Boom! Another Salesman Falls...

[quikshop]

The "Is this a sales call?" question cuts short yet another stuttering unprepared salesman in his tracks. Yet another cold call ended inside 10 seconds without any rudeness or confrontation.

You'd think that those doing telesales would be more quick witted and capable of handling a simple question, but instead try to avoid saying yes while saying yes because they're not allowed to blatantly lie

 

The "Is this a sales call?" question cuts short yet another stuttering unprepared salesman in his tracks. Yet another cold call ended inside 10 seconds without any rudeness or confrontation.

You'd think that those doing telesales would be more quick witted and capable of handling a simple question, but instead try to avoid saying yes while saying yes because they're not allowed to blatantly lie

I am guessing here it turned out NOT to be a sales call

 

What company rang you?

 

[quikshop]

I am guessing here it turned out NOT to be a sales call

The only way a direct sales call has any chance with me is for the caller to be honest and up front from the off; when presented with the "is this a sales call?" every single one of them going back years has hesitated and tried to avoid directly answering, before going on briefly to try and become my new best friend

A simple "Yes!" followed by a quick summary of what it is they're peddling is their only hope. It was a subsidiarity of a utility company I forget which one.

 

[GeorgeM]

In a way, it is a game after all, with the outcome determined by who blinks first.

 

[quikshop]

In a way, it is a game after all, with the outcome determined by who blinks first.

A necessary game; being in retail and service provision I rely on sales to drive revenue so whether its direct or passive, its still sales.

But with my consumer hat on it'd be genuinely interesting to have a direct caller who was up front, honest and quick witted enough to engage me sufficiently to get beyond 10 seconds

 

[telemax]

The "Is this a sales call?" question cuts short yet another stuttering unprepared salesman in his tracks. Yet another cold call ended inside 10 seconds without any rudeness or confrontation.

You'd think that those doing telesales would be more quick witted and capable of handling a simple question, but instead try to avoid saying yes while saying yes because they're not allowed to blatantly lie

My tried and tested method of avoiding the 'is this a sales call?' question is to tell them it is a sales call first and to ask if that's ok. 98 per cent of the time it gets a laugh and buys me the minute or so I need to get my point across.

 

[quikshop]

My tried and tested method of avoiding the 'is this a sales call?' question is to tell them it is a sales call first and to ask if that's ok. 98 per cent of the time it gets a laugh and buys me the minute or so I need to get my point across.

That makes you a rare specimen; not one caller has been able to move from their script without floundering.

 

[eventdomain]

Well, at least your honest Telemax - I got to give you that. I used to engage salespeople, but usually find what their selling 99% won't match up with my immediate needs/wants, and chances are am not looking to either buy nor be interrupted at that busy point in my day. So already Mr sales bod has slightly got my back up without even speaking to me.

I also know that I'll never buy based on a sales call, as its always an impulse decision purchase, thus these badly trained telesales bods don't know they'll fail first time as they try to make that instant sale.

Another thing I've noticed, is the big companies don't bother sending an email first - they tend to focus on telesales as their best method. Don't know why as this clearly fails as phone calls can't be taken orthe offer looked at in more detail and at the recipient's leisure.... and people want to make a decision about what IS being sold, way before making a decision to buy.

 

[firstmarket]

Another thing I've noticed, is the big companies don't bother sending an email first - they tend to focus on telesales as their best method. Don't know why as this clearly fails

I think you need to add that it fails with you. I doubt large companies would engage in such an activity if it didn't work.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I'm an advocate of being up front and honest. Sometimes I even tell them that I just need 20 seconds of their time and if they aren't interested in my offer then it's not a problem.

This instantly rules out two of the key problems which put people off, namely being kept on the phone for too long and finding it too awkward to say no to a pushy salesperson.

People may say that it's better to try and "lure them in", but it's a bit of a catch 22 situation, as if someone instantly puts down the phone when they realise it's a sales call, then they were highly unlikely to ever end up buying the product or service anyway. It's best to avoid wasting your time on these recipients and focus instead on those who are open to the idea of listening to what you have to sell.

Another thing I've noticed, is the big companies don't bother sending an email first - they tend to focus on telesales as their best method. Don't know why as this clearly fails

I'll tell you why. Because it works. You may have huge numbers of people who say 'no', but if the people who say 'yes' end up giving the company a positive ROI, then they will keep doing it. That's why hundreds of businesses do cold calling and keep doing it to this day.

Taking your own personal beliefs and then assuming that the same goes for everyone isn't really going to work, is it?

 

[GeorgeM]

Anyone watch or listen to commercial TV and radio ?

Then you receive 'sales calls' on every transmission. These are the advertisements that appear in commercial breaks. And remember these are on paid-for services, either through your TV licence or pay-tv channels.

The telephone (or direct mail) is just a more accessible way for SMEs to contact potential customers, but in this case the potential customer can engage and ask questions - if they wish to, or just say no thanks and hang up. Or would you just prefer to hear a recorded message like on the PPI calls ?

 

[cjd]

The telephone (or direct mail) is just a more accessible way for SMEs to contact potential customers, but in this case the potential customer can engage and ask questions - if they wish to, or just say no thanks and hang up. Or would you just prefer to hear a recorded message like on the PPI calls ?

You've missed the other option - don't bloody call me at all, ever!

 

[telemax]

It's tough out there for small businesses. Common situation nowadays. Someone uses their redundancy money to open a small business, lets say supplying motor factors. What do they do?

1. Sit ***k in hand waiting for the phone to ring?
2. Chuck £ thousands at a Adwords, SEO campaign that might or might not work?
3. Spend £ more thousands on advertising that might or might not work?
4. Spend a few pounds and pick up the phone to try and meet with the MD's or buyers of local car dealers etc and build a personal business relationship that might last for years?

Answers on a postcard please

 

So you have to add postcard costs and stamps too...

 

[eventdomain]

I think you need to add that it fails with you. I doubt large companies would engage in such an activity if it didn't work.

But this is the whole point, an email sent before a call is less intrusive, plus it allows the recipient to simply send a request back saying they either like to be phoned or not.

This would give salespeople more accurate lists they can work from, plus they wouldn't be irritating those who dont wish to be contacted.

 

[Simon-M]

Cold calling is tough. That's a fact. Cold calling with no process or a poor process is tougher still.

Here's my take on it. People who run businesses outsource their cold calling to call centers. Call centers employ poorly paid people who are also poorly motivated. These poorly motivated staff receive a basic lesson in cold calling and then get plugged into the matrix on a never ending loop that just keeps dialing numbers. It's like battery hens.

You get a call from someone who has little to no training and it is a nightmare for both sides. However, every now and then one of the calls goes well and a sale is made. This keeps the whole thing going because it's purely a numbers game for them.

It's rare to get a cold call where the caller has a decent go at it. I have found when these happen it is from someone who is very close to the business and not an outsourced call center. It's still rare though even when someone is close to the business like the owner himself for instance where the call goes well. That's really down to poor preparation and no process.

My advice to anyone making cold calls is to research first how to do it properly. It's not a case of just picking the phone up and talking. You need to understand what works well and what does not.

 

[eventdomain]

You get a call from someone who has little to no training and it is a nightmare for both sides. However, every now and then one of the calls goes well and a sale is made. This keeps the whole thing going because it's purely a numbers game for them.

Exactly, in a nut shell. Cold calling works great for huge companies, who outsource to foreign countries, who can afford to lose £50k, as their return will be far greater than some small biz down the road.

My personal stance on this is the amount of calls you'll need to make to get one sale is likely 500 calls. A better ratio than email, but those 500 calls will eat into your profits @ 10 mins average per call.

500 calls @ 5p a minute x 10 mins = £500, which is more than most businesses want to pay per sale. When you consider you can do a few hundred quid on phone calls easily with zero results, this isnt the best way of direct contact using it as a total cold-start first contact method.

I feel this sale will be made on every first contact theory, is where many go wrong. Sadly, this is drummed into the sales bods' mind by poor management.

 

[kate1]

Exactly, in a nut shell. Cold calling works great for huge companies, who outsource to foreign countries, who can afford to lose £50k, as their return will be far greater than some small biz down the road.


Sorry event I dont agree with that whatsoever, cold calling works well for SME's I do it day in and day out, so living proof of that.

Its as the gentlemen said earlier its more down to poor training, like he said, Im close to my business which is telesales, I do a majority of the calls myself, Ive been doing this for 21 years 11 of those self employed - plain simple fact it DOES work otherwise I would have shut up shop a long time ago. Cold calling will always exist its the most straight forward way of getting quick results.

I would just love business owners to pick the phone up and try themselves - cost = £0, with unlimited calling of course.

Sending emails you really dont know where their going to end up, just pick the phone up and speak.

 

[MBE1]

It's been many years since I used to cold call, but my success rate was very good, I knew the business inside out, was employed by the company full time to increase their customer base whilst keeping their existing clients.

Back in a previous recession in the 80's, using telephone cold calls resulted in 85% year on year growth during a bad recession, I worked at the number 4 depot in a countrywide network of 35 depots for a large parcel carrier. I was targeted to increase the depot to number three within a year, we managed to become number two.

My annual bonus bought my first house outright, I was also paid extra to train other telesales people since they seemed to think I was good at the job.

I do agree with one point, always be straight about the reason for the call, no point pretending you are ringing for any other reason than to get business, in the line of work I was in it was the building of long term relationships that really paid off. Salespeople should be proud to admit the reason for the call, not try and dodge it. If not, they need to change employers.

 

[deniser]

But with my consumer hat on it'd be genuinely interesting to have a direct caller who was up front, honest and quick witted enough to engage me sufficiently to get beyond 10 seconds

Absolutely!

 

[eventdomain]

You may have huge numbers of people who say 'no',

This is so true, infact I used to do telesales for the 4th largest training outfit in the UK. It was soft sales, yet even with a nice workable product like providing free staff to businesses, people just didn't want to know - THIS is how tough it was, so to all the telesales bods on here, please don't tell me I don't know the game ok, I've been a Pro in every type of sales, and my understanding of people made me a manager for 2 of the top companies in the UK.

While at this Training/Recruitment Co, I used to sit at my desk, (there were 2 of us doing it) build sales lists, make the calls and after 100 or so calls into my 3rd day, quickly realised it wasn't going to work, even with the reception from the call effort being good, I just got the impression that telesales was going to be more than a 2 person job for that particular firm.

The effort required for success was too much for 2 telesales pros to handle and endure, combined with the unreasonable stress for results by the company. Despite this I remained with the firm, but alas the level of sales weren't forthcoming, left and went into Retail and did quite well being promoted to Deputy Manager as soon as I joined.

Quality of people isn't always the reason for failure in sales - often the company fails to provide decent tools/planning to back up what sales staff do. This combined with call output versus winning new business plays a big part in whether one succeeds.

Cold calling may be a numbers game, but to make thousands of calls is too much for the small biz owner in practical terms, and is unworkable for many.

I just put the phone down on yet another sales call - she dialled a wrong number, when she wanted Quadrant something or other - says it all really

 

[kate1]

I dont know Event, but it works for me, shop front would be closed otherwise - trouble is I do get to speak to the right people, its a rarity that the phone ever gets put down on me, or Im spoken to rudely, but Ive been in this for 21 years.......... Why were you building data lists, you dont need to, its too time consuming, you just buy it? You have to be a certain type of person to do this job - even in my personal conversations Im able to ask about other peoples lives......., not just the mundane crap, but whats really going on? When you speak to a business theirs nothing they like more than telling you about "their business" telesales isnt just about talking its mainly about listening. Its about being human, not reading from some script. Its about extracting information and being empathic aswell as selling a solution. Just the title of the thread makes me laugh, shall I say "boom, another plumber out of business"?

 

[shadesofblue]

This is so true, infact I used to do telesales for the 4th largest training outfit in the UK. It was soft sales, yet even with a nice workable product like providing free staff to businesses, people just didn't want to know - THIS is how tough it was, so to all the telesales bods on here, please don't tell me I don't know the game ok, I've been a Pro in every type of sales, and my understanding of people made me a manager for 2 of the top companies in the UK.

While at this Training/Recruitment Co, I used to sit at my desk, (there were 2 of us doing it) build sales lists, make the calls and after 100 or so calls into my 3rd day, quickly realised it wasn't going to work, even with the reception from the call effort being good, I just got the impression that telesales was going to be more than a 2 person job for that particular firm.

The effort required for success was too much for 2 telesales pros to handle and endure, combined with the unreasonable stress for results by the company. Despite this I remained with the firm, but alas the level of sales weren't forthcoming, left and went into Retail and did quite well being promoted to Deputy Manager as soon as I joined.

Quality of people isn't always the reason for failure in sales - often the company fails to provide decent tools/planning to back up what sales staff do. This combined with call output versus winning new business plays a big part in whether one succeeds.

Cold calling may be a numbers game, but to make thousands of calls is too much for the small biz owner in practical terms, and is unworkable for many.

I just put the phone down on yet another sales call - she dialled a wrong number, when she wanted Quadrant something or other - says it all really

Did you display the same sort of panache as you do in your youtube videos.