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Inside Sales: 3 Simple Steps to Triple your Success Rate
By Tom Stanfill, CEO, Aslan Sales Training
If you manage an inside sales or telesales team, you’re all too well aware of the unique challenges of initiating and managing new customer relationships. You know that before you can establish a strong sales relationship you have to first engage the key decision maker – and this is a task that many well-meaning inside sales reps often handle unsuccessfully.
I’ve found that the first 15 to 30 seconds of a sales call – also known as engaging – is where most “C” and “B” grade reps fail. Even well-trained, “A” grade reps aren’t always comfortable making that introductory call to a new decision-maker. Why? Because they fear rejection.
One of the most common complaints that I hear from reps – even highly seasoned ones – is that potential customers often reject them before they even have a chance to engage. This is frustrating for both the rep and for the inside sales manager, but it’s important for the rep to understand that potential customers are not rejecting them personally, nor are they rejecting a product, service or solution – they are rejecting the sales call itself. Therefore, you need to help your reps change their approach from selling, to creating an environment where they reduce the customer’s anxiety and ensure that the prospect is open and receptive.
To accomplish this, sales reps first need to understand the psychology of selling over the phone. I’ve spent 17 years studying customers’ buying habits when being approached via the phone, and I’ve learned that potential customers who are called by a sales rep are unreceptive or “emotionally closed” 80% of the time.
When a prospect is emotionally closed and you try to persuade them with logical arguments (e.g., here’s why my product or service is right for you), they become more closed. Yet, most every sales rep when encountering an unreceptive customer work harder to sell that customer on the benefits their product or service or, worse yet, they just hang up. In other words, they either fight or flee – and neither strategy is effective.
Fortunately, there are some strategies that are effective. Here are three simple steps your reps can take to triple their success rate in initiating relationships and engaging unreceptive customers and prospects.
1. Don’t sell. About 80% of decision-makers are “emotionally closed” because they, like us, have all experienced pushy, confrontational sales reps. Therefore, the key to connecting with them is to act the opposite. So instead of “pulling the rope” to try to force the decision maker in your direction or consider your product or service, “drop the rope.” Communicate that you are not sure if what you offer is a fit, ask permission, complement their current supplier, speak in a relaxed, nonthreatening tone. All of these behaviors communicate that you have “dropped the rope” and are demonstrating that the customer has the freedom to choose.
2. Ask to learn more about them. For most high performing ISRs, the next step is to get the prospect to agree to a telephone discovery meeting. However, many reps make the mistake at this very early stage in the sales process of asking the decision maker if there is a need for their product or service. They answer will most likely be “no.” Instead, ask for an opportunity to learn about their key objectives and then they can decide if it makes sense to move to the next step (i.e., “dropping-the-rope”).
Because discovering honest needs is the most critical step in selling, developing this
competency is vital. Reps who have not developed the skills to conduct a discovery meeting over the phone will struggle with uncovering the honest, unrestricted information that reveals the real decision drivers and the needs/challenges at the core of the organization. Discovering these will ultimately determine the success of their sales efforts or at least will ensure that they are not wasting their time on unqualified accounts.
Successful inside sales organizations have learned to address this unique skill set and
have equipped their reps to lead a successful discovery meeting where honest needs and challenges are revealed.
3. Do your homework and let them know. Before you ask for the opportunity to discuss and learn more about your prospect, demonstrate that you have done your homework and that you have some understanding of what’s important to the decision maker. Therefore, don’t initiate the call with information about your solution but communicate how well you understand his/her challenges and key objectives. Once you have demonstrated you understand their business, then communicate how your solution or product can address their gaps.
Secondly, don’t waste the decision maker’s time by asking surface level, fact based questions. If a decision-maker has to spend time getting you up to speed on the basic facts about their business, their interest in discovery greatly diminishes. The rule of thumb is, don’t ask the decision maker for information you can easily get from some other source. This not only ensures instant credibility with the decision maker, but it also demonstrates that you have an other-centered objective vs. a self-centered objective, such as trying to sell your product or service.
By understanding the mindset of the prospect, you and your team will connect
more completely with your clients and ultimately increase your overall sales performance. Have your reps try these simple solutions on their next sales call and see if they don’t quickly help you triple your success rate!
About the Author
Tom Stanfill is the founding partner and Chief Executive Officer of Aslan Sales Training, a global training and consulting firm that offers customized inside sales training, field sales training, and sales leadership development. For over 15 years, Aslan has helped internationally recognized brands, such as FedEx, Oracle, Xerox, GE, Apple and others, improve the performance of their sales reps and managers. Aslan recognizes that selling, managing customers, and prospecting over the phone require a unique skill set. As a result, the company has developed a total solution that includes hiring strategies, transitioning managers into coaches and leaders and improving overall performance. To learn more about the 4 Cs and other keys to hiring, download Aslan’s whitepaper, The 7 Barriers to Inside Sales Success. For more information, visit www.AslanTraining.comor call (770) 690.9616, ext. 104.
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