That prospect is so dumb. We have a great product and he just doesn’t get it.”

Ever heard or said that before?

That itself is dumb.

It’s not his job to “get it.” It’s our job to only recommend what they perceive to be great.

Tweet this one out:

A benefit is only a benefit if the listener sees it as one, at that very moment.@ArtSobczak

Which means that even though your marketing department wrote out a list of benefits, your prospect might not necessarily get excited about them.

Value is a dynamic moving target that varies by individual. You are both interested and not interested in certain things today, and both of those feelings are different than they were six months ago.

The variables that affect everything are the “What?” and “Why?”.

What is going on in your prospect’s/customer’s world that now makes them either interested, or at least more susceptible to be interested in what you have?

You look for these trigger events or circumstances in your research and/or Social Engineering. For example, you might find out your prospect is gearing up for a huge holiday rush and need lots of temporary staff to fill positions.

The “Why?” is why someone might be interested in your possible benefits.

For example, the fact that a line of luggage has indestructible wheels might not be a benefit for a market segment that just goes camping, doesn’t roll through airports, and doesn’t want to pay a premium price.

On the other hand, someone like me who maneuvers bags through crowds at airports, through parking lots and rental car facilities, typically with a box of workbooks, and has had numerous wheels broken off by brutal baggage handlers WOULD love the benefit.

So, to ensure that, we reverse-engineer the benefit to create the questions.

 “For what types of travel do you use your luggage?”

“How often do you find it convenient to roll your bags?”

“How often do you need to replace bags because of wheels breaking?”

Getting these answers, and the process of having them answer does a couple of things:

1. You learn what indeed is of value to your prospect, since they told you, in their own words; words that you can then use back to them when you make your recommendation. And they won’t argue with their own words.

2. When they are answering, they are visualizing a picture of what they are talking about… either the pain they want to avoid, or future pleasure that they would get from your result.

Again, benefits are not universal. When we present what WE think is a benefit, we could be off-target and create objections. Many salespeople do.

Instead, practice these principles and you will be more persuasive, and get more people engaged, and buying

The post Your Benefits Might Not Be Benefits appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

Here’s one that is a bit different, and thought I’d share it with you.

WordClassPerformer.com is a site that interviews achievers in virtually every field and asks incisive questions about the individuals, what they have done and still do to be successful. Essentially, life lessons as they term them.

In this interview I really reached down deep to answer with some things that I’ve never shared before.

Hope you find some value!

The post “Short Life-Lessons” appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

During the launch of the new Third Edition of Smart Calling a few weeks ago he reached out to me and said he would like to review it on his “Sales After Dark” livestream.

I thought, sure, I’ll send him a copy… along with a t-shirt.

I had no idea what he was going to say about it, although of course I was fairly confident it would be good, given its track record and amazing reviews so far.

The next I heard, he simply sent me the date and time for the livestream. That’s it. OK.

I was out during the actual airing, but managed to steal a few minutes to watch some segments. Then I watched the entire replay.

I was amazed! Victor must have spend hours going through the book and breaking down the examples. He did as good of a job explaining my process, and the reasons behind it, as I do.

Here’s his review. Which actually is a training session on how to put together a great prospecting opening/voice mail.

The post An Independent Review Of, and Training On, “Smart Calling” appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

Here’s the entire replay of the session.

We covered,

-working WITH assistants, and exactly what to say to get them on our side.

-handling the early “not interested”

-the specific process for preparing for, and addressing, real objections (it’s not responding with the goofy objection rebuttal that so many are taught)

-the Social Engineering process to get valuable, real-time sales intel

-the Smart Calling process to use in voice mails and call openings to get prospects in a curious, positive frame of mind, and engaged

AND, this was huge, as attendees have told me: At about the 42:00 mark, Jason suggested we role the play the process (we had not discussed this prior, or prepared at all for it).

(Get your copy of Smar Calling, and the free companion training here.)

The post How to Prospect Successfully, Without Rejection appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

When I talk with sales leaders whose reps are struggling with prospecting, quite often I find the root of the problem is actually with the leaders themselves.

Upon examination of their methods, processes, and beliefs I often can spot mistakes being made due to belief in one—or many—of the cold calling myths that still are being perpetuated.

Most of these are nonsense, and just plain wrong. Perhaps you’ve heard them. I’ve list them, along with the Smart Calling™ truths.

Cold Calling Myth: “It’s just a numbers game.”

Smart Calling™ Truth: Actually, prospecting professionally is a quality game. It does not matter how many calls you place; what’s important is the amount with which you have success. A baseball player could swing at every pitch, but only the quality attempts have a chance of hitting the ball. Casino games are numbers games; sales and prospecting is a quality game. With that said, quality and reasonable quantity are not mutually exclusive. You can still have high levels of quality activity. But, the key to prospecting success is not to simply increase the number of bad calls.

Cold Calling Myth: “For every no you get, you’re that much closer to a yes.”

Smart Calling™ Truth: You are no closer to a yes unless you are doing the right things to get the yes. The previous “no” has absolutely no bearing on your next call. Activity solely for the sake of activity does not get you closer to success.

Cold Calling Myth: “You need to love rejection to be successful at prospecting.”

Smart Calling™ Truth: You want to avoid “rejection.” It is a state of mind based on how you react to what happens to you.  I’m not a psychologist, but I would say it is impossible to love “rejection,” unless you have some type of mental illness.  You can get a “win” on every call — even when you get a no. For example, you can plant a seed for the future, or simply keep the door open for a future contact. And you certainly can learn something on every call.  Experiences as a result of placing prospecting calls have no meaning until the rep gives it meaning.

Cold Calling Myth: “The telephone is just for setting an appointment.”

Smart Calling™ Truth: Even before the pandemic and everyone was forced to sell remotely, salespeople were using the telephone to SELL every type of product or service. Limiting oneself by getting off of a call too early unnecessarily lengthens the sales process. Indeed, your sales model might involve a web demo or face-to-face visit, but those interactions will always be more productive if the initial call is taken further. One of the most challenging things to do in prospecting is to actually get someone on the phone. Why would we want to jump off as soon as possible?

Cold Calling Myth: “Never give the screener any information.”

Smart Calling™ Truth: First, I detest the negative term, “screener.” I prefer to call them “assistants.” The assistant may in fact be a decision maker, or at least an influencer, and needs to be treated like the buyer. Trying to go around or above an assistant, and being evasive labels the sales rep as a cheesy buffoon, and simply intensifies the assistant’s resolve.

The “cold” part of the statement “Cold calling is dead” is accurate; there is no reason to place a cold call. But the calling is very much alive, when done in a Smart way.

For over 30 years Art Sobczak has helped sales pros say the right things by phone to get through, get in, and sell. He is a speaker, author, trainer, and lifelong salesperson. His flagship book, “Smart Calling- Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling,” was just released in the new, Third Edition, and the process has become the prospecting standard for sales pros worldwide.

Get the New “Smart Calling” Book, and Free $199 Companion Training

Get the book, and the free online companion course and resource library at http://Smart-Calling.com

The book shows you the entire, proven Smart Calling prospecting process to develop and deliver your own effective Smart prospecting calls.

The free companion training gives you additional training corresponding to each chapter. Video, audio, scripts, webinars and more… all to help you prospect conversationally, and without rejection. Order the book now.

___________________________________________

The post Sales Leaders: Are Any of These Cold Calling Myths Holding Your Sales Reps Back? appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

See how many mistakes you can spot in this opening. I will then point out what was wrong, why, and what the caller should have done instead.

The post How Many Mistakes in This Cold Call Can You Spot? appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

In this special video training, you’ll hear exactly what to say, and see word-for-word script examples you can use to bring value, set the stage for future business, and perhaps even make a sale today

To get on the Priority List to be notified when the doors open on Monday, March 30 for the Smart Calling Sales Stimulus Elite Training program Art mentions at the end, go to http://Calling.Training

See the written transcript of the video training here.

The post What to Say When Calling Customers to Add Value appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

Think of all the negative emotions that flooded over you when you heard it. Including thinking, “I gotta get out of here.”

Let me explain…

Closing is not, and should not be about techniques or hard sell manipulative tactics.

When done professionally, it is a natural next step in a natural conversation. image

With that said, we still need to ask for the commitment and the business. The key is doing it at the right time, in the right way.

So that it is natural, comfortable, conversational, and neither of you thinks a “close” just happened. James Muir has developed two simple questions that have been proven to be the most effective steps to take to get prospects to move forward in the sales process, and buy.

In the new episode of The Art of Sales podcast, you’ll hear the exact words, and how to use them.

These two questions can help you blow away your sales and income projections this year.

Listen Now

The post Use These Two Questions to Close Perfectly appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

We of course can than use this intel in our outreach and sales process to be more relevant, have a greater chance of standing out from all of the noise we compete with, AND have more intelligent sales conversations.

In this episode of The Art of Sales podcast, Sam shares some of his ninja techniques and secrets that anyone can use right away to save time, and get more and better information more quickly.

Listen the Episode

8:10 Two simple search techniques–to use in Google, your emails, and anywhere there is a search box–that provide fewer, but FOCUSED, useful search results, potentially saving you an hour a day.  

12:30 How to get relevant news about your prospects in Google.    

17:23  Sales triggers and the secrets of how to find them    

23:17 How to find your targeted prospects using LinkedIn search    

25:47 A little-known, almost magical technique to find a person’s name when only a title comes up in the LinkedIn search because you are not connected to them.    

27:51 How Sam has automated the entire search process to help anyone do complicated searches in seconds rather than minutes–assuming they even knew how.  SmartCallingIntel.com

Get The Smart Calling Intel Engine at the special 50% savings for The Art of Sales listeners.

The post How to Quickly and Easily Get Sales Intelligence About Prospects appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.

And it should be avoided.

In this episode of The Art of Sales, you’ll hear how I received this approach in an email, why it should be avoided, and how you can actually use a more subtle, nuanced approach to help them reach the conclusion on their own that they have a problem.

Listen Here

Get the Smart Calling book here

Hear Episode 3, “The Cold is Dead, But Not the Calling”

The post Calling Their Baby Ugly is Not a Good Prospecting Strategy appeared first on Art Sobczak's Smart Calling.