MASTERING THE CONVERSATION

Selling is fundamentally about conversations.

Sometimes they happen in emails.  Sometimes on the phone.  Sometimes face-to-face.

But it all comes down to this:  what words are you using, and how are you using them?

When I was a lawyer (now fully recovered), words were everything.  Lawyers are careful about words because they affect outcomes.

Same thing with sales.

Your first ten to fifteen seconds on the phone with a prospect are important.  Get the words right.

Your email’s subject line matters.  The content matters.  Before you compose your email, follow the advice of my tax law professor:  “Think it through.”

Mastering conversations also requires good timing.  Reply immediately, or at the end of the day?  

Think about the best venue for your conversation.  Just because you received an email doesn’t mean it’s the best forum for your next communication.  Perhaps you should advance to a phone conversation, or an on-site meeting.  

Read carefully.  Emails can be misleading.  Without gestures, tone, and pitch, you may not understand what a prospect is truly thinking.   I’ve sometimes mistaken curt language for anger.  One of my maxims:  when in doubt, pick up the phone.

Lead qualification is all about words.  

Sales:        “Do you have budget for this?”  

Prospect:   “Absolutely!”

That’s an example of a poor initial qualifying question yielding a vague answer.  Choose your words differently, and you can do a better job of qualifying.

IS THE SALE LOST, OR ARE THEY JUST BUSY?

Many times you’ve done a great job during your first call with a prospect.  You’ve identified a real need, and they’ve agreed on a date and time for a second call.  

Then the prospect fails to show up.

So an email goes out, and a follow up phone call, in hopes of rescheduling.  This was a buyer, not a tire kicker in need of brochures.  Sending them a whitepaper at this point is, well, pointless.

What do you do?

a) Persistent patience.  

   There are all kinds of reasons for a no-show.  Illness.  Vacation.  Week-long trainings.  Sudden change in priorities (your prospect is in a large company and has finally found a window to solve a nagging problem, but now his boss comes in and closes that window, reassigning him to a different task).

   Try reaching out at different times, using different methods.  Check with his colleagues, at the same level on the org chart; below that level; or if necessary, above.  And if that feels uncomfortable, enlist your manager as a wingman for this task.

    

   After several failed attempts, I’ve sometimes sent an email with this subject line:  Are We Done?  It regularly gets some kind of a reply.  

  The goal here is not to keep up appearances by sending this person relevant content every week.   You need to find out why the agreed next step is not happening, and whether this opportunity really exists, and what the real timeline is.  

b) Re-check your qualification

   Even though the prospect agreed to call #2, it could be that their actual timeline is far different than you thought.  Their disappearing act could be a version of “the check’s in the mail.”   Rather than rejecting you directly, they found it easier to talk at length and schedule a meeting they viewed as optional.  

  In some cultures, this is a way of “saving face.”   For example, in Japan, you may never hear “no”; you will simply hear a lot of “yes” that does not materialize.   

 When people don’t show up, you may have identified a serious need, but no real timeline, i.e,. the buyer has no commitment to do something about the need near-term.

Sometimes buyers will tell you this in the first call.  Just be sure you are listening!  Don’t let a screaming need cloud your other senses.

5 WAYS TO GET PEOPLE ON THE PHONE

A big part of sales is making contact with prospective buyers, or with others needed to push the ball forward.  In most opportunities, there’s going to be at least one phone conversation before the PO arrives or the credit card is swiped.

So how do you figure out when someone is available to talk?   So much of a salesperson’s time is spent just trying to gauge availability.  

Here are five ways to increase the odds that you’ll actually reach your prospect by phone:   

1) Find out their schedule.  You can ask in your first email exchange:  “what is the best time to reach you?”  Or try something like this:  “is the best time to reach you early morning, or late in your day?

2) Use your CRM tool.  When you (timely) log your call attempts in a tool like Salesforce, it will record the time of your call.  Maybe your prospect is never there because you keep calling them at the same (bad) time.     

3) Try odd hours.  If you read enough Dilbert, you know that most corporate employees are in meetings most of the day, particularly between 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm.    

4) Mobile phones.  Many people use their office phone as a voicemail box, and won’t ever pick it up.  But when their mobile rings, they’ll at least give it a glance.  You can also send a text message asking about their availability for a conversation.  

5) Travel.  One of my reseller partners regularly told me when he’d be on the road, because it was easier for him to talk then (hands-free, of course).   An IT Director at a large cosmetics company asked me to call after 5pm, when he’d be commuting home. People will also have downtime while at airports.

Handling the pricing objection

Handling communications from prospects on pricing is one of the hardest tasks for a salesperson, particularly where it begins with “your price is too high.”

Let’s look at a real situation --- an email reply from a prospect --- very early in the sales cycle:

“We think the Davinator is a pretty great tool.  But for it to be useful for us we must have the premium package and we think your current premium packages are quite expensive for our budget. For that reason we will hold off on using Davinator until further notice.”

In this scenario, you are a salesperson at a company that is struggling and needs every bit of revenue it can get.

What’s your best next step?

a) email offering a 5% discount

b) email and offer a 25% discount

c) email and tell her why the premium package is worth it

d) ask your manager if you can offer a discount

The answer is:  e) none of the above.

The goal here is to get this person on the phone.  Price should never be “discussed” in an email.  It’s an emotional issue for buyers and needs to be handled in a medium where you can have a real-time discussion involving pricing, needs, benefits and more.  If you can get them to meet in person, even better (if the price justifies the time/expense of the meeting).

So here’s your best next step:  reply back and indicate that you’d be glad to speak with her about a possible discount if she would have ten minutes next X-day at Y-time.  If she is truly interested in your product, and really wants a discount, she’ll agree to the call.  

How to handle that phone conversation?  Stay tuned....