Marc Wayshak says there are two types of salespeople. The first is Willy Wish-it-would-close. This guy is constantly getting pushed around by prospects. He’s giving away all of his value, trying his best to close, but just gets a ton of people saying they wanna think it over. Willy’s bank account is therefore running dangerously low. Then you got the other type of salesperson: Strategic Steve. His calendar’s chock-full of leads. Prospects are eager to hear what he has to say. Many of them buy, and so Steve’s ballin’ out.
“The difference between these two people,” Marc says, “isn’t as big a difference as you’d think. The solution is to throw out all of the old-school crap that we have been taught over the years. We need to completely flip the script right on its head. It’s time to stop being predictable and start to use an approach that your prospects do not expect, by coming in with value, creating strong conversations, and then letting the close naturally happen. There are seven keys to closing more sales in today’s marketplace.”
Marc still thinks the ole phone sale’s hard to beat. Social media, email, video sales letters, they all have their place, but outside of standing face-to-face with someone, closing over the phone is your best bet. Key number one is that data is everything. Dial all you want, but if you don’t have accurate names and phone numbers, you’re just gonna spin your wheels. Depending on where you get your prospects’ data from, it can be the difference between an answer rate or three percent, or forty percent.
Key number two is to hyper-personalize everything. “The more we are personalized in our outreach on the phone, the more successful we are going to be,” Marc explains. “Prospects are so weary of telemarketers, of just salespeople who are dialing all day long. And so what we can do to really stand out is really personalize our message to our prospect. To show them that we know who they are, what’s going on, where they are, what company they work at, all that stuff. And then they’re more likely to open up to us.”
Key number three is to user a powerdialer. It’s one of the best pieces of software for companies that rely on high volumes of sales calls. There’s nothing more wonky and slow than having to physically dial a number on a phone. Powerdialing increases the number of calls your team can make in an hour, significantly. Some of Marc’s sales peeps make as many as eighty calls an hour because of this. For manual dialers, that same level of output could easily end up taking an entire day.
Key number four is to not cold call. It’s outdated and unnecessary. “You don’t have to make a purely cold dial to anyone,” Marc says. “Because there’s other ways that you can reach out to your prospects first in order to start to warm up that relationship. So that way, by the time you make that first dial, if they answer the phone, they’re likely to know who you are. So leverage other mediums that are going to allow you to make sure that they actually have an idea as to who you are. Maybe it’s email, maybe it’s LinkedIn, maybe it’s another social media platform.”
Fifth, you gotta know your script. Don’t wing it. What you’re saying has to be on point. Marc’s literally never seen a top performer who doesn’t use a script. Sixth, one call ain’t gonna cut it. Try them on different days, at different times, from different numbers, to get the best results. Seventh, stop selling, start getting the next step. Maybe it’s a follow-up call or a consult or hopping on Zoom; whatever it is, just take it one step at a time. Sales Insights Lab has an Accelerator Lab you can join if you want Marc’s help. No word on what it costs.
