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Smart Calling — Front-Matter: Front matter and introduction
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SMART CALLING
SMART CALLING Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling ART SOBCZAK John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright C⃝2010 Art Sobczak. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Sobczak, Art. Smart calling : eliminate the fear, failure, and rejection from cold calling / Art Sobczak. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-56702-9 (cloth)
- Telephone selling. 2. Telemarketing. I. Title. HF5438.3.S63 2010 658.8′72–dc22 2009047250 Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 SECTION ONE The Smart Calling Concept CHAPTER 1 Cold Calling Is Dumb, but Prospecting Is Necessary: Smart Calling Is the Answer 7 SECTION TWO Pre-Call Planning CHAPTER 2 Creating Your Possible Value Proposition 21 CHAPTER 3 Intelligence Gathering: Making Your Calls Smart 38 CHAPTER 4 Using Social Engineering to Gather Intelligence 55 CHAPTER 5 Setting Smart Call Objectives and Never Being Rejected Again 63 CHAPTER 6 More Smart Ideas for Prior to Your Call 72 SECTION THREE Creating and Placing the Smart Call CHAPTER 7 How to Be Smart with Voice Mail 85 v
vi Contents CHAPTER 8 Working with Screeners, Gatekeepers, and Assistants? 98 CHAPTER 9 Opening Statements: What to Avoid to Minimize Resistance 108 CHAPTER 10 Creating Interest with Your Smart Call Opening Statement 122 CHAPTER 11 Handling Early Resistance on Your Smart Calls 132 CHAPTER 12 Using Smart Questions 142 CHAPTER 13 The More Important Side of the Question: Listening 158 CHAPTER 14 Recommending the Next Step 165 CHAPTER 15 Getting Commitment for the Next Action 175 CHAPTER 16 Wrapping Up Calls, and Setting Up the Next Action 186 SECTION FOUR Putting It All Together CHAPTER 17 How to Sound Smart: Effective Telephone Communication 199 CHAPTER 18 Getting and Staying Motivated 205 CHAPTER 19 More Smart Calling Success Tips 218 CHAPTER 20 Smart Call Makeovers and Case Studies 224 INDEX 231 ABOUT ART SOBCZAK 241
SMART CALLING
INTRODUCTION I wish I had this book when I first got out of college and in my first corporate sales job with the old AT&T in 1982. It would have prevented a lot of grief and made me much more money. Then again, some of it would not have made sense, since there was no Internet and PCs were just making their appearance. How- ever, even without the benefit of today’s technology, the pure prospecting and sales process and techniques in this book would have worked 30 years ago, just as they do today, and will 30 years from now and beyond. Even in the numerous sales jobs I had in high school and college, I knew that typical cold calling—phoning people I didn’t know any- thing about and giving a pitch—didn’t make sense and was actually quite painful. I always tried to find a better way, an edge that would get superior results; I was constantly reading, listening to tapes, at- tending seminars, studying, and tinkering with my own approach. I always did well in my sales positions. However, I also knew I would never be good enough for my satisfaction and that there always is more to learn. My quest continued in a couple of other corporate sales jobs and then in my own company as I had to pound the phones to acquire clients for my fledgling consulting and training firm. Eventually, I did find—and continue to fine-tune—a better way. You are holding it (or reading it on your screen): a smarter way to prospect. A process that makes sense and gets results, and one that does not require you to sound like that cheesy salesperson that everyone considers an intrusive pest. 1
2 Smart Calling This book is a step-by-step guide that will show you how to call someone you do not know and who does not know you, engage them in a conversation, and ultimately get them to take some action. And in the cases where you do not accomplish that primary objective, I will show you how to avoid the morale-killing rejection that is usually associated with telephone prospecting. I’ve built my business and reputation over the past 27 years on delivering very specific how-to tactics and strategies. Many people—including, unfortunately, sales trainers and authors—tell you what you should do on the phone. You should create interest. You should get past the screener. You should leave a compelling voice mail message. And listeners and readers say, “Uh, okay,” as they wonder how in the heck they are going to do it. I’ll answer that for you and give you a precise recipe and ingredients for prospecting success by phone. This book is long on practical how-tos and short on big picture strategy and fluff. I’ve always been somewhat of a simple, get-to-the- point kind of guy—a style you’ll see and from which you’ll benefit throughout this book. What I’ve learned from delivering more than 1,200 training sessions—and from my wife, Nanette’s, graduate de- gree in special education and many years of teaching experience—is that people learn best when you relate to their world and entertain them. Therefore, you will see many examples of stories as I make my points. I will guide you through the logical creation and execution of your own telephone prospecting call using my Smart CallTM method- ology. You will learn the same process and techniques I present to my training clients. These methods are being used successfully to initiate profitable relationships worldwide, and I’m confident they can work for you, too. Unlike some gurus out there, I don’t claim to have invented sales, and I certainly don’t have all the answers. I don’t believe that my approach is the only way to realize success. That’s why I will give examples from and point you in the direction of others with expertise in some very specific aspects of sales—and others with a more generalist view—throughout this book. You may not agree with everything I say. I don’t care. Actually, that is good, since it means you are thinking about what you read and applying it to your situation. That is healthy. What I do ask is that
Introduction 3 when you do disagree, react like you should when you get resistance in a sales situation and ask yourself, “How might this be true?” or “How could this work for me?” Who Will Benefit from Smart Calling? The primary audience, of course, is anyone with “sales” in their title, primarily those who sell to other businesses. But it’s not limited to traditional salespeople. Anyone who picks up the phone to call a person they don’t know—with the objective of persuading that person to take some action—will learn from this book. For example: r Freelancers of all types r Independent professionals r Sports recruiters r Writers looking to get published r Job seekers r Fund raisers r Many others Regardless of whether your career relies on regularly calling peo- ple to get new business or whether you have one person to whom you want to sell an idea and may never place a prospecting call again, this book will help you do what is necessary. Taking Action Is Required As I tell my training workshop participants, everything I will share with you is totally worthless—until you do something with it. I know this material works, but only if you do. My friend Larry Winget—who is known as an irritational motivational speaker—says in his book It’s Called Work for a Reason—Success Is Your Own Damn Fault that many people are “spectators rather than doers.” I agree, and I have seen too much evidence of that among the ranks of salespeople who do nothing
4 Smart Calling to improve themselves—even when the resources are provided to them. I’m hopeful that is not you. You have taken the first step by investing in this book. The payoff will now come by putting in the work. There are a number of exercises throughout the book that ask you to research, write, and practice. At the end of each chapter, I also ask what other action you will commit to as a result of that chapter. Prospecting and sales is a lot like golf: You can read all you want to become knowledgeable about it, but you will become excellent at it only by practicing. I know it sounds like a clich´e, but you will get out of this book what you put into it. I’m ready if you are. Let’s begin making your prospecting calls Smart!
S E C T I O N ONE The Smart Calling Concept