Tag Sales Success

You Gotta Make The Call – Part One

Steve Keating 1 Comment

This will be a two-part post focusing on one of the most disliked aspects of selling. That aspect is cold calling. Part One will focus on cold calling over the phone and Part Two will focus on cold calling in person. 

 

I’ve never met a salesperson who truly loved making Cold Calls. I’ve met some who claimed to but their actions showed otherwise. But the discipline to make those calls whether you like to or not often determines the success of a sales professional. 

 

Successful people have developed the habits of doing the things that less successful people simply don’t like to do. Successful salespeople have developed the habit of prospecting even if they don’t particularly like it. 

 

If you’re Cold Calling over the phone then use a script. But, and this is huge, never, never, never read your script. Use it as a roadmap to make certain you don’t skip over important points. Use it as a confidence builder so you’ll actually make the call but if you’re calling people up to read to them expect to be a far less than successful salesperson. And please please please, don’t tell anyone you have exactly what they need before you even know their name.

 

Your first question MUST be relative to time. Never assume your prospect was just sitting around waiting for you to call. No matter how good your product is or how helpful it could be you ARE an interruption to your prospect’s day. You must demonstrate immediately that you understand that. Also demonstrate that you will ALWAYS be respectful of their time. 

 

Don’t ask if this is a good time to talk because it almost never will be. Ask instead if they have a few moments to talk about an idea, product or solution they may find beneficial. A few moments seem like less time than a few minutes so your odds of getting a yes are better. Just remember if after getting a yes you burn up too much of their time you are an instant liar. 

 

Your goal on a cold call is most commonly to sell an appointment. If you’ve done even a little research on how your product or service can help the person or company you’re calling then setting an appointment should go pretty quickly. 

 

Speaking of research if you’re not going to do any then you’re not going to have much success cold calling, on the phone or in person. It’s never been easier to find information about a potential customer than it is today. A 5 or 10 minute investment of time on the internet can make all the difference in the success of your cold call. After all, if you’re selling hay then don’t expect much success when cold calling a person raising chickens. Find the prospects raising horses… BEFORE you call.


Technically the research means your cold call isn’t nearly as cold as cold calls used to be. You have the ability to “warm” it up as much as you want. If you’re making cold calls the same way it was done in the 70’s and 80’s you’re completely missing the boat. 

 

I know this sounds stupid but you need to rehearse. Out loud, not in your head. 

 

I once knew a guy who was arguably the best salesperson who ever lived. He sold life insurance. Billions and billions (literally) of dollars of life insurance. He was his company’s top salesperson for 54 consecutive years. 

 

I ran into him shortly before he retired. He was standing outside an office building talking out loud to himself. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was about to make a cold call and he was practicing what he was going to say. 

 

As he had many times during our friendship he amazed me. He had to have made thousands of calls during his illustrious career and yet he wouldn’t even consider making a call without practicing first. 

 

I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of even mildly successful salespeople rarely if ever practice before a call. They figure they are good enough to “wing it.” It’s common practice to not practice but you should know that you will never achieve uncommon results by doing what’s common.

 

Those are all helpful ideas to increase your success rate when cold calling over the phone. However, none of them are the biggest reason salespeople fail at this important aspect of selling. The biggest reason they fail is because THEY NEVER MAKE THE CALL. If you’re going to have any success at cold calling you gotta make the call. 

 

No amount of practice, research, or planning will help if you never actually get in the game. Very successful salespeople fear failure as much as less successful salespeople do. They difference is they try anyway. 


Make the call! 

 

 

Customers are People Too

Steve Keating 2 Comments

In many industries customers often become more than customers. They become friends. Not necessarily the kind you would invite to non-business gatherings, but people you truly care about and who care about you.

 

You may think you are in the business of selling or manufacturing stuff, but you are not. Even if your products are sold only to other businesses, the business doesn’t make the buying decision. A person does. You are in the people business. Learning to show people that they are important and cared about will help you make both the initial sale and long-term sales over the course of time.

 

No matter what you sell, every customer should receive your best service during the sales process and after. That service should be delivered in a way that shows you care about the customer. 


Good salespeople listen far more than they talk. They ask meaningful questions and then listen. The best salespeople even take notes. 

 

A Minneapolis business legend, Harvey Mackay, has a long list of information he requires his salespeople to gather about customers. This includes not only information required to do business, but a few personal details such as birthdays, whether or not they’re married, children’s names, and whether or not they have pets. That information is used to make contacts and to start conversations with customers after the initial sale.

 

It also helps the salesperson…and customer, develop a relationship beyond the sale. It’s far easier to do business with people you know than it is to do business with someone who shows up to peddle something every once on a while. 

 

People like to do business with people who are like them. People who demonstrate that they care about them beyond making the sale. People who keep them in mind when something new that might be of interest to them pops up. They come to rely on businesses and salespeople they know they can trust to have their needs and interests at heart.

 

Here is the real trick to building real, long lasting relationships – there is no trick. You need to understand that you can’t build a relationship with a business or an organization. You can only build relationships with other people. 

 

Even the biggest companies and organizations are nothing more than a group of people. Real people. People who value real relationships with other people. Even salespeople. 

 

To build a real relationship you must have the other person’s interests at heart. If you do not, they will eventually figure that out and you will become just another product peddler that they will try to avoid.

 

Customers are people too. Never forget that simple, too often forgotten fact because you do so at your own peril. 


One more thought….if you’re a Sales Manager or a business leader who expects your people to build relationships with your customers then you should know that your people are unlikely to build those relationships unless you have built one with your people first. 

No, Sales Don’t Fix Everything

Steve Keating 5 Comments

Sometimes I’m at a loss for words. I know frequent readers of this blog may find that hard to believe but sometimes I am so flummoxed by something I hear that I don’t know how to respond.

 

I recently had one of those conversations when the subject of selling came up. I pretty much despise discounting of any kind. If a company has built value into their products and services then they should be able to sell that value to customers. The purchase price of that product should reflect the value that was built into it. 

 

In a perfect world that’s the way it would always be. But the last time I checked the world wasn’t perfect. 

 

So salespeople, even at times very good, well trained salespeople will be forced to offer a discounted price to earn the business of a customer. That happens for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest is a competitor pricing their inferior products well below the price of the superior product. Then they sometimes deceive the customers into believing the products are nearly identical. 

 

They in effect commoditize the product and tell the customers “it’s all the same so why pay more.” It’s not exactly ethical but if you don’t have a lot of mirrors around and you don’t need much sleep at night it works.

 

The skill of the salesperson must match the quality of the product. If not then the customer may not have the opportunity to compare the products on a level playing field. 

 

That’s what first attracted me to sales training. Companies with high value products need salespeople who are skilled at showing that value to customers and prospects. 

 

Without highly skilled and professionally trained salespeople the companies that sell products with high value will leave their customers and prospects vulnerable to the offers and “deals” on inferior products put forth by their competitors. 

 

The customer loses in that scenario. They may not realize it at first and truthfully some may never realize it but they lose all the same. But the high value company loses as well. If they can not receive fair value in return for the value they offer then they will fail as a business. The failure may come quickly or it may take a while but the end result will be the same. 

 

If your business is selling high value products and services then you must be compensated fairly for those products and services. That requires a well trained and professional sales force.

 

This is a bit of an aside but if you’re training your salespeople today in the same way you were 10 or 15 years ago then you are only partially training your salespeople. The marketplace is far more chaotic today then it’s ever been before. There is more information available to customers and prospects (much of it misinformation) than ever. There are more ways to purchase something than was imaginable only 5 years ago. Sales has changed and your sales training needs to change as well.

 

Which brings me back (finally) to the point of this post. In a conversation with someone who should know better, who in fact MUST know better, they used that oft stated cliche “well, sales fixes a lot of ills.” 

 

I immediately corrected them and said “no, sales HIDES a lot of ills.” The problems are merely disguised for a time. If too many of those sales are heavily discounted then you have a problem.  If you are a high value company you have two choices: stop selling high value products or go out of business. 

 

Businesses don’t succeed because of an impressive top line. Businesses succeed when their bottom line is reflective of the value they sell into the marketplace. 

 

What truly flummoxed me was this person’s disagreement with that statement. They insisted that if you were selling enough you would be successful regardless of your profit margins. 

 

For emphasis they repeated, “it’s all about sales and only sales.” 

 

That is almost scary! I wonder how many people in business feel profits are optional? I never considered there would be people in a for profit business that felt that way. Now I’m wondering if I‘ve discovered the cause of a whole lot of business failures. 

 

Sales are not what keep a business going. Profitable sales are what keep a business going. If you don’t know that, if you don’t live that, then you won’t be in business very long.

 

Just so we’re clear, profit isn’t the only thing a business should make. They hopefully make a real difference in the lives and businesses of their customers. They do that by providing them with high quality products and services. But if they hope to do that consistently, for the long haul, they MUST make a profit. 


Because no no matter how much we may want it to be so… sales do not fix everything. 

An Audit for Sales Success

Steve Keating 6 Comments

I’ve never met anyone who completed their taxes and then said “I hope I get audited.” We all know audits are bad things, someone checking up on us or worse, trying to catch us cheating. Even if you did everything by the rules audits are still a royal pain. But audits do indeed serve a purpose – they let us know how we did or maybe how we are doing right now.

 

My grandfather always used to tell me that an honest person doesn’t mind being checked. I would add to that bit of wisdom that the most successful people check themselves.

 

Here is a short audit for sales professionals. The results (if answered honestly) will help you understand the areas you may want to work on to ensure your continued success. Keep in mind there are no right or wrong answers. Just score yourself 1 to 10 in each of the areas and then develop a plan to increase your score before you conduct the next audit. Here we go:

 

  • Your goals are clear, written down and you review them daily.
  • You have a reasonable product or service. You can understand why your target market would buy it.
  • You have a repeatable sales process proven to work in your industry.
  • You know how many people in your specific target market you need to speak with to get a sale. (You know your batting average)
  • You have a sufficient amount of people who look like your “ideal customer” in a target list that makes you reasonably sure you can make your number, month after month.
  • You know the specific task motives, maybe even a few personal motives of your target customers, and you know that your product or service can match them.
  • You have a general interest statement that works, reliably, to get people to say, “Tell me more.”
  • You have a set of information gathering questions that you ask to find out if someone needs, wants and can afford what you sell.
  • You spend most of your day (four to six hours) in selling and marketing activities.
  • You work from a daily, weekly and monthly plan and are reasonably organized and efficient.
  • You don’t work more than 50 – 55 hours a week.
  • You do what you say you will do for prospects, customers and your employer. (You MUST be honest here cause if you’re lying to yourself you’ll never reach your potential.)

So how did you do? If you answered honestly you now have some areas to work on as you continue to grow yourself and your business. 


If you didn’t answer honestly then no amount of effort will lead to success…. but at least you learned why your struggling

Habits of Sales Professionals

Steve Keating 7 Comments

The best salespeople go well beyond creating satisfied customers to build loyal customers. They don’t merely hunt for transactions they look for ways to help their customers achieve their goals. They make a habit out of asking more questions than less successful salespeople. They know that without a complete understanding of their customer’s situation they may miss the opportunity to help. 

 

Time is one of a salesperson’s most valuable assets. But using it to maximum advantage is often a salesperson’s greatest challenge. Salespeople tend to be outgoing, talkative people for whom details are almost a form of torture. 

 

The most effective sales professionals make a detailed plan which includes a flexible work schedule that maximizes their selling time. The plan most often includes office time, planned at the beginning and end of the week, and at the beginning and end of the day. If you don’t have to be in the office then you should be Face-to-Face with a customer. 

 

Sometimes you must be in the office, but it is not the place to spend your prime time hours. Do “office stuff” as bookends to your selling day – either early or late. Make a habit of using your time more effectively and you’ll be making success a habit as well.

 

The top salespeople know that the little things make them stand out from the crowd. Writing personal notes to customers to thank them for their time, or to follow-up an appointment are good examples. They don’t need to be lengthy or complex, in fact they shouldn’t be. Just make them sincere and you will set yourself apart from the throngs of less professional salespeople.  

 

Along the same lines, leave a brief note on the back of your business card when you happen to miss your customer or they are unavailable. It’s so simple, but hardly anyone does it. And it means that your card has a better chance of being noticed among the many left behind by the throng.  It is a great habit to get into and it can make a huge difference in your results.


Sales is a people business, and creativity counts. When you develop the habit of allowing your personality to come through you automatically stand out from the crowd. If you’re truly a professional then that’s a good thing, a very good thing. 

Are You a Proud Sales Professional?

Steve Keating 2 Comments

The most successful salespeople are proud to be in sales. They know that any profit making business requires sales to survive. Everything in business may not begin with sales but it certainly ends without them. Every advancement a company makes is made from the revenue delivered by the sales team. Every person employed by the company is paid from the profits produced by the sales team.

 

The most successful salespeople also know that they do not succeed alone. The best salespeople work well with other departments in their company, particularly the customer service department. They use the knowledge and experience of other salespeople to compliment their own. They do all this with the goal of providing the customer with the best possible buying experience.

 

The most successful salespeople are not only proud to be in sales, they are proud to sell their products and services. They make the effort required to build a realistic value proposition for the customer. They relentlessly defend that value proposition against the weaker value propositions of their competitors. Their goal is not merely to sell more, it is to help more.

 

They help their customers understand their needs. They help their customers acquire the products they need to achieve their goals and objectives. They help make certain that their customers receive every bit of the value they expected to receive when they made the decision to purchase. 

 

Professional salespeople guard their integrity as if it were gold because they know that it is in fact golden. They will not misrepresent themselves or their products and they will not, will not, will not lie to a customer or a prospect. 

 

Professional salespeople are indeed proud to be in sales. They arm themselves with the skills and knowledge required to be the best, day after day and month after month. They believe in continuous improvement and they know that improvement begins with them. 

 

Does that sound like you? If not then don’t be disappointed with yourself. Each one of the characteristics of a professional salesperson is within your reach. You must decide to possess them and then get to work to make them a part of your own DNA. 


You can do that, the only question that remains is, will you?

Ask For The Order

Steve Keating 7 Comments

I had a salesperson who worked for me years ago who was outstanding at building relationships with prospects. She had a way of genuinely connecting with people that built instant trust and credibility. 

 

She valued her relationships with her prospects above all else. Even above asking them to buy something from her. She couldn’t bring herself to ask for the order. She honestly felt it could damage the relationship if the prospect saw her as a salesperson. 

 

She didn’t work for me very long. I had a requirement that my salespeople made certain that all prospects knew full well that they were there to sell them something.

 

I understand it can be uncomfortable to ask people for their money. However, too many salespeople put their proposals and presentations out there and wait. Very often they end up walking away with no sale.

 

If a prospect doesn’t quickly see the value of the salesperson’s products and jump right in to buy the sales opportunity may be lost.

 

Asking for the order is a vital part of the sales process. It is the logical conclusion to a professional sales presentation. Prospects expect to be asked.

 

Researchers asked people who were not persuaded to buy why they didn’t go ahead with whatever it was they were offered. Interestingly enough, the most common answer was that they were never asked. In some cases, they were convinced of the value of the offering and would have gone ahead, but nothing happened. The salespeople didn’t ask them to make a commitment or to part with their money, so they didn’t.

 

Don’t ever let the fact that you didn’t ask someone to make a buying decision be the reason a buyer doesn’t move forward. It can be as simple as saying, “How would you like to handle the investment for this?” Practice saying it in a business-like manner. It works fine when delivered with confidence.

 

Knowing when to ask, however, is every bit as important as doing it. Sometimes salespeople wait so long to ask for the sale that the right time to ask passes them by. To get past this timing challenge, use trial closes to take a prospect’s buying temperature.

 

You do this by simply putting the word “if” in front of your usual order asking questions. For instance, “IF you were to go ahead with this how would you handle the investment for the purchase?”

 

It’s designed to take the temperature of the sale. If the prospect is warm enough, you would move to asking your final order asking question about delivery date, paperwork, etc.


Asking for the order doesn’t always work, but this much is certain; it works a whole lot better than not asking. So ASK!