sales training seminars is, “How long do you have to make a first impression?” The answer they give me varies but is always no more than a handful of seconds. In today’s world, people make decisions very quickly and, upon receiving a cold call, even quicker still!
From a receiver’s perspective, they want to decide as fast as possible whether this call is a legitimate, business interruption or a nuisance, spam call. There are three things you need to consider to maximize your chances of achieving the former and minimize your chances of suffering the latter…
- Plan and prepare effectively. Understand why you are calling that individual, why now and how you can make a difference for them. Also, get yourself into the right mindset. Mindset is critical for cold calling (and indeed for selling) and I will be posting some sales training videos on this soon…
- Know how you answer their key question, “What’s in this for me?” If you can’t and don’t answer that, and quickly, you’re toast!
- Avoid coming across as a salesperson and using “crash and burn” sales phrases. I teach people how not to use these on my programmes but the easiest way of thinking about them for yourself is to think about the cold calls you get and think about what really puts your back up at the start of the call… and don’t do it!
For more on cold calling, have a look at this short video I did on 10 tips for cold calling.
Bert Was Waiting For Motivation To Strike
We all know a Bert. We’ve all met a Bert. And we’ve all worked alongside a Bert. Maybe, secretly, you think someone you work with is a Bert. Maybe they think you are!
Bert is just a normal guy, with normal friends and normal colleagues and he faces the same normal challenges that we all do, every day. If Bert’s antics and adventures amuse, inspire, educate, strike a chord or just make you laugh then Bert will be happy.
But… most of all… Bert wants to be famous! So, if you think he should be, then forward him to your friends, colleagues and clients. And, if you have any great ideas for what you think Bert should do next, let us know…
He might just do it!
“How Do I Avoid My Cold Call Being Viewed As An Interruption By My Prospect?”
I’ve recently been collating common sales questions for a forthcoming book answering all of the main sales queries and questions that sales and business people have. I thought I’d share the answer to this one with you…
“How do I avoid my cold call being viewed as an interruption by my prospect?”
Simple answer: You can never stop your cold call being viewed as an “interruption”. Prospects are not wandering around with their phones under their arms hoping that you give them a call and brighten their days up! And, in a way, this is good news, because it should serve to remind you that you owe it to yourself and the person you are “interrupting” to make it a good call.
There are two types of cold call…
- Nuisance spam calls &
- Legitimate new business calls.
You need to make sure that yours is a legitimate new business call. If you don’t you are never going to get the results that you want from cold calling and that means not enough opportunities and not enough clients.
We’ve all experienced one of those awful calls at home where you’re cooking the dinner and your phone rings and, full of hope that it is one of your friends or family, you answer the phone. But it is a cold caller. You listen agitated as they launch into their pre-prepared, pre-packaged, pre-canned script and eventually you slam the phone down annoyed.
You can never guarantee that your prospects will buy from you. You can never guarantee that your prospects will connect with you. And you can never guarantee that they will even speak with you. That’s just the way that it is…
But you can guarantee that you make cold calls that give you the best chance of being viewed as a legitimate new business call and you can guarantee that you can make your calls relevant to your prospects and not just yourself.
Here are my top tips for differentiating your call from nuisance spam cold calls…
Plan and prepare.
Planning and preparation warms your call up. It tailors your calls for the individual prospect that you are calling. It demonstrates that you have thought about them, their issues and their business and it separates you from junk cold callers.
“Play from a 10”.
When you cold call you need to be in the right state of mind. I call this “playing from a 10” (where 10 is the best state of mind that you can possibly be in). A large part of cold calling success is down to your attitude or your state of mind at the time that you make the call. Being on top of your game helps you to make your call sound like the kind of call that your prospect would want to take and helps you to connect more effectively with your prospect than your also-ran competitors.
Add value.
Think about how you add value for your prospect. Based on your research, what problems and challenges do you think that they might be facing? How can you add value for them? What experience do you have working in this area and how can this help them and their business? Now use this in your opening statement and in your questions so that your prospect can see that you are different, that you have done your research and that you are thinking about them not yourself!
Ask, “How convenient is it to speak?”
Most salespeople don’t ask if it’s a good time for their prospect to take the call. When I tell them to, they say things to me like, “Well, do you expect me to let them get away?!” Look! This call is supposed to be about your client not you. Just because it is convenient for you does not mean it is convenient for them. Don’t be so arrogant! That’s one of the things prospects don’t like about salespeople anyway.
(Footnote, as I am writing this sitting looking at the hills (in Spain), my phone just rang. Expecting it to be a client who was due to call I answered the phone, It was a cold caller from the UK who asked me, “How are you?”£ (Uggh!) then launched into a pitch. At 50ppm I canned the call. Did him not asking help him in anyway? Nope, got him canned faster.)
Ask, “How convenient is it to speak?” immediately after you say hello. This way you have been polite and asked but you have also maximized your chances of them continuing with the call. If they are truly busy then you are better off taking this call another time anyway.
If you have a sales questions that you would like answered then please forward it to me via this Contact Gavin form here or via my Facebook or LinkedIn groups. The better the questions, the better the answers and the better the book will be. And, in any case, where else can you get free advice?!
How To Mess Up A Cold Call
A cold caller has been trying to get hold of me for a few days with the message, “I would like to invite you to an event?” We finally spoke today and he launched into a series of questions (which weren’t all bad) and then a reasonably well crafted and well presented pitch. This guy should be making a lot of sales but, whether he does or not, I bet that he does a lot of head banging on a daily basis and he could do a lot better…
Why?
Lack of research, planning and preparation. You might ask how I know he wasn’t prepared properly? Well, these two little gems to start with…
- His opening gambit, “I don’t know much about your company”. For that, read, he knows nothing.
- Having the nerve to ask me, “What are the main products and services you sell?”
Seriously, can you believe that? And to a sales motivational speaker too. He needs to attend one of my sales seminars!
Intrigued, I asked him how he got my details. The answer was not clear but it was something like, “Well, I have a list that came from research and my manager recommended you and I had a look and…” Oh, come on. No, you didn’t and no he didn’t and we both know that someone bought a list of numbers from somewhere and you rang it without a second thought. You’ve done nothing.
A lot of people think that cold calling doesn’t work anymore. A lot of people think that cold calling never worked. A lot of people think that cold calling doesn’t and won’t work for them. A lot of speakers are making a lot of money perpetuating this myth (watch out for my forthcoming video series where I set the stall straight on that one!).
The truth is that cold calling does not work for many salespeople. And it doesn’t work for several reasons…
- They’re not in the right state of mind.
- They don’t make enough calls.
- They don’t know enough about their prospects.
- They don’t personalize their calls for every individual.
- They don’t ask enough questions.
- They don’t know how they are most likely to be able to help that prospect.
- They don’t listen.
- They don’t tailor their solutions.
- They don’t offer up enough (any) value.
- They give up too easily.
Cold calling can and does work. I am not going to bore you talking about the clients that I have helped to explode their sales results, nor am I going to drone on about how I have helped individuals to create and sustain the lives they desire by being able to attend more proactive sales meetings and sell more when they get there. Instead, I am going to share with you the success a friend of mine, Clifton, who led a professional services sales team by running powerful sales meetings stemming from professional cold calling techniques…
They grew a division taking 700 meetings a year and turning £7m pa to a team running 1000 meetings a year and turning £25m pa within 2 years. On one specific project they had 250 meetings (gained through cold calling) and won £22m worth of revenues.
Cold calling doesn’t work when coupled with powerful sales strategies? As Bart would say, “Eat my shorts!”
But cold calling has to be coupled with powerful, proven sales strategies and it also has to be professional, purposeful and legitimate and this requires effective planning and preparation to even get off the starting line. If you review my list of the 10 reasons cold calling doesn’t work you will see that at least 8 of them (if not arguably all of them) could be addressed or massively improved by doing the right preparation in the first place.
I hope my cold caller reads this article. It might help him. It probably won’t as I don’t think he will think to check my blog, certainly not now… I’m just the guy who spoiled his morning and said that I wasn’t interested.
The Business Supremacy Summit, 2010 With Doug Richard…
“Dedicated to the Exponential Growth & Success of SME’s – Spend a day Immersed in Leading Edge Growth Strategies with World Leading Entrepreneurs!!!”
Thursday 1st July – Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire
Hey readers, I thought that you might be interested in this event that I am speaking at. If you read on to the end you will see how to book and please note that there is a code that will get you a discount as you have been referred by me so make sure that you use this…
From BBC’s Dragon’s Den, see Doug Richard live on stage! Sharing “The Mistakes Behind The Scenes: How to succeed when you don’t know what you’re doing!” Making a business go from “Potential to Exponential” Don’t Miss it! See Sahar Hashemi – Co-founder of Coffee Republic Live on Stage Sharing “Switched on” – How to keep the entrepreneurial spirit as you grow!
Joining Doug & Sahar on main stage are: Leading expert in Explosive Sales performance – Gavin Ingham & Reputation, Networking & Referrals Expert – Rob Brown. Gavin Ingham will be sharing his Sales Explosion Secrets Live on main stage and Rob Brown will be sharing his knowledge on “How to Build Your Reputation” – The secret of becoming a “Go To” choice in a crowded marketplace.
And that’s just for starters…
We are running exclusive hard hitting interactive workshops in the main hall all afternoon, all featuring the most current topics that leaders, business owners & entrepreneurs face when addressing & planning for business growth.
Come and spend an explosive, business changing day in the company of 100’s of other SME’s and immerse yourself in today’s most powerful business growth techniques & strategies with world leading enterpreneurs. Our experts will show you how to drive your sales and business forward, against all odds and thrive!
Covering all the essential elements for business success from Sales Explosion Secrets, Breakthrough Marketing Techniques, Motivational Leadership, Streamlining Strategies for rapid profit acceleration to “The Entrepreneurial Mindset” that will change your business life!
Quite simply this is a must attend event for anyone serious about increasing their sales & growing their business…
We look forward to welcoming you at the event.
Book now to secure your place and don’t forget to use my special discount code “GAVIN30″.
Win! Win! Win!
Book now and win the chance to dine with Sahar and Doug and our keynote speakers on the day (that’s me by the way… 
). Every ticket purchased will be entered in to a prize draw to win the chance to dine with our Special Guests on the day in the exclusive Glass Boardroom. The winner will be announced the week prior to the event!.
Off the main stage our delegates will be treated to 8 exclusive hard hitting interactive workshops in the main hall all afternoon, all featuring the most current topics, Leaders/Business Owners/Entrepreneurs face when addressing/planning for business growth.
Choose from…
- “Business Turnaround”. The complete “how-to” workshop.
- “How To Get An Extra 60 Minutes Out Of Your Already Hectic Day”. You can find another hour in your busy day and this workshop will transform the way you look at your time and what you do with it.
- “Secret Of Successful Networking”. The right strategy, the right events, the right execution, the right conversations, the right people, the right results.
- “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Jourmailst?” How to harness the power of the press to raise your business profile.
And then at 400pm you can choose from…
- “The Influential Presenter”. The insider secrets of presenting with power (this one’s with me so highly recommended!)
- “Cyberpsychology”. The answers to gaining huge profit increases using social median in “the right way”.
- “The Right Brand”. Show the world you mean business by using the simplest of marketing messages in the most powerful of ways.
- “The Flip Top Head Phenomenon.” Get inside the heads of your leadership teams and build a powerful business using psychometric profiling for serious results.
Book now to secure your place and don’t forget to use my special discount code “GAVIN30″.
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