Help in my sales calls

Hello,

Im doing telesales B2B to small businesses. We need to get the sale during the first call ( or reluctantly callback after sending faxes etc ) Our target is 2 sales per agent per day, and everyone seems to struggle to do this:

The Product:

It is a free service that gives businesses cheaper calls and line rental on their existing lines. There are about 100 different companies out there trying to get the same results and everyone has heard it all before. Our product does not go live automatically. We send out a welcome pack within 48 hours of the call, and get the line supplier to change the tarriff 3 weeks later.


A Typical Call:

This usually happens after getting past gatekeepers:

Me: Hello there, my name is Joe Smith from Telecommunications. We help small businesses reduce the price of their call charges and line rental through their existing BT Line without making any changes whatsoever

Would you be the person who deals with the telephone accounts?

Prospect: Yes

Me: Great, Do you have a BT line there sir?

Prospect: Yes and I dont wish to change my telephone

Me: Thats great, what we do is just give your business a free tarriff change through your existing BT line. No changes to numbers or a need to install other hardware. Its BT who still maintain the line.

Prospect: ( silent )

Me: Do you make local and national calls?

Prospect: A bit of both

Me: Okay, our tariff is 1.7p for both types of call, 10p to mobiles. We also give you 10% off your line rental. How does that sound?

Prospect: Im happy with what I am paying.

Me: Okay, let me ask you, do you know what your paying right now? 3.5p local, 6.7 for a national call?

Prospect: Nope, it doesnt bother me

Me: Well its a free service for small business like yours that will never have high telephone bills. Bigger companies are allowed discounts, so why pay over the odds for calls?

Prospect: Im sorry but I dont wish to change.

End of call...

How can I improve and get more sales. I am focused, have the right attitude and even when I close and inform them that we confirm everything in writing in 48 hours, they still go ' I dont wish to change ' or ' I want to see it in writing first '

Please help!! -puttyshankleton

IMO, the scenario you described is quite common regardless of the product or service.

To me, when working with people the bottom line always comes down to "interest." I read your script as if I was a business owner and it did not catch my interest.

Are you calling "in the dark" or do you already know a little something about the prospects you are calling on? -Bandit

100% cold calling.

What would be an interest grabbing opening?? -puttyshankleton

Your prospecting script (offer) is really fairly solid. If you are willing to tweak it a little, I believe you will start getting results.
Rather than "Hello there, my name is Joe Smith from Telecommunications." try this instead: This is Joe Smith calling from Telecommunications.
Always insert the word "calling". It significantly increases your chance of getting through to the right person. I can't tell you why. It just does.
Next: "We help small businesses lower the price of their call charges.." Substute the word "lower" for reduce. Customers talk in terms of lower prices. They don't use the word "reduce" very often. Talk their language.
That sentence describes your first feature. Always describe two features in a prospecting offer. Not benefits! When you are keeping your initial offer to a prescribed forty five words or less, you cannot describe benefits. The prospect will equate the benefits automatically if he/she is a probable buyer.
Next, I think that "without making any changes whatsoever" is probably a strong enough second feature. So you're OK there.
"Would you be the person who deals with the telephone accounts?"
Drop that question and simply ask: "Is this something you want?"
If they say "no", then say "good bye" and make your next call.
If they say "I'm not the person who makes those decisions?", ask who does followed by "Would you please put me through and tell him that Joe Smith is calling?"
If you get through, then simply repeat your prospecting offer.
You said you need two sales a day. If you decide not to waste your time on people who do not want what you offer, you will create more time to find people who do. You are not looking for people who are interested. Contrary to conventional thinking, interested people seldom buy.
One last suggestion. Make an effort to remove the word "gatekeeper" from your professional vocabulary. Think of phone receptionists and secretaries (and whoever) as unique human beings who are making a living just like you are. I think you'll discover better results in getting through to the decision maker.
Good luck to you. -Gary Boye

Thanks for the feedback Gary. One question: The ' is that something you want? ' just make people who may be interested just say no anyway? -puttyshankleton

Good follow-up question.
You are not looking for people who may be interested. Interested people seldom buy. And, obviously, people who may be interested are even a lower probability for you. If you target those categories, and spend your time with them, you will be spending less time with people who want what you are offering.

If you ask "is that something you want?", and it perks her interest, she is not going to say "no"--she is going to infer that she needs more information. At that point, be prepared to state two more features. Then ask again: "Is this something you want?"

If the person says "no", the say "good bye" and make your next call.

You want yes's which will provide your income, and, you want no's which will give you more time to find yes's. You do not want maybes. They don't buy groceries.

You said you need two sales a day. If you follow the above diligently, you will achieve your goal and probably surpass it. If you are prepared to only work a system which is congruent with your current beliefs that are not helping you achieve your goal--than you will most likely continue with your current results. -Gary Boye

Yikes, that's rough!

First, my advice would be to establish a long term plan for lead generation that would center around networking.

For the short term, I believe Gary hit the nail on the head. ;) -WobblyBox

IMO, most people would be naturally suspicious what you are offering. People have a hard time believing that you can save them money for free. It's like the old saying, "Nothing is free". Would you be able to explain to prospects what is in it for you and your company? It might make prospects more at ease about really listening to what you are able to do for them. -Doc MC

I have refined the script to get people listening. But the close is the problem:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ME: I will bring down your landline calls to 1.75p, your mobile calls to 10p and your line rental to £12.35 per month, without adding a box or prefix. You also do not lose BT's services and maintenance.

PROSPECT: I wish to see it in writing

ME: I understand. That is why we send this info out to you within 48 hours which confirms everything I have told you. Two weeks later, we will send you a second letter informing you of the date the service starts. So it is a process and nothing happens with immediate effect.

PROSPECT: I repeat, I wish to see it in writing first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The majority say this, or say I dont wish to change. Many say ' Im happy with what I have. '

Any tips on how I should close? -puttyshankleton

Hello putty [can I call you putty?], is it possible that the "problem" isn't really the close but instead developing perceived value, trust and desire during the presentation? ;) -MagicMan

I agree with MagicMan, in my experience when there is a problem closing there is usually also a problem with presentation. The close should be just a matter of wrapping up details. All the selling should already be done, but it sounds like your still trying to sell when you are closing. -Doc MC

Putty is fine :) I never thought about it that way. How would you guys close it>? or even sell it? -puttyshankleton

If you don't mind me asking... does your company provide sales training for your position? I'm only curious to know how the company prepares and responds to this type of encounter. -Jackie

Not really, its pretty crap training wise. Most call centres want the sale on the first call. -puttyshankleton

I think that the trick is not to sound like all the other call centre drones! Most of the calls I have recieved like this have been from bored sounding, low energy people.

Pick up the attitude! Sound enthusiastic. Be respectful of the prospects time. Ask if it is a good time to talk. Ask them questions about their phone service. I for one, work in the telecoms industy but have no idea how much we are paying per minute... so someone offering fractions of pence savings doesnt really turn me on. However, if i recieved a call from someone who did not sound dead on the phone, I would give them the time to explain everything to me...

Just thought. -Julian

I wonder why this doesn't change? Hiring practices I suppose. ybrw; -Calvin

Or it could be the environment - high pressure, low self esteem... -Julian

I wonder if there is a common personality profile of the people that apply or accept a job in that type of environment. -Calvin

Possibly. One call centre manager I knew did refer to his staff as "cannon fodder" which kind of set up the type of call cente staff he employed... -Julian

I can see that happening. I wonder what it would take to clean that type of environment up. Better pay maybe? How about better training? -Calvin

Better pay, attitude of senior staff, more personable less hard selling sales scripts, and giving people pride in their work -Julian