"Gold Mining "
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Gold Mining In this article:
There Is Gold In Them There Hills I did a sales training session for a group of media sales reps in New Mexico. They blitzed the market for four days and brought in over $48,000 in new business. The Blitz Blizzard The business would have been out there even if they had not blitzed the market; it simply would not have translated to money in their pockets. Stop The Wait It is your job as a sales person to find the business and not to wait for the business to find you. I like being proactive, and not reactive to market conditions. Don't Be A Scavenger When I was in media sales years ago, we had a system that whoever was in the office would get the call-in. We had one sales person that we called "The Vulture." He would perch by his phone, waiting for the phone to ring. It did ring sometimes, but not enough for him to keep his job. Grab A Shovel And Dig My good friend Fred Reno and I were out digging up business, while "The Vulture" was waiting for business to dig him up. It was not long before the vulture was buried in poor sales performance and looking for a new job.
Job Security Not only did Fred and I keep our jobs, but we made a nice income in the process. Fred went on to become the sales manager of a large media property in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tongue-In-Cheek During a sales training session, I did a tongue-in-cheek demonstration to reveal how futile it is to wait for the phone to ring in order to create more business. I put my cell phone on the table in front of the room and invited five audience members to join me around the phone. The Power Of Suggestion I told them that I had tried what we were about to do on my own, but it did not seem to work. I suggested that we all stand around and stare at the phone to make it ring. I said that, with the power of all six of us staring at it, the phone would surely ring. Not So Funny They all chuckled at my ridiculous proposal, but I insisted that we give it a try. Sure enough, the phone rang. I answered it, and I stated that it was the competition on the line, making sales calls. I kidded, "At least somebody is out there trying to get new business." (Actually, I had the sales manager go in the other room and call in.) Lesson Learned The lesson was well received, and within the next hour, I had everyone on the phone making ten dials each, using my suggested telephone script (see below). We had forty people in the room, and the calls resulted in over eighty appointments. Say What? OK, so you believe me, but what do you say when you make the call?
You: Hi, my name is _____________. Whom am I speaking with? If he is not interested, hang up, and go to the next call. It is more productive to be making the next call, than it is to convince someone, who is not interested, to change his mind. That is what makes the phone so productive. Just like the Energizer Bunny, you can keep going, and going, and going. Note: Joe Bonura's article containing this script may be found here: www.bonura.com/articles/dialing_for_dollars.htm A Little Time Equals Big Bucks For less than thirty minutes of effort, we had enough appointments to bring in over $250,000 in new business, based on their typical closing ratio. The Wow Factor My next question to the group was, "What if you made those ten dials every day?" WOW! The potential results are mind boggling. Fear Not Why is it that even though you know what to do, you don't want to do it? It is called fear: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success. The Worst Thing When you are having trouble making cold (warm) calls, ask yourself the following question, "What is the worst thing that can happen to me if I make this call?" Once you have answered that question, go for it. Pick up the phone and start panning for gold. © 2008-2009 Joe Bonura & Associates, Inc. |
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REPRINT info: Joe Bonura About Joe Bonura His background is unique. Joe owned and operated a highly successful advertising agency for 18 years. During that time, he found his advertising campaigns were more effective when he educated his clients in the areas of sales and service. He conducted training seminars for his clients as added value. Word spread that Joe was a quality speaker and more and more people asked him to speak. The demand became so high that he sold the agency to three of his associates to start his own speaking and consulting company, Joe Bonura & Associates, Inc. Joe is past President of the Kentucky Speakers Association and a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), a prestigious designation earned by only 8% of the 3,600 member National Speakers Association. Joe presently serves on the board of directors of NSA. He is author of the audio learning systems "Three-Dimensional Selling®" and "Turning Customer Satisfaction Into Customer Excitement®." He is author of the book Throw the Rabbit—The Ultimate Approach to Three-Dimensional Selling. Click here TO ENGAGE JOE BONURA FOR A TRAINING SEMINAR AT YOUR COMPANY
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