A few years ago I bought a brand new Toyota RAV4 which came up with an optional subscription for satellite radio. I won’t say who the company was but it rhymes with “curious”.
I tend to keep the radio off in my car to think and clear my head but do like commercial free radio as well. Especially the 80’s music since that’s when I grew up.
Every September is renewal time. Like many other companies out there, if I wait long enough and ignore multiple calls and emails to renew, I know the price will come down.
The yearly subscription fee was $231.05. Would I probably renew at that price? Yes.
So the company left me message and I finally called them back. I told the customer service rep the price was too high. She immediately dropped the price to $131.05.
I hesitated and said simply, “That still sounds too high.”
She responded and said that she’d like to put me on hold and talk to a manager. I said that was fine. She got back on the phone a few minutes later and said they could do it for $104 and change. I agreed and renewed for another year.
I’m in sales and typically have some sympathy for other sales reps. Again I probably would have renewed for the full price.
People are conditioned to ask for discounts. Nothing wrong with it.
BUT, you don’t have to say yes. The prospective client may feel they have nothing to lose by asking for a discount. Or they want to make sure they’re getting your best pricing. So they ask for a discount but will invest or purchase what you have regardless.
Maybe the customer service rep should have asked me, “What did you have in mind?” and put the ball back in my court. She handled the call well by the way.
Moral of the story: Ask and you may receive. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
A Creative Way to Get a Sales Meeting
/in Cold Calls, Lead Generation, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy December everyone!
There’s a Sales VP in town who I wanted to secure a meeting with. As with other prospects, he was very elusive and busy. I looked at his LinkedIn profile and noticed he was on the board of a non-profit organization here in town.
I checked out the non-profit and decided to make a donation for $100 in honor of the Sales VP.
After I received my email receipt from the non-profit, I forwarded it to him and asked if he was open to a conversation. He said yes and I got the ball rolling.
Two things this showed:
Does it need to be $100? Absolutely not. Maybe the amount needs to be only $25.
Because Sales VP’s like him are constantly bombarded, here’s another creative example on how to get in the door of a targeted prospect.
Happy Holidays everyone!
My Post-Election Sales Tip of the Day
/in Cold Calls, Lead Generation, Prospecting /by Ray RueckerI, like countless other Americans am glad that the 2016 presidential election is over!
(This is not a political post or an endorsement of the President-Elect. I’m a registered independent voter and voted for Gary Johnson since I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.)
There are countless reasons and factors that determined the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election. Congrats winner: 50% of the country didn’t vote for you.
One of the main reasons I believe that Donald Trump won the presidency is this: He uncovered pain of the voters, addressed it and promised he’d fix it. There were many voters who felt they were forgotten and left behind by Washington, DC in this current economy. Fair or unfair, Trump continually magnified his voter’s “pain” and said he’d do something about it.
It remains to be seen if he will keep his promises and fix America’s “pain” but I digress.
How about you? When you’re reaching out to potential clients, do you simply throw up a bunch of features and benefits and hope something sticks?
Or do you uncover your sales prospects “pain”, probe deeper and magnify it and show how your solution will solve their pain?
If I have a splitting headache, I’ll do about anything to relieve that pain.
It’s the same with your sales prospects. Uncover their pain, address their pain and tell them specifically how you’re going to fix it, and they’ll “vote” with their budget.
Prospecting Targets: Ready, Fire, Aim?
/in Cold Calls, Prospecting /by Ray RueckerIn order to be successful at setting appointments via prospecting, cold calling, or sales calls, you must target well.
It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest steak recipe in the world, if you’re targeting vegetarians you probably won’t be too successful. Read more
Voicemails and Cleavage: What should they have in common?
/in Sales /by Ray RueckerAnswer: They both should arouse curiosity if they are done properly.
Crude analogy? Perhaps!
Is the desired end result the same? I say yes! Read more
2.7 Seconds To Capture Someone’s Attention?
/in Cold Calls, Prospecting, Sales /by Ray Ruecker“According to email provider ExactTarget, people take 2.7 seconds to decide if they will read, forward, or delete a message. These busy people sit with their finger on the delete button…” confirms Jill Konrath in The Ultimate Guide to Email Prospecting.
Yikes!
2.7 seconds! That’s it?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I did some Internet research and experts guessed that we see an average of 3,000 ads per day. What if they are only half or a third right? 2,000 ads a day? 1,000 ads a day? Regardless, it’s a large number. Read more
Ask and You May Receive: A Short Story On Price Discounting
/in Sales /by Ray RueckerA few years ago I bought a brand new Toyota RAV4 which came up with an optional subscription for satellite radio. I won’t say who the company was but it rhymes with “curious”.
I tend to keep the radio off in my car to think and clear my head but do like commercial free radio as well. Especially the 80’s music since that’s when I grew up.
Every September is renewal time. Like many other companies out there, if I wait long enough and ignore multiple calls and emails to renew, I know the price will come down.
The yearly subscription fee was $231.05. Would I probably renew at that price? Yes.
So the company left me message and I finally called them back. I told the customer service rep the price was too high. She immediately dropped the price to $131.05.
I hesitated and said simply, “That still sounds too high.”
She responded and said that she’d like to put me on hold and talk to a manager. I said that was fine. She got back on the phone a few minutes later and said they could do it for $104 and change. I agreed and renewed for another year.
I’m in sales and typically have some sympathy for other sales reps. Again I probably would have renewed for the full price.
People are conditioned to ask for discounts. Nothing wrong with it.
BUT, you don’t have to say yes. The prospective client may feel they have nothing to lose by asking for a discount. Or they want to make sure they’re getting your best pricing. So they ask for a discount but will invest or purchase what you have regardless.
Maybe the customer service rep should have asked me, “What did you have in mind?” and put the ball back in my court. She handled the call well by the way.
Moral of the story: Ask and you may receive. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
How many appointments should a sales person have in 12 months?
/in Cold Calls, Prospecting, Sales /by Ray RueckerThe answer is of course, it depends!
I’ve interviewed candidates for Connect 5000 recently since we are slowly expanding and growing.
When I chat with sales candidates, I ask them how many sales calls were they required to make in their previous job. Their answer: 100 a day.
When I ask how much money do they want to make a year. Their answer: $100,000 a year.
There’s something about the number “100”. But I digress. Read more
Sales Reps Make Less than Two Call Attempts
/in Prospecting, Sales /by Ray RueckerHere are three interesting or depressing sales statistics whether you’re a CEO, Vice President of Sales, or sales representative surveying the sales landscape today.
According to RainToday.com, about 50% of sales people won’t prospect. That’s the research. Even worse, the percentage of consultants who won’t prospect is even higher.1
According to Insidesales.com, it takes between six and eight call attempts to reach a decision-maker. Their research also shows that most sales reps only make 1.7 call attempts to reach a new prospect…2
Here’s the good news! In studying 4,658 actual business technology buyers, research organization Marketing Sherpa found that more than 50 percent admitted to short-listing a vendor after receiving a well-timed and relevant phone call. 3
At Connect 5000, we firmly believe and tell our clients and prospects that on average, it takes between seven and 10 touches to get your message to sink in. There’s a reason why Coca-Cola keeps playing commercials over and over on television.
The research clearly shows that sales reps make less than two call attempts and then give up. If you are looking for a firm to do the dirty work behind the scenes and make quality touches and calls, then we might be a good fit for you.
1 www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/6_keys_to_prospecting_success
2 www.insidesales.com/insider/dialer/4-sales-tips-for-making-contact-and-avoiding-prospect-badgering/
3 Art Sobczak, Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection From Cold Calling (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), p.10.
Sales Book Review: New Sales. Simplified.
/in Cold Calls, Prospecting, Sales /by Ray RueckerHappy almost Labor Day!
My daughter was a flower girl in my wife’s cousin’s wedding recently. So my wife, daughter, and her parents flew out to LA to make it to the rehearsal in time. I flew out Friday evening to join them. I ordered Mike Weiberg’s book “New Sales. Simplifed.” on Amazon and took it on the plane with me.
Quick and easy read.
2 points that stood out for me personally: Read more
1/4 Inch Hole or 1/4 Inch Drill?
/in Cold Calls, Prospecting, Sales /by Ray RueckerI came across 2 articles this week on selling with features and benefits instead of outcomes and results.
They used the same exact illustration: “Each and every year, millions of 1⁄4-inch drill bits are sold, yet nobody buying any one of these 1⁄4-inch drill bits actually wants a 1⁄4-inch drill bit. Then, why do they buy them? Because they want a 1⁄4-inch hole!” Read more