| An off kilter look at sales tips & tricks for telesales professionals |
|
|
Issue 5: Dog Daze Edition
Stop Chasing Your Tail  Do you have a profile of what your perfect customer looks like? Sounds like on the phone? How they purchase what you sell? What their corporate structure set up is?
No you don’t? Well that’s ok. WAIT, no it isn’t - it’s not OK.
How will you know you’ve found
~ the perfect customer ~ if you don’t know what they look like? In telesales many times there is a belief that smiling and dialing will get you what you’re looking for. While that may be true, how will you know you found it, when you don’t know what it is?  That is like believing you will get your favorite ice cream flavor without having to tell the kid at the counter what it is (Lynn’s is chocolate w/chocolate chunks in a sugar cone).
 Instead of chasing your prospecting tail, spinning around and around until you get so dizzy you fall over, wouldn’t it be great to prospect forward down the right trail to earning your perfect customer’s business?
You know the customers once you’ve started doing business with them. They believe in YOU and the company you work for. There is a mutual level of trust:
Choose your own SPF
 No - not the sun protection factor, instead the Sales Production Factor where you decide how much money a particular prospect or customer could do with you (not should, preferably would).
Base the SPF on what their business needs are today PLUS what they look like in the future. Don’t forget to ask yourself - are you a good fit to be their vendor AND can they afford you?  Always keep a prospect or customer’s SPF rating in mind when deciding how much time, energy, and effort to spend with them.
How time is spent and what attitude you choose for the day are the only two things salespeople have control over. Make sure that both are aligned with your personal goals for the day... week... month... quarter... hmmm - maybe simplify and ask “is doing this going to make me more successful?”  Now it’s time for you to raise your own sales temperature, you can do it anytime - no need to wait for Sirius to align itself with the sun. Create the profile of your perfect customer.
Step 1: Figure out what information is important to your business. Like what? Well, here are Lynn’s top 5, they may not help in YOUR business, it also isn’t an exhaustive list - rather it is to give you a starting point to create your own:
Safety tip.... you probably know most of this info anyway, you just haven’t put it all together.
 Hey Lynn - What if I’m new and don’t have top customers yet?
I'm so glad you asked!
2nd - Ask your manager the same question. 3rd - Put it all together and add in the sprinkles that make you unique. Step 3: Look for common threads that run through your list. The next time you are making prospecting calls, listen for the clues that tell you you’re on the right trail vs. chasing your own tail. Now that your perfect customer profile is done (or at least you’ve got a 1st draft going), go out and enjoy the sunshine.  |
Dog Days of Summer are from the beginning of July through the middle of August.
This is when Sirius “the dog star” – as it is the brightest star in constellation Canis Major – rises & sets in conjunction with the sun. Long, long ago in Rome they believed this added to the heat given off by the sun making it hotter. I always wonder what the corresponding saying is south of the equator. If you know or find out, email me and let me know, perhaps there is a frosty treat in it for you. An UpYourTeleSales.com Reminder Need more info on customer profiling? Believe it or not the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership has a great online article on Customer Profiling with how to steps. Although a little dry, Small Business Notes also talks about Customer Characteristics. The Customer Knowledge Advantage blog is another resource on the topic. TeleSales Twist Don’t forget to identify what your perfect customer profile sounds like on the phone.
Want to use any of our content in your publication, blog, or website? If so, please include the bio below and let us know when and where it will appear. Lynn Hidy, founder of UpYourTeleSales.com, is the specialist at creating profitable telesales sales people and organizations. She knows you can make six figures over the phone - she does it! Working with Lynn you will learn to create a phone experience where they will forget you aren't actually having a cup of coffee together. To find out more about Lynn, read her latest articles, or subscribe to A Chip Off The Block her free newsletter - call 315-751-0146 or visit www.upyourtelesales.com. |
|
If someone forwarded you this email and you would like to receive it every month into your inbox, sign up for your own subscription. This newsletter was sent to $EMAIL$ and is a free perk brought to you by UpYourTeleSales.com. If you view the eZine as inbox clutter instead of valuable and fun information please unsubscribe and we will stop bothering you with it. Sign Up at our Coaching over Coffee blog to participate in ongoing telesales conversations, tips and tricks, or anything that strikes us as helpful to Up Your teleSales. Web Version | Subscribe to A Chip Off the Block
UpYourTeleSales.com will not rent or trade your email address with anyone - we hate SPAM as much as you do! Plus, you have complete control over subscribing or un-subscribing to our email newsletter. |