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Sales 101 Training 101: Where to Start When Starting a New Position

Sales 101 Training

Where to Start When Starting a New Sales Position

“I’m starting a new sales position in a different field. How do I know what to say?”

Changing jobs is exciting and mildly unsettling at times. You’re excited about the challenge and also want to see success as early as possible, but starting with a new company and in a different field than your previous sales job can be tricky, even when the new company provides product knowledge sales training on their solutions.

Knowing your solution is one thing. Picking up the phone and knowing what to say is something different.

Inside sales professionals often make the mistake of “data dumping” the second they get a prospect on the phone. Data dumping often causes the prospect to respond with:

  • “No, thanks.”
  • “Not interested.”
  • “We already have something that does that.”
  •  “Just send me some information.”
  •  “We don’t have any budget.”

String enough of those calls together, and you’re going to struggle to keep your confidence up, let alone your enthusiasm.

Rejection is part of the sales game, but there are ways to increase your win rates early on, and part of that process is knowing what to say in the first 15 – 30 seconds of the sales call that will spark a sales conversation.

To develop a winning opening value statement (what to say after “Hello, my name is…”) that increases the likelihood of a sales conversation, you need to know the following:

Sales 101 Training: Identifying Your Target Audience

Know the NAME/TITLE of the Person You are Calling

You should know the top three to five titles of those who are almost always involved/identified as the decision-maker (or part of the decision-making team/process).

The last thing you want to do is call and ask, “Who’s in charge of _______?”

There are two primary reasons why calling and asking “Who’s in charge of _______?” is a bad sales strategy.

  1. It lets the gatekeeper know you’re a cold call, and the person you are looking for isn’t expecting your call.
  2. She may put you in touch with the person that would use your product/service/solution but not necessarily the one who makes the final purchasing decision.

Example:

Let’s say you sell a new air-filtering vent that will cut down infectious bacteria by 38%, and you ask the gatekeeper, “Who’s in charge of your system air filters?”

You may get the janitor instead of the CFO who is looking for ways to lower their liability bill, which your product would help them do!

SALES 101 TRAINING TIP:

To quickly find the name of the person that has the TITLE of who you want to contact, use LinkedIn, the company’s website, or do a Boolean search Google.

A Boolean search looks like this:

TITLE + @COMPANY-NAME-dot-COM to find the name of the person you are looking for quickly.

So let’s say you wanted to know the name of the CFO at SalesForce.com.

You would search for: CFO + @SALESFORCE.COM

Sales 101 Training: PAIN POINTS

Know the Top Three Reasons Why Past Clients Have Bought from Your New Company

Know the main reasons why past clients have bought. When starting a new position, I’ve found it very helpful to read testimonials from previous clients regarding my new employer. This will give insight and verbiage that you most likely will want to use when creating your opening value statement and hitting hot buttons. Know at least 3 KPI’s (Key Prospecting Indicators) that would quickly separate the “pre-qualified” from the “disqualified”.

Sales 101 Training: CALL OBJECTIVES

What Is Your Objective of the FIRST TIME CALL?

Anytime I call a new prospect for the first time, my goal is to qualify them and see if an opportunity exists. To qualify, I’m going to need to ask some questions. I will want real, open responses, so I’ll need to pique their interest quickly, so my opening value statement needs to be short and sweet.

So, with all of that laid out, one possible opening value statement script/template could look like this:

“Hi (Prospects Name) this is (Your Name) w/(Your Company Name) & the reason for my call is we recently helped (competitor) CUT/LOWER/REDUCE/SHRINK their _______ costs on average of ____% with our ___________ solution while improving _______________ by ____.”

A real-world example could look like this:

“Hi (Prospects Name); its Michael Pedone w/SalesBuzz.com.

The reason for my call is, we recently helped (competitor) CUT their SALES TRAINING COSTS in half while INCREASING their CLOSING RATIO by 22%.”

When you know whom to target, what problems they would have to have for them to be interested in your solutions, and know what to say and how to say it in the first 30-seconds of a sales call, you’ll get more conversations started and when you do hear “no” they won’t be rejecting you, they’ll be confirming they aren’t a good fit right now at this moment. 

And that’s a big difference on your psyche.

If you need further help to build a super-charged sales script for your team, you can schedule a one-on-one call with me here to discuss our services.

– Michael Pedone

Michael Pedone teaches inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.

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