If you are looking to improve your sales technique, the book “ULTIMATE SALES TOOL KIT: The Versatile 15-Piece Skill Set That Every Professional Needs (AMACOM, January 30, 2007; $19.95 hardcover) by William Miller can give you the right tools and skill set. The book presents 15 skill sets that a sales professional need, giving concreate examples and even worksheets to help you internalize the book’s teachings.
One of the techniques presented by the book is called the 20-Second Intro. This tool is designed to help you create an effective intro message for your sales call or email in order to pique the person’s interest enough to contact you back.
The mistake of most sales people is that they leave messages — but the messages are about themselves, which will obviously not interest the potential client! For example:
“Mr. Smith, this is Jim Morris at the ABC Company. What we do is …”
Instead of doing this approach, use the 20-second intro by asking questions that will resonate with them, not you. The goal of this approach is to have your prospect take your second call. For example:
“Hi Mr. Smith. I’m Jim Morris from the ABC Company. The reason for my call is to answer any questions you may be asking yourself, like: Is there a way that I can increase my revenues in a timely manner?”
The book offers more useful how-tos. Check it out if you need help finetuning your sales techniques.
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