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Time management tips and more

Let's take a critical look at how we use the telephone – and at how
you can increase the power and effectiveness of your calls when it
comes to scheduling more second appointments with your prospects.

As a general rule the higher up in any organization's hierarchy you
go, the less time you have to make your point. I always plan the
pace of my initial monologue to suit each of the players. Let me
mention here that the world-class sales trainers I've met over the
years are in profound disagreement when it comes to agreeing upon
how much time salespeople have before the person on the other end of
the phone loses interest and disengages from the call (either
mentally or physically). My estimate is that you and I have a meager
eight seconds, whether speaking on the phone or in person, to get to
the point and get a reaction. That may seem like a very short time,
but try this experiment: The next time you're driving and you stop
at a red light, wait until the traffic builds up behind you. Then,
when the light turns green, wait eight seconds before you hit the
accelerator. You'll soon be convinced that eight seconds is a very
long time indeed!

On the Phone with the Approver of your sale:
The reason I'm starting with the Approver is that it's my firm
belief if you want to get a second appointment and/or make the sale
in two calls, you'll want start at the top of the organization and
work downward. (I bet you knew that.)

Here are the principles I've learned from experience to follow
during phone exchanges with the Approver.

* Never commit anything, especially your opening statement of the
call, to memory.  A conversation (or even the prospect of a
conversation) with an Approver can be stressful. If the call turns
into a "what does my script say" exercise, you'll lock up, stress
out, and sound awful. The Approver will disengage instantly.
* Internalize your message. Don't concentrate on what your prospect
Approver's response will be. Just speak from your gut, not your head.
* Be authentic. Don't try to be someone else. Be yourself. The
attitude should be, "Yes, I'm a salesperson, and a darned good one."
* Establish/reinforce your Equal Business Stature by presenting a
balanced gain equation. Balanced gain equations, express the entire
picture. They show the up side and any downside of your ideas. What
you say could sound something like this: "Sixty five of the Fortune
100 are increasing existing customer loyalty and add-on business by
as much as 120% -- while cutting direct sales expense by as much as
50% in just six months."
* Never ask, "Did you get my letter?" or any variation thereof.
Approvers hate this. Others in the organization aren't likely to
appreciate the implication that they're delinquent in opening,
reading, or paying attention to their mail, either. If you sent a
letter, simply repeat one of the points you raised in it, and let
the Approver connect the dots.
* Relate your expert industry knowledge: Your products, services and
solutions can change this Approvers enterprise wide performance.
Identify the highlights of your company's best experiences with
customers.
* Provide a choice of several ideas.  The Approver, more than any
other individual in the enterprise, requires choices. Approvers will
often give commands such as: "Find me the top three producers of
compressed air injection molds for our project X -- and do it fast!"
So you're going to get used to saying something like this: "The
ideas we have for your consideration consist of three performance
areas. They are: increasing the size of every entry point order from
new customers, cutting sales process time in half, and getting more
high margin add-on business from existing customers. Which of these
is important to you between now and let's say the end of this fiscal
quarter?"
* Near the end of your first conversation, suggest action items.
This applies to everyone you talk to on the phone; it's particularly
important when talking to Approvers. What you say might sound
something like this: "What would you like to see me and my team
accomplish between now and the end of this business [week]?"
Or: "Who on your team do you think I should be speaking with?" Once
you've asked this question, listen up and take your marching orders!

On the Phone with the Decision Maker
When placing calls to these folks, always bear in mind that Decision
Makers want to be treated as if they were the Approver. By treating
the Decision Maker with the same business respect you would treat
the Approver you'll be able to establish/reinforce your Equal
Business Stature.

Here are some other guidelines I can offer you on dealing with these
all-important potential sponsors over the phone.

1. Avoid stupid questions. Don't say things like "Tell me a little
about your business" or "What problems are you facing?" or "Are you
interested in (cutting costs)?" You'll only insult the Decision
Maker's intelligence.
2. Connect this conversation (if possible) with something you
learned over the phone from the Recommendor. For instance:  "I've
discovered from your [tool crib supervisor] that you're un-
intentionally replicating five steps during your [polishing]
process. Three of my other process manufacturing customers are
eliminating this excess by…"
3. Don't make any direct recommendations during the initial stages
of the relationship. That's sales malpractice, remember?
4. End the conversation by suggesting an action item. See the advice
for calls with the Approver, above.

On the Phone with the Influencer
This is the player who likes salespeople least, and who will object
most if you call on anyone else in the organization. My first piece
of advice, then, is not to call these folks unless you absolutely
have to. Assuming that you do have to call this person, bear the
following rules in mind.

1. Emphasize your product knowledge. This will help you establish or
reinforce Equal Business Stature: You had best know your stuff when
working with this player. So: No hedging, no fudging -- just 100%
correct facts and figures. If you don't know something, say so.
2. Go easy on the success stories. Influencers are not impressed
with what you've done for others.  They mostly care about what you
can do for them.
3. Connect this first conversation with whatever you did earlier. if
you took the time to prepare and send to the Influencer a detailed
piece of correspondence, ask specific, quantifiable "opinion
questions" about its technical content and validity. ("what was your
opinion of the design criteria that our [test and development]
engineers used to design our [Omega +5] synthesizer?")
4. Don't press for a decision. As we've discussed, you should stay
away from terminology like "Are you prepared to…"
5. Uncover an existing need that you can help satisfy. The goal here
is to uncover the need but don't let the Influncer know that you've
uncovered it. It's best to let the Influencer take all of the credit
for any uncovering of anything that remotely resembles a need,
problem, or challenge. Whenever anyone asks (such as the Decision
Maker or, Approver) whose idea addressed a problem, always give your
Influencer the credit. (Hey, you're out to get a second appointment,
and a commission check – not a pat on the back.)

On the Phone with the Recommendor:
If you start out your sales cycle as I've suggested (by contacting
the Approver first), it's likely that he or she will point you
toward a specific Recommender who can talk to you about the real-
world implications of what you may eventually end up fixing for this
company.

Hare are some guidelines on effective phone contact with this player.

1. Connect this call to whatever happened earlier. The easiest way
to do this is by saying, "I'm calling because Jim Bigshot [the
Approver] thought that you'd be the best person for me to talk
with." You now have the undivided attention of this person. (The
same approach works well with Influencers and Decision Makers, but
it has a way of making the Recommender feel like an instant
celebrity, which is why I'm addressing it here.)
2. Focus on improvements. Find out what the Recommender wants to
better, finish faster, make easier, or make more rewarding. But
remember – it's a fool's game to try to sell to this person. He or
she has no authority and no approval to buy anything. Explore by
asking questions like,  "Would it be useful…", "Would you find it
helpful…", and  "What would happen if…"
3. Ask for "inside information." No, not the kind that can get you
in trouble with the Feds – just the stuff that the Recommendor has
access to and you don't. During or after the call, the Recommender
can get you important background on who's who in the company. He or
she can also help you track down non-confidential enterprise
information such as bills, estimates, and procedure manuals, as well
as copies of product literature, catalogs, annual reports and the
like. Again – if you've got the endorsement of the Approver, the
Recommender will be highly motivated to get you whatever you need.