The Winner's Sales Strategy Blog

Social Dynamics in Selling - How to Display Higher Value Than Your Prospects

Social Dynamics in Selling - How to Display Higher Value Than Your Prospects - Podcast

Cold Calling Scripts Don't Work

I came across a great article today explaining why the use of a cold calling script is such a bad idea:

Cold Calling Scripts Don't Work

My favorite part of the article: "Don’t even think that you can pull it off. You are not a Hollywood actor. If you were you would be reading scripts in front of a camera."

The Power of Permission

Someone suggested to me that direct mail is better than e-mail marketing, because you don't need someone's permission to send them mail. You can just send it.

I argued that the lack of permission is the biggest downfall of direct mail. If you don't have their permission, they probably don't want it, and you're wasting money by sending it.

Cold calling is no different than direct mail. You don't need permission to pick up the phone and call someone at random, but on the other hand, they're probably not interested and will consider your phone call to be equally as valuable as all the junk mail that goes into the garbage. If you use self-marketing to attract prospects, on the other hand, the prospects you attract are not only giving you permission to meet with them, they're actually requesting your permission to buy from you!

Can it get any easier?

Do you believe everything you read?

I just saw that Money magazine rated Scottsdale, Arizona the #7 best place to live in America. They point out all the great reasons to live there such as fantastic restaurants and golf courses. Phoenix magazine, on the other hand, did a "Pros & Cons" on all Arizona cities and pointed out that Scottsdale residents have a reputation for being rude, and for being the worst drivers in the state.

Two magazines. Two very different conclusions, and yet both are correct. They just took different factors into consideration.

(Personally, I chose to move out of Scottsdale. I guess you can see which of the two opinions I agree with!)

When someone tells you that cold calling works, and backs it up with numbers, do you take their conclusion as fact? Or do you ask which factors went into that conclusion? Sure, cold calling works, but at the very lowest percentage of success of any sales activity.

Remember, everything is relative.

Cold calling - the dark side

Ever wonder why companies continue to insist that everyone cold call, when it's fairly common knowledge now that cold calling is dead?

Here's what I can gather: They do it in order to cut corners and try to save a few bucks. It's cheaper to have you spend YOUR time and money cold calling than it is for them to pay for a marketing budget. The insane part, of course, is that their short term cost-cutting will eventually cost them a fortune and possibly even put them out of business.

If you're running a company and have made the decision to have your sales reps out cold calling, remember that it will cost you a lot less and make you a WHOLE lot more money in the long run to drop cold calling and replace it with marketing. Then your salespeople can simply go out and close the qualified leads you provide them. Makes sense, doesn't it?

NY Times Bestseller - Thank You!

My latest book, Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling, has made it onto the coveted New York Times Bestseller List, thanks to you!!!

The book made it's debut on the list this past week, at #8 on the NY Times business paperback bestseller list.

Thank you again for your support!!!!

Endless hot sales leads ... from CPAs?

I always viewed CPAs and accountants as the bane of my existence. Selling to them was always difficult because they're always hung up on price, and, even worse, I hated having a prospect ready to sign the deal and then decide to run it by his CPA. Again, the CPA would object to the price and make my life difficult.

Here's the thing: In all my dread for CPAs, I never realized that they are the top, best, #1 source of referrals. Think about it. There are two, and only two, kinds of people that CPAs work with: business owners and affluent consumers. I mean, could you possibly think of a better referral source?

With that in mind, I have some really great news for you. My friend Daryl Logullo is the KING of referral selling. He is a genius at it, and he has now created a detailed step-by-step system for getting endless referrals from CPAs. You can learn all about it at:

CPAReferralSystem.com

I did a teleseminar with Daryl just the other day and was blown away at his knowledge in referral selling. He even revealed a simple yet amazing technique to get at least 25 qualified referrals from any CPA. You don't want to miss out on this one ... please see:

CPAReferralSystem.com