The skills that are necessary in the pipeline phase of selling are not the same as those required in appointment setting. (Part 3 of 4.)
Many sales managers we talk to operate under the assumption that because their sales team, once in front of a target, can move that target through the pipeline effectively, they are properly equipped and capable of getting a target into the pipeline. After all, selling is selling, isn’t it? The sale, or objective for this step in the process is all that is different, right?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. And this misunderstanding of the differences has created what we like to call the ‘elephant in the sales bullpen’. It is apparent to everyone that enough Initial Appointments are not being set, but the root cause is not pursued as a separate process. Instead, us sales managers all ignore the elephant and utter the old mantra, “Make more dials”!
This four part blog explores the four major differences: the Beginning Repartee, the Pace of the Exchange, the Types of Responses heard from the target, and Preparation to Succeed.
- The Types of Responses Heard. Because a target has agreed to meet with us, by definition, they are willing to hear our story and share theirs to help determine whether it makes sense for them to move forward with us. That means their responses to questions we ask are more apt to be based on logic.
On a cold call, the responses we generally hear are more of a knee jerk response designed to get us off the phone. Those responses are seldom true, although they may have a grain of truth. If you’ll think about it, each of us has our own favorite we use when cold called.
Applying logic to their ‘lie’ does no good because there is no logic in their response. Therefore when we call someone, we must give them a vehicle to retreat from that opening knee jerk response in such a way that they save face and open their mind to a short conversation regarding what we’ve done for others to address a challenge or supply a benefit.
We must Counter their negative response using a transition that provides them the ability to save face (a lot of our customers felt the same way) and then ask a question that will open their mind to a short conversation by asking one of our Bridge Questions.
See October 18, 2008 Supplemental Blog for rules for Bridge Questions.
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