Why Executives Wont Take Your Call

Do you hang up on telemarketers? 9 times out of 10 I do.

Why do we do this? I hang-up because I am afraid that they are going to waste my time.

Telemarketing is a tough job. Most of the people who do it aren't given enough training to excel at it. Companies take the sink or swim attitude in hiring here.

As a result, you, I, and everyone else receive a lot of bad telemarketing calls. It's to the point where we expect the calls to be bad. We are conditioned by experience to assume that they will suck.

This conditioning by bad telemarketing makes it very difficult for the business sales professional to get through to c-level business executives. I had an experience recently that made me think about this. The events took place by email rather than by phone, but the psychology around the events is the same.

I received an email offering me a free "special report" on eSelling using streaming media technology. I get so much spam these days I am not sure if this email was spam, or if I was on their opt-in or opt-out list. Doesn't really matter though, I decided to respond as the email caught my interest.

I clicked on the link to get the special report. I was taken to a lead form webpage to fill in my personal information - name, address, phone number, etc. Minutes later I was downloading the special report and printing it out. Well done on their part I thought.

I read the special report. The first few pages were great. It spoke my language. It talked about how technology isn't usually designed for selling, but that theirs is.

Then I read the next section of the special report.

This section explained what their technology was and how it worked. It told me all about how the internet uses web pages, web servers that are "stateless", blah... blah... blah....

Yawn...

They lost me.

Let's go back now to when I filled in my personal information on their website download page. On their webpage, I didn't enter a phone number, even though it asked for one. Like you, I have been conditioned to expect that most sales pitches I get will suck. I did not want another sales call that would waste my time.

Getting me to download and read their special report, was the equivalent of getting past the gatekeepers and the voicemail screen to speak to the executive. They had my interest until they bored me with tech-talk that I didn't need to know at that point. Then they lost the sale.

The same thing happens when we try to get through to exec's. They are afraid that you are going to waste their time. So they put up a lot of screens to keep you out.

It is nearly impossible to come up with set of sales persuasion techniques to get past every screen every time. You can improve your percentages though, by following a simple formula.

When cold-calling executives focus on these three things:

• Benefit gain,
• Pain elimination,
• How easy it will be to get these from you.

Be specific about the potential benefit gains and pain elimination. Tell them that one of your customers saved thousands or millions of dollars by working with you (using a real customer success story that you have verified of course).

Do not discuss how your customer got these benefits. And avoid identifying yourself by the type of product or technology that you sell. If you make either of these mistakes, you have given your target something to pigeonhole you with. Once that happens, you lose the opportunity to keep the conversation going long enough to establish whether there is even a problem of his that you can solve.

You want to be specific about the cause and magnitude of their pain, yet vague about just how you will eliminate it. You only need to show that you *can* eliminate it. You do this by relating the specific benefits or pain gained or eliminated by one of your customers.

All you want to discuss at the beginning of your call is what they can expect to get from doing business with you and how easy or quickly they can get it. Make the gatekeepers your allies. Treat them with respect by assuming that they know as much as your target exec does (they often do). Use the same approach with them, and you are much more likely to get put through to the executive.

Save the "how it works" discussion for your meeting with the lower level people responsible for making it work. Otherwise, you may never get that opportunity.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

---

Three Ways to Increase Mortgage Applications

If you are in the mortgage business, the very first... Read More

Define Your Best Customer

To be more effective at developing relationships, one should always... Read More

An Introduction to Mannequins

Just about every clothing store uses mannequins. There are many... Read More

What Do Mobile Auto Detailers Clean When it Rains?

A mobile auto detailer and their profits are tied to... Read More

Powerful Words

Hi, I'd like to discuss the most powerful words you... Read More

How to Set Appointments

The Importance of setting appointments is crucial to running a... Read More

Is Cold Calling Dead?

Is cold calling dead? And if laws are being passed... Read More

First, Fast, And Foremost . . .

First - being before all others. Fast - moving or... Read More

Ten Quick Etiquette Tips for Business Lunches

Knowing what to do when meeting a prospective client forlunch,... Read More

Where to Find Mannequins for Sale

Any time a clothing store opens or expands, they must... Read More

Recommending Products Vs. Selling Them

Some of the best sales people I have ever met,... Read More

Winning Sales Proposals

Your proposal is selling for you when you're not there,... Read More

The Hands On Approach

While living in the technology age where everything is computerized,... Read More

A Look at Store Fixture Parts

Products for sale need to be displayed in a manner... Read More

Cold Calling Reluctance

Most salespeople I know consider cold calling a dreadful, but... Read More

Who Takes Your Money

Your business is making profits, but where is the cash?... Read More

How To Take The Right Steps To Increase Your Selling Results

Steps - it is unrealistic for most salespeople to expect... Read More

Know What You Are Selling As If You Were Buying It

Recently I wanted a new lawn mower as we have... Read More

Getting Referrals

ReferralsA substantial part of your business can come from referrals.... Read More

How To Get Rich Giving Away Something Free

The best of all worlds is to have a product... Read More

Stop Telemarketers, Do Not Call List or Not

American consumers have spoken and have done so loudly registering... Read More

5 Ways to Encourage Impulse Purchases

I just bought six square pieces of spongy fabric for... Read More

Female Mannequins: An Overview

Female mannequins are very common in clothing stores. They are... Read More

Lock, Stock, and Barrel!

The other night I was watching a classic western from... Read More

Warming Up To Cold Calls

Will you do just about anything, including sending out hundreds... Read More

Long Sales Letters vs. Short Sales Letters

Everywhere I turn, I'm being asked to weigh in on... Read More

Customer Service Revival

Value is in the Eye of the BeholderSales today is... Read More

Touchdown! Closing Skills for Successful Selling

It's early January 2004. The Green Bay Packers are just... Read More

Packaging Maketh the Person

The multi million pound cosmetics industry is acutely aware of... Read More

Prepare to Sell!

Sales is a critical part of any business, including non-profits.... Read More

9 Ways to Keep Clients Coming Back For More

A lot of effort is put into getting new clients.... Read More

Why Are Customers So Indecisive?

Do you know why your customer won't buy? You've given... Read More

Referrals: Getting Good Business By Doing Good Business

Whether you're a conventional sales person, a professional ? such... Read More