Jenny Vance was on Inside Indiana Business this past Friday and Sunday. Please take a look.
Category Archives: Calling Techniques
Get Smarter about Targets, Training, Messaging and Campaigns
Whether talking with prospective clients in sales presentations, introducing LeadJen during a project kick-off discussion, or discussing a results review of our metrics, we talk about it. What is “it”? Well, it’s the Big 4 (and I’m not talking about the Big 4 auditors). At LeadJen and for our clients, the Big 4 are targets, training, messaging and campaigns. These are the Big 4 things we need to constantly evaluate to make sure our programs result in the best possible outcomes for our clients—maximizing every ounce of the budget to the nth degree to achieve more sales leads, more appointments and more revenue.
These are the questions we ask for our clients…
1.) Targets: How is the list of targets divided? Is it divided in a way that will help me understand where I’ve had the most success? Am I evaluating success not only by leads/appointments generated, but by sales wins, time-to-close, and average deal size?
2.) Training: Who on my team is having the most success? Are they trying something different that is working for them? Can I see the ‘no interest’ responses and make changes quickly? Do we need to learn how to handle a new objection or competitor?
3.) Messaging: Which message resonates the best with different audiences? Can I adjust the message based on the most frequent ‘no interest’ responses and handle objections more proactively to ultimately set more appointments?
4.) Campaigns: How many calls/emails does it to get the majority of my qualified sales leads/appointments? Do I get more return phone calls or more return emails? Does it make a different if I call more frequently or less frequently? How do my lead nurturing campaigns compare to more aggressive calling campaigns?
By working with our clients to answer these questions, the results get better and better. The focus is to use this information to increase both the volume of sales leads and appointments as well as the quality of leads to get the best possible ROI.
Not Receiving Return Calls?
I heard a story recently that made me chuckle. A new sales executive was working on prospecting calls to generate activity and appointments to fill the pipeline. A lot of time and effort was spent by the new sales exec and the management team to build knowledge and to help internalize the message. When the new sales exec start placing mock calls for training, the management team realized the wrong phone number was being used in the voicemail.
After a good belly laugh, I realized there is a valuable lesson that can be learned from this experience! No matter how much time you spend training on messaging and learning all the intricacies of a solution, it doesn’t really matter if the little things are done incorrectly. Those little “things” can have a huge impact on success. A sales person can have the most stellar voicemail message in the world with the most compelling value ever, but if the phone number is wrong, he/she will never receive a return call. That goes for speaking the phone number slowly or saying it twice too!
Keep Smiling!
Prospecting is tough! Everyone who has done prospecting knows that to be true.
In prospecting, sales people are always on the lookout for the next new idea or coaching that will add success. I always used to roll my eyes when I would read tips and techniques that encouraged smiling–that is until I tried it. Wow, what a difference it made. It wasn’t necessarily the smile that had an impact, it was that by smiling, I changed my level of enthusiasm in my calls. Many people (including our toughest prospects) adjust their attitude and demeanor to that of those around them. It works over the phone as well as in person. Doesn’t mean that the prospect will always say “yes”, but enthusiasm is contagious. It’s easy to have enthusiasm when starting calls for the first time. It’s not so easy to have that same level of enthusiasm after 40 voicemails.
Make a note to remind yourself to act upbeat and excited. Set a calendar reminder midday. Do something that helps you remember to keep the excitement in your voice. It will make a difference!
