Sales people who are required to sell their products or services through the Consultative Selling approach must be competent in the following areas:
- Cold Calling
- Researching the Client
- Fixing Appointments
- Conducting Effective Meetings
- Analyzing Needs (Asking Questions, Paraphrasing, Probing, etc.)
- Getting the client to voice the Problem, and then the Solution
- Presenting the Solution (or Product Demonstration)
- Following Up
- Negotiating and Closing
Now, if you ask most beginner sales people to list their strengths from the above, most will write ‘Cold Calling’ at the bottom. The interesting question here is ‘Why do most sales people not like Cold Calling’? And yet, ‘how come there are those few who seem to enjoy doing it?’
In our experience we find that one of the key reasons here is Self-imposed, Self-limiting, ‘Fears’. Some examples of fears in the minds of sales people I have met and conversed with are:
- I personally don’t like the idea of cold calling
- I don’t want to push the client
- I don’t want to be rejected
- I don’t want to be a bother
- I don’t want to say the wrong thing
- I don’t want to mess up
- The client seems to know it all
- I don’t think I’m capable of this, etc.
Many times in my career, while operating as the Business Development Head, I would feel the need to consult, coach, train and develop the younger members of my sales team to overcome these personal blocks. Interestingly, offering a lucrative ‘incentive’ or adopting a ‘hire and fire’ policy or sending them to an expensive ‘training program’ never completely solved the problem (as many of us would have realized over the years). What was really required was a deeper ‘inner’ work. It would all begin with trying to find out what exactly is the fear/s that holds the sales person back from reaching his/her full potential. And, then systematically dissolving those blocks through a series of ‘thought-through’ actions!
For example, breaking the Sales Cycle into many smaller achievable Milestones! By doing so, you allow the sales person to experience many more, and more frequent ‘Wins’. Experiencing Wins, works like magic. Ask any sales person and s/he will vouch on its magic.
Similarly in Cold Calling! If you are able to limit the expected outcome from a Cold call, to manageable levels, you may actually start enjoying the process. Eg. Asking the gatekeeper, ‘Hi, I’m here to find out who is in charge of the xyz department. I would like to take an appointment’. ‘Which number should I dial?’
A sales person I knew would make cold calls hoping to get to the decision makers right away. Of course, he had a huge failure rate. Common sense tells us that from amongst many reasons, some of the ‘frustrations’ that the sales guy was bound to face were:
- Mr xyz is busy at the moment
- Mr xyz is not in town
- Leave a message/ write an email
- Call up the board line and seek appointment
Obvious as this may be; I’m amazed to find that some sales people actually do not realize the futility of their actions until the time they are ‘Coached’ about it. And, then it becomes a big ‘aha’ for them. Suddenly, we have a more ‘aware’ sales person.
A word of caution:
Some may continue to make futile cold calls as they have to fill in a ‘Daily Sales Report’ at the end of the day and justify to their Sales Managers how ‘hard’ they have been working. Let me assure you - no amount of ‘Skills’ based training will help or change the individual here. If you find your company to be in this unfortunate situation, its time to visit the doctor! I of course, am referring to a Sales Consultant. A huge amount of ‘inner’ work is required in this situation and a re-look at the existing Sales Processes (including the Recruitment Processes).
(For those who want to learn more about overcoming Fear, you may want to also read about scientific techniques such as ‘Affirmations’, ‘Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)’, etc. Assigning a Sales Coach is another very good option)
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