I Think It’s Time for Me To Call It Quits by Tim Wackel

I don’t know about your experience but I’m hearing so much economic doom and gloom that I think it must be time for me to give up and quit. The newspapers and television networks have convinced me (and almost everyone else) that we’re in a hopeless situation. I really wanted my business to prosper and grow in 2009 but I must be an idiot for believing there is any chance for success. I guess it’s time to turn off the lights, lock the doors and wait patiently for the economy to improve.

Or is it?

Maybe business development professionals everywhere need to answer these four questions (honestly) before tossing in the towel.

#1. How does this “recession” actually affect you?

The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession as three quarters of falling real gross domestic product. This might be fascinating stuff to some people, but I can’t directly correlate “real gross domestic product” to my sales effectiveness.

Can you?

Even during a recession companies still have to buy goods and services. They may buy different, they may buy less, but they still have to buy. If you can’t convince prospects that what you’re offering is a solid investment with meaningful return, then maybe the problem lies closer to home.

#2. Do you really believe you’re on your customer’s speed dial?

Customers are nervous just like everyone else; they’re reading the same headlines that you are. Sitting in the office waiting for them to call you isn’t going to help you meet your goals.

Reach out and contact everyone you’ve ever done business with. Show up with valuable ideas, offer help, look for referrals and ask for their business. This isn’t open season to “call and check-in” but it’s a great time to re-connect and nourish all of your existing relationships.  

This may sound like a lot of work because it is. Very few people ever drift into greatness; it requires action.

What are you waiting for?

#3. Are you as good as you could be?

Many sales people think that once they’ve taken a professional selling course, they’re essentially done with learning. That may be OK if someday your closing question becomes: Will that be paper or plastic?

Success as a sales professional requires skill, knowledge, attitude and purpose. If you’re not consistently developing yourself in these areas then you’re going backwards. There is no status quo.

There are more development tools available for today’s sales professional than ever before. Books, podcasts, tele-seminars, live training programs, webinars, personal coaches, downloads, sales portals and much more.  You can’t wait for your boss or organization to take responsibility for your success. It’s up to YOU!

It takes courage to admit you can be better and confidence to believe you can change. It takes nothing at all to create excuses.

#4. How much energy are you wasting on things you can’t control?

The world surrounds us with headlines about inflation, bailouts, credit crisis, mortgage fiasco, recession, debt, jobless claims and on and on.

Are you concerned? I know that I am. But I don’t have much control over what is happening in the headlines, so why get tied up in knots?

This is a valuable lesson I learned as a kid on the farm. It’s a tough life and it sure doesn’t get easier if you worry all the time about whether or not it’s going to rain. All you can do is take care of the equipment, prepare the land, plant the seed, fertilize the fields and wait for the harvest. 

And running your sales business isn’t much different.

• Take care of the equipment (invest in yourself)


• Prepare the land (make yourself known in all of your accounts)


• Plant the seed (add value with every contact)


• Fertilize the fields (take care of your customers)


• Wait for the harvest (if you do everything else right, the business will follow)

 

Speaking of Sales is about finding, winning and keeping customers for life. If that’s part of your job, then you won’t want to miss the next issue.

Until then,

Tim

Tim Wackel

tim@timwackel.com

214.369.7722

Tim Wackel is hired by sales executives who want their teams to
blow the number away. Tim’s “no excuses” programs
are insightful, engaging and focused on providing real world strategies
that salespeople can (and will!) implement right away. Sales teams
from BMC Software, Cisco, Fossil, Hewlett Packard, Allstate, Thomson
Reuters, Raytheon, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, Catalina Marketing,
Philips Medical Systems, Red Hat and TXU Energy count on Tim to
help them create more success in business and in life.

Cold Calling, Burger Joints, and Muhammad Ali - How Great Is That! by Jerry Hocutt

You walk up to the counter at your favorite burger joint, place your order, and get your order. You expect to get a burger. You get a burger.

Salespeople who cold call think cold calling is like placing a burger order. You make a call, you get an appointment. But it doesn’t work that way. That’s like saying a weekend duffer can sign up for the Masters and expect to get the green jacket.

No wonder salespeople feel cold calling is hopeless. No wonder they are reluctant to make the calls. That would be like placing your order for a burger and not getting it after you’ve paid for it. So you go to the competitor across the street, place your order, pay, and don’t get served again. If this happens to you at every joint you go to, you’ll become reluctant to go to the next and the next. You feel paying for burgers you never get is a hopeless venture. Why keep wasting your time and money?

“I AM the Greatest!”

Instead, think of being a cold caller as being like a professional athlete, a chef, or a rock star. Before the athlete moves from amateur to professional status, before the cook becomes a chef, before the singer moves from the lounge to the world stage, they have to be good at what they do. They have to do what it takes and pay the price to be among the best.

Selling and cold calling is as much an art as being a pro athlete, chef, and rock star. You have to do the job it takes and get better.

Muhammad Ali didn’t become the world’s greatest because he wanted to be great. He didn’t become the greatest because he said he was. He became great because he was willing to do what it takes to become great.

Ali said, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”

He paid the price in advance without any assurance he would become an icon. He only had faith that if he paid the price, if he did what great boxers do, he had a shot. And a better shot than any of his competitors who didn’t have the faith and didn’t have the will and didn’t want to pay the price.

Imagine if you will

You can apply this thinking to anything you do, any business you’re in. But let’s apply it to cold calling since this is where we started and this is the most discouraging part of selling.

What if you were the greatest cold caller? How bright would your future be, both in accomplishments and in financial security? How many companies would be recruiting you? How many choices to do anything in business would you have?

Imagine how much business you would find if you had the skills, the will, and the motivation to call on any person, any time. How great is that?

If you want to be great, you have to be willing to do what it takes to be great. Don’t think of cold calling as getting the sale or getting the appointment. Think of cold calling as becoming the person it takes to do what needs to be done to become great. When you’re the greatest, you’ll do great things and get great rewards. To paraphrase Ali: “Make the calls. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

I’ll leave you with this thought that hangs by my desk so I can see it every day. I’ve had it for over 20 years, and the paper it’s written on has yellowed and turned brittle. Every time I look at it, I learn something new about myself and how I do my job. It’s from the book, Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow, by Marsha Sinetar.

When an archer is shooting for nothing, he has all his skills,

If he shoots for a brass buckle, he is already nervous,..

The prize divides him.

He cares.

He thinks more of winning than of shooting – and the need to win

Drains him of power.

About The Author:

© 2009 Jerry Hocutt. Read more articles by Jerry at his blog http://footinthedoor.squarespace.com/journal and listen to a free preview of his CD/MP3 audio program Cold Calling for Cowards® at http://www.footinthedoor.com/freepreview.html.

Rule #1 for Developing People! by Dave Anderson

One of my favorite Jim Rohn quotes is, "Don't send ducks to eagle school." In other words, don't hire the wrong people, train them and expect to transform an ugly duckling into a soaring eagle. When I mention the "wrong people", I refer to those who have no talent for the job at hand. Lacking qualities like drive, character, attitude and energy will also relegate them to "wrong" status.

Hiring fast and out of desperation will cause you to hire the wrong people. So will looking at an unimpressive track record and thinking, "things will be different when they work for me." Giving people who have done little or nothing in life the benefit of the doubt sets you up for failure because you're already making excuses for them and they're not even on the payroll yet!

Taking these thoughts into consideration, you should keep in mind the number one rule when developing others : "I can make you more than you are, I just can't make you something that you're not!"

If someone lacks the skills or knowledge necessary to excel at their job, you can make a difference in their performance through training. Skills and knowledge can be taught and learned. However, if they lack talent for the task at hand, you cannot help them become something that they're not. Nor can they carve out new talents in their life in arenas where they were never wired by the Creator from the outset.

This would be a good time to reevaluate your team and honestly determine whether or not you plan on sending ducks to eagle school in 2009. This is important because there is little more frustrating for you or for a mis-employed worker than training them longer and harder and continuing to realize poor results. No one benefits from this sort of misalignment. Train a duck all you like, but when you bring them up to award them their "eagle certificate," you'll notice that they'll still waddle off the stage.

Final thought on hiring and developing eagles: You're more likely to hire eagles if you paint a portrait in advance of what the ideal job candidate looks like. What would their track record look like? What positive traits would show up in their lives? How well would they score on the pre-hiring assessment you give them? What type of income level would they have attained? Take the time to do this because if you want to hire great people, you must first define what "great" means to you and your organization.

About The
Author:

Peak performance author, columnist, trainer, speaker and radio show
host for sales, management and leadership, Dave Anderson walks the talk
as a leader. He has led some of the most successful retail automotive
dealership in the country—the most recent dealer group he led
had over $300,000,000 in annual sales—and now gives 150 presentations,
workshops and speeches annually on sales and leadership development
around the globe.

Dave is author of
over 50 training programs on sales, management and leadership including
the books, Selling Above The Crowd: 365 Strategies For Sales Excellence
and No Nonsense Leadership: Real World Strategies To Maximize Personal
& Corporate Potential. Dave authors a monthly leadership column
for Dealer magazine, publishes a monthly leadership newsletter and hosts
the weekly radio talk show, Dave Anderson’s Learn To Lead Hour.
His books, cassettes, videos, newsletter, column, web articles and live
presentations pull no punches and provide real world strategies for
peak performance in business and in life.

Dave is a member
of the National Speaker's Association and is a featured speaker at conventions
worldwide.

Dave is president
of the Dave Anderson's Learn To Lead and LearnToLead.com, a cutting
edge web site providing hundreds of free training resources to thousands
of subscribers in over 30 countries.

Contact
Information:

The Dave Anderson Corporation

P.O. Box 1119

Los Altos CA 94024

Phone: 800-519-8224

www.learntolead.com

dave@learntolead.com

The Attractor Factor by Jim Meisenheimer

Did you know that being different is an attractor factor?

It's true!



Allow me a quick sidebar:

Last week, Bernadette, my wife and I drove to the East
Coast of Florida for three days.

We stayed at the grand Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
It's a five-star hotel built in 1926.

The hotel was virtually empty. In fact, one night at
dinner we counted two other couples in the dining room.
There were more servers in the dining room than there
were guests.

A lot of business meetings have been canceled this year
because of the recession. Many more have been canceled
out of fear of being chastised by the federal government
for having extravagant annual sales meetings.

In any event it wasn't a pretty sight.

Rants and raves about the Biltmore.

Our first breakfast rated a 2 on a 10 scale. It took 25
minutes to get an order of English muffins and scrambled
eggs. Both arrived cold. We had a tee time so we couldn't
wait for the restaurant to try again.

One of the tractor drivers on the golf course must have
been on steroids and having a bad day. He buzzed us up
and down the fairways on five different golf holes. And
there was hardly anyone else playing golf. I guess he
wanted the golf course to himself.

The next day at breakfast things were much better. We
had the same server we had on the first day but she
must've taken a spur of the moment fast track customer
service training program. Well, she graduated with
flying colors. Our food was served quickly and everything
was hot. Everything was perfect!

Gives new meaning to - "What a difference a day makes."

Okay, now back to the topic.

In sales, being different makes a difference. In fact,
in life being different makes a difference.

Here's an example.

Throughout my life I've been approached by a lot of
different panhandlers.

I see them at traffic lights with cardboard signs.

I see them in cities on the ground with hands extended
hoping for handouts.

Usually, it's nothing creative just a request for some
change.

Every once in a while someone will ask if you can spare
a buck.

A few years ago Bernadette and I had lunch near Wall
Street and took a cab back to the hotel. The cab wasn't
moving because of the traffic jam.

A woman, who looked to be about 70, approached my side
of the cab and said, "Honey - I'm pregnant and diabetic
can you spare a few bucks to help me out." Now really!

Up until last week that was my panhandler's best-of-the-breed.

Bernadette wanted to go to South Beach, about a 20 minute
drive from our hotel.

So off we went. I won't bore you with the details but she
did her touch and see routine in about 20 shops.

On the street again in search for an oceanfront watering
hole we came upon an old man with an old dog.

The dog wasn't wearing a leash. The old man looked at us
and pointed at his dog.

The dog was carrying a pale partially filled with loose
change and dollar bills.

The dog seemed to align himself with us, by walking in the
same direction with us.

The panhandler had delegated the panhandling to his
dog - unbelievable!

The dog looked like he was on the 9-to-5 shift. He
wasn't about to change directions until we made our
deposit.

And we did. Bernadette took every loose coin from her
purse and gave it to the panhandling dog.

Now that was different.

It got our attention.

It created some interest.

It got us to take action.

It also got our money!

I'll leave you with this question to ponder.

Why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?

In sales being different is an attractor factor!



P.S. There's a sales lesson here for you.

1. Don't blend in with your competition - do everything
you can to stand out!

2. Don't do what the competition is doing - do something
different.

3. Don't hide what makes you unique - share it with people.

If you want to take your attractor factor and kick it up
a notch, you'll get a few good ideas here.

About
The Author:

Jim is a
Sales Strategist and is the creator of No-Brainer Selling Skills.
He shows salespeople and entrepreneurs how to increase sales,
earn more money, have more fun, and how to do it all in less
time. His focus is on practical ideas that get immediate results.
He offers Advanced Sales Management Workshops, Sales Coaching,
Consulting, In-house Sales Training Programs, and a wide variety
of Learning Tools i.e. books, special reports, sales manuals,
and CDs.Jim Meisenheimer
is a member of The National Speakers Association, where he earned
the C.S.P. designation, Certified Speaking Professional. He
has authored five books including, "The 12 Best Questions
To Ask Customers," and the recently published “57
Ways To Take Control Of Your Time And Your Life”.

Websites: http://www.startsellingmore.com/

http://www.meisenheimer.com/

Fear And Uncertainty As De-Motivators by Tim Connor, CSP

Words of wisdom for this week.   

“The flocks fear the wolf, the crops the storm and the trees the wind.”   Virgil

Fear and uncertainty are two of the biggest de-motivators of employees.  When an employee is not sure whether they will have a job next week or year or are uncertain as to whether you will even be in business next month I’ll guarantee that these are having a negative impact on their loyalty, productivity, effectiveness and creativity.

We live in an uncertain world and always have.  There is no security in a job, a career or a way of life.  Sooner or later each of us must face our own reality that our security is within us.  However, this mindset takes a great deal of maturity, courage and self-trust which many employees lack today.

Add to this mix of emotional chaos for an employee the unknowns that they have little control over and is it any wonder why companies are failing in droves these days.

If you want to successfully emerge from these challenging times it’s going to take creativity, staying power and faith in yourself and your employees.  It is going to require that your employees have faith and trust in your decisions, actions and choices of which they have very little control.

Too many managers attempt to hide the raw truth from employees or camouflage it around positive words without positive actions supporting them.  Employees can generally see right through your veil of uncertainty and will behave accordingly. 

Everyone wants to feel secure but too many people turn their security over to forces outside of themselves.  Everyone wants to feel in control and yet few of us really have control over many of the situations in our lives.  So what’s the answer?

If you want motivated, productive and creative employees shoot straight with them but at the same time keep looking for imaginative ways to maintain or grow your business.  Staying stuck in old mindsets, policies, products or services during changing times is a recipe for disaster.  It is important to;

-engage your employees

-encourage their open communication whether you like the message or not.

-ask them for their creative solutions or ideas to your current challenges.

-trust their judgment and decisions

-create a positive and validating culture.

-reward optimism a as well as communicated realities.

Motivation is defined simply as goal directed action or purposeful action.  De-motivation occurs when one or both are missing – either clear goals, direction or purpose and/or focused actions and behavior.

So ask yourself; how are you or other members of your management team contributing to the continuing fears or uncertainties that your employees are experiencing.  Ask yourself; what can you start, change or do to reinforce your commitment to your business, its secure future and your employee’s feelings of safety and security.

Do it now before it is too late.

About
The Author:

Tim Connor, CSP World renowned Speaker, Trainer and best selling
author of 67 titles, Box 397, Davidson, N.C. 28036 USA, 704-895-1230
(voice) - 704-895-1231 (fax) - tim@timconnor.com (email) - www.timconnor.com (Website)

TO HIRE
TIM - CONTACT;

Tim Connor,
CSP

Speaker, Trainer, Best Selling Author

Box 397 Davidson, N.C. 28036 USA

704-895-1230 (voice) 704-895-1231 (fax)

tim@timconnor.com (email)

www.timconnor.com

Are Your Business Relationships Strong Enough to Survive in Hard Times? by Ed Emde, President, Wilson Learning

Whatever your industry, your customers are most likely delaying projects and looking for ways to cut costs.

This is a good time to take stock of the relationship-building capabilities of your team. Are current relationships strong enough to withstand the destructive pressures of today’s tough economic environment? Do your salespeople know how to leverage personal assets and the assets of your company to “competitor proof” their customer relationships? To build enduring connections with customers requires two distinctive kinds of skills focused on two distinctive kinds of relationships.

The Importance of “Little r” Relationships 

The first type of relationship is based on interpersonal connections between members of a sales team and members of a buying team. These relationships might be thought of as “little r” connections. They are founded on a salesperson’s ability to demonstrate that he or she is trustworthy, competent, and credible as a business consultant and advisor.. Customers are assured of reliability and can count on their trusted representative to protect their interests, respond quickly to help meet special needs, and offer reliable business results.  Customers become highly averse to risking the loss of these payoffs, and are inclined to resist offers of discounts and price cuts from competing vendors.  Even when individual contacts are restrained by budget cuts, they will remember and return to doing business with people they know and trust.

Even one or two little r relationships have value, but the real relationship benefit occurs when sales representatives develop a whole network of connections with the right people in the customer organization. With a wide range of contacts who view the sales representative as a trusted business partner, inside information will be shared, and contacts step up as champions, advocates, and coaches. The salesperson will receive advance notice of opportunities and get critical “heads up” notices when potential decisions could adversely affect a sale.   

On the flip side, if these relationships are weak, or have been allowed to erode through sub-par performance, they offer no protection against competitive encroachment. In the worst cases, where deadlines have been missed or customer concerns left unaddressed,, a poor relationship can actually open the door to competitors.

It may seem elementary, but to build extraordinary “little r” relationships, it’s critical to ensure your sales team knows how to:

• Establish professional credibility.


• Build trust.


• Demonstrate the value of a relationship with every customer, on every call.


• Exercise a high level of skill in identifying the right people to contact.


• Be fully engaged and capable of carrying out “due diligence” in learning about each customer’s personal and business issues.

The Value of “Big R” Relationships

As important as little r relationships are, they can be vulnerable to promotions, re-organizations, and downsizing. An even more powerful and compelling relationship is the one that exists at the level of business-to-business—a different type of bond we can call “Big R.” Big R connections are based on business benefits that are highly valued because they are aligned with the customer’s corporate strategy, goals, and critical success factors.

For example, a company that provides its customers with complex high-tech solutions may be very concerned about the R&D direction and technical capabilities of the supplier of a critical component of their offering. Because Big R buyers have a long time horizon and higher risks, they want to understand the supplier’s marketing and product strategy, and they depend on the supplier’s stability.

Though not every customer has the potential for developing a Big R relationship, your sales team needs to know how to identify these highly valuable customers, assess their potential, and establish the Big R relationship. This requires business acumen and gathering both internal and external information. Specifically, they must develop the capabilities needed to:

• Fully understand the customer’s solutions.


• Analyze the customer’s marketplace and business strategy.


• Gain a clear understanding of the customer’s business processes.


• Verify and articulate the customer’s long-term goals and the priorities driving decision making from the top of the organization.

The next step is to know how to create alignment between the way these select customers are doing business and the way your company does business with them.

The Bottom Line

Every company is looking today for an edge that will open the doors to new business and serve as a protection against erosion of market share. Some are focused on renewed attempts to differentiate a product offering, some are talking about “building the brand,” while others struggle to price-cut their way to a better revenue stream. These strategies can’t work for every company—only one can truly be the lowest-cost provider in its category, and few can achieve sustainable differentiation.

On the other hand, strong and enduring relationships are not dependent on product features others can duplicate or price cuts that can actually hurt the seller’s bottom line. Rather, both little r and Big R relationships offer a unique competitive advantage by delivering real business value deriving from the relationship itself rather than from a product or a price. The ability of a sales team to leverage interpersonal connections and corporate business alignment becomes the best and most reliable resource for maintaining current market share and driving growth, even in an unpredictable and chaotic economic environment.

              # # #

About Ed Emde:

As President, Ed Emde has overall responsibility for business strategy and operations in the Americas.  Emde has 25 years of experience working directly with senior level executives in linking Human Resources Development, Organizational Development, Training and Education initiatives to strategic imperatives and business outcomes.

He has held executive and leadership positions with a number of the leading training and organizational development companies in the industry including five years as the President and CEO of Blessing White. He also spent seven years with Wilson Learning Corporation earlier in his career managing business development and implementation services for key client relationships in the Midwest.

To learn more contact: Wilson Learning at 1.800.328.7937 or visit www.wilsonlearning.com.

Sending Information? Mutilate It First by Jim Dunn & John Schumann

Problem:  Marketing departments have a love/hate relationship with salespeople.  They “hate” them (sometimes) because they feel their products and services would sell more if the salespeople knew what they were doing, but they love ‘em because they are great consumers of all the product literature, brochures, fliers, etc. that marketing departments tend to crank out.  Let’s face it, salespeople still have a tendency to send information to prospects every chance they get.  When a prospect says, “Send me some literature,” most salespeople interpret this request as sincere interest and are optimistic that they’ve got a “live one.”  But rarely does mailing literature result in a positive outcome.  Prospects deny receiving it, plead they haven’t had time to read it or simply don’t return the salesperson’s calls.

Diagnosis:  Although most salespeople are beginning to understand that a literature request is often a put-off, they still have a tendency to send it.  Why?  First, most prospects disguise indifference in an attempt to get rid of salespeople.  “Send me some literature” gets most salespeople off the phone quickly.  Secondly, hope springs eternal.  Salespeople feel that if the prospect gets the information and actually reads it, the “compelling” sales story may get a positive response.  Finally, no one likes rejection.  No appointment and no next step (like sending literature) is a “no” – rejection.  “Got to avoid this at all costs,” the little guy inside our head tells us.

Prescription:  Our recommendation is to avoid sending literature unless you have a really compelling reason for doing so and have a good meeting agreement with the prospect as to what will happen after he receives it.  If you absolutely have to send literature, make it easy for your prospect to read it.  Mutilate it!

You want the prospect to look at enough of the information to understand your message and want to read more.  Here are some tips for getting your literature read.  Mark important passages with a brightly colored green highlighter (decision-makers are often driver types and green attracts their attention, surveys show).  Take a bold felt tip pen and draw arrows to important things and write, “read this.”  Use post-it notes for added emphasis.  Attach your business card with the back (blank) side showing and write on it “here’s the info you wanted me to send.”  All of this says to the prospect, “Read me, I’m different.”  With all this clutter, it would be difficult not to get noticed and you’re saving your prospect time by making your message easier to read.

Good Selling!

About
The Authors

The creators
of the Common Sense Selling® process are two
not-so-common sales professionals and trainers, Jim Dunn and John
Schumann. They saw the lack of results and frustration that most
salespeople experienced using the old “feature, advantage,
and benefit” selling approach in today’s more complex
selling environment.

Using their
combined 65 plus years of sales experience, they developed a new,
common sense approach to selling that is unconventional, by most
standards…and it works!

Visit them at http://www.whetstonegroup.com/

Handling the Economy Objection Once and For All by Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales

(Note: If you missed last week's teleseminar "Recessionary Objection Handling", download it for free when you purchase our Volume I CD Package that is an additional $30 off this week. Click here for details.)

If you're still getting the "We're just not going to do anything until the economy (settles down or improves, or whatever...), when you are closing the sale and asking for the order, then I've got some good news and bad news for you:

First the good news: After reading this article, and applying the techniques in it, you will virtually eliminate this objection once and for all.

Now the bad news: If you're getting this objection during the close when you're asking for the sale then you're responsible for creating it.

Here's the bottom line: It's your responsibility to qualify out any economy, price, budget objections on the front end call so that these objections don't come up during the close. If you're still getting these objections later on, it means you didn't "disqualify" out the non-buyers - which are what you're dealing with when you get this objection.

It doesn't mean they aren't EVER going to be buyers, it just means they aren't going to buy now. And you need to know that in the beginning and NOT send any information or demo out.

Here are some questions to ask to identify who will and who won't use the "We're just going to wait until the economy gets better" objection.

During the qualifying call, make sure and ask any of the following questions by working them into your specific sale:

"A lot of companies are taking advantage of this (your product or service) now that the economy is slow - do you think the time is right for you, too?"

"Given what's happening in the economy right now, do you still see yourself (or your company) moving forward with this now?"

If they say they don't know, then layer it with:

"When do you think would be a more appropriate time for you?"

Also, ask:

"How are you doing in this economy?"

Layer:

"Are you still going to be able to participate in this if we can get you the (price, rate, deal) we're talking about here?"

Ask:

"__________, many of our clients find that this (your product or service) is still important regardless of what is happening in the economy - is it something that you still have in your budget?"

I think you're getting the idea, right? The bottom line is that it's up to YOU to eliminate any budget objections BEFORE you get into the closing arena. And you'll do this by asking these types of qualifying/disqualifying questions in advance.

Start using them today and watch as your closing ratio goes up, and your frustration level goes down.

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s Ebook: “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts,” which is packed with word for word scripts and techniques that you can begin using today to make more appointments and more sales.  You can read about it by clicking here:

http://www.mrinsidesales.com/scriptbook.htm

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by

visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com