“Hi Shaun, I have worked in the retail field for 16 years. I recently got a job through a friend doing B2B sales. I'm awful at it!! There was no training for the job, I was given a script and told to make my call lists using such resources as Inc. magazine, Barrons's, etc. In a nutshell the company I work for is based overseas and they are attempting to acquire contracts with US companies for outsourcing of financial services. I need to get in touch with cfo's and am having a difficult time getting past the administrative assistants. I read in your blog that one of the key steps to being successful in sales is to make as many calls as possible. What other advice can you offer? Also do you have recommendations for any great books or websites for me to acquire knowledge of B2B selling skills? Tricks of the trade, anything? There is no internal support for any training, I either figure it out on my own or fail. I really want to succeed in this role please advise.” Margaret
Margaret, thank you for your question and proactively searching for options to increase your sales. It shouldn’t amaze me but it still does at how many sales questions to CloserQ are about prospecting calls. I have my usual qualifying questions before my response: What is your territory (geographic, industry, product, free for all, other)? How many calls a day are you making today? How long is your sales cycle? How many (if any) on-site meetings to win a deal? Who else in your company is involved in your deals? How comfortable are you with your solutions? What is the goal of your initial calls (set up an appointment, sell over the phone, set up another call, etc.)? What is your companies sales culture?
Thank you for acknowledging my primary recommendation of quantity of calls from my previous cold calling blog responses. Without volume, strategy is useless. It sounds simply but call volume is the trick of the trade. Next time you are having water cooler conversations, notice the luckiest sales person in the company is the one who makes the most calls. If I told you today, October 8th, every call you made would be sale how many calls would you make today? Now onto quality recommendations.
Book recommendations: For getting to and selling to CFO’s, I recommend “Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Office)” and the follow up book, “Getting to VITO” both by Anthony Parinello. To understand complex sales, I recommend the twenty year old classic: ”Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by America's Best Companies”. For personal development, I recommend Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. For straight cold calling: Cold Calling Techniques – Stephen Schiffman
Strategy questions: Do you understand why CFO’s buy your solution? Are you looking for prospects who are in pain or who are growing? Do you have examples of clients who are succeeding with your solution? Who is your ideal client (go find them)? Do you have references? Are you persistence (asking one more question before getting pushed off the phone)? Do you call higher (ceo) and/or lower (controller, director of finance) in addition to the CFO (I prefer to call higher vs. lower)?
Script recommendations: Be positive and excited to be calling and offering your solutions. Provide value by have a reason why you are calling that benefits the prospect. Have your script solve specific problems (vs. the generic save time and money)? Have your company offer events (webinars, seminars, exhibit at trade shows) you can offer during your calls. Have your script have a call to action (register for local seminar by 10/15 to guarantee a seat). Have a teaser (call me back to learn how Acme Corporation’s CFO increased revenues with our solution). Be current (talk about the $700B bailout). Offer free education (monthly webinars). My recommendation is for your script to be succinct and to the point. With all my recommendations above that means offering multiple scripts. This gives sales people options when calling and reduces them from getting board by saying the same script over and over. Can you send me your script, without your company details?
Territory planning: Breakdown your territory to find your optimum prospects. What are the characteristics of your ideal prospect: public or private; # of employees, revenue, industry, etc. Then focus your calls on your ideal client and push your comfort zone into non-ideal clients too. What type of companies is your top sales person selling to?
Gate Keepers: Getting blocked is part of cold calling and here are some recommendations. Be a peer when getting administrators by being short and don’t try to sell the administrator, “This is Margaret with XYZ Financials, is Nicole in? (yes, no, do you want vm, or what is this in regards to) This in follow up to a previous message.” Call earlier or later in the day, when the senior manager is working and his secretary isn’t. Use the automated phone system of dial by name to get the direct number vs. the admin number. Use the operator, “I am trying to get to Nicole CFO and I keep getting her admin’s voicemail, do you have a direct number?”
Good Prospecting and getting to your CFO Prospects. Let us know when you get to the CFO! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Margaret’ additional information on 'Prospecting’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Margaret, thank you for your question and proactively searching for options to increase your sales. It shouldn’t amaze me but it still does at how many sales questions to CloserQ are about prospecting calls. I have my usual qualifying questions before my response: What is your territory (geographic, industry, product, free for all, other)? How many calls a day are you making today? How long is your sales cycle? How many (if any) on-site meetings to win a deal? Who else in your company is involved in your deals? How comfortable are you with your solutions? What is the goal of your initial calls (set up an appointment, sell over the phone, set up another call, etc.)? What is your companies sales culture?
Thank you for acknowledging my primary recommendation of quantity of calls from my previous cold calling blog responses. Without volume, strategy is useless. It sounds simply but call volume is the trick of the trade. Next time you are having water cooler conversations, notice the luckiest sales person in the company is the one who makes the most calls. If I told you today, October 8th, every call you made would be sale how many calls would you make today? Now onto quality recommendations.
Book recommendations: For getting to and selling to CFO’s, I recommend “Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Office)” and the follow up book, “Getting to VITO” both by Anthony Parinello. To understand complex sales, I recommend the twenty year old classic: ”Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by America's Best Companies”. For personal development, I recommend Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. For straight cold calling: Cold Calling Techniques – Stephen Schiffman
Strategy questions: Do you understand why CFO’s buy your solution? Are you looking for prospects who are in pain or who are growing? Do you have examples of clients who are succeeding with your solution? Who is your ideal client (go find them)? Do you have references? Are you persistence (asking one more question before getting pushed off the phone)? Do you call higher (ceo) and/or lower (controller, director of finance) in addition to the CFO (I prefer to call higher vs. lower)?
Script recommendations: Be positive and excited to be calling and offering your solutions. Provide value by have a reason why you are calling that benefits the prospect. Have your script solve specific problems (vs. the generic save time and money)? Have your company offer events (webinars, seminars, exhibit at trade shows) you can offer during your calls. Have your script have a call to action (register for local seminar by 10/15 to guarantee a seat). Have a teaser (call me back to learn how Acme Corporation’s CFO increased revenues with our solution). Be current (talk about the $700B bailout). Offer free education (monthly webinars). My recommendation is for your script to be succinct and to the point. With all my recommendations above that means offering multiple scripts. This gives sales people options when calling and reduces them from getting board by saying the same script over and over. Can you send me your script, without your company details?
Territory planning: Breakdown your territory to find your optimum prospects. What are the characteristics of your ideal prospect: public or private; # of employees, revenue, industry, etc. Then focus your calls on your ideal client and push your comfort zone into non-ideal clients too. What type of companies is your top sales person selling to?
Gate Keepers: Getting blocked is part of cold calling and here are some recommendations. Be a peer when getting administrators by being short and don’t try to sell the administrator, “This is Margaret with XYZ Financials, is Nicole in? (yes, no, do you want vm, or what is this in regards to) This in follow up to a previous message.” Call earlier or later in the day, when the senior manager is working and his secretary isn’t. Use the automated phone system of dial by name to get the direct number vs. the admin number. Use the operator, “I am trying to get to Nicole CFO and I keep getting her admin’s voicemail, do you have a direct number?”
Good Prospecting and getting to your CFO Prospects. Let us know when you get to the CFO! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Margaret’ additional information on 'Prospecting’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
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