Beyond Marketers

"But why do you want to join a sales boot camp? You hate calling!" I have always hated talking on the telephone. Even as a reluctant child, writing thank-you letters after the holidays was a preferable chore to a simple call. Looking back, it still makes me shudder. So, when I started my own business, I vowed never to make outbound calls -- I would wait until people contacted me. For six years, that’s how I conducted my business. I waited for people to call or email me or fill out my website contact form -- whether they found me through organic search, referrals, or networking meetings. I got a fair number of customers that way, including two HubSpot retainers, and went from working by myself in a home office to a staff of four in our own office. In 2016, we started following  EOS  (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and established firm business goals. It became apparent our growth was restricted since I wasn’t actively contacting businesses who obviously needed ou...

I recently received this disturbing chat: "Is it time to eat Niti?" Um, I'm sorry ... w hat?  You want to eat me? Should I drop everything and run? You see, by forgetting something as simple as a comma, my coworker went from courteous to cannibalistic. That's right, folks: Poor grammar can cause serious miscommunication -- and hurt your chance of making a sale. When your emails to prospects are riddled with typos and grammatical errors, you're essentially telling them you're careless. Your emails are a reflection of your professionalism and ability, and if you can't handle proofreading an email, why should a prospect give you the time of day? Here are seven common mistakes you should ensure don't get through in your emails to leads so you can avoid looking silly. 1) Its vs. It's This is a common mistake that makes me (and likely your prospects) cringe. "Its" is a possessive pronoun, while "it's" is a contrac...

Throughout my tenure in sales, whether as an individual contributor or sales manager, I’ve never had a commercial engagement in which there wasn’t some sort of objection that needed to be handled to close the deal. Every sales professional can agree that objections are inevitable, but I believe there's a pattern and have had success moving through a methodical process to address objections to consistently win deals over my career. In my opinion, the top buyer objections that arise when a prospect seriously considers whether to purchase a solution are broken down into the following categories: Commercial review objections Personal objections Negotiation objections I will address each objection below and provide guidance on how to address them. I’m sensitive that this may be oversimplifying, so feel free to leave comments and we can continue the dialogue from there. 1) Commercial Review Objections Commercial review objections are generally the easiest to tac...

I was recently asked to recount my favorite deal negotiation of my sales career. I can’t name who the client was, due to a privacy agreement, but I came to a few crystal clear conclusions after this deal was completed that could greatly aid those who find themselves at the negotiating table. From price, to payment terms, to contract language, to acceptable use policy, and practically every other facet of the negotiation, this large brand was certainly a worthy competitor in all areas of deal-making. Our original pact took  nearly four months  from the time we started talking scope and price, brought in legal, and put ink to paper. In the end, though, I finished the deal with three key takeaways that'll always help when working to close a deal and could prove quite useful for you in future deals as well. 1) Anticipate Long-Term Time Investments When you're working with larger businesses that have a lot to lose in terms of brand reputation, it’s alwa...

We’ve all been there before. Nobody is answering the phone and it seems like your prospects are falling off the face of the earth. You can’t seem to get into a groove and frustration is becoming all too familiar of an emotion. It's official: You’re in a slump. But it's okay -- w e all go through times when things aren’t going our way. In an age when technology provides us with instant feedback, data, and reporting on our performance, a slump can be a scary thing. However, it's not the slump itself that really matters, but  what we do to address it. So, after a tough period sales-wise, it's important to remember to  stay upbeat , be proactive, and put things into perspective as you move forward. Control What You Can Control Knowing the difference between the things that you can control and those you can't (and reacting appropriately) is crucial in combating a bad month. You can’t control whether or not the person you’re calling is going to answer the pho...

  boyfriend or girlfriend, breaking up with a prospect can actually be pleasant and doesn't have to involve a sad night alone with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. On a personal level, you and your prospect might hit it off and spend your time discussing fantasy football or the college you both attended. However, on a business level, you might encounter some serious red flags. For instance, you might find that the person you're speaking with is an intern and showing no signs of passing you up the chain. Another example: you might discover the company has absolutely no budget for your product or service. The list of instant deal-breakers is infinite and specialized for every business. The bottom line is all of these ominous hints should tell you the same thing -- it's time to break up. But wait! You're in the middle of a conversation. You can't forcefully hang up the phone or turn swiftly on your heels mid-sentence and exi...

“How are you today?” Ever heard that one before? It’s a sure fire way for a potential prospect to deduce in 2 seconds that this is a cold call. Much loved by offshore Call Centers, it isn’t sadly only the preserve of poor quality, high volume calls. It’s okay if you know someone but it’s a big no-no if you don’t. The prospect knows that you don’t care how they are. So don’t do it. The start of a cold call is the gateway to the opportunity. If you blow it in your first sentence, it’s rare that the call will progress well and to its objective. You have to grab the prospects’ attention and keep it and the only way to do that is with a strong introduction. It’s probably necessary to dwell a moment on the purpose for a cold calling intro. Ultimately, it is to progress the call towards your intended outcome whatever that be. Each phase of the call needs to keep the flow going and the conversation moving. To make your call successful, whilst these are not exhaustive,...

Good sales people have the gift of the gab don’t they? They can sell ice to an Eskimo. Or that’s what we were told in the past. The problem is that’s a fundamentally flawed assumption. Who likes being spoken to at high speed, making you feel like you’re being sprayed with words by a high pressure jet wash? Fast talking sales people come across as slimy and insincere and buyers won’t put up with that style of sales patter. Today, buyers have so many purchasing choices. Good quality Telemarketing  is much less about talking and more about  listening . It is about quickly demonstrating an understanding of buyer challenges. It is about showing empathy and demonstrating genuine benefits rather than overt selling. Good sales people get to the heart of buyer concerns and issues and help them to solve them. If you want to sell more of your product and services at a higher value, you’d better stop selling and start solving. If you want buyers to engage with you, the followi...