26 | TRAINING WORDS | Paul Owen First impressions
This month, Paul Owen tells us why, contrary to popular opinion, it is both possible and highly important to prepare for the unpredictable – in this case, cold-calling. Our sales expert explains about earning the right to speak to potential customers and clients
ast month, I debunked three myths about sales. The third – ‘you can’t train sales because every conversation is different’ – causes more damage to the ability of salespeople to perform than any other. Why so?
L
If you accept that it is impossible to train for something unpredictable, then you probably also accept that it’s not worth practising for something unpredictable. How can you practise when you don’t know what will happen? We are already in a dangerous position here.
When going into battle, generals
don’t just say, “Listen lads, we’ve got no idea what the other lot are going to do so let’s just turn up and go for it. No plans. Just run out there and give it a go.”
That would be madness. They assess likely outcomes. They have a Plan A. Plans B, C, D and E. Within those plans, personnel must also retain the freedom to make on-the-spot decisions based on the evidence in front of them, of course. It’s a balance between preparation and fl exibility. But it’s
not just turning up and seeing what happens. Just because you can’t prepare for everything doesn’t mean you should prepare for nothing.
So, what has all this got to do with making a good fi rst impression in a sales call, an impression that gives you the best chance of standing out from the crowd? It’s this: most salespeople, accepting the false presumption that you cannot prepare for phone calls because they’re all different, just pick up the phone and, when the client answers, they ‘wing it’. Having the speed of thought and ability to change tack in sales is, of course, important but that doesn’t mean you are at your best just winging it all the time. Every phone call is similar, particularly the beginning. The prospective client picks up the phone. They say hello. They say their name and perhaps their company name. They stop talking. It’s now your turn. You have 15-20 seconds to interest them in what you have to say to make them think ‘this is worth a few minutes’. You can prepare for that, practise that and perfect that. I’m not talking
Paul Owen was fi rst chief executive of the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP), building the membership to 400+, creating its annual consumer guide and setting up the AIPP Awards. He now runs The Clear Path Company, specialists in sales recruitment and sales training, which this year launched ‘Let’s get Britain selling!’, a nationwide programme of free sales training for 16-24 year olds in the UK.
about a script but a reliable, consistent structure. Let’s put ourselves in the client’s shoes for a moment. Once they realise that it’s not their husband/ girlfriend/ boss offering a pay rise on the phone, there is an internal groan and they’re thinking ‘Why should I speak to you? What’s in it for me?’
They probably have a stack of emails to answer, a pile of paperwork to read/ fi le/ bin, a day of meetings to prepare,
“Having speed of thought and the ability to change tack is important, but don’t wing it”
a dinner party to organise, a kid’s school trip to sort out and a holiday to book. Hearing a rambling, unprepared, unfocused opening to a call is unlikely to grab them, unlikely to earn you the right to speak to them today. You may recall that I believe sales conversations must progress through four essential steps. The fi rst one is ‘earn the right to speak’. Your pitch will not be heard, your questions will not be answered, your ability to close will disintegrate if you don’t earn the right to speak to someone at the very beginning.
Going up | training in sales calls can make a huge diff erence to response levels
So, how do you open up sales conversations powerfully and consistently? I suspect many of you know the answer. Every experienced salesperson does. It’s so simple they all know it. However, less than 10% of salespeople do it (remember the fi rst myth: ‘knowledge is power’. No! The use of knowledge is power. Without use, it’s... well, useless). Here’s the structure for the fi rst 15 seconds of sales calls: Name & company; Reason for call; Question. That’s it.
Short, sharp, clear, direct. All delivered in a confi dent, authoritative tone of voice like you expect they want to speak to you today (more about the proven persuasive power of authority in a later article).
On cold calls, nothing else should be said. No ‘How’s your day today?’ (you don’t know me, you don’t care, you’re wasting my time). No ‘Any plans for the weekend?’ (ditto). No ‘I know you’re a terribly busy person and don’t have much time to speak…’ (If true, I’d rather you cut to the chase and tell me why you’re calling). Here’s an example from my world: “Good morning John. This is Paul Owen from The Clear Path Company, specialists in sales training and sales recruitment. John, the specifi c reason for my call today is to fi nd out how you get the best out of your sales team and, if relevant, to introduce you to the simple, effective ideas we use with our clients to improve sales performance. Are you the right person to talk to about this, John?” Simple, isn’t it? I said you’d know the answer. Yet 90% of you won’t be opening calls in this clear, simple manner. Your teams say ‘It’ss just a quick call…’ or ‘I thought we could have bit of a chat today about…’ or ‘I wonder if you might like to fi nd out about what we do… for our clients… are you still there, John?’ First impressions count. We all know
that. If your sales teams are not making a good fi rst impression, I promise you’re losing business, burning leads, wasting sales and killing your sales team’s motivation call by call by call. Prepare for the beginning of the call. Practise it. Deliver your opening simply, clearly and consistently. First, earn the right to speak. Only then can we even think about selling. Next month: The least important benefi t of questions is fact-fi nding.
BUSINESS
www.opp.org.uk | JULY & AUGUST 2012
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