If you’re like most people who make sales calls, you’re hoping to make a sale – or at least an appointment – before you even pick up the phone. The problem is that this mindset short-circuits the whole process of relaxed conversation. Whenever there’s a goal, there’s also an underlying “win or lose” tension that your prospects experience as sales pressure.

But when you’re focused on building a conversation, there’s no tension. You’re simply exploring whether you can provide a solution to someone’s problem. This provides a stress-free environment for a productive, mutual exploration.

So when your focus shifts from “making the sale” into “building a conversation,” you’re not introducing sales pressure. Tension evaporates. And now you’re free to enjoy the interaction. And as long as you’re sincere, others are more likely to enjoy it too.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

Most selling programs are designed to coax the client into buying before you have trust and connection with them. But strategies and “forward moving” techniques are based on your world, not the potential client’s.

This usually causes an immediate negative reaction during your sales calls. People don’t like being pushed by someone else’s agenda, especially someone they don’t know. So let go of “driving” a conversation forward. Instead, open your sales call with a statement focused on a problem they probably have, and one that will invite a question from them.

And also allow your ending comment to be more inviting than directing. For example, end with the phrase, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?” This lets the conversation move on its own without your herding things into pre-planned box.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

In sales the language you use plays a big part in the response you get. Start thinking about language that will engage people rather than language that will trigger rejection. If you can start a conversation that triggers a “What do you mean?” from the other person, you’ll find you can explain yourself in a natural way. And it also creates a two-way dialogue, which lets you flow with the conversation without feeling you’re getting off-track.

Developing a problem statement makes this whole process much easier. Find out what issue or problem your potential client is likely to be experiencing, and build an open-ended conversation around that.

Here are three basic steps to opening up a dialogue and having a real conversation with your sales calls:

1. Begin with the question, “Maybe you can help me out for a moment?” The reply is almost always something like, “Sure, how can I help you?” 

2. Continue with something like, “I’m just calling to see if your company is still having issues with unpaid invoices.” And the response probably will be, “Well, yeah, we are. Who’s this?”

3. You can then respond in a very relaxed tone, “This is John. I’m with XYZ Collection Agency. I’m just calling to see if you’d be open to some new ideas on how to better solve that problem.” This makes it easy for the other person to reply, “What do you mean?” or “Tell me more.” And after that, the possibilities of your conversation are endless.

Try these new sales calling ideas, you’ll be amazed at how much value you receive, both personally and professionally.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

Most of us enjoy meeting new people. So when we’re sales calling, why not be ourselves in this place? It’s perfectly appropriate to be interested, cordial, warm, and respectful of potential clients when calling them.

When we’re being ourselves in this way, the other person usually can sense our sincerity. How tiresome it must be to receive canned and robot-like presentations day after day. And how refreshing for them to talk with a real person who’s relating to them in a natural, cordial fashion.

In sales calling, we’re wanting to discover the needs of the other person, and if we might help them. We aren’t focused on the outcome, but are enjoying the process of conversation and discovery.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

With the new approach to sales calling, voicemail is an opportunity for discovery. It leads us beyond voicemail. Voice mail becomes a starting point for you begin the process of locating the person you’re trying to contact. Our objective is not to pursue people to make a sale in this new way of cold calling. It is to uncover the truth of their situation and to be okay with the outcome, whether it’s a “yes” or a “no.”

So we can begin to feel more comfortable hitting “0” when we get someone’s voicemail. Because we then have an opportunity to go back to the receptionist and begin a dialogue based on asking for help. Once you master the new sales calling perspective, you’ll feel comfortable calling anyone, any time, using any mode.

As long as you’re 100 percent focused on your potential client’s world, you’ll find that people will be receptive to you. You can easily navigate throughout an organization with the type of dialogue described above, because you’re asking for help in a relaxed manner and you never put anyone on the spot.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

Most of us design our sales calling around scripts and strategies. Isn’t that how we’ve been taught by the sales gurus? Scripts are linear and step-by-step so you can move calls in the direction you want them to go. And sales strategies do the same thing.

But that’s why as soon as we make a sales call, the other person knows right away that our agenda is not to have a conversation, but to make a sale. There’s something about scripts and sales strategies — it always shows. We’re not being natural, and other people can sense within the first few seconds that we’re out to make a sale.

Once that happens, potential clients are immediately put on the defensive. They don’t want to be maneuvered into a sale. As soon as they recognize that you’re a salesperson with a sales agenda, most of the time they just want you to go away.

On top of that, we’ve all been trained to try to push prospects into a “yes” response somewhere within the first call. This creates sales pressure. And pressure from a stranger is never welcome. It feels intrusive to the other person.

So the first step is to let go of your script or sales strategy as a crutch. This idea may sound scary at first because you’ve been programmed to think you have to have a script or strategy to make a successful sales call. I assure you that quite the opposite is true.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

View the person you’re sales calling as another person, not as a “prospect.” Recognize their issues and their goals. Fit yourself into their world. And help them out.

If the service or product you’re offering doesn’t provide some kind of help to people, you’d soon be out of business. So determine exactly what kind of problems you have a solution for, and share from that place. And if no sale results, it feels okay because you’re focusing on being helpful rather than on securing a sale.

What I’m suggesting is a mind-shift away from all the old ideas of manipulating, turning, guiding, playing, and closing. Move your sales calling into one simple human act –building a relationship. When you’re making friends and doing business with people you like and whom also like you, then cold calling can become a truly enjoyable part of your day.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

 Open your sales calls with a problem statement that generates a response like “What do you mean?” or “Tell me more.” And end the conversation with the phrase such as, “Well, where do you think we should go from here?”

This shifts you away from having “tunnel vision” about making a sale. And it opens up a whole world of human-to-human connection. This is not only fun, it has a positive effect on your bottom line. You’ll hear great responses like, “I enjoyed talking with you, thank you for your help.”

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

 Regain yourself without hiding behind the “salesperson” persona. There’s no need to be on “stage” or to sound enthusiastic. Just be your everyday relaxed self, as if you’re calling a friend. People know when you’re being genuine, and when you’re not.

When you’re simply being a real person in your sales calling rather than adopting a salesperson persona, you’ll find that people respond to you much more warmly. It’s amazing how being “real” generates real interest from others.

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au

 Before you make a sales call, think to yourself, “My goal is not to make the sale, but to create a conversation based on how I can help the other person.”

With this in mind, then, you begin sales calling by stepping into the other person’s world. Rather than starting out with a mini-sales pitch, you ask a question based on what problem your product or service can solve for them. For example, if you’re offering computer programming, you might say, “I’m just calling to see if your company is having issues with lost data because of paper-based filing systems.”

Until next time,

Keep Selling and Using Sales Training to Create Trust…

Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game, makes sales training painless and simple. Learn his sales training secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit www.UnlockTheGame.com.au