Telephone prospecting expert Thorn Norman, Scottsdale, AZ says there are 10 mistakes—10 communication snafus— that inhibit clear communication over the telephone. Teaching salespeople to handle these bugaboos goes a long way toward improving their tele-selling success. Continue reading
Sometimes it’s hard for a salesperson to pick up the telephone and call a prospect. It comes from the “hot-stove” syndrome: A child who has touched a hot stove is doubly reluctant to touch another stove— hot or cold. After enough prospects have been rude, crude and asinine over the telephone, the average salesperson can become phone-shy. A prolonged bad streak, when nobody has a kind word, happens to every salesperson. The trick is to keep those inevitable “bum” times from causing a permanent problem. Continue reading
There’s something undeniably “big time” and impressive about the scene: The steely-eyed sales exec jets to the coast, hunkers down with a hard-boiled buyer and the two hammer out a hot deal. But put a simple pocket calculator to work on that scenario and you’ll soon discover the cost/benefit figures of cold call, face-to-face selling don’t always add up. Not in today’s economy. Not compared to the cost/benefit figures for a sophisticated “tele-selling” program. Continue reading