June 25th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
This Blog marks the end of the first full year of blogging for me. Or maybe it marks the beginning of the second year of blogging. Not quite sure which, but it’s been an interesting, fun and fulfilling experience.
The book I read on blogging before I started, Blogging for Dummies, warned against getting burned out on it, which is why I decided to make my Blog a weekly publication instead of the more frequent formats most follow.
I will tell you that there have been a few times when even getting out a short weekly piece seems to be more of a challenge than one would think. My biggest worry though, was running out of topics to write about, but all of you are constantly bringing up questions, new challenges, and new ways of looking at things that make me believe that will never be a problem!
The most encouraging part of blogging is the feedback I receive from readers. Many of you have told me you’ve found something in a Blog or two that helped you improve your cold calling process. As most of us need to do some of that, I hope you’re among those that we’ve been able to help.
If we have, please take a moment and share with me how we’ve done that. Also, send us any thoughts on what you’d like us to cover. What types of things are you struggling with and would like to hear how others are doing it. You can reach me at bcaponi@caponipg.com.
In the meantime, thanks for reading and, as always, good selling.
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June 18th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
Tim Russert was the best at his craft and I was struck by a common thread through all of the tributes I’ve heard this weekend after his death on Friday. It was how prepared he was for each of his interviews. Everyone says if you were being interviewed by Tim, you’d better be ready. He’ll know more about your situation than you do.
In our appointment making programs, I talk about how the sports teams we’ve played on in our lives (who profess to play for fun) concentrate on practicing basic fundamentals (Art) and then specific plays (Best Practices) until they are second nature, yet we, who profess to belong to the ‘profession’ of sales, insist on ‘winging’ it.
Perhaps what we can take from the success of a man like Tim Russert is to apply one of the attributes that made him great. Prepare for your calls by knowing what you’re going to say each and every time and be prepared for 80% of typical responses you’ll hear. Then practice, practice, practice until it is second nature.
If you’d like some help with a formula for that process, let us know. We eat, breathe and live this stuff!
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June 11th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
Last week I talked about how to deliver the Value Proposition in a way that will be accepted more often than the most common way I see it delivered today. Here’s some food for thought on how to actually define your Value Proposition into a powerful message.
Take a moment (okay, it will take more than a moment, but it will be worth the effort), and write down every challenge your customers have that your solution addresses. Then write down each feature your solution delivers and the benefit(s) your customer derives from each.
Once you’ve gone through that exercise, pick the most powerful and most quantitative and place this in the ‘reason for calling today’ portion of your script. Just remember to phrase it in terms of what your customer is telling you about the result, not your opinion (see last week’s Blog).
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June 4th, 2008 by Barry Caponi
Most of us define our Value Proposition as something we can do for the person we’re calling. You’d think that would be the best and most logical way to approach it, but there is a better way.
Our surveys indicate that less than 5% of our universe of suspects is actually in the market for what we’re selling when we call. (Most of our clients tell us it is less, by the way.) So why do you think telling someone that you can save them money or that your widgets can increase productivity will make them want to talk to you? The answer is simple: that’s the way we’ve been taught.
In our workshops I see scripts all the time that generally describe the value of the caller’s offer as something they can do for the person they are calling. This doesn’t resonate with the suspect often enough because of two things. First is the aforementioned reality that they really don’t think they have a problem, and since they’re busy, they don’t want to take the time to look at a better widget. Second is that many times we callers will also be making a presumptuous statement about how we can help them do what they are doing better without knowing the first thing about how the suspect is doing it today.
Think about that for a second. How in the world do I know I can help you set first appointments more effectively and efficiently when I first cold call you? You may be better at it than I am. Better yet, you may not have to do it at all, so you don’t even do what I sell. That presumption is what turns people off to us cold calling sales people. It is actually insulting.
Here’s a better way to take your same basic value proposition and reword it to take advantage of human nature. Talk about what you’ve done for someone else. If you can talk about the results of what you’ve done for them, so much the better. The reason that works better (and remember, nothing works all of the time) is that we all think that someone else who does what we do knows something we don’t. So, if we appeal to that human insecurity, we’ll have better results.
Here’s an example of mine: “…The reason I’m specifically calling you today is that our clients have been consistently reporting back results of a doubling or better of the number of initial meetings their sales teams have been setting using our holistic approach to appointment making…”
I’m not saying my approach is better…my clients are. Give it a try!
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