WHEN IT COMES TO COLD CALLING THERE'S REALLY JUST ONE ICON.

• Prospects will ride all over you if you don't show them whose really driving the train.  That's right my fellow salespeople.  For those of you who don't agree with this statement then you're most likely playing their little game and you're probably wasting a lot of valuable prospecting time.  And as a result of your actions, you continuously agree to follow up with these prospects and these prospects agree to keep you on a course going absolutely no where. As you continue to follow up, your encounters become more annoying and your prospect becomes even more annoyed.
  
  So what do you do?  When a prospect says, "Follow up with me" or "Let me think it over and call me next week" don't be so quick to agree. Try following up with any one of these following responses below:
  
  (For each response think about what need or pain they may have and how you can create a solution for them.  Focus on these solutions and how you can help your prospect do something even more efficiently):
  
  "What's holding you back?"
  
  "Sure, let's schedule a time that we can discuss in person (or on the phone) how we can help you (Insert here what you can do to help them do something better), which days and times next week work for you?"
  
  "What's stopping us from doing business?"
  
  "What needs to happen for us to have you on board?"
  
  "What will you most likely take away from what we have discussed thus far?"
  
  "What are your immediate thoughts?"
  

• Why are some sales prospects wishy washy?  Here are four reasons why your prospects cannot commit and these four reasons include the following:  1.  You are not offering anything of value.  2.  You are not speaking with the decision-maker (always speak with the business owner).  3.  Your prospect might be selling their business and they do not want to disclose their future plans with you.  4.  Your prospect may be using your proposal to get a better deal with their current vendor.  When you do encounter a wishy washy prospect then you can ask your prospect:  "What are you really thinking?"  The answer that you hear will most likely address one of these four reasons mentioned above and once you understand what is holding them back then you will now have more information at hand to handle and overcome their sales objection.
  

• Has the price objection been a constant issue for you?  First, I gotta ask you the following question:  "Are you the one first bringing up the price or is your prospect the first to ask you about the price?"  If your prospect is the one who brings up the price first then congratulations because you probably are more focused on selling value.  When you sell value that means that you are selling solutions.  And when a prospect comes to the realization that you can help them "do something better" or "more efficiently" then they will inquire about the price.  On the other hand, if you bring up the price first then you are not setting the tone of being a consultant, but rather you are essentially pushing your product and/or service.  Click here for more information on our one-to-one cold call coaching sessions with Pop Icon Mr. Cold Call™

• If you're targeting a TOP SALES PROSPECT and you're speaking with the decision-maker (i.e. business owner) and they keep telling you to call them back then do it!  It's 110% worth your time and don't GIVE UP!  At some point in time, after five or even six contacts with them they will give in and get worn out and take your telephone call.  Just keep asking for the appointment and you will get it!  Remember, the best of the best salespeople do not give up--they keep following up while the loser reps move on out of frustration.  Which one are you?

• Let your prospects know exactly how much you can save them and put a specific value to it.  For example, if you crunch the numbers and are able to save your prospect $100 a month you could say something like, "We can save you $100 a month or over the course of one year that's $1200 and over the course of 5 years that's $6000!  If you really wanted to to paint a picture of their savings in their heads then you could say something like, "Over a one year period that's like us giving you almost an ounce of gold (right now gold is $1400 an ounce) or a six night family cruise for 3 to the Galapagos Islands. 

• A sales objection is merely a form of resistance that your prospect uses to determine whether or not they will do business with you!  If you're able to overcome their resistance then you will soon find out that sales objections are "opportunities" rather than "obstacles" to doing business.  A sales objection is a way for your prospect to get more information from you and one of the best ways to get more information is to ask questions.  Try asking the following questions when handling the following sales objection:  "I really don't want the hassle in switching."
  
  You could respond with any one of the following questions to engage your sales prospect with additional dialogue:
  
  1.  "What makes you so loyal to (Insert the name of your prospect's vendor here)?"
  
  2.  "(Insert the first name of your prospect here), I can understand why you would have no interest if you haven't first heard the benefits?
  
  3.  "What in particular do you like the most about (Insert the name of your prospect's vendor here)?"
  
  4.  "I've heard others respond in the exact same way, but then when we sit down and compare similar products and services we are able to significantly (Insert a benefit statement here)."
  
  5.  "What do you most like about (Insert the name of your prospect's vendor here)?  What do you least like about (Insert the name of your prospect's vendor here)?"
  
  6.  "(Insert the first name of your prospect here), when you say that you don't want the hassle in switching, can you expand on that?"
  
  7.  "When was the last time you had a review of your relationship and how do you know for sure that you're getting the best deal?"
  
  8.  "In business, it never hurts to see your other options, do you have a current back-up plan in case your vendor drops the ball?"

• Sometimes the best way to handle a sales objection is to respond with another question.

• Did a prospect shut you down? Ask them if you can call them back in six months or one year: "(First name), it sounds like you're more than happy with (Insert their vendor here), however, people change their minds all the time, what works better for you, would you take my call six months from now? Or is one year from now work better for you?"

• If your prospect turns you down over the telephone try following up with an email. In your email, emphasize your persistence and detail exactly why they should meet with you. Try to do this in just two to five sentences and offer a few specific times to set up a visit to their office. "How does this (Insert a day, date and time here) or does (Insert a day, date and time here) work better?"

• Offer to prepare a "Customized Business Proposal" for your prospect. In order to do this, you will need to arrange a phone and/or in-person visit to their office. Click here to start setting an unlimited stream of sales appointments!

• Ask your prospect when the last time they had a review of their account relationship? Let them know that you just want to provide them with information on what you have to offer versus who they're using now. This way when they do make a decision (this could be now, next week, next year or several years from now) they information at hand to make the best possible decision for their company.

• Never follow up with your prospect on the day they return back in the office from vacation. By doing so, you have already set yourself up for a sales objection.

• A sales objection is not always a "NO." Such a response may simply mean that your prospect doesn't have enough information from you to make a firm decision!

• How would you respond to these 113 Common Sales Objections?
  

• Not all your prospects may have immediate interest, but as you follow up with them over a period of time you will notice that in fact people do change their minds. Check out this interesting article about how cold calls can help your prospect to create options

• A great way to respond to sales objections is through a sales technique coined by Pop Icon Mr. Cold Call? as a "Walking Testimonial." The next time you encounter a sales objection from your prospect offer to have them call one of your current customers. If you currently do not have a customer that you can use as a "Walking Testimonial" then simply pick up the phone and just ask. Think of this customer as your "ace of spades" or your "fallback plan." I would suggest having a few of these "types of customers" that you can easily have your prospect contact so that you do not bombard these customers with too many calls. I encourage you to be very selective when using them. As soon as you encounter an objection just respond with the following: "(First name of prospect), I understand how you feel and where you're coming from, please do take your time in your decision process. Also, I wanted to let you know that I have a very good customer of (Insert your company name here) and when I first met them (before they became a customer) they responded the same way you did just now. You are more than welcome to call (Insert the name of your customer and their company) and ask them about their seamless transition to our company and based on what they say perhaps you may give us a chance? Either way, I very much appreciate your time and per your request, I'll follow-up with you in (Insert time period here)." This technique also works well via email if you're going back and forth with your prospect. Again, just use the same example from above, but in written form. Forward this website to a friend and receive a FREE GIFT from Pop Icon!
  

• Learn how to overcome sales objections using "The Egg Basket Theory."

• 3 Sure-Fire Sales Rebuttals to handle prospect's who say, "I'm not Interested!"

• Try using this line the next time your prospect says that their not interested: "(First name of prospect), may I ask you one more question before you go? (pause) I was just wondering, if you had an issue with (Name of their vendor) and you had to call in, would you be handled as customer account number 12345 or does (Name of their vendor) really know you by your first name? (pause) I'm asking you this because I have a strong business relationship with all my customers and I know each of them by name, do they really know your name?"

• Get to know "The Power of The Pause" What does this mean? This means that you need to pause after each sales objection that you hear. Pausing shows your prospect that you are listening and really trying to help them.

• A positive attitude, a nice big smile and humor are three things can you can easily do to reduce resistance as you respond to objections.

• People who buy always ask themselves, "What's in it for me?" You must always keep this question in your mind in your responses.

• Make a list of every single objection that you hear on the telephone and come up with responses for each one!

• Study the features and benefits of your product and/or service each day. You may even want to make a commitment to yourself to spend "X" amount of hours each day or week to achieve this.

• When your call is completed and you have had several objections on the call ask yourself, "What could I have done or said differently to avoid that objection in the first place?"

• Contact a few of your company's most successful sales reps and ask them if you can sit with them for an hour to listen to their sales calls. Your time with them will give you new ideas as to what you need to do when you respond to your prospect objections.
  

• Study your competition, visit their website and sign-up for their FREE Newsletter. Such information will give you more insight into your industry, how your product and/or service is being sold and may give you new ideas as to how you want to approach each telephone call. Collectively, this "new information" that you have learned will help you to fine tune your sales message. The more effective your sales message the less objections you will hear and the more you will sell!

• If you cannot tell exactly what the objection is (i.e. a price objection or a time objection) then you can ask your prospect, "(First name of prospect), what are you really thinking?" (smile and then pause)

Copyright 2007 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call?

Mr. Cold Call? is a worldwide sensation and claims to have made over 80,000 cold calls to date. He has been quoted by numerous national publications such as Selling Power Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, Successful Fund Raising and Advantage Magazine. He has written over 65 articles on cold calling, developed a sales ratio calculator that automatically calculates your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly sales ratios, offers a custom sales script service called "The Script Responder" and finally, is the author of four best-selling ebooks with FREE email support and these titles include:

• 113 Common Sales Objections, 192 Clever and Savvy Responses
  
• How To Have Fun Cold Calling and get your telephone ringing off the HOOK!
• 58 Sales Openers that will WOW your sales prospects
  
• The New Business Idea Sales Generator Workbook

For more information on Mr. Cold Call? and to sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips visit www.mrcoldcall.com