Imagine a baseball player that has a bad day… he strikes out multiple times, and when he does finally make contact with the ball he hits a foul. Does he give up baseball because of one awful game? No.
Everyone faces frustrations now and then, and that carries over into the challenging world of inside sales. One frustrating game of baseball, or one bad sales call, doesn’t mean you’re going to fail in every single future endeavor. The baseball player will find ways to improve his game — practice his swing or meet with a trainer — perhaps that’s all you need to do as a salesperson too. Come back to the plate and modify your approach. In this article, we’ll cover a few sales call tips and look at ways to boost morale among team members after a bad call.
Every Call Won’t Go as Planned
After a sales call that doesn’t go quite as expected, a salesperson may feel discouraged and upset with themselves. It’s only natural to feel disappointed, sad, or maybe even angry. As a leader, it’s your job to help reps figure out what went wrong and how they can do better next time. Is there something the sales rep can do differently, or would the prospect have never been happy?
When a salesperson’s morale is low, he or she will not perform their best. Management should be understanding and helpful in getting the individual back on track. Allow the rep to take a moment and be with his or her feelings. A quick walk outside for a breath of fresh air and mind-clearing walk can help someone move on more easily to the next lead.
Schedule a regular team meeting and allow your salespeople to discuss their worst calls. If you plan it before lunch or on a Friday afternoon, they’ll have time to step away from their emotions and come back in a positive mood for their next set of calls. These meetings will give your employees a chance to sympathize with each other and receive advice from their peers – many of whom are likely facing similar issues. Here are three questions you can ask to facilitate productive conversations (instead of rants):
- What could you have said differently?
- Did you appropriately react to the situation?
- How can you better deal with similar prospects in the future?
Offer one-on-one time for salespeople who would like to discuss their calls further. Sit down with your employee and listen to the recorded call to glean any insights and provide constructive criticisms. Remind your employee that “50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy.” If a salesperson is thrown off by the experience, offer to listen in on their next call and provide advice. Many call solutions offer the ability to listen in and coach your sales reps during sales calls.
10 Sales Call Tips for a Successful Call
5 Tips for Sales Managers
Managers can position their sales team for successful calls by incorporating these five tips:
- Create daily goals – Instead of focusing on quarterly or monthly quotas, identify goals that can be achieved daily. Breaking quotas down into smaller daily goals gives the salesperson more opportunity to celebrate small wins.
- Provide training opportunities – Ensure your employees are well informed about what they’re selling. Provide ongoing training on your product and services as well as sales strategies and tactics.
- Implement sales scripts – Management has the data that shows what works and what doesn’t on sales calls. Logical branch scripting can guide even the most novice of salespeople to close a deal.
- Understand common sales objections – It’s important that your team knows how to overcome common sales objections. Take the top three sales objections your salespeople hear and provide them with various ways to turn it around and get the prospect to a ‘yes.’
- Review previous calls – Gain valuable insight as to where improvements are needed. Recorded calls can also reveal what is working and should be repeated for your desired outcome.
5 Tips for Salespeople
Once they’re ready to pick up the phone and start dialing ensure that sales team members keep these 5 sales call tips in mind.
- Exude confidence and a positive attitude – Tying back to number two above, when a salesperson fully understands the product their expertise will shine through.
- Engage the prospect – Include open-ended questions in the sales script that encourages them to reveal the business problems they’re facing related to your product/service.
- Eliminate distractions. When a salesperson is on a call, you want them to be focused and not trying to multitask. Each prospect should be provided with the caller’s full attention so that nothing important is missed.
- Follow up, follow up, and follow up. According to The Marketing Donut, 80% of sales require five follow up calls after a meeting. Don’t expect the prospect to be ready to close after two calls. Most CRM solutions include a feature that triggers follow ups.
- Pre-record voicemails – When making calls it’s inevitable that the salesperson will get someone’s voicemail. So, make sure they’re leaving a well-crafted message by using a tool that allows them to pre-record voicemails. It not only saves time but ensures all points are touched on in the message.
These tips are mainly for novice salespeople, but those that have been in sales for decades have room for growth too. Maybe they’re great on the phone but need some direction on digital selling. There’s always something that can be improved upon. “Practice makes perfect,” or at least better, so don’t let your salespeople give up after one bad call. Encourage them to move forward and constantly be looking for ways to empower them in their sales career.
If your sales team needs a little extra motivation check out these 12 Helpful Quotes Focused on Inside Sales Inspiration. Consider printing out and posting some of these around your office to build excitement around selling.
