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August 18 - October 11, 2019
So why give them the opportunity to say they are busy and terminate the call before they know what you can do for them and just how credible and valuable you are?
Once you have clearly and succinctly communicated who you are, where you are calling from, what you do, why you are credible and three different buckets of benefits, my personal preference is to change the pace and tone of the script.
So being direct and to the point is in the best interest of those we can help and will soon be looking for help. Your being direct and straightforward is in the best interest of prospects and is consistent with your business objectives on this call. But once you break through the mental barriers of your prospects, I adopt a different tone.
“No idea if you might be open to reviewing options to improve your move process. If so, would like to share some examples of strategies used to improve satisfaction and cost efficiencies. If you hear something you like and think of us in the future that would be great. Do you have any time in the next week or two?”
Now You Must Do The Hardest Thing In The World For A Salesperson. You Must Shut Up And Listen.
These words are not pushing so much as they are inviting.
Stay away from harder words like “buy,” “meet,” “proposal.”
“share.” That is a lot softer than saying you want to meet to try to sell them something. It is a softer language. It is inviting language. That language does not activate any resistance from our suspect.
The exchange is your information delivered at the meeting in exchange for their time. If they perceive your info to be more valuable than their time, you have the next step. If they don’t, you don’t.
With your script, you are seeking to punch up the value exchange so, at the ultimate moment of decision, your info is worth their time and the downside risk is minimal.
Pitch strategy
You want them thinking “well, we will probably never do business with them. But it seems they have a lot of experience, are reputable, and have done a lot of projects. I’ll hear what they have and maybe pick up a tidbit or two. That would be worth my time even if we don’t hire them.”
The final 2 lines in the script are strategically very important. “If you hear something you like and think of us in the future, that would be great.” I always used this line — 3 reasons. 1. Our objective is to convey value and enable people to feel comfortable meeting or speaking to us again. By using softer language again “think of us” and referencing the future, I am taking the pressure off. I am not using language like “see what we can do for you” or anything that connotes that I expect anything to happen quickly. No pressure. 2. It is the truth anyway, so why not say it. Remember, the
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If You Hear Something You Like And Think Of Us In The Future, That Would Be Great.
Magic words to avoid "all set"
Strategically I think it is very important to take the pressure off them and make them more comfortable with the idea of investing more time with you. You also want to reduce the risk in their mind, that you may try to push or hard sell them.
If they respond “yes” to “do you have some time in the next week or two?” you know they understand your value and are willing to meet or schedule a discovery call. You can focus 100% on scheduling a mutually agreeable time for that next step.
You want to keep your messaging consistent so that people can absorb it, understand it, then act on it. If you send them mixed messages, it is less likely they will absorb it, it will be harder for them to understand it and the odds that they will act on it plummet. The consistency of messaging builds credibility and recognition.
Voicemails should be 20-seconds long. Look at all that you do within 20-seconds.
offer to deliver something at a meeting worth their time even if they don’t buy from you “…examples and strategies as to how they improved their programs…”
You are not trying to sell your product or services. You are not trying to convince a buyer that you are superior to all others. You are simply facilitating a mindset such that a buyer will feel that the risk of communicating with you is outweighed by the benefits speaking to you may bring. If the risk that you might be a fraud, liar, misrepresenting your experience, exaggerating your credentials or results, or are mean to animals is greater than the value to be received at the first meeting, you are out.
Your perceived credibility is key.
It is important to note that even within industries where it seems nobody picks up the phone and most of the meetings set arise from email replies, successful appointment setters feel strongly that the calls and voicemails work to lift the number of email replies that turn into discovery calls and appointments. Working the total system is what brings results.
Work the total system
Incorporate some customization:
Personalize linked in
Note the very light “ask” here. “May be open to reviewing some ideas.” You are not asking for a meeting where someone might be pressured to buy, nor are you asking them to accept that you are “superior” or deliver exceptional results. Your “ask” is low-level and low-risk. You are suggesting that maybe someone would wish to review some ideas. That is it.
Acknowledge the obvious and put that out there as a way of reducing the risk of having a discussion.
Remember, you are not trying to sell your product or service; you are trying to sell a meeting.
That someone opened an email is not a probable indication that they have a need or are (the word that never should be uttered) interested.
#1 Better Corporate _______ – Less injury {{first_name}}, 2,000 SoWazoo companies work with us to save lives and limit injuries among more than 100,000 employees with the best _________ supplies in Wazoo. Motorcycle delivered & restocked. Why do so many select us over mega national companies? Multiple program options, single invoice, top quality, personal attention, beat national company pricing by 50%. Local and trusted for 20 years. Saw your position, {{title}} and mention of _______ responsibilities in your Linkedin profile and thought it worth a shot that you or someone at {{company_name}}
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Email sample
enable them to understand that you are not like all the rest.
I set more than 2,000 C-level appointments and feel strongly that what we hear on these calls are not “objections.” It is “resistance.”
For something to be accurately labeled an “objection,” it has to be based upon some knowledge, some modicum of understanding and appreciation of what is being presented before it can be truly “objected” to.
You are selling the meeting. Not your offering. Big difference.
Let the conversation wander into places where your prospect wants to go, and you will end up somewhere, but it won’t be where you want to go.
When setting a meeting, you must resist the urge to respond to resistance as if it were an objection.
If you give them information to overcome their objection you are now working on their agenda (which does not result in a meeting), not your agenda (book a meeting.)
Dont give in to their objections
Plus, If you fully answer the prospect’s questions and give them the information they request, there is no longer a reason for them to meet with you.
Wow
What is the #1 reason why prospects don’t agree to meet with you? Simple. You don’t give them enough reason to meet with you. Those reasons must be delivered at the first meeting.
Give a reason to meet
You must stay focused on describing what they will get at the meeting that is worth their time. They can say “yes,” they can say “no,” or they can offer some resistance you can respond to.
No matter where your suspects want to go with the conversation, you’ll always want to steer it back to your purpose by restating the benefits they will get by spending more time with you, and again, ask for the meeting.
You must always maintain control over the conversation.
If you think of those who say “send me some info” as a group, what is the response most likely to help you in booking a meeting? Use that response. Practice it, polish it, refine it.
Practice responses to brush offs
Do not try to deliver an individualized response to the person you are speaking to when encountering common scenarios. Rather, concentrate on delivering the response you know from trial, error, and experience is most effective overall, when you hear “send me some info” or “call me back.”
What is this response ?!
If any of those 3 things happen: you talk too much, you give out too much information, or you let them determine the course of the conversation, you can only lose.
When in doubt speak in a clear firm voice. Most Will Assume You Know What You Are Talking About.
CLEAR FIRM VOICE
10. You Are Doing Buyers A Favor By Calling Them.
Think and plan out in advance what words are best used to achieve your call objective. Practice delivering those words naturally and confidently, without hemming or hawing, without hesitations or awkward pauses, without throwing in needless and meaningless words. You will greatly increase the odds that people will conclude that it would be worth spending time with you.
You Hear The Same Objections Repeatedly. There Is No Excuse For Not Handling Them Well.
You must leverage your target’s response, re-state the benefits they get at the meeting, remind them of your credibility, then again ask for the meeting.
What to do at objection
Yet, we know because we have brains that the odds of us bumping into a buyer at exactly the right time for a meeting is slim. The odds are much greater that we will speak to a buyer before they are willing to meet. These “buyers” recognize a need, know they must take action at some time, but before your call felt that it was “too early” to meet with someone.
My point here is that when responding to resistance you have a dual purpose. It is not just to overcome the objection and book the meeting now. It is to deliver the most effective response to common forms of resistance and if they still say no, to ID those who are likely to buy in the future.
All anticipated forms of resistance break down into 3 standard paths of response. I’m all set. Send some info. Call me back.
3 main forms of resistance
