Team Insight

July / August 2019

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teaminsightmag.com July/August 2019 ~ Team Insight 53 H i, this is Joe calling from Acme Sporting Goods. How are you today?" "Well, Ahmad, I was a lot happier before you called and interrupted me. I'm behind with my project and I'm too busy to leave my desk. Don't call me again." The truth hurts, but it's honest. Joe blew it. He had an opportunity to win the ear of the athletic director or coach on the other end of the line, but he squandered it by asking a silly question. Clueless Joe probably won't get another chance to engage that target. Anyone in the business-to-business sales industry will tell you, stepping off on the right foot can mean the difference between clicking and a terminal "click." Is there hope for Joe and the legions of desperate dialing dealers just like him? Of course there is. By paying careful attention to three basic things – preparation, practice, and patience – almost anyone can improve their business-to-business calls. 1. Preparation Are you cold-calling people and hoping for the best, or do you invest an adequate amount of time and effort in homework? First, do you know what you offer and can you use under 20 words of conversational English to explain that product or service? If not, don't make the call. Second, have you researched the people you plan to call? This doesn't mean full- throttle cyber stalking, but at a minimum you need to look for them in the usual places: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google. Search for people by name and company, by name only and by email address. Together, those three inquiries will yield more complete results than any single query. For example, maybe the email address search leads to a PDF of a youth baseball team roster. Now you know something about your prospect you might be able to weave into a conversation. A quick word of cau- tion: If you discover information beyond what you see on LinkedIn, whatever you do, don't admit to the depth of your research unless you want to sound creepy. "I saw on Facebook you and your family had a great time at the Outer Banks last summer." This comes off as extremely invasive. If you fail to tend to those basics, don't be surprised if you get caught and have your lack of knowledge held against you. Given the ubiquity of information in the age of the Internet, there is no excuse for not knowing the fundamentals about the organizations you call and the people who work there. Period. The third step in the preparation pro- cess is choosing a reason to call. The more specific it is, the more likely you are to get a thoughtful response. Just make sure you don't say, "Good morning. This is Joe with Acme Sporting Goods. How are you today?" 2. Practice Just as a skilled skater makes jump- ing and twirling look as effor tless as breathing, smooth phone selling requires athlete-level discipline. What you say should roll off your tongue and sound natural. A perfect conversation starter will often sound stilted if it's not prac- ticed. Be prepared to work hard to sound unrehearsed. Where do you find the time? How about the shower, during your commute (assum- ing you don't take public transportation) or as part of scheduled role play? Role playing can be painful and unpleasant, but as the saying goes, no pain, no gain. As uncomfortable as they may be, these exercises are one of the fastest ways to learn. 3. Patience You follow the preparation and practice instructions to the letter and your first two calls are a bust. What happened? Maybe you've just been unlucky. Not everyone is going to want to talk to you, and that's their loss. If you have a good reason to call and you offer a product or service that might solve a prospect's business problem, hold your head up and press on. Keep dialing, improving and learning from what works and what doesn't — and do it with a smile and a good attitude. Lack of patience will get you no place you want to be. Regularly practice and critique your performance and you will get better. If improvement is not happen- ing fast enough for you, enlist someone you trust to listen in on your calls. His or her comments may sting. Too bad. In the long run, you'll be glad you got the help. There's no secret sauce in the recipe for better business-to-business calls, just elbow grease. With better preparation, practice, and patience everyone can improve their results one call at a time. n About the author: Kate Zabriskie is the presi- dent of Business Training Works, Inc., a Mar yland-based talent development firm. For more: www.businesstrainingworks.com. Call Me! You lost me at 'How are you?' Or, how to make a better business call. / By Kate Zabriskie First, do you know what you offer and can you use under 20 words of conversational English to explain that product or service? If not, don't make the call.

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