The Programs
Appointment Setting
This program is based on a book written by Stephan Schiffman, Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work), which was listed by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 50 business books ever written. The sales process begins with getting in front of people who are prospects for what we have to offer and most salespeople have never been taught the specific skills required to do this (i.e. to set appointments). This workshop takes people through a step-by-step approach to conducting a successful appointment-making call.
There are four basic elements to the call:
- Get their attention
- Identification
- Reason for the call
- Set the appointment
It sounds simple - and it is - but many salespeople lack the confidence and nearly always the knowledge that is needed to set enough appointments to reach their goals.
Another important feature of our program is the way we handle the call when we get a negative response, which happens more often than not. Most salespeople simply get off the phone when they hear, “no thanks.” We teach people how to anticipate negative responses and to get around the negative in such a way that will allow them to still get the appointment.
We also teach techniques for leaving a message, getting through gate keepers, “phone tag”, and many others. As a result of taking this program, your salespeople will have a great deal more confidence on the phone. They will have the ability to reach more decision makers and establish face-to-face meetings with key prospects.
Appointment-setting is a very practical, “same-day-results” program. Your salespeople will make live calls on the day and we regularly set more appointments in one hour than the team might have set in the whole previous month! In addition, you will be able to see the ratios for each salesperson.
Prospect (Pipeline) Management
Prospect Management is a proven, systematic approach to new business development and – for the manager – to managing the sales process. The system is easy to use and serves as a guide to the individual sales person and a sales process management tool for sales management. The workshop teaches people to understand the fundamental elements of the selling process and then applies a visual system that reveals their “real” level of activity and their selling effectiveness.
Sales Pipeline System
Most sales training programs focus mainly on teaching the salespeople “how to sell”. While this is obviously important, it’s also critical for salespeople to be operating at an activity level that is high enough to overcome their win/loss ratios. Furthermore, sales management needs to have a method for reviewing the company’s overall new business development process in order to make accurate forecasts and achieve revenue goals.
Most sales forecasts are fiction, resulting from guesswork using odds that are worse than one in a million. Most companies need to forecast and do forecast; it’s just that they don’t make accurate forecast. Most sales pipelines are filled with “hope” and hope doesn’t pay the bills. The Prospect Management System separates hope from reality AND LEADS TO ACCURATE FORECASTS AS OPPOSED TO A FORECAST. It focuses salespeople’s time and knowledge on the right opportunities. It establishes a level of accountability for results. The “system” drives the behaviors necessary to achieve results.
As a result of this workshop, your managers will be able to strategize prospect advancement with their sales team; run a more effective sales meeting; diagnose individual representative strengths and weaknesses; provide accurate projections of prospects and their progression toward closure; and better focus and prioritize the sales team's activities.
Representatives will learn to quickly identify their best prospects, develop, implement and measure their prospects’ next step strategies, properly balance their selling and prospecting activities, understand the need to prospect on a continual basis, objectively determine which prospects are most likely to close, and they will plan and manage their time better.
You may already be familiar with this system: the original founder of DEI, Stephan Schiffman, published the system in his superb 2002 book, Getting to Closed which is now a standard reference work on Sales Process Management (SPM).
TeleSales (Inside Sales)
Many companies are turning to inside sales teams in order to reduce selling costs and reach more potential customers. There are very specific skills necessary to be an effective inside sales person. Telephone Sales Skills is a highly interactive workshop which presents the sales process as a series of steps which will lead to a logical -makes sense- close. The premise is, that we, as sellers, need to understand what our prospects do, in order to help them better accomplish what they are trying to do.
For Outbound Tele-Sales, the workshop focuses heavily on the anticipation and proper handling of the prospect's responses.
Inbound Tele-Sales Workshop concentrates on the development of a proactive, rather than responsive style, to fully maximize inbound call opportunities.
The Workshop enables managers to analyze their sales team's current telephone sales activity, and works with them in developing a series of effective approaches to improve closing ratios.
It enables representatives to apply proven sales concepts to their telephone sales process via the development of a step-by-step approach. Their newly taught skills will enable them to handle responses in a timely and appropriate manner, turn issues around and move successfully through the sales process toward closure.
High Efficiency Selling
The High Efficiency Selling Skills workshop provides sales representatives with the skills and knowledge to sell more effectively. We teach that selling is a communication process based upon a mutual partnership and trust. Sales representatives learn the process of developing an effective sales relationship, and how to guide prospects through the sales process to closure.
1. STEP ONE: OPEN/QUALIFY – Establishing commonality and building trust
2. Step TWO: INTERVIEW
a. LEARNING - about the prospect’s status quo, beliefs and thinking.
b. UNDERSTANDING – Turning information into knowledge
c. VERIFICATION – Having your recommendation “righted”.
3. STEP THREE: PRESENTATION – Positioning and shaping the product/service to meet the prospect’s objectives
4. STEP FOUR: CLOSE – Securing commitment, the result of handling the prior steps properly – a natural outgrowth of the four step process
Participants learn that the objective of each step of the sales conversation is to get to the next step in order to advance the sale; each step is dependent on the completion of the prior step successfully. For example, if rapport is not established with a prospect, they will not answer questions. In addition, a presentation will not close if the right information is not obtained.
Sales representatives learn the techniques and methodologies they can use throughout the entire sales conversation and cycle to win new business and penetrate existing accounts. We place a strong emphasis on the following areas:
- Interviewing – determining past experiences, present requirements, and future objectives.
- Sales Strategies – developing an effective plan to get to the ‘next step’.
- Sales Coach/Practice – ensuring that the High Efficiency Selling Skills are transferred to the actual sales environment.