The Revenue Growth Habit


Call Friendlies The following is an excerpt from


my 2018 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Selling Boldly. It’s about making phone calls to customers and prospects who know you. Not cold calls, but calls to friendlies. I was interviewing a salesperson for


one of my clients, and he brought up a customer of his who he was having some trouble getting on the same page with. He felt like they weren’t connecting with each other. She was impatient with him, and he wasn’t sure why. He asked me what he should do. I said, “Call her.” She’s a friendly. He said “Okay, and…” Me: “And talk to her.” Him: “About what?” Me: “About how she’s doing.” Him: “Really?” Me: “Yes, she will appreciate it.” Him: “Really?” Me: “Yes. You’ll have a nice


conversation.” He was dubious. But he went and


did it. I didn’t know this, until I was doing


this client’s live full-day workshop, and this salesperson raised his hand to tell the story: “Alex, I just want to tell this story


to the group. Alex told me to call this customer, who I wasn’t connecting well with. And I did it.” He had my attention. “She picked up the phone, and I


told her it was me, Andy calling.” Customer: “Hi, what do you need?” Andy: “Nothing, how are you


doing?” want?”


Customer: “Fine, what do you Andy: “Nothing, just checking in. I


was thinking about you and wanted to reach out.”


Customer: “Okay, what’s wrong?” Andy: “Nothing’s wrong. I don’t


need anything. I’m just saying hello. How have you been?” Customer, stunned: “Really?” Andy: “Really. How’s your family.” Customer: “Nobody asks me that.


Nobody calls me like this.” Andy: “I know. That’s why I wanted


to.” 32 ❘ January 2019 ®


To implement these simple commu- nications to grow your sales 10-20% annually, contact Alex at 847-459- 6322. Alex Goldfayn is the author of the Wall Street Journal Best Seller Sell- ing Boldly and the Forbes sales book of the year The Revenue Growth Habit. Visit www.Goldfayn.com for more information.


Customer: “Wow, that’s nice.” They had a lovely conversation, he


relayed. He never brought up business or products or services. But guess what? Two weeks later she called him and


gave him quite a bit more work. I asked Andy if he thought she


would have called him like this if he didn’t make his incredibly high-impact call.


His answer: “No chance. She


wouldn’t have even thought of me. She only gave us this work because I was in front of her. He gave her the back scratcher with


his company’s name on it. And when she got the itch, she picked it up and used it. He called her. And then when she needed him, she called him. That’s how it works. And that’s the power of the phone


call.


Nobody Calls Anymore We assume that our customers get phone calls from their suppliers and partners all the time. But think about your own days


at the office: how many one-on-one phone calls do you get from your own suppliers? You might have conference calls. Or the supplier may call when


there’s something urgent or terrible happening. But what about proactive “How are


you, how’s your family” calls? Not many right? How many in the last month? Probably not even one, right? We assume our customers are fighting off phone calls all day. This is not true. Your competition, because they are


also human, deal with the exact same fears as you do. And they are not reading this book. Want to stand out? Pick up the phone.


All The Good That Happens When We Call • You are standing out from the crowd with this customer, because the competition is not using the phone like this.


• The customer will be happy to hear from you. Once they get over their shock about you not needing anything from them, you will have a very pleasant conversation.


• You will have an opportunity to ask the customer what they are working on in a relaxed setting. And they will answer. Arming you with information you would simply not have otherwise.


• You will be able to tell the customer about other products and services you can sell them to them.


• Your proactive phone call will demonstrate to the customer that you care and that’s really all customer want. We human beings want to know that the people are working with care about us. It’s not a whole lot more complicated than this. When you avoid the phone, you are demonstrating the opposite of this!


• If you call a customer regularly, they will send you more business. Why? Because you’re present. You will be top-of-mind, and the competition. The back-scratcher will have your name on it, not the competition’s. There is no downside to calling


customers. Only great value, to them, and to you.


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