I have been working for the last two weeks with a very good and long established Telemarketing team listening to them pitch and looking at different ways we can fine tune things to improve their conversion rate even more.
I was very surprised to listen to one lady who has been with the team a long time, has years of experience, is always in the top five in all the sales competitions ending what is a very good pitch with a weak open ended question.
The team are cold calling clients on the phone and asking them if they would like to attend an appointment at a local office close by with a view of getting rid of their Timeshare Weeks or Points Clubs.
Not too difficult when you know the clients you are calling have already registered with a Timeshare Resale Company before to try to sell their Timeshare in the first place.
This particular lady has a near perfect pitch, until the final close.
She immediately connects with the clients, has a very calming way on the phone, gains the clients interest and always gets through the entire pitch until she gets to the final part when she asks:
“So would you like to make an appointment then?”
That question, worded that way will normally always be answered with a “No”, “I need to speak to my partner first” or “Not yet but call me again in three weeks time when I’m back from my holidays” etc etc.
I know it’s an alternative choice question and the client can only answer “Yes” or “No” but it’s the wrong one to use here.
What I suggested to this lady was to change the “Alternative Choice Question” for an “Assumptive Close Question”.
Assume the client is going to book an appointment anyway and instead of asking: “So would you like to make an appointment then?” finish your pitch with: “So when would you like to go and see them?” “Can you make it on a weekday or would it need to be a weekend?”
What we have achieved here is to move the clients thoughts from, “Do I want to make an appointment?” to, “When would I like to make an appointment?”
In just one week, by changing that one thing in her pitch this lady has moved from a 20% conversion rate to a 40% conversion rate.
So the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” certainly isn’t true in sales!
I’ll see you next week.
If there’s a particular sales skill or closing technique that you would like me to cover in future articles, or a particular objection that you are personally having a problem overcoming, leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail.
Remember: there is no such thing as a foolish question, only a fool who doesn’t ask questions.
The Assumptive Close And When You Should Use It.
Negative Reverse Selling or The Take Away Close
Welcome back to what promises to be a long series of articles and Blog posts on Sales Tips, Closing Techniques and Marketing Solutions.
This week I want to look at a Closing Technique I was asked about in an e-mail a few weeks ago on my old Blog: “Timeshare Sales and Marketing Techniques”
The technique is called “Negative Reverse Selling” or “The Take Away” as we know it in Europe.
The Take Away is a very powerful closing tool when used correctly and in exactly the right place during your presentation.
It’s a very subtle form of reverse psychology and is best illustrated by using the analogy of offering a young child an ice cream and just when he or she is really excited and almost has the ice cream in their hands you take it away and tell them they can’t have it!
Imagine the screaming and tantrums that follows!
It’s human nature to want what you can’t have. The forbidden fruit is always sweeter.
Now this closing technique will only work if you have built enough desire in your product and made your clients really want it in the first place.
When selling Timeshare, it’s best used at the back end when showing your clients around the show apartment or villa and they are sat on the balcony looking out over the pool or beach, imagining themselves staying there on holiday next year, and you subtlety throw in:
“Please don’t get too attached to this apartment I think all the weeks are sold in here!” “I think we might have a few weeks left in the apartments over the other side, but they obviously don’t have this view.” “I’ll have to check with my manager when we get back”
You now have the perfect hand over for your manager and he can use the old, “I think I might have a repossessed week available, I’ll go and check but if you really want it, you’ll have to give me holding deposit today as you can imagine those apartments sell very quickly……”
The take away close can be adapted to any product you sell, but it has to be used very carefully and not too often during your presentation or your clients will see right through you and know what your up to and you’ve blown your deal.
As always, practise makes perfect. Don’t use it till it flows naturally and you feel comfortable enough to deliver it properly.
See you next week.
If there’s a particular sales skill or closing technique that you would like me to cover in future articles, or a particular objection that you are personally having a problem overcoming, leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail.
Remember: there is no such thing as a foolish question, only a fool who doesn’t ask questions.
Simple Sales and Marketing Solutions Returns
After many sleepless nights and a considerable amount of hair loss I have decided to continue to publish my sales training articles on this blog: “Simple Sales and Marketing Solutions” instead of my new blog “The Simple Sales Training Blog”
Why my old Blogger Blog and not my new Wordpress blog on my Website?
A friend asked me a long time ago why I chose to start a Sales Training Blog instead of a Sales Training Website and the answer was simple.
I felt a Blog would be far more personal in the sense that you can interact with me, post questions in the comments section or e-mail me with specific details of a particular area of the sales process you might personally be having a problem overcoming. That way we can hold debates, answer specific questions and discuss certain topics in more detail. I would be interested in your feedback and opinion on this decision.
Why have I chosen to revert back to my old Blogger blog after using my new Wordpress blog on my website?
I personally am not a Webmaster nor do I have the time or skills to be able to maintain a proper website and I found that although Wordpress is a very powerful blogging script, it was far to complicated for me to use when all I want to do is simply post weekly articles on direct sales skills and answer your questions on closing techniques.
I also found that waiting on someone else to do any changes or updates to my Wordpress blog became very frustrating as I’m used to doing things myself on the day and in the moment.
Blogger offers me everything I need to be able to pass on my knowledge to anybody searching for the answers and on top is free to use and now quite comprehensive with many more gadgets and widgets available than when I first started using it.
And so “Simple Sales And Marketing Solutions” has been stripped down and will be completely re-built week by week with new articles and some of the old articles re-written.
As always we live in a fluid world and I’m sure the blog will grow and change over time but that’s just another reason for using a Blog and not a Website!
See you all next week.
If there’s a particular sales skill or closing technique that you would like me to cover in future articles, or an objection that you are having a problem overcoming, leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail to: simplesalesandmarketing@gmail.com
Remember: there is no such thing as a foolish question, only a fool who doesn’t ask questions.
