Barfi Resurrected!

by **-DG-** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:34 pm

let's share best practice... prospecting, marketing, cold calling, effective questioning, appointment managing, meetings, demos, follow-ups, the close, complimentary sales, drip-feed selling, relationship-managing... etc etc etc.

i'll move this to biz/tech in due course.

pick one area you think you're good at and talk about it. how do you get results?

by **Speed_Demon** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:00 am

i'm tired right now, will come back to you on this one tommorow.

sales is great fun

by **Speed_Demon** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:02 pm

cold calling - do a lot of it and enjoy it as my jobs not just about selling its about offering advice and acting as a consultant to ensure they spend their money on the right product

Effective questioning - ask open questions when? why? who? helps you get more out of the customer. take notes and do more listening than talking

Appointment managing - make a 13 week call plan in advance and plan which post codes you will target in which week and stick to them. you will soon find your weeks ahead start filling up as you'll know where your going to be at in eg week 3 or week 9 etc etc

Meetings - be confident , hand shake, give buisiness card , have an objective

Demos - identify if they have a need and then set one up

Follow-ups - if need is identifyed and they have a budget in place try and close asap or do a follow up cycle once every 2-3 months

Relationship-managing - take them out for lunch

by **kemcho** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:06 pm

In conclusion, learn how to suck up effectively?

:salut

by **OptimusPrime** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:18 pm

any job where you are for a company that makes money is about sales I'd say
We are all glorified salesmen or birds
salesbird, does that sound right

by **cute_thing** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:22 pm

no OP it does not,it sounds sexist

by **Speed_Demon** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:48 pm

well, i'd say wemen do a better job in sales

..joke

it's all about questioning and closing it properly ...

by **de51_jut** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:00 pm

Never sleep with your clients!

Cold calling is great but closing face 2 face is more fun

by **Saps** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:10 pm

turn up

hand over business card

say "yes, the very same"

deal done

by **kemcho** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:19 pm

Speed_Demon wrote:well, i'd say we-men do a better job in sales ..joke

it's all about questioning and closing it properly ...

What? Is that a declaration of sorts SD?

I KNEW IT!!!

by **Speed_Demon** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:29 pm

THAT'S WEMEN ... AS IS US WOMAN .... AS IN US FEMALES :p

by **Saps** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:21 pm

united states females?!

by **Speed_Demon** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:57 pm

femals are females ... whats the difference between UK females and US females?

by **Saps** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:45 am

i dunno - u brought them up! but one thing is for sure - i don't know what a femal is

by **cute_thing** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:49 am

oh dear,is there a new barfi blonde?

by **kemcho** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:02 am

Also, while we're on the subject... I like the way you danced around the cockup with the mispelt wemen.

:lol:

by **Saps** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:09 am

cute_thing wrote:oh dear,is there a new barfi blonde?

no - nobody will be as blonde as you!

by **cute_thing** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:11 am

I like to think i've mellowed down saps

by **Saps** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:32 am

thanks for proving my point :lol:

by **cute_thing** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:49 am

maybe not

by **-DG-** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:24 am

i fucking love sales! i love international sales more! and being in the GMT has us positioned so well... can hit up the far east in the morning, middle east mid-morning through to lunch, UK and europe in the afternoon and the US late afternoon/evening before i call it a day.

by **-DG-** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:35 am

i've mastered getting around gatekeepers on a cold call... i've used everything from "a colleague met him at a conference" to "is george there?" as if he's an old friend... but it's all in the tone of voice. they'll offer an e-mail address.. "oh i've got that but i really need to speak to him." amazing how many times these blondes give me their boss's mobile number

not that i ever call them on their mobile - that's just annoying and you ain't gonna be liked. and if he don't like you, you could be selling saudi oil for 20p a barrel... he won't wanna know.

leaving a voicemail on the ceo's machine.. "hi george, it's... from... (never say the full company name - so they can't google it) i've got a couple of question for you. can you give me a call back on..."

guaranteed response!

by **-DG-** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:47 am

linked in... i f*cking love it. prospecting dream. the ch-ching money titles... it's like i've struck gold! :king

by **Speed_Demon** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:32 am

i use it ... but havn't really made much use out of it tbh ... it is a good tool for buisiness though!

by **-DG-** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:35 am

i snatched a demo from the jaws of defeat today. the CEO was ready to hang up saying he'd "call me" if he had any "future needs" in my specific area. i asked who he was going with cos i knew he was shopping around (i had nothing to lose at that point) and to my surprise, he told me. more than 1 company (so he was STILL shopping - no firm decision).

i then asked his requirements again... i matched up how our solution fit in with his needs, more so than the competition (without slating them... that's a cheap trick) and asked what one thing he wanted the solution to do, aside from the basics. i confirmed we could do it.

then the sensitive matter of price came up. he didn't wanna tell me at first but with a little pressing, he told me exactly what each company was gonna charge. i let him hang a little, said i'd work something out internally and get back to him later. even shot him a progress e-mail as i continued with cold calls. then got back to him... "that could work for us" (music to my ears). most significantly, i found out EXACTLY when he and the rest of the board are going to make a decision on this, to the day but at this point our solution was still a concept to him and i wanna get him onside: "why don't i show you?" and the rest is history.

by **Jas** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:52 am

Do you work for a software house DG?

by **-DG-** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:58 am

nope... but it is an internet solution. this is just one part of sales. it's so varied. can't really go into it here.

by **de51_jut** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:16 am

What type of sales is the most lucrative at the moment?

by **-DG-** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:10 am

an undertakers. death is inevitable and it affects everyone, recession or not.

seriously though i wouldn't know.

but if it helps tourism's the biggest, most lucrative industry in the world.

by **Saps** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:33 am

de51_jut wrote:What type of sales is the most lucrative at the moment?

i'd hazard equity and commodity derivative sales at the moment :lol:

by **-DG-** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:21 am

anyone listen to the sales guy podcasts...

started listening to this on the train this morning. in a normal day, out of about 30 calls, i average 5/6 qualified contacts (impossible to get 30/30 because people aren't always there and you have to try again, etc etc) and out of those 5/6 i expect to get 1 demo which may/may not result in a sale.

i started listening to sales guy and he hit it home... "go back to the basics"

i hit about 12 qualified contacts today and secured a demo through a cold call, which rarely happens in this industry. it's always the 2nd or 3rd call that gets you the demo.

anyways, keep an open mind and listen.

http://sales.quickanddirtytips.com/

no matter how experienced you are in any kind of sales, you will learn something from this guy.

he makes a good point about prospecting. i hate prospecting (finding people to call) - it's so damn time-consuming but to keep my sales funnel full, it has to be done and to use a combination of tactical strategies to get my name out there to build relationships - that was just one podcast... he has about 90 lol...

by **Jas** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:12 am

^ heard couple of them, quite good.

I normally use linkedin for leads. Various permutations & combinations have to be used to get the best - and if you know how to use it, you could generate some effective leads. Jigsaw is another tool, google business as well. Event delegate lists, marketing materials ,etc come in handy.

I map out the account ranging from C-level guys to managers or target a business area - Head of Online, head of Sales, etc...

While sending an email, I mention,'I'm in your area/city/vicinity on so and so date and would like to know how you're scheduled for 3 pm or 11 am?' More often than not, I get a reply stating, 'I'm not free tht day, but we could do this date at so and so time, would this suit you?'

P.s: good thread DG!

by **-DG-** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:34 am

thanks jas! that's a good tip.

i do something similar to your mapping out technique. i'm trialling a 3-pronged strategy now, attacking companies from 3 angles. i speak to the business development executives, the IT department (if they're involved in the decision-making process) and the CFO/CEO who usually signs off on the deal so it's good to have his attention from early on. i speak to them individually, cold-calling and using information i got off the last person i spoke to (so they know i'm not bullshitting lol) and that usually peaks their interest enough to have a conversation with me where they do most of the talking.

give them a week/14 days (unless decisions are gonna be made sooner) and that gives them a chance to discuss the solution before i follow-up with another call. the more people that know me in that company means the likelihood of my name/company name coming up in boardroom discussions is greater, separating me from the competition.

what crm tool do you guys use jas?

by **Jas** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:37 am

Not sure about 3 pronged, but I map out CIO/CTO, Head of IT, IT Director, Business sys mgr, so and so forth.. And whenever I spk to someone I do say one of your colleague did mention about this, so he knows it's a fact and i have done research..

absolutely agree to the second point..

We use sugar crm. how about you?

We have flipped from excel to sugar back to excel, changed excel format thrice within this period and now back to sugar..lot of time was wasted (rather than invested).

Also, the more questions you ask, the more info you get and the person on the other side knows you know the stuff.

How long is your sales cycle? Our ranges anywhere from 3 months to a yr or longer!

by **TheManFromTheAsylum** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:22 pm

i hate sales

even tho, thats what i fundamentally do

: (

by **craze** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:47 pm

We use salesforce but the reps aren't that great at using it.

by **Jas** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:50 pm

TheManFromTheAsylum wrote:i hate sales

even tho, thats what i fundamentally do

: (

Ha! there are days, when I feel the same.

by **TheManFromTheAsylum** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 3:05 pm

i do like my job tho, at times it has its moments and it is about churning the numbers etc

but i get to see all sorts of ppl and property

: )

by **TheManFromTheAsylum** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 3:09 pm

i subscribe to a cpl of cool newsletters sales related

look em up

art sobzcak - cool american sales guy

sean mcpheat (i think thats his name) - about confidence

i think in sales it all boils down to how big you balls are, the more confident you appear the better chance of success, and as always everyone says, PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE they like

i tailor my presentations to the audience, it works most times

n its always about never giving up on a lead, prospect, client etc

chase em till they hear your name in their sleep

: )

by **-DG-** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:58 pm

craze we use salesforce too. i discovered the jigsaw app for salesforce today. haven't used it yet but the idea's awesome... all those key decision makers with their direct numbers right there.

"the people buy people" line got me this job

by **-DG-** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:58 am

craze you use an iphone or bb to access salesforce? my bb won't connect to salesforce even if i revoke my iphone access. i'd prefer it on bb cos the iphone platform has far too many screens for my liking...

by **-DG-** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:00 am

TheManFromTheAsylum wrote:i subscribe to a cpl of cool newsletters sales related

look em up

art sobzcak - cool american sales guy

sean mcpheat (i think thats his name) - about confidence

i think in sales it all boils down to how big you balls are, the more confident you appear the better chance of success, and as always everyone says, PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE they like

i tailor my presentations to the audience, it works most times

n its always about never giving up on a lead, prospect, client etc

chase em till they hear your name in their sleep

: )

cheers dude. i've been recommended this book by my manager as a must read for anyone serious about sales: the sales bible by jeffrey gittomer. i bought it before i started the job but hadn't got around to reading it... some brilliant tips in there!

by **-DG-** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:35 pm

time to secure some deals.

4-day week.. woo!

by **-DG-** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:11 pm

swiss deals been played into the box... just waiting to see if the shot's beaten the keeper and on target.

dutch deal's lined up... demo in the bag.

swedish deal... still all to play for but i've given them a taste and in touch with 3 key decision-makers.

and just for added measure threw a US deal into the mix today. but that's for may.

everyone's more relaxed as the weather warms up

by **Jas** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:29 pm

i have one meeting lined up for Thursday, a presentation next friday and meeting some top guy from US who's coming to oversee the operations in UK. After so much, I still don't feel like working.. I think my resignation is around the corner.

by **-DG-** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:35 pm

aww man... what industry you in?

today a UK deal got thrown into the mix. contact i qualified last month e-mailed me a request for proposal, which i sent. i don't know if he'll go for it but anything to unsettle my competition, whose solution they currently use. that RFP's a pure buying signal - says the solution comes down to price and i know i've quoted competitively. next step will be the demo.

and i've managed a successful 3-pronged attack on another swedish company. might take till summer to do this one. but i WILL do it!

one key thing i learnt from that book i mentioned. have a great friday (line up deals to close) and a great monday (close the deals!) and get the week off to a good start. look forward to 'moneydays' (mondays, copywrite DG haha) and sets the tone for the rest of the week.

it's like golf or pool, not be fazed by a single shit shot or setback but keeping my eyes on the prize. my probation period ends in a month and i'm targeting a promotion for then (rather than 6 months - which is what the progression plan was).

by **-DG-** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:17 pm

5 proposals out in 2 weeks. go me! what a glorious thing it would be if they were all to bite.

7 weeks in and i'm rocking the leaderboard.

new york at some point in the next 2 months... whoo!

by **-DG-** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:28 pm

6th one going out tomorrow... but today i qualified a contact who is gonna give me the biggest fkn deal i have ever done. met him 2 weeks after i started in feb when he came over for a conference. he's in boston so may have to go over to secure it... worth £150,000. and he's heard good things about us. i deal with his european buddies all the time so he's ready to work with us. job's gonna come in next year but rapport building now.

ahhh can't wait!

by **Jas** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:30 pm

good stuff dg! keep it up :thumright

by **-DG-** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:31 pm

by the way any of you use jigsaw.com? amazing. even without buying any credit for leads.. you can get names, titles and a head office contact number pretty easily. then it's just about sweet-talking the gatekeepers

by **-DG-** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:34 pm

thanks jas! :-D

by **Jas** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:40 pm

haha tht jigsaw is the shit!

the quickest and easy kinda deal you'll get from is from the person who has taken over someone else's position - you need to tell them u were in touch with mr xyz few weeks back and were asked to connect today to fix up a meeting/conf call/ presentation to showcase our work.. sure shot meeting

another easy way to pass gatekeepers - you dial the number of some other individual in the company and ask them purposely if they're mr xyz(the person you wnt to connect with) - they'll deny - tell them you were transferred through switch board and if he/she could provide me xyz's number, it'd be helpful.. 8/10 you'll get it :mrgreen:

by **-DG-** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:41 pm

nice!! cheers dude!

by **Jas** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:43 pm

i'm so fkin good, bt at the wrong place - lookin for a new opportunity now :mrgreen:

by **bathing_ape** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:45 am

You're all pimps.

"Hi, my name is Subramaniam Arunachulam and I am phoning to tell you you have qualified for a new 3G mobile phone offer with 3"
Suck my balls......

by **-DG-** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:27 am

say what you want but salespeople make the world go round 8-)

i'm past my B2C days... it taught me a lot but B2B is where it's at cos at the end of the day it's not strictly "their" money they're playing with

by **-DG-** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:42 pm

www.salesgravy.com

companion to the podcasts. awesome free articles. just switch up your style for a call or two and see what results you get.

by **-DG-** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 11:41 pm

our salesforce got upgraded company wide and now we all have chatter... which is like this twitter/facebook style thing for updating statuses and setting up newsfeeds for the companies you're working with/staking out. it's great cos now i know who else from our company worldwide is doing deals with someone else from the same company for another vertical (legal/ tech/ m&a/ procurement) and i can name-drop and the whole conversation changes... they open up

by **-DG-** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 11:52 pm

our whole department learnt an important lesson this weekend.

keep on top of e-mails 24/7/365. yesterday a voicemail came in (we have a conversion system that sends us the original voicemail and an e-mail with the transcription). it came in at 2am last night from a company in the middle east. he WANTED our service and needed a quote as soon as.

i don't normally check work e-mails over the weekend till sunday evening, usually to clear out all the junk and file away all the crap from the week before so i didn't have a chance.

someone got around to checking it at 2pm this afternoon. too late. the guy's gone with one of our main competitors cos they not only had someone to call him back, they did a quick demo and fired off a proposal before any of us had even woke up.

it's unusual but could have been an easy $5k USD had any of us checked our e-mails as soon as we woke up. we'd have had a chance then. FUCK!

by **JSK** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 12:08 am

^ More often than not, things like these are blessing in disguise. It's an awakening before something big to keep your guards up.

P.S: Do you guys have office in india? I'm looking for opportunities back home.

by **-DG-** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:02 am

not yet... there's a main office in hong kong which covers the indian subcontinent. the reality is though, most of the businesses that hit up our company contact the main US office (unless they know a sales exec in one of the local offices) and they delegate the work to offices in/around the client's timezone to fit in with deadlines etc.

good and bad thing about being in the UK. cos it's so central in time.. far east can be done in morning, middle east mid-morning to lunch and europe and local in afternoon before the US in evening. right now cos my team's scattered everywhere.. and they're all busy doing training, meeting clients or at conferences, i'm picking up all the work and working my regular office hours of 8:30 to 6 and then being the e-mail link between production hubs and clients all evening.

right now i'm dealing with hawaii who are 10 hours behind UK, still at work finalising something for a client in new york (and my team in new york are busy with other things) lol... it's not going unnoticed though.

by **lady_in_black** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:11 am

I need your help sales people.

I have basically been given a task to try and book meetings for the seniors, and I have not had much luck. How can I go about this? I have no target market and can approach anyone in London lol

Need help to define it as it seems like I have no focus? Any help?

by **JSK** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:18 am

Define your target verticals(Healthcare/medi/manufacturing/etc).
go to linkedin.com for names or jigsaw.com
Find your targets (could be ceo/cto/IT heads or the person relevant to your product)
fix up meetings.

by **lady_in_black** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:27 am

I have been 'advised' to stick to postcodes as opposed to target market. I can get the right contact name but can never get to them!

How do I get past the gatekeeper?

by **JSK** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:35 am

be confident and don't add any prefix such as Dr/Mr/Ms/Mrs - just say the name -(it shows you have already spoken to tht person or know tht person)

if they dont pass on say u've already spoken to tht person and tht person had asked you to call during this time

say u wanted to confirm the email as the person advised to drop an email but it bounced bk

or else dial a random number in the company (follow the ending sequence and try any number .. for eg if a company's number ends is 020 7856 625 try 631 etc.. )and ask if it is abc.. and 9/10 they'll say no - tell them switchboard transferred u and if they could provide u with direct contact details of the person u need to spk to

by **lady_in_black** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:44 am

Thanks, all this lying business is too difficult with me. :pale

by **JSK** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:49 am

do you have any other option?

by **lady_in_black** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:52 am

I guess not, lying doesn't come naturally to me so I always feel like a pleb

by **JSK** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:58 am

It's a sales job sweetheart. To gain some, you gotta lose some..

If you don't wanna lie, find the direct line numbers through jigsaw.com and google.com (just put the name of the person and the company, you might get the direct line number)

by **-DG-** » Sat May 15, 2010 1:16 am

firstly, lady in black, when talking about getting past the gatekeeper... don't think of it as a lie. these people have been trained to see what you're after within the first 30 seconds of your call.

it might go something like this...

gatekeeper will answer the phone:
XYZ co, how may i help you?

you say: hi there, i was wondering if john's around (john's very common so bad example but for argument's sake we'll go with it).

gatekeeper:
certainly, let me check (they will always say this.. go away for a few secs and come back..) he's in a meeting/out of office today/on a conference call.. what was it regarding?

you say:
(resist the temptation to answer their question) well, do you know when he's gonna be available?

gatekeeper:
i'm not entirely sure but if you tell me what it's regarding, perhaps there's someone else that can help?

you:
(again, resist.. she's gonna tell you forward your enquiry to the standard info email address) sorry, who am i speaking to?

gatekeeper:
sarah.

you:
well, sarah (use their name, it's subconsciously powerful and now you have her name, the next time you call and hear her voice, you can be like "hi sarah, is john around"), it really is something that only john can address (if you know he's your target). is he reachable by email at all?

gatekeeper:
(now she wants to get off the phone) yes, certainly. his e-mail is...

------

i've been given mobile numbers of ceo's like this. i never actually call their mobile unless i've been invited to by email.

i build up email addresses and then knock out 'quick call emails'

-----

hi john, how are you?

my name's DG and i just wanted to speak to you with regards to [insert 1 of their products/service they offer - this peaks their interest, as opposed to saying what you can offer]. if you could let me know when you would have five minutes for a quick call, i'd be grateful.

best,
DG

----

they will respond by email (no-one ever gives a time to a call) and you can proceed on to qualifying your contact by email. resist the temptation to give them information overload. you wanna drip feed info to peak their interest and how you see your product/service fitting in with their business. before long, you've established rapport and rapport builds trust. trust leads to meetings.

no-one will ever agree to a meeting if they don't feel it's worthwhile. and in my experience it's hard to arrange a meeting off one phone call (but not impossible). remember things about your clients like if they went on holiday, where they went, how it was etc... people love to talk about themselves so give them every chance they can and this will build rapport.

also the titles you target, target the business development people... in my experience the best contacts because they realise you're a salesperson and they will empathise, because that's what they do and they hold the key to the cbo, cfo and ceo.

write down what you're gonna say and practice saying it until it seems natural.

by **JSK** » Sat May 15, 2010 10:48 pm

^ great stuff!!

how's work coming along dude?

by **-DG-** » Sun May 16, 2010 2:51 am

it's all good, just returned from a week in NYC at head office there... made some american contacts and got an RFP for a big client in new jersey that the company's been chasing for 2 years. they're well pleased about that... :-D

how about you?

watching the khan fight now on itv from madison square garden, i was literally staying 300 yards away from it on the next block from the empire state, big up 32nd and 6th k-town massive... wish i was there now!

by **JSK** » Fri May 21, 2010 9:35 am

it's aight dude!

make this thing sticky

by **-DG-** » Sat May 22, 2010 2:11 am

as you please

lol... i'll move it to biztech though.

by **-DG-** » Sat May 22, 2010 5:59 pm

i've started a new technique on cold-calling that i picked up off one of the most experienced cold-callers i know in new york. i've got a list of names/companies the past 2 years conferences that people from my vertical working for our company have attended. i check the names in sf and if it's been over a year since last contact (if any), i get their head office number from sf or their website.

i also have a separate product list that i know they're looking for business partnerships for.

for an hour and a half in the morning, i'll collect names/numbers/products and put them in a new list. target is to have 30 by 10am.

then i print off the list and step away from my desk (get out my comfort zone). go and sit at an empty desk with no computer, just my list, a phone, a pen and a pad (tryna get this damn label off...! haha..) and i hammer out 30 calls in an hour of which my aim is to get 5 qualified contacts. the idea behind this is: you step out of your comfort zone and something as familiar as your desk with no distractions, aiming to get as much information as possible - so all that matters is you and your target.

when i make the phone call and get through to my target, i'll lead with their product and get them to talk more about it. opens up the whole conversation as their barriers come down and they're more responsive to open questions. if there's no immediate need for what i'm selling, i'll find out when the need is coming up - could be next month, 6 months, next year... but it's logged in the pipeline so i know when to follow up. it's way easier the 2nd time round.. no ice-breakers.

but yeh cold callers, try it. just a list of names, titles, numbers and products and no computer. just a phone and something to take notes on. your cycle time between calls will be cut down, you'll be hammering out 60 calls a day (hour in AM and hour in PM), qualifying at least 10 people a day and logging at least 5 opps in your pipeline to follow up on. create a buzz about your product within a certain company and the RFP's will come flying in and proposals will be flying out

:king

by **-DG-** » Sun May 30, 2010 12:36 am

closed a deal thursday... not huge but still a buzz!

now i'm in the midst of a pilot with a big fish. we gotta prove ourselves over 3 jobs the client has. if we do this... a worldwide contract worth TWO MILLION POUNDS will be given to us! i'm in a bind though cos while the US and UK are off on monday, europe ain't. and the client's deadline's tuesday.

my anniversary on monday too... will the missus understand? lol.. hopefully manager understands and deals with this part of the deal.

another global fish just put in a $100k job through new york.

by **-DG-** » Sun May 30, 2010 12:47 am

managing the fine line between clients and suppliers...

this has been such a massive problem for me over the past month. i always aim to under-promise and over-deliver (thankyou carphone warehouse lol!)

the issues i have right now are clients have their own deadlines and there's only so much suppliers can handle so it's up to me to put in a job at speed and do the balancing act. i've lost count the amount of times i've told myself over the past month to bite the bullet, pick up the phone and deliver bad news to a client (doing it by email is a huge no-no... they deserve the decency and respect of a phone call). sometimes clients demands with certain procedures just cannot be met.

so how to soften the blow without losing the contract?

i've set up face-to-face meetings, inviting staff dealing with the jobs along. let's hope it works.

by **Speed_Demon** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 10:21 am

-DG- wrote:i've started a new technique on cold-calling that i picked up off one of the most experienced cold-callers i know in new york. i've got a list of names/companies the past 2 years conferences that people from my vertical working for our company have attended. i check the names in sf and if it's been over a year since last contact (if any), i get their head office number from sf or their website.

i also have a separate product list that i know they're looking for business partnerships for.

for an hour and a half in the morning, i'll collect names/numbers/products and put them in a new list. target is to have 30 by 10am.

then i print off the list and step away from my desk (get out my comfort zone). go and sit at an empty desk with no computer, just my list, a phone, a pen and a pad (tryna get this damn label off...! haha..) and i hammer out 30 calls in an hour of which my aim is to get 5 qualified contacts. the idea behind this is: you step out of your comfort zone and something as familiar as your desk with no distractions, aiming to get as much information as possible - so all that matters is you and your target.

when i make the phone call and get through to my target, i'll lead with their product and get them to talk more about it. opens up the whole conversation as their barriers come down and they're more responsive to open questions. if there's no immediate need for what i'm selling, i'll find out when the need is coming up - could be next month, 6 months, next year... but it's logged in the pipeline so i know when to follow up. it's way easier the 2nd time round.. no ice-breakers.

but yeh cold callers, try it. just a list of names, titles, numbers and products and no computer. just a phone and something to take notes on. your cycle time between calls will be cut down, you'll be hammering out 60 calls a day (hour in AM and hour in PM), qualifying at least 10 people a day and logging at least 5 opps in your pipeline to follow up on. create a buzz about your product within a certain company and the RFP's will come flying in and proposals will be flying out

Exactly the way i use to organise my cold calls! Keep it up!

i need to get back in to the swing of it , have picked up bad habits ... need to re-train myself to do what i started off doing when i first entered sales

by **-DG-** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:02 am

i was shocked at how such a basic thing could get me my days quota before lunch...

got another demo tomorrow and had a good call today with a dude i spoke to 3 months ago. he had no interest then but with some experience behind me, got him to open up and tell me more than he needed to before he realised who he was speaking to... "how about you meet me here in switzerland and i'll be prepared to discuss further once you've signed a non-disclosure agreement?"

music to my ears. just gotta line up a few more meetings in the region...

by **Speed_Demon** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:46 pm

Hi DG, just woke up after a hard days work ! Can you please check your inbox if you're around ... you may be able to help me on something. I'm working in it right now ...

... i do leave things last minute ... if your not around, then don't worry! I will get my head around it eventually

by **JSK** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 9:24 am

What sort of questions do you put forward for them to open up?

by **-DG-** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:06 am

i lead with their product, don't wanna go into too much here without giving away what industry i'm working in. i don't mind telling you jsk but you never know who's reading.

i ask them about their developments of their product, the next steps they're taking, even cheekily ask who they're talking to about taking it forward (most never say) and then i quickly introduce what i'm providing and ask if they've used anything like it to facilitate discussions. if so, who? when? what? how they found it? if there's one thing they would improve what would it be? and then ask for their e-mail to send them some more info... you wanna charm the girl and ask for her number first... hehe

then follow up couple of weeks later and it's easier this time cos barriers come down. my aim is to get one new bit of info from every conversation i have and then lead with that on the next call... pretty soon you're discussing holiday destinations, sports (with the world cup coming up i have a tab open of all the different groups and see which group their country is in, who they'll face etc) - this all helps with rapport.

they may not have an immediate need for what you're selling but guaranteed when a boardroom discussion takes place, if you've been talking to key decision makers, your name will come up and you'll get an RFP. they'll approach other companies but requesting an RFP from you will be as if they're requesting it from a friend so they'll give it that much more notice.

they'll be more open with you with regards to budget so if they do have a cheaper quote, they'll tell you and you can show them how you're not undervaluing what you're selling but providing more bang for buck. you can't put a price on after-sales service.

i digress... i lead with their product and ask smaller open questions before bigger ones. ask them always if it's a good time to talk right after product and in follow up calls how their day is going, how their weekend was, what's the weather like... it sets the tone for 2-way dialogue in all your conversations.

by **JSK** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:36 am

i have this client whom I have been in touch for past couple of yrs, and finally they have a project which we can do.. arranged conference calls with tech team and his team and sent him info - now he is not answering my calls. his project mgr spks to me but she doesnt disclose much info, seems she's scared about telling too much..

If i get tht client it'd be good £30 - £50k business and more. I call his landline, but hits vm, call his mobile disconnects, sent him emails - no reply... what do you think?

by **-DG-** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:49 pm

check their website for news articles or google company name and hit news tab... see if anything major has happened.

i was once after this client for ages, finally got him on the phone and he told me they were in the process of liquidating everything... "i'm sorry to hear that" i said. "by the way, who are you using for...?" lol i'm cold like that but it's just business... at least he told me (even though too late for our team to move in).

how long you been trying to reach this dude? could be he's on holiday? set up a face to face with the project manager and invite your boy (or ask project manager if he would be available for the meeting too). get the ball rolling with/without him.

by **-DG-** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:45 pm

how did it go jsk?

today an MD of one of our clients left me a message very early in the morning for a job he needs done urgently. said i came "highly recommended" to get the job done fast, well and within budget

i'm not just an order taker so i upsold

i've done my bit. hoping everyone else involved does their jobs equally well.

by **-DG-** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:56 pm

i know i keep bringing up linkedin for prospecting but it is a f*cking goldmine! seriously amazes me how much info people put up about their jobs and their roles within companies...

out of 20 qualified contacts last week, over 50% were pulled straight off linked in. they asked me how i found their number and i said i just asked the switchboard/ receptionist.

that's another thing... "if you don't ask, you don't get!" there was 1 company i got through to and did my 3-pronged attack, except i got given more names of more people in more departments and i went to town on that company. by the end of the day, i think every person who had some clout there must have heard of me.

2 of them sent replies to my follow up e-mails thanking me for my call (with some more names) lol...

if you're on the internet with a public profile, you are fair game

the clever ones hide their name and i respect that they may want some privacy so i'm not chasing them... yet. :twisted:

by **JSK** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:10 am

He's not taking calls, so I think it's a dead account, unless there are some internal issues or the project is delayed..

Ahh - I mentioned cheeky about linkedin in regards to companies using them.. I use it too, sick stuff! try jigsaw.com - tht comes handy too.. I go through e-magazines dedicated to IT and domain I'm targeting, understand who's doing what..

Goodluck DG - My pipeline is quite dry atm, thanks to projects going on backburner.

by **-DG-** » Fri Jul 02, 2010 12:19 am

it's that time of year. can you believe whole offices in europe shut down for a month in july? everyone goes on holiday! i want that kinda work ethic...

i'm on to something big. have a call lined up on monday. just hope it goes well..

by **JSK** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:50 am

Finally managed to spk to the proj mgr - she said the person whom I have been in touch with has some tight deadlines on a new project, hence he hasn't taken any calls or replied to emails. I have a call with her again this week as she will be introducing me to a new colleague of hers who is a senior architect... I so want this to click!

Goodluck with your thingie

by **-DG-** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:09 am

lol i so know that feeling. when all the pieces are in place but it just needs movement in the right direction.

thanks dude! had the conference call today and they're gonna send us an RFP for 2 projects. if the shoe fits and we get them on board, the rest of the offices this company have will follow suit.

i can't believe no-one's hit them up for almost a year now... just goes to show dormant calls are always worth making every quarter. i made the right cold call to the right place at the right time. and they told me july/august were quiet months... while my competition is on holiday, i'm cleaning up :king

by **JSK** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:05 am

Sweet.. how r things?

does raaniyah/cute thing have ur msn/fb?

by **-DG-** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:44 pm

things are ok thanks. how about with you?

going away in a couple of weeks so just counting down the days. i feel burnt out... like my job but i feel like i need to step it up even more. i'm not content with just selling... i wanna be the best in the world at it! haha...

still working on the other thing... just reminded me to give them a call before the weekend. need to get some kind of firm commitment from them next week.

added you on fb!

by **JSK** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:14 am

Getting better.. quite a few opportunity based conference calls/meetings lined up for next two weeks!

I think you added someone else lol

Haha! I get ya.. it's just not about selling. It's about being Ari Gold! (Deja Vu while typing this)

by **de51_jut** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:20 pm

I'm having a fucking blinder today!!!! Best day ever!!!!

'See my smile it's ear to ear baby'
'ACT AS IF... YOU'RE THE BIG SWINGING DICKS OF THIS COMPANY'!

Guess the film

by **-DG-** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 1:07 am

boiler room!! :-D

love it!

you seen glengarry glen ross? it's like a play-type movie... with some big names. best line has to be from alec baldwin:

"COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS!"

by **-DG-** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:45 pm

"I can close anyone at any time anywhere in the country. Just give me a phone number."

that's the level i'm striving for... but not just the country, the world... 8-)

by **-DG-** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:53 pm

http://salestipsbyscott.com/

guy added me recently on facebook. has a great blog for sales professionals.

by **-DG-** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:02 am

pilot project's going to start and upsold on some tech we have. just getting an MSA together for that huge client. i want to secure a worldwide deal though and the VP in the US is involved. if i pull this off right, i'll get noticed.

her husband was one of the people that interviewed me and one of the things that made me get on with him was talking about the NFL... he's a giants fan.

which is another sales/ job interview tip. find out about the person you're selling to... what they like etc and exploit it. the rest of my sales tip today comes from al pacino in one of my favourite monologues of all time:

by **-DG-** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 12:21 am

ah got so much to do before i go on holiday... and new stuff keeps comin in all the time! lol... gotta roll with the punches...

by **Speed_Demon** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:55 pm

Hey DG, Longtime! I've been trying to get in to the swing of things at my new job

all going well

Barfi Resurrected!

Who is online