Telephone Sales For Dummies®
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007940114
ISBN: 978-0-470-16836-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Dirk Zeller started his sales career almost 40 years ago through lemonade stands and selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door. Dirk has been recognized as a top sales performer in every sales field he’s entered from business-to-business sales of advertising, marketing, and event sponsorship to consumer-direct sales fields like real estate.
Dirk proceeded to turn his sales success into creating significant business income and life-change when he founded Sales Champions in 1998. Sales Champions provides premier coaching and training to the sales industry with clients worldwide. Dirk has created revolutionary programs like Stewardship Selling™, Selling the Way the Prospect Wants to Buy™, and The Champion Salesperson™. These programs and others like them have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of salespeople worldwide.
Dirk is one of the most published authors of success, life balance, sales training, sales force development, and business development in the sales field. He has over 300 published articles to his credit, and his weekly sales newsletter is read by over 350,000 salespeople and sales managers.
Dirk is one of the most sought after speakers in the sales arena. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands of salespeople and sales managers at the regional, national, and international level. He has also authored five top selling books in the field of sales, and he wrote Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies, also published by Wiley.
With all of the blessings and success Dirk has attained, his faith and his family are still the primary focus of his life. He and his wife of 18 years, Joan, are active with their children, five-year-old son, Wesley, and two-year-old daughter, Annabelle. He and his family reside in Bend, Oregon. You can reach Dirk at: Sales Champions, 5 NW Hawthorne Ave., Suite 100, Bend, OR 97701; phone 541-383-0505; e-mail Info@SalesChampions.com.
To salespeople — the backbone of any successful company. You possess the power to make your companies grow and prosper. Nothing is accomplished without someone making a sale somewhere at sometime. Be proud you are a salesperson. Your profession is noble and essential to the world.
I thank the team at Sales Champions and Real Estate Champions, my two sales training companies. Without your dedication to helping salespeople reach their full potential in selling, this book wouldn’t be possible.
Special thanks must be expressed to my senior management team Don Cunningham, Director of Coaching; Dan Matejsek, VP of Marketing; Roger Marti, Sales Manager; and Julie Porfirio, VP of Operations. You all take on extra duties while I am focused on writing. Also, to Rachelle Cotton who typed and proofed the manuscript . . . thanks.
Thanks to Tracy Boggier, Acquisitions Editor, Chad Sievers and Georgette Beatty, Project Editors, and Sarah Westfall and Carrie Burchfield, Copy Editors, for taking on this project and keeping us all on schedule. Thank you to Betsy Sheldon who did a masterful job of taking my writing, thoughts, and ideas and converting them into the For Dummies format that you can learn from and enjoy.
To the home team — my wife, Joan, my son, Wesley, and my daughter, Annabelle, you make the challenges of a sales career all worth the effort. Without you all, the rewards of sales and success would have diminished value.
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editors: Chad R. Sievers, Georgette Beatty
Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier
Copy Editors: Sarah Westfall, Carrie A. Burchfield
Editorial Program Coordinator: Erin Calligan Mooney
Technical Editor: Mark Swanson
Contributor: Betsy Sheldon
Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker
Editorial Assistants: Joe Niesen, Leeann Harney
Cover Photos: © George Dryle/Getty Images
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
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Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Melissa K. Jester, Barbara Moore, Christine Williams, Erin Zeltner
Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico
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Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
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Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : Picking Up on Telephone Sales
Chapter 1: Calling All Sales Professionals!
Plugging In to Telephone Sales
Gearing Up for Winning Calls
Making the Call
Closing the Deal
Keeping Motivated
Chapter 2: Thriving as a Telephone-Sales Pro
Understanding What You Need to Succeed in Phone Sales
Achieving Your Goals with the Four Probabilities of Success
Charting the Four Pathways to Increased Sales
Chapter 3: Brave New World: The Laws of Telesales Land
Coming to Grips with the Rules
Adhering to the Registry’s Rules
Facing the Future of Telephone Sales in Three Easy Steps
Part II : Laying the Groundwork for Telephone-Sales Success
Chapter 4: Doing Your Homework for A-Plus Calls
Focusing on Your Objectives: What Do You Want to Achieve?
Studying Your Prospects
Posing as a Customer
Delivering a Straight-A Script
Chapter 5: Prospecting Your Way to Success
Understanding What Prospecting Is — and Isn’t
Prospecting: The Cornerstone of Your Business
Connecting the Dots between Numbers and Income
Success without Prospecting? Shattering the Myth
Chapter 6: Conquering Sales Call Aversion
Recognizing Sales Call Aversion
Good Medicine: Treating Call Aversion
Chapter 7: Investing Your Time Wisely
Acquainting Yourself with the 80/20 Rule
Separating High-Return Activities from Other Tasks
Time Blocking: A Way of Life for Winning Salespeople
Putting the “Now” before the “Later” with Daily To-Do Lists
Making Each Day a Time-Management “10”
Part III : You Make the Call!
Chapter 8: Getting Past the Gatekeeper
Meeting the Three Gatekeepers
Enlisting the Gatekeeper as Your Ally
Avoiding Sidetrack Sabotage
Another Gatekeeper: Using Voice Mail to Your Advantage
Chapter 9: Opening Your Sales Call with Ease
Living with the Seven-Second Rule
Scripting an Opening Statement
Delivering a Knock-Down- the-Door Opener
Dodging Kiss-of-Death Openings
Building Your Elevator Speech
Chapter 10: Getting Out of the Answers and Into the Questions
Understanding the Importance of Asking Questions
Qualifying through Questions
Checking Your Prospect’s DNA 2
Past the Qualifying Round: Asking More Questions
How to Get Better Results: Five Strategies
Avoiding Question Quicksand
Chapter 11: Mastering the Art of Listening and Silence
Honing Your Listening Skills
Prompting More Dialogue through Silence
Chapter 12: Executing Powerful Presentations
The Fundamentals of a Dynamite Presentation
Making Your Presentation
Locking in a Successful Delivery
Part IV : Going for the Close
Chapter 13: Overcoming Objections
Recognizing a Sales Objection for What It Really Is
Eyeing Common Objections
Preparing for Objections
Handling Objections in Six Easy Steps
Chapter 14: Orchestrating a Successful Close
Grasping What Closing Entails
Discovering How to Close: The Four Best Closing Strategies
Strengthening the Sale: The Follow-up after the Close
Chapter 15: Moving Forward When You Don’t Land the Sale
Sticking to the Seven-Step Recovery Program
Finding Follow-Up Openings
Avoiding the Three No-Sale Sins
Part V : Increasing Your Sales
Chapter 16: Exploding Your Earnings through Behavioral Selling
Getting the Lowdown on DISC
D Is for Dominant
I Is for Influencer
S Is for Steady
C Is for Compliant
Figuring Out Your DISC Style
Chapter 17: Selling the Way Your Customer Wants to Buy
Understanding the Power of Behavioral Selling
Recognizing Behavioral Styles Over the Phone
Preparing for Questions
Steering the Sale with Driving Forces
Chapter 18: Staying Motivated to Succeed
Getting a Grip on Motivation
Living at a High Attitude
Getting in the Zone: Taking Your Game to the Next Level
Hitting the Curveballs: Staying Up during the Uncertainties
Staying In the Game through Lifelong Learning
Part VI : The Part of Tens
Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Ways to Sound Like a Pro on the Phone
Always Use a Headset
Stand Up and Be Heard
Spice Up Your Delivery
Talk Less . . . Listen More
Limber Up Your Body
Warm Up Your Voice
Put In Pre-Call Practice Time
Bundle Your Calls
Tape and Replay Your Calls
Chapter 20: Ten Phrases to Banish from Your Vocabulary
“Do You Have Time to Talk?”
“I Sent You Some Material, and I Was Wondering if You Got It.”
“I’ll Send You Another.”
“You Wouldn’t Want a _____, Would You?”
“But . . . ”
“You’re Wrong.”
“We’ve Always Had a Challenge with that Department.”
“I’m Calling Because We Have a New _____.”
“I’ll Let You Get Back to Work”
“You Maintain . . .”, “You Think . . .”, and So On
Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Actions That Promote Phone-Sales Success
Create a Positive Workspace
Time Block Your Day
Play Early Bird and Night Owl
Become a Lifelong Learner
Prepare for Each Call
Always Ask for Commitment
Respect the Threshold Moment
Review Each Call
Persistence Pays Off
“A born salesman.” You know the expression. People love to slap that label on those who seem to come naturally to selling. Maybe you’ve been told you were born to sell at some point in your life:
When you were 6 years old and persuaded the guy in the ice-cream truck to buy your lemonade, your Mom said it.
When you got the prize for selling the most candy for the school fundraiser, the other kids said it.
When you talked your way from a C to a B, your English lit teacher said it.
When you turn your trash into treasure by selling it on eBay, your spouse says it.
But whether you call it the power of persuasion, the capacity to convince, or the wit to win over — I’m here to tell you this: Dynamite salespeople aren’t born. They’re the result of commitment, discipline, and the drive to learn the best and smartest ways to earn the business of their prospects.
Take it from me: I’m the penultimate salesperson. Sure, sales is my passion, my path to career success. Sales has helped me attain and even exceed my financial goals and has allowed me to realize my most-valued life dreams. But I didn’t start out that way.
When I started out in the field, I was the youngest, greenest sales agent in my office. Some tried to convince me I’d fail, that I didn’t have what it took. However, I put forth a lot of effort in those first few months. During the day, I’d work through breakfast, lunch, and dinner to make as many calls as possible. And after hours, I’d review my performance and numbers and devise the most effective methods for selling over the phone.
Within months, I earned the title of top salesman for the entire division. My progress continued, and I earned my first million at the ripe old age of 32. In 1998, I launched my coaching company, Sales Champions, to help others become top-notch salespeople and reach their career goals and life dreams.
I wrote Telephone Sales For Dummies for the same reasons I started my company — to guide others to develop their full potential as a sales professional and achieve their highest aspirations.
This book is a how-to guide for gaining the skills and knowledge you need to become a champion telephone salesperson. You can also use it to acquire the organizational habits, time-management techniques, personal motivational strategies, and positive attitudes you need to rise to the top.
Telephone Sales For Dummies isn’t a book of theory but of “real stuff” that works. I’ve packed it with proven programs and processes, tested techniques, and tried-and-true skills, strategies, and scripts.
In classic For Dummies fashion, the book is designed to give you easy access to the precise information you’re looking for. You can read the book from cover to cover or zigzag your way through, flipping to the content you need when you need it. You can keep the book close at hand and turn to it for a fast reference — whether by combing the Table of Contents or Index or zeroing in on a particular chapter section, sidebar (those gray shaded boxes), or list.
To make this book as easy to use as possible, the following conventions are followed throughout:
All Web addresses appear in monofont.
Note: Some Web addresses break across two lines of text. In such cases, no hyphens were inserted to indicate a break. So if you type exactly what you see — pretending the line break doesn’t exist — you can get to your Web destination.
New terms appear in italics and are closely followed by an easy-to-understand definition. I also use italics for emphasis once in a while.
Bold font highlights keywords in bulleted lists or identifies the action parts of numbered lists.
I indent and italicize all scripts used throughout the book. You can use them verbatim or with minor tweaks to increase your sales success.
I understand your life is busy, and you want to read only the need-to-know information. If you’re on a fast-track learning mission, you can safely skip the sidebars. Shaded gray boxes, sidebars serve as examples or support material. They’re meant to reinforce and illustrate a concept (giving you a little extra oomph), but aren’t critical to your understanding of the concept.
When I wrote this book, I assumed a few things about you, my dear reader. I assumed that you picked up this book because you want to improve your phone-sales skills. I didn’t assume, however, that you’re a working person with the title of telephone salesperson. You may be
A real estate agent
A financial consultant
An insurance agent
An account executive for a business-to-business product
A volunteer for a phone fundraising campaign
A telemarketer
A customer service professional
A savvy businessperson who understands that telephone-sales skills are valuable to success in any job
No matter your title or your job, you want to elevate your game and improve your sales numbers.
I divide Telephone Sales For Dummies into six major parts to help you find just what you need as quick as possible. The content is organized so that you can choose to read only the topics that interest you — or the entire part. Check out the Table of Contents or the Index to find your area of interest, and then go to the chapter that addresses the topic. At a glance, here’s what you can find:
Part I presents an overview of the most important matters to master in order to achieve telephone-sales success. I begin with a walk-through of the phone-sales process in Chapter 1, and then follow with ways to increase your sales and income in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, I untangle Do-Not-Call regulations for easy understanding.
Phone-sales success requires plenty of groundwork before you place a finger on the first touchtone. And a game plan is the best foundation for a champion sales effort. Chapter 4 takes you step by step through the process.
Ready to get in touch with future clients? Chapter 5 covers the what, who, when, why, and how of prospecting for business. And in Chapter 6, I show you how to overcome that common malaise: call hesitance. I identify this malady and reveal my sure cure. And because time is your most valuable asset, Chapter 7 addresses another challenge to your sales endeavors: time management.
The call is the core of telephone sales. And (no surprise) making a call that closes is a complex process — complex but easily mastered if you have a handle on the process and the players. Part III contains the how-to instructions for executing a winning call, starting in Chapter 8 with tips to get past the gatekeepers that guard your prospect’s phone access. In Chapters 9, 10, and 11, you discover how to craft an attention-getting opening, how to ask and listen before you tell and sell, and how to ask the questions that garner the best answers. Finally, Chapter 12 shows you how to smoothly shift into the delivery of your sales presentation.
So close to the close! This stage is one of the most critical parts of the sales process — the spot that can make or break the sale. This part contains the secrets to overcoming close barriers: Chapter 13 covers the most frequently cited objections and presents my six-step process for defusing them. In Chapter 14, I show you how to lock in your prospect’s commitment and close the order now. And Chapter 15 shows how you can turn a failed close into a future sale.
This part contains tips to help you read your clients and adapt your behavior to increase your odds of closing, no matter the prospect’s behavioral style. In Chapter 16, I cover different selling styles and show you how to make the most of yours. Recognizing your prospect’s communication style over the phone can be a challenge, but Chapter 17 gives you the tools to meet that challenge head on. And finally, I give you some tricks of the trade for staying motivated through discipline, attitude, and ongoing training and professional development in Chapter 18.
Every For Dummies book ends with the famous Part of Tens (drum roll, please). In mine, you get three tip-packed chapters to help you polish your delivery when talking on the phone, steer clear of do-not-use phrases, and abide by the ten commandments for phone-sales success.
To help you navigate this book a bit better, you can rely on icons in the book’s margins. The icons are similar to little signposts pointing out the important info.
To get the lay of the land of telephone sales, Part I is a good place to start. This part introduces you to the big picture and the big benefits of acquiring and honing your telephone-sales skills.
From there, you can use the Table of Contents or the Index to pick out the topics that most interest you. If you’re new to sales, you can feel comfortable jumping to and fro in any order that suits you — without feeling that you’ve missed something.
If you’ve got some years of professional experience under your belt, you may want to jump to Part V. Here, I address how to get yourself to the next level through an understanding of sales psychology and continuing development through ongoing education. No matter where you start, you can find tons of valuable info that you can use to elevate your sales performance.
In this part . . .
Telephone sales may focus on the sense of hearing, but you have to be able to see the big picture. The chapters in this first part offer a wide-angle view of what it takes to make it to the top — valuable information whether you’re brand-new to the business or a veteran who’s won your share of sales awards.
From the best ways to set up for sales calls to surefire strategies to “work” those calls to following up to secure the sale, I outline the crucial steps to making sales calls in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 reveals the four ways guaranteed to increase sales and income and other tried-and-true tactics for achieving the success you desire. Lest I leave you with the idea that the route to phone sales success is a walk in the park, I lead you into the land of “Do Not Call” in Chapter 3. The regulations that affect telemarketing are full of twists and turns, but trust me, they’re not as impenetrable as you may think. Be sure to read Chapter 3 if you have any questions about these latest regulations. (And who doesn’t?)