In college, I took a series of leadership classes. The focus of the series was about how to be a leader, how to manage yourself, and the people around you. I remember how much the professors stressed that how you can not take back a first impression. Of course, this was my last semester, so the professors were preparing their students to spread our wings and enter the real world's trials and tribulations -the interview process.
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In recent blogs, you have probably noticed people writing about the art of how we peak prospects interests. I think it's pretty clear how important the first couple of seconds of the conversation are. Knowing how to sit back and drive it home through your teleprospecting efforts is a different story.
For example: In Craig's recent blog, he talks about when you get someone live and 30 seconds into their lengthy elevator pitch your opportunity is dead because you have wasted their time by talking too much. Blah! blah! blah!
So... how the heck do we keep this conversation alive if we only have a couple of seconds to speak (and we can't stand in front of them and make them listen to what you have to say!)?
My colleague, Nicole and I have been debating about what makes a great teleprospector and one of the attributes we came to agree upon is how they handle their conversation. In previous blogs we have stressed the importance of a clear purpose of your call; more importantly, how this needs to be followed by a compelling transition question.
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Everyone has their own unique personality and we all communicate very differently. It's interesting when we think about people in our lives that we look up to on a day to day basis. I personally tend to gravitate to more distinct, unique, and spontaneous communicators; always positive thinkers. I find these people inspiring and interesting to watch and listen to, and maybe that is because there is no telling what they will say or do next. The bottom line here is that there is something that intrigued me enough to make me want to listen.
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I've been thinking lately that life is kind of like a series of sales situations, and if you never ask for the sale, you're always going to get a "no." So, I think that not only in life, but in teleprospecting, we should always strive to be initiators and be proactive.
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In sales, we all have goals and quotas, correct? Some are set by our companies and some are set individually. When we reach our goals, there's a feeling of fulfillment and self accomplishment, along with knowing that we are building a better company. How many of us set a goal to "get in shape" so we can fit into that old pair of designer jeans we love? Several months later when we try on those jeans, it feels great when we can easily do up the zipper. Personal goals, along with business goals, must be specific in nature and accompanied with a specific strategy that details the actions necessary to achieve the goal. Setting specific business goals provides us with direction and motivation. Without specific goals we would just be drifting aimlessly along. We've all had days that we jump from one challenge to another....certainly, not a preferred mode of operation. Structure gets us back on track.
Here at AG, we achieve our goals by setting the expectations for our business development reps to deliver consistent quality. The following are just a few suggestions on ways to motivate and reinforce these goals.
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Are you an artist or a scientist? For years now, our lives have revolved around science and art. Science can always be taught by teachers and learned in books. By comparison, what we've done here at AG is provide the science and the tools our Business Development Rep's need to succeed, and then show them how to be passionate artists. Art, in contrast to science, is not as easily "learned"; you cannot always see things the way everyone else does. The beauty of art is in the eyes of the beholder. Audibly, artistically speaking then, the ability to differentiate yourself by the way you sound on the phone is one key to teleprospecting success. Think about the last time you "heard" someone smile over the phone...how did this make you feel? Today, did you have a great day, or did YOU make it a great day?
We have taken the personalities of our unique professional s and mixed it up a bit. We are all so very different and have so many unusual styles and approaches that make us distinctively exceptional. I am confident in stating that we are all good at what we do. One of the reasons that we are as successful as we are is because we want to be. It's all about attitude and being positively persistent that constantly keeps us working at ways to keep us staying great! People that feel good about what they do are good at what they do. As my colleague Ilona stated, "It's not ‘what' we do, but it's ‘how' we do it!"
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