Open questions in sales conversations

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
Different types of question generate different responses. For example, an open question cannot usually be answered with a “Yes” or a “No”.  Open questions can be used to get people talking. Here is an extract from Telemarketing Results by Nigel Temple: Have you ever come across Rudyard Kipling's six honest serving men: ‘I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew): their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN and HOW and WHERE and WHO.’ Mind you, I feel sorry for poor old WHICH, who presumably was either burnt at the stake of knowledge or ran off with the Wizard. Incidentally, these questions can be prefixed with: ”It would be very helpful if you could tell me…” “I hope you can help me.” (Most human beings respond positively to a request for help) ”I was just wondering….” It goes without saying that the way in which you ask these types of questions will make all the difference to the conversation. It is best to form some rapport first. The customer...
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The sales journey

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
Customers go through a journey with you, before they buy: 1. Suspect An individual or enterprise that you want to do business with. They will fit your marketing criteria and they will probably belong to a target market segment. A reasonable number of them should be stored in your database. How do you figure out who your suspects are? By doing a market segmentation exercise. This involves thinking about groups of people who have similar needs, for whom you have solutions. You should have specific solutions for specific needs. 2. Unqualified prospect An unqualified prospect is someone who has uttered the three magic words: “Tell me more.” However, before we proceed we need to qualify them, by considering whether we can  satisfy their needs. 3. Prospect Someone who has gone through the qualification process. 4. Customer Someone who has bought from you once. Money has changed hands on a single occasion, therefore, customers are 'transactionally based'. 5. Client The next stage is to turn customers into clients (through repeat business). 6. Advocate A...
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How to use the phone for business sales calls

By Walter Blackburn2 Comments
Nigel Temple @nigeltemple asked me the following question: "Do you have any tips for using the phone in business? What is the earliest time of day that is acceptable to start calling? Do scripts still work? What is the right way of calling a LinkedIn contact and what would you say in the opening 10 seconds? Is it OK to call prospective clients from mobile phones?" Earliest time to start calling: 8am if you’re calling someone in their office on their landline. If you’re calling their mobile I would leave it to 8.30 or even 9 because you don’t know if they’re working from home and most people don’t want to be disturbed there if they’re getting the kids off to school or whatever else they might be doing to get ready for the day. I would be careful calling mobiles if you don’t know them. Most of us are quite protective of our mobile numbers - but I believe it’s ‘fair...
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Fear of rejection – is it holding your business back?

By Nigel Temple3 Comments
Fear is a strong emotion, isn't it? Its purpose is to protect you from harm. Fear stimulates a 'flight or fight' response, which can be difficult to control. From a business perspective, fear can set invisible parameters to your success. In business, fear of rejection can stop you from asking for help, requesting a meeting, asking for the order or even chasing payment. I have asked thousands of seminar delegates how they feel about rejection. For some business owners, the fear of rejection is so strong that they have simply stopped asking. They rationalise this behaviour by saying that they "don't want to expand their business", or that they are "quite happy with things as they are." The challenge is that a business is either growing or slipping backwards. Here is a mantra for you. More customers = more cash = more choices (which may include taking a well earned holiday, supporting a family member or donating to charity). “Failure is only a temporary...
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Marketing systems and processes – the key to success

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
Do you cast your marketing messages into the void and wait for an echo? Are you constantly looking for new business and ignoring dormant customers? Do you have a written marketing plan, including a promotional mix schedule for the year ahead? Do you keep all of your contacts in one place? Do you have a system for following up every sales lead and opportunity? It's easy to go networking, attract a few followers on the social networks, send out the occasional newsletter and respond to random referrals. We can all keep busy throughout the day. Frenetic activity can become reassuringly addictive. It takes discipline to follow procedures and systems. To a large extent, this approach is dull and boring. But it works. Time and time again I meet brilliant people who are following their own star. They are multi-talented, original thinkers. They are also as poor as a church mouse. They don't like to be constrained by boring systems. They don't believe in sales or marketing processes. I also...
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Member Spotlight – Walter Blackburn

By Ben TempleNo Comments
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Walter Blackburn, CEO and Founder, Empathy Styles. Walter brought the Empathy concept to the UK in the mid 1990s having founded PeopleTrack Ltd a few years previously. Prior to this Walter had a successful 20 year career in sales, management and personal development training. He has developed leading edge training programmes and built a team of superb trainers to deliver quite remarkable results. His vision is to inspire people, enabling them to achieve their full potential. As an acknowledged expert in the Empathy programme, Walter has trained salespeople, managers, customer service teams and trainers over the last 10 years. Here is his profile: www.marketingcompass.co.uk/members/walter-blackburn/profile/ ...and here is his website: www.empathystyles.com...
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