After reading the title, you may find yourself wondering “what even is a SWIIFT℠ pitch?” A SWIIFT℠ pitch is a modern-day phone sales version of an “elevator pitch.” This pitch allows potential customers to visualize what it would be like to work with you.
So what’s it in for them? This is what you have to prove to the customer. A SWIIFT℠ pitch can happen anywhere at any time. However, it needs to answer these two questions:
Who are you with?
What do you do?
When answering these two questions in your SWIIFT℠ pitch, you need to explain who you are and the value of what you do. This is the best way to grab their attention and get them to start listening.
Here’s how to master your SWIIFT pitch every time:
1. Keep it Short & Simple
A SWIIFT℠ pitch is a clear, brief message or promotion about your brand or organization. So remember to keep it concise and to get your point across efficiently.
An effective SWIIFT℠ pitch should only last between 10-15 seconds — after that, you’ll lose their attention. Remember this when you’re coming up with what to say. The easier to understand, the better!
2. Don’t Use Marketing Terms or Jargon
Using big marketing terms or jargon right off the bat is just confusing. It also causes customers to immediately put their defenses up because they know they are being given a sales pitch.
Use words that you know your potential customer will be familiar with and want to engage with.
3. Have 1-2 Memorized
Once you’ve come up with what to say during your SWIIFT℠ pitch, have 1-2 memorized and ready at all times! A SWIIFT℠ pitch can happen anywhere, so it’s important to always be prepared.
It’s also helpful to ask people in the office to share their SWIIFT℠ pitches and you can share yours back. This will allow you to practice as if you were giving the real thing, and you can receive helpful feedback.
4. Remember To Sound Natural
Don’t sound rehearsed! Your potential customer doesn’t want to hear a pitch that sounds like you’re reading a script word-for-word. Go with the flow, and just have a regular conversation! If you mess up a few words, that’s totally fine.
As long as you are getting your point across (by answering the two questions) and reiterating the value to them — that’s all that matters.
5. Your Pitch Should Evolve Over Time
Once you feel you’ve mastered and memorized your SWIIFT℠ pitch, use it during a real customer conversation. This will allow you to test it out and see if it works or not.
But, don’t forget — your pitch should continue to evolve and change over time. You can’t keep the same SWIIFT℠ pitch for years, you’ll need to adjust it as necessary as you make more sales calls.
This is an important step in committing to ongoing self-improvement. You’ll want to continue to improve and revise your SWIIFT℠ pitch over time to maximize its results.
But, How Do You Know Your SWIIFT Pitch Is Working?!
If your SWIIFT℠ pitch is working, customers will likely stop what they’re doing and:
Lean in and listen closely
Want to know more
Ask questions
If they brush off what you’re saying or have objections, you may want to reevaluate and adjust your pitch. Pay close attention to their reaction because it will likely tell you what’s working and what isn’t.
Want to learn more about mastering your SWIIFT℠ pitch? Download our free team training tool SWIIFTSM IN A BOX which gives step-by-step instructions on how to implement SWIIFTSM!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
Freight and logistics sales has undergone a massive change in the past few years. As companies embrace digital transformation, in-person sales meetings are falling in frequency. So you’re probably spending a lot more time on the phone than before.
This can be…how should I put it…intimidating? 😱 Or at the very least, uncomfortable?
So here are six logistics sales tips to help you crush cold calls and reach those tough-to-crack prospects.
(Psst! Interested in logistics sales training? We can help! Contact us today.)
1. Don’t stop calling
For sales calls, the third time isn’t the charm. You have to call someone at least six times before you get a response. Not just for cold leads, but warm leads too.
People are shocked when I say this. But think about it: when was the last time you called someone once and immediately got a response? (I’m gonna guess it doesn’t happen that often.)
Over 36% of purchased leads receive no sales contact. And it’s not because reps are lazy. It’s because we’d rather go after the low-hanging fruit for immediate results. But there just isn’t enough low-hanging fruit to go around. If you want consistent results, you’ve got to climb a little higher. That’s why I recommend 10 touches for A leads, 8 for B leads, and 6 for C leads…as a bare minimum.
Yes, you read that right. Every time. It’s easy to ignore a missed call. It’s harder to ignore several missed calls, multiple voicemails, emails—you get the picture. If you’re going to invest the time in making several hundred calls a week, make it hard for them to forget it.
Think of the voicemail as a resume. It’s there to show who you are, what differentiates you, and what value you offer. If you put it in front of them enough times, the prospect is more likely to pick up. Once that happens, then you can start selling.
In a virtual environment, sales cycles can be longer than traditional, F2F approaches. So when you make 100 calls in a day and don’t hear anything, don’t worry! Eventually, you’ll call someone enough times and they’ll pick up (even if it’s because they feel guilty 😉). At that point, you can make them feel like they’re the one doing you a favor by taking the call.
Salespeople often talk about “engaging prospects.” But what does “engage” actually mean? It’s simple: An engaged prospect is a talking prospect. And what’s the best way to get someone talking? Ask them a question.
So instead of going through your usual dog-and-pony show, use the SWIIFT℠ methodology (So, What’s in it for Them?) to flip the conversation around. SWIIFT℠ gets the prospect to answer 2-5 short, closed questions to get the conversation going. This helps you build the necessary rapport and understand the prospect enough to demonstrate your value.
Be real: how many times have you jumped at the chance to “check in” with a sales rep? Yeah, me neither.
If you’re going to ask for your prospect’s time, you better give them a good reason to get on the line with you. So start brainstorming how you can add value to them:
Address a specific issue they raised last time you talked
Update them on new and improved features
Talk about something in the news and how you can respond to that
Share something you learned from another client—a kind of cross-pollination
Don’t just call to sell something. Call to add value…real value.
In virtual sales, the average first call is three-and-a-half minutes. If you last that long, you’re doing great.
You may wonder: what could I possibly get done in such a short amount of time? In reality, you only have to do three things:
Differentiate yourself
Get a commitment for the next step
Book the next call
Commitments change depending on where the buyer is in the journey: set up a demo, loop in other stakeholders and decision-makers, read over a contract, or even sign and onboard. But every call you make needs to involve getting some kind of commitment. Then, you use that commitment to bridge to the next call.
People love to ask, “Is Cold Calling Dead?” It’s probably for the controversy effect more than anything, right? My answer (like all great consultants) is, “It depends.” Marketing has come a long way indeed to ensure our brand is recognized before the call. Maybe content has been consumed, landing pages visited, social posts engaged. But if they’ve never talked to us before, is it still cold? Nah, let’s call that warm.
Not all companies are as fortunate. Start-up sellers may not have marketing support and the customer’s first impression is the first call. Even if they may recognize a little something from LinkedIn, it’s not enough to call it warm. Marketing tells us it takes at least 4 touches to actually leave an impression, and 6-8 to get to the point of purchasing (some companies even require 20+ touches!)
But can we be honest for a second? Sellers don’t give a darn. An outbound call to someone who isn’t expecting the call feels cold. Frigid below-zero kind of cold to today’s sellers. Why? Most of them haven’t grown up using the phone. My kid was shocked to learn his phone dialed out. “What!? It’s not just for texting!?”
Your millennial sales force wants to email and send LinkedIn messages. I know this because I get 30 a day. Want to differentiate? Immediately…
Ban the spam and get on the phone!
New to phone sales? Here are some cold call tips to help the water feel a bit warmer:
You’re immediately differentiating yourself by calling vs. emailing. This is a very good thing. I get 30 messages a day and about one voicemail per week.
It will take about six calls for you to get a hold of most of your prospects and most sellers give up after two. This is the game, my friends, do NOT give up. Do NOT take it personally. Cheerfully make your tally mark and know you are one call closer to a sale. Remember from above that it takes 6-8 touches to buy? Each time you leave a message it’s a touch. Sales is math.
Yes, leave a voicemail! About every two days is great. No voicemail = no touch. You’ve made the dial but forgotten the return. Read more about voicemails that actually get returned here.
Intersperse written messages. Use your outreach tool to help you send a series of voicemails, emails, and social messages over a period of 2-6 weeks. Close enough to be recognized from the last touch but not so close to being considered a stalker. You and your sales leaders can determine this.
Design your outreach cadence based on client potential. If you’re doing account-based marketing and this is a top prospect, you’re going to touch more often and for longer. We recommend A, B, C, D lead qualifications. Read more on that here.
OK, now let’s move from strategy to psychology.
How do I beat cold call rejection? Rejection sucks. Be very clear that cold call dodging is not rejection! Imagine a stranger calling you just to tell you that they don’t want to talk with you anymore. Um, OK. I’m cool with that. Feels different if it’s your best friend or your brother, right? Now THAT is rejection. They know you. They don’t like you. Ouch.
A stranger saying they have no time, they’re not interested, or simply launching a call is not rejection. It’s a busy life. They don’t know your name, your company, your face, or your annoying habits yet. 🙂 It’s called call dodging, not YOU dodging.
Let’s also focus on sales as a helping profession. I recommend you spend a good four hours immersed in customer testimonials and case studies before picking up the phone for the first time. Learn why people love your product and your company. Learn about the problems you’ve solved and the situations you’ve bailed them out of at work! Your job is to find people struggling with these situations and save them. Your job is to educate them on a solution. What would they do without you? What if they don’t even know a solution exists!? What if they’re searching for a solution right now and are about to make a big mistake!? I want you to really dig in and picture this scenario and then picture this stranger thanking you for helping them. See it clearly and then see it every time before you pick up the phone.
In a cold call rut? Try picturing your best friend next time you hit “send.” Get a smile on your face and really imagine it. Your entire energy will change and you’ll be shocked how you’ll come off better.
Need more cold call inspiration? I want you to imagine that this outbound calling job is actually your business degree. Hell, your MBA program. Your job on every single call is to learn something about their business, their industry, their company, and their job role. It’s called genuine curiosity my friends, and nobody displays it in sales anymore. Be fascinated. Be inspired. Seek to truly learn and grow. Your prospect will be so flattered and surprised, you’ll learn everything you need to know to qualify or uncover a need. You may even find your future perfect job situation!
Finally, a few skills to help. The most important skills to turn dials into actual leads or opportunities are:
Voicemails. Yeah, we covered this before. If you leave 10-15 voicemails a day using our techniques, you’ll get at least 2 returned. That’s 10 conversations a week. Folks, that’s like a bonus day of the week. You get 6 days to hit your goal while everyone else gets five.
Call Introductions. 90% of them suck. Yeah, sorry about that. If you’ve not spent a few hours training and perfecting your intro, it probably sounds like your value prop and is about 10 seconds too long. Learn the SWIIFT℠ Intro that perks their ear and gets them talking. You’ll be shocked at how many conversations happen instead of rejections.
Overcoming the Brush-Off. Even with a better intro, you’ll get some brush-offs. Remember, this isn’t rejection – they don’t even know you! Most of us either hang up or answer it like an objection, and that’s wrong. How do you overcome “I don’t have time” or overcome “I’m not interested?” By moving around it.
A Better Value Prop. If marketing wrote it for you, it won’t work in phone sales. Sorry marketing. Value props need to answer who you are and why they care in a way that your grandmother could understand. The best ones use “The rule of three” to get their brain accidentally picturing your services.
In summary, no matter the temperature of your outbound calls, when you make them a game, adjust your mindset, and layer in some skills, then you and your team can harness the incredible power that most of your competition has left behind. Sure, it’s easier to pop an email but remember:
“Nobody ever bought anything over email.”
Choose to be in sales instead of marketing. Pick up the phone and have some fun!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
If you’re an account executive, you probably spend a ton of time running sales demos. However, in my experience, most salespeople don’t spend nearly enough time properly prepping or planning for their demos ahead of time. If you’re reading this and you’ve given 10 of the exact same demos this week, it’s time for a change!
Believe me, I get it. You’ve found a presentation you feel comfortable with and that you can do in your sleep. Well, I’m here to tell you that while may have mastered your demo, it might actually be putting your prospect to sleep. Have no fear, we’re going to fix that today.
Below are the top 5 most common sales demo mistakes and how you can fix them:
1. Stop Playing Tour Guide
First things first, the prospect isn’t here for you to show off every little detail about your product. Remember, this call isn’t about you. It’s about them and their problems. So, instead of talking about how great your product is, let’s talk about them.
There are two key things you need to do at the beginning of every demo:
Discuss their challenge
Show how you are able to solve it.
That’s it, stop right there!
I know it can be hard not to show all of the really cool things your product can do. When we built our eLearning platform, The Sales Bar, it was SO hard not to fall into the rhythm of just showing a prospect all the things I was so excited about. But I had to stop and remind myself that this is not about me. This tool is here to help them solve their challenge. I just needed to show them how it could do that.
2. Customize Your Demo
If you’ve given the same demo 4 or 5 times TODAY, then, Houston, we have a problem. Each of your demos should be tailored to who you are meeting. If you walked into the mechanic and they put the same tires on both your car and the 18-wheeler in the bay next door, how do you think that would go? Demos are conceptually similar. They are not “one-size-fits-all” because every potential client is going to have different challenges and needs. So, before the meeting let’s look at how to really speak to the prospect’s problem.
Before every sales demo, ask yourself:
What are they solving?
What are they avoiding?
What’s their desired end state?
How do they feel about what they are doing now?
Or, if they don’t have a solution now, how do they feel about your competition?
Is there anything they have specifically asked to see?
We know that most of you have SDRs or BDRs that are doing the SUPER quick intro call and laying the groundwork for your demo. So, you may not have every one of these questions answered beforehand. But, you should have at least some of this information before you start planning (if you don’t, it might be time for a talk with your sales development team).
During planning, you can use this info to decide which features your tool has that answer the questions above. Then you need to line up the SWIIFT℠ benefit and you’re on your way. New here? SWIIFT℠ stands for So, What’s In It For THEM! It’s our philosophy to put the thoughts and needs of the prospect before our own. We promise you’ll thank us later!
Bonus: We’ve got 5 uber-helpful sales demo + meeting worksheets for you to use before your next call! Grab them here.
3. Less is More
So, you’ve used our planning tool and you find yourself starting with 10 different features and 10 different SWIIFT℠ benefits to share with them. Yikes, that’s going to be information overload. My suggestion: prioritize your list. Set yourself up to talk about the 3 most important features (hint: the things that are going to save them the most time/money/energy, etc. Focus on solving their #1 challenge). Also, set yourself up with 2 additional features, just in case they don’t like one of your top 3. Then you can use the other items on your list to bridge to the next call (read more about how to bridge to the next call).
This is how it should flow:
Share Feature #1
Stop sharing your screen
Relate feature #1 to their challenge
Discuss. Translate. Tell a Story.
Repeat for Feature #2
Repeat for Feature #3
Gong did a study recently that shows that customers who talk more end up buying more. When we screen share, the salesperson talks more which is not good for the sale. Instead, take the first 10-15 minutes of every demo to simply have a conversation. After that, you can screen share to show feature #1. Then, stop sharing to discuss the SWIIFT℠ benefits and to get the prospect talking and asking questions. You can share your screen again for features #2 and #3.
4. Don’t Stop the Disco
Even if you have answers to all 5 of the questions above before the demo, slow down, and just focus on good meeting manners. Do your intros, talk through the agenda, and get the prospect’s buy-in. This will help you build a deeper rapport through your relationship. Take this time to dig more into what they’re looking for. As I mentioned before, a lot of demos are booked by a BDR or SDR who only had a 3-minute call with the prospect. If you try to demo on that 3-minute call alone, it’s likely going to be inaccurate and messy. Start with what you think you know. Repeat the challenges you understand back to them before you get into showing them the features. You can use this thought process throughout your whole demo. Even when you think they are on board, take the time to stop the screen share and make sure you’re on the same page.
Presenting to the CEO this time? How complex do you think this version of your demo should be? On a scale of 1 – 6, where 1 is simple and 6 is layered and complex…
Spoiler alert: the CEOs need to be at a 1 or 2. The higher up the ladder you go, the simpler your demo needs to be. Think about it this way, the higher the prospect’s position the more responsibilities on their plate. They don’t have time to wade through the layers with you. Keep it simple and let them ask you what they want to know. You live in this tool/service/product all day long. For them, this is one of 15 things they are doing this morning alone.
Remember, we build value by solving problems, not by layering features. All you have to do is show them how your product will solve their problem.
5. K.I.S.S. and Show
Let’s call it like it is, this one is Keep It Simple Stupid. There are a few tried and true rules that I always impress upon our salespeople:
Never build a report or dashboard live. I promise the time you spend building it live will be the ONE time the feature doesn’t work correctly.
Tell them what’s coming, put on your best James Earl Jones voice and narrate each step of your presentation.
“Now we’re going to look into solving the problem of _______. The _______ function of our tool can help. Take a look at this here.”
Stop screen share often. Give them time to give you feedback and spark conversation.
Have tabs or whole instances open and ready. Clear out your desktop from everything else. They don’t need to see your Slack channel by accident or pictures of your family. Have your features ready to show. That way navigating through your demo is seamless for both you and your prospect.
White space rules. Don’t clutter up every corner of the slide. Let the important information shine.
Five clicks (or less) every time you share your screen. If you go down a rabbit hole to function #1, then you back come up through 6 layers before diving down a different rabbit hole for function #2, you’ve lost them. At the demo stage, the tool needs to appear as easy as 1-2-3…
Hold your mouse still! Once you’ve moved your mouse to the location you are looking to highlight, take your hand off the mouse. A bouncing cursor will distract from the valuable information you are trying to relay.
Okay, now that we’ve talked about the top 5 sales demo mistakes to avoid, let’s highlight the steps you’re going to take for each demo:
Research to answer the five key questions
Plan additional questions to fill in gaps or clarify
Prioritize your demo show list
Narrow that list to 3 (with 2 backups)
Translate the demo from a system to your prospect’s POV
Prepare screens to answer anticipated questions
Prepare your agenda and send it
That’s it! Just 5 easy sales demo mistakes to avoid (or fix) and 7 easy steps to prepare. Trust me, these simple things will make your demos more engaging for your prospects and more interesting for you!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
Can you guess what percent of sellers HATE prospecting?
(Hint: it’s not 100% – that was my first guess) But it is the majority of sellers…
64%!
Yet 100% of managers DO say that sellers need to prospect more (and be better at it – if you’re one of those managers, contact us. We can help 😉)
So what can you do?
It all starts with planning.
In order to get better results without feeling like you’re wasting hours, you’ve got to put some work in ahead of time. But have no fear, there is a way for you to plan for prospecting without being part of that 64% hating it along the way (and if you already are, maybe this article will change your mind!)
Check out these top 4 sales prospecting strategies to help speed things up.
Yep, read it again. Think about it this way: what’s your main goal when you pick up the phone? The obvious answer is to entice them to set up meeting 1. But that’s probably a pretty unlikely accomplishment with just one phone call.
What’s the most likely case? You’re going to get their voicemail!
With speed in mind, think about the key elements you need to craft and leave your voicemail during your prospecting. Here’s a list of the usual suspects with a breakdown of why you do or don’t need them.
Name – This one is pretty obvious. Know their name when you call! (But guess what? Sometimes you don’t even need this when they’ll repeat it in their voicemail!)
Solution Match – If they aren’t even on the phone, you’ve got nothing to diagnose for them, so you don’t need it yet.
Value Prop – YES! (SWIIFT℠ everyone!) What value are you bringing them? An absolute must. A whopping 74% of buyers will choose to work with sellers who are the FIRST to add value according to Corporate Visions.
Case Study – Sure, a ready case study is helpful, but do you really want to bog down your call OR voicemail by spitting out stats? They don’t care yet! Skip it.
Pricing – Again, hard to know what they need yet, and that doesn’t lend itself well to providing pricing.
Job History -Spoiler: it’s not needed! Focus instead on one quick rapport builder.
Call Intro – Make sure you have this down pat.
Voicemail – ALWAYS leave a voicemail! Otherwise, the effort you put into making this call goes right down the drain. You’re not buying a billboard to leave it blank, are you? (Shameless plug: your voicemail is 3x more likely to get returned when you take our class, Messages That Get Returned, which we offer in our eLearning platform, The Sales Bar)
So to summarize – when you pick up that phone, know their name, have your value prop handy, your call intro, and a voicemail if all else fails. Save the image below to help you remember.
Group Your Leads
Make it easier on yourself by grouping your leads together. Here are some quick categories to organize them by:
CRM History
Trigger Event (did they all attend a conference? Fill out an inbound lead form?)
Profile/Demographics
Offer (do you have an incentive to offer when you reach out to them?)
Location (do you have a rep going to that location soon? Perfect time to reach out!)
Social Connection (mutual friend, past acquaintance, school history, etc.!)
When you do your research, your first instinct might make you feel like you HAVE to give individual attention to every single person and potential lead. Guess what? You don’t!
Easily group call goals, qualify & explore questions, voicemail scripts, and your SWIIFT intros.
What should you individualize? The rapport builder – it’ll be unique for each person.
Boom, you just saved yourself a whole lot of time!
Never Prepare Twice
Be nice to future you! By taking better notes and including specific details about the voicemail you’ve previously left, you’ll never be left scratching your head wondering what you’ve already done and having to double back.
Here’s what to include:
What group is your lead in
What value prop did you use
What was your rapport builder
What was your call goal
What type of voicemail did you leave
BONUS: Always Add Value
Seems like a no-brainer, right? You always want to call to add value to your prospects. Try the following:
Interact with them on social media – comment and share their posts
Recognize something – give a compliment!
Customize your request
Be brief
Always GIVE something first
Ask short and closed questions to get them talking
Bottom Line
Prospecting is always going to be a numbers game. Remember: it takes 6-9 times to get to 90% of the people on your list! Put in the work – but don’t worry about putting in extra.
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
If you aren’t getting any response to your sales prospecting outreach, you might be guilty of making these common mistakes.
Mistake #1: Pitching in your sales outreach
It’s tempting to explain why you’re sending a prospect an email, direct message, or leaving a voicemail, but don’t! This lets your prospect scan, decide “no”, then put you on auto-ignore. It also automatically makes your message too long and your tone too salesy.
The purpose of the outreach message is to gain attention and engage – to get the opportunity to pitch, not to pitch itself. That means your goal is to make them smile, notice who you are, type a quick reply – NOT take themselves all the way down your sales funnel and be ready to purchase (it takes time, folks).
Try sending 3-4 lines of a personal connection and a short closed-question (NOT related to your quota) instead.
Of course you want to explain who you are, what you do, and why they care, but if you’re trying, you’ve already typed too much! Like above, the outreach is to engage, and using a marketing-approved value prop probably sounds a little pitchy.
One sure way to get more attention instead is to make the message about THEM, not about you. Try some flattery or ask a short question instead.
Nope, don’t try to shortcut this with some social proof or other customer names, that’s cheating! Message one should NOT be about selling them, it’s about engaging them instead. You got it!
A few years ago I won an award for being a top coach in sales. Since then I’ve received over 1000 sales pitches promising to help me improve my coaching business. I have a training business that uses coaching to get results, not a coaching business.
Don’t make the same mistake by using phrases like, “I work with businesses like yours,” or “I help ____ like you.” You may be right, you may be wrong, but it irks me to think a stranger thinks they know what I need more than I do.
To correct this, you could try showing your understanding and making a hypothesis instead. Turn, “I help training companies fix their SEO problems” into, “You train B2B sales right? Would I be anywhere close by guessing you get inbound leads?”
This message showed a bit more humility and didn’t automatically assume my business NOR make me wrong. Nobody wants to feel like an idiot – especially not by a young seller.
Remember, the goal of initial outreach isn’t to close a sale right off the bat but to spark a connection and get the prospect talking. By focusing on creating a genuine rapport, asking questions that matter, and demonstrating an honest curiosity about their needs, you set the stage for a dialogue that can lead to more than just a transaction—it can lead to a partnership. So, let’s ditch the pitch, tune into the specifics of our prospects, and start our conversations on a note of authentic interest. After all, in the realm of sales, a thoughtful approach is not just appreciated, it’s rewarded.
Outbound prospecting is tough. Want to get a leg up? Take our online course, SWIIFT℠ Introductions That Work, to learn how our SWIIFT℠methodology will help reframe your messaging to capture a prospect’s attention immediately and get them talking to you.
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
There’s no denying that “something’s missing” when we move from in-person meetings to video. It’s true of team meetings, training, and especially sales calls. If video is part of your every day, how do you stand out from the crowd?
The baseline of video acumen has risen since the early days of remote work. You’ve got to go beyond the basics and use video as a tool in your arsenal. Thanks to technology, we can actually measure the effectiveness of our video meetings with AI tools.
How would you rate on a scale of 1 to 10 if we asked your prospects how engaging your sales call is?
What is Engagement vs. Sentiment?
When measuring the effectiveness of your sales calls, you’ve got to watch two things: engagement and sentiment.
For quick reference, here’s how we break down the two:
Engagement = buyer’s attention or presence on the sales call
Sentiment = buyer’s attitude or emotion towards the seller
According to Q for Sales, Uniphore’s AI-powered Sales Assistant, an engaged customer has an 83% higher propensity to buy than a non-engaged customer. When both engagement and sentiment are high, you’ve got an 89% greater chance of closing the sale.
TL;DR – Get them leaning in quickly, make sure they like you, and you’ve got nearly double the chances of closing the deal.
(Take a peek at Uniphore’s AI tool, Q for Sales, below to see how it tracks sentiment on video meetings.)
How Do You Engage Buyers (Faster)?
Nearly 29% of buyers admit to multitasking during video calls. That means that roughly one-third of buyers aren’t paying attention to you. It’s a lot harder to re-engage someone after they’ve already tuned out, so starting the call with a high level of engagement is key.
Follow these 8 steps to ensure engagement is high from the beginning of your call:
Stop sharing your screen. Engagement goes down when sellers share their screens. Why? Because sellers ask fewer questions when they’re screen-sharing. We tend to go into a monologue and talk AT the buyer, vs. carry a conversation and ask questions. It’s not about the screen, but rather our behavior while the screen is up.
Share personal information. Create a quick bond with a buyer by sharing something personal about yourself. It helps you find commonality and build quick rapport with the buyer.
Review goals and the agenda. Start the call by outlining the goals and topics of discussion before diving in. Make sure you check in to see if the buyer wants to cover any other topics or has any other questions. This is especially important when selling to the C-suite. Give them the opportunity to drive the conversation by gauging what they want to cover on the call.
Ask questions. As a general rule, the seller’s goal of the call should be to uncover as much important information as possible from the buyer. You do this by talking less and asking more questions.
Ask them to recap their challenges. Even if they’ve told you what their challenges are before, you don’t want to put words in their mouth – it’s a surefire way to disengage them. Ask them to share their current situation and challenges.
Match their energy. Imagine showing up to a sales call on a Monday morning after your 5th cup of coffee. The buyer shows up yawning and barely even awake. You want to lower your energy level to match theirs. If they’re pumped up and high-energy, match it. If they’re relaxed and calm, match it. It’s a form of empathy when you’re able to connect with buyer by matching their energy level to build trust and rapport.
Say it with a smile. Positivity is contagious. Smiling automatically has a positive effect on your buyer’s sentiment. If you want to be easier to connect to, watch your facial expressions. Do you find yourself scowling without realizing it (read: RBF!)? Then practice smiling on all calls.
Give them eye contact. It’s tough when you’ve got multiple screens with Slack, email, a presentation, and Zoom all open at the same time, but you’ve got to make sure you’re looking AT the camera and giving buyers eye contact. Tip: Put your notes underneath your camera so you can read from them while making eye contact.
How Do You Encourage A Buyer To Turn On Their Camera?
You ask them to turn it on. Easy, right? Yet 83% of sellers don’t do it. And, it’s so much harder to connect with someone when you can’t see them.
Need more of an incentive to ask? Let’s break it down with stats…
Less than 10% of the message in a conversation is verbal
Between 30-35% is in the tone, speed, or pitch
But a whopping 50% of the conversation is visual (hello,body language)
So if you don’t ask them to turn on their camera, you’re missing more than half of the conversation.
If you need a little help asking them, try any of these out on your next sales call:
“Hey, if it’s not too forward, are you OK sharing your camera so we can talk face-to-face?”
“OK, camera bullying time! No hiding! Unless you’re literally naked, please pop it on. Thank you so so much. It’s hard talking to myself.”
“I promise I didn’t get dressed up for this meeting and there’s zero judgment! Would you mind terribly going on video so we can have some eye contact?”
How Can You Tell If A Buyer Is Engaged?
They’re showing signs of active listening and attentiveness by:
Smiling
Leaning forward
Nodding
Looking at their screen
Showing their hands
Chatting, clapping, sharing emojis, etc.
How Can You Tell When A Buyer Is Disengaged?
They’re actively not paying attention and are distracted by something else. If someone is disengaged, they might be:
Looking away
Leaning back
Showing a negative facial expression
Visibly reading their emails
Playing on their phone
Off camera
How Do You Quickly Reengage A Buyer?
Notice or mention something that could be common ground – “I see that gorgeous picture in your background.”
Share something first – “I am an avid sunrise photographer. Although, I don’t see them enough lately!”
Ask a closed & follow-up question –“Did you take that yourself? It’s so beautiful! Where is it?”
The first thing is to stop screen sharing. That way you can talk and pivot the conversation. Try some of these scripts to get your call back on track:
“I’ve been talking like 5 straight minutes, and I think I lost ya’ll. My bad. NAME, what’s the next most important thing we can cover for you?”
“Hey, I think I went off track. My bad. Let’s go back to the agenda. Is this still what you want to accomplish? Quick show of hands if you’d like to move on to XYZ item?”
“Let’s take a beat here to check-in. Could you please give me a thumbs up if you’re tracking with me 100% or a hand raise if you have a question? If I lost you completely, sit very still…”
“Trust is not something you can ask for, you need to earn trust. It takes hours, weeks, and years to build it, but seconds to lose it.” Sylvain Tremblay, CRO, Uniphore
Since trust is earned, that means we all start at the bottom of the trust scale, at mistrust. Luckily, we don’t start at distrust, that’s when someone knows us and has actively lost trust in us.
Mistrust means that they aren’t sure of our character based on the fact that we’re a salesperson and their fear that we’re going to try to force them to purchase their product.
Our job as salespeople, through empathy, engagement, and rapport building, is to move up the trust scale as fast as possible. Folks, you’ll never make it to the top of the trust scale in a call or two. It takes time to build trust. The goal is to simply move up the scale faster.
How Do You Build Rapport Quickly?
We’ve all heard that people buy from people they like, but the truth is that people buy from people that are LIKE them. We’re hard-wired to connect to people that are like us. That’s why small talk was invented; to help us find common ground with others.
The key to building authentic rapport (and quickly), is to let people get to know you faster.
Here are a few tips on what you can share with buyers to build rapport:
Introduce yourself at the beginning of the call
Get your resume off LinkedIn & share something about your experience
Connect on LinkedIn with a personal message
Send a personalized video
Share some (personal) background
Add something funny
Make fun of yourself (pratfall effect)
If you want to connect to your buyer, you’ve got to give to get. Give information about yourself and you’ll get an authentic connection to your buyer.
Did you know that 83% of customers are willing to offer a referral after a positive experience? It’s true! So, why aren’t reps getting more sales referrals? Honestly, many are too afraid to ask. It’s time to change that!
Let’s start out by covering the 3 key benefits of a referral:
Safety: With an average of 6.8 people involved in each sale, getting additional referrals within a company should be smooth sailing. The number one benefit for the inside referral is safety. These additional contacts protect your account in the event your initial contact decides to leave. As an added bonus, they can also lead to new business from another department or division!
Win Rate: The stats don’t lie. Customers referred by a friend are 4X more likely to purchase AND have a 69% faster closer rate. So, by asking just one little question you could be closing more business in less than ½ the time!
Value: Referral clients stay longer and churn less! Overall, referral clients have a 16% higher chance of becoming a lifetime customer. They also have an 18% lower churn rate.
Okay, now that we understand WHY referrals are the golden goose of the sales world, let’s talk about how to prepare for the ask! There are 3 things we need to have ready before we ask for a referral…
The Win: Think back to the client’s original specific request. What are the details? How did you help them deliver on those elements?
The Timing: When is the right time? This is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Instead, this is specific to you, your product, and the customer implementation. Here are a few good questions to ask yourself:
Has the customer received the product and had time to use it? If the answer is no, then let’s wait a little while longer.
Stay away from busy periods (end of the month, quarter, year, etc.). Would you call an accountant in April? No, so let’s be smart about when we reach out to our customers asking for favors.
Think: Does your client operate on a Fiscal Year or a Calendar Year?
What is the customer’s feedback cycle? Are they able to review it upon receipt or is the product offered to a 3rd party after your client receives it?
What are the client’s usage rates? Is this something they will use often, or something they may use sparingly?
The Ask: Before you make this call let’s understand who you are really looking for. Take the time to imagine the perfect client in your mind. Can you describe the job title, duties, or the situation the potential client might be in? We want to be specific and use descriptors to help your client think of possible referrals.
Asking a client if they know of anyone else who is looking for training might leave you with an awkward silence. On the other hand, asking a client if there are any other SVPs in their company or network that might also be onboarding new team sales reps might provide one (or more) specific names.
Next, now that we’ve discussed the benefits and we’ve prepared for the ask… it’s time to make the call. Let’s talk about the 4 steps to a foolproof referral!
Step 1: Bring it Up
Did you speak with this client originally? If so, let’s use that as a jumping-off point, “I remember when we first spoke, you were looking for help with _________”
Were you not their original point of contact? Speak with their original point of contact and get all of the details. Use the client’s original specific reason for working with you to lead the conversation.
Step 2: Get a Rave
Let’s find the thing that gets them talking. Check your CRM notes, check with their customer service rep, find the challenge that your company answered, and use it. If we can get the conversation flowing, switching to the ask will be easy.
Step 3: Repeat the SWIIFT℠ Value
Don’t be afraid to talk about their original specific reason again if you aren’t getting some excitement. Sometimes it can help to gently remind them about the pain of their situation prior to stepping in and helping them get to the payoff.
Step 4: Ask for a Specific Referral
Be ready with the specific title, job description, or situation that you are looking for. Being a bit specific can help guide your client to thinking of a real live name! “Are there any other Directors of Sales in your company or network that are looking to increase their closing ratios?”
Be careful not to be too specific though, creating too narrow of a window can also leave you empty-handed.
Pro Tip: Use the Rule of 3 to help them see
When forming your ask, bringing three options to the ask will make it easier for your client to think on their feet. “Maybe a customer care team, inbound demand generation, or a sales development team?”
One little bonus tip, if you ask for a name you will only get a name… so ask for more!
Once your client has offered you a name, the final step is to confirm with your client what their level of comfortability is when referencing them to the referral.
Level 1: Permission to use the contact’s name as a lever
Level 2: Would they be willing to e-introduce you, copying both you and the new contact?
Level 3: Would they be willing to call the new contact personally and tell them about you, prior to your reach out?
Level 4: An in-person meeting or live joint introductory call!
Okay, I know this is a lot of information. But once you put these rules into practice, I PROMISE you will see amazing results. Now let’s go out there and start raking in those referrals!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
Never, ever, ever pitch or sell in a voicemail. Odds are, you’ll never hear from the contact again.
So, why leave a voicemail? Well, good voicemails can lead to 3-5x more returned calls (vs. bad or no voicemails). That means that if you leave 10 voicemails every day, I promise you’ll get 3-5 more calls returned. That might not sound like great odds, but those are 3-5 more conversations that you weren’t getting before.
(Psst! Take our sales training course, Messages That Get Returned, to help you craft winning voicemails.)
So, set your call goals, take the time to craft a really strong voicemail, leave it every time, and put those notes in your CRM so you know which voicemail you left.
There’s no better way to build phone confidence than to see it work and actually get prospects and customers to call you back.
Watch the video below to see LB break down the 4 goals for leaving a sales voicemail.
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
If you’re a BDR or SDR, you’ve probably heard your fair share of sales objections. And chances are, you’re likely NOT a big fan of them. I’m here to change your mind. Why?
I LOVE objections.
They’re proof a prospect is actually listening, and at some level, they’re even considering buying. I see objections as a challenge to understand prospects better and to showcase the SWIIFT℠ value of my product.
Ready to love objections? Let’s get started.
First, let’s understand the difference between a brush-off and a sales objection. If you’re hearing things like “I can’t talk right now” or “I’m not interested,” what the person on the other end of the phone is really saying is “I’d rather be doing anything than be sold to right now.” In these cases, you are experiencing a brush-off. These are typically heard at the beginning of the call and have almost nothing to do with your product or solution. Brush-offs require their own set of solutions, we’ll get to those in another article.
On the other hand, an objection sounds like “we don’t have a budget for XYZ” or “it’s too expensive” or “this isn’t our top priority.” Prospects with true objections are informed. They know who you are and what you are selling. Their objection is directly related to what you have presented to them (i.e. “We don’t have room in our 2022 budget for XYZ right now”).
Now that we understand the type of push-back that we’re solving for, let’s talk about overcoming objections in sales. Think about sales objections in terms of dating. You’ve poured your heart (your “pitch”) out to this potential customer and they’re quickly trying to show you the door. It’s only natural for us to take it personally. But let’s think about it this way, would you rather hear why a prospect is rejecting you, or be ghosted and left wondering why you weren’t a great fit? If you’re anything like me, you need to know “why?!”
So, let’s go over the 4 easy steps to sales objection handling so you can find both a solution and the answer to that “why?!”
SPOILER ALERT: Most sales reps only follow one step and the majority are unsuccessful! The most important thing to successfully handle an objection is to complete ALL 4 steps!
#1 Acknowledge
When you first hear an objection, you and your prospect are like two people on opposing sides of the table. You need to move to the same side in order to work together. Start by listening closely to what your prospect is saying to help identify the truth behind the objection and to LOWER defensiveness. Be sure to use your active listening skills here, folks. Nodding your head saying “mmhmm” or “I get that” are all useful cues to let them know you hear them. Go a step further by rephrasing their objection to show that you were truly listening to their thoughts.
Skipping this first step will leave you sounding defensive to someone whose guard is already up. That is not a recipe for success. So, let’s listen and acknowledge before moving to step 2.
#2 Ask Questions
The end goal of this step is to truly understand the prospect’s objection. Often, the initial objection is superficial. So, let’s use questions to isolate and clarify before we attempt to handle it. Taking a breath and approaching the questions with a calm tone can really help as well. Below are a few examples of defensive questions vs. calm, open-ended questions.
“What do you mean by that?” vs. “Sure, I get it, tell me more?”
“How could you say we’re too expensive?” vs. “I totally understand. Can you explain more about the cost?”
“You honestly think you don’t need this?” vs. “I hear you. So, what’s your solution to this problem?”
The most important part about this step is asking questions until you fully understand what the roadblock is.
#3 Overcome!
This is the step that most salespeople jump to. Reminder: If you skip steps 1 and 2, you are very likely not getting to the root of their objection and are coming off as defensive. This will lead to an aggravated prospect who will likely hang up on you.
Now let’s talk about addressing the true objection and providing a solution. After years of handling objections, we have found three tactics that show proven results!
Value:
Find the SWIIFT℠ value that the client’s objection embodies and use it to explain how your solution will overcome the objection at hand. (New here? Don’t know about the SWIIFT℠ values, yet? Check out the details HERE)
Money Example: “You know, if we implement this right now, our solution will help save about five times this investment! And that’s just in the first year. Our projections estimate at least $50k in savings right off the bat! I know it’s scary, but the savings are worth it!”
Felt/Found:
This tactic explains the cause and effect of your solution in the context of a previous client or clients.
Example: “I get it. Honestly? At least half of my current customers have FELT this way. It’s scary to invest upfront. But, what each of them has FOUND is that the cost savings more than make up for it – and does so quickly!”
Story:
This is similar to the Felt/Found tactic but goes into more detail. It’s important to remember that this can be a true story that happened to you or one of your co-workers, it could be a story pulled from a research report (with the names and details adjusted to your specific company), or it could be a story based in truth, with a few exaggerations.
Example: “I get it. It’s a totally normal reaction. You know from the beginning, you’ve reminded me of Bob from Spokane. He was shopping for the same solution – although he picked the XYZ model. He hesitated to pull the trigger too, and he has already recouped 75% of his original investment. That was literally just last month!”
When you’re sharing a story with a prospect, remember that good stories have these components:
Time
Place
Main Character
Challenge
Goal
Series of Events (aka Plot)
Outcome
Details (1-2 fun embellishments or random details)
Insider Tip: facts are 20 TIMES more likely to be remembered when they are part of a story! Stories release dopamine to the brain. Which, in turn, causes a deeper sense of emotional engagement with what is said. The brain automatically goes into curiosity and receptive mode (instead of defensive mode). Cool, right!? So, get your clients to drop their guard a bit with a good story!
In this step, you’ve got to confirm that you’ve answered your prospect’s questions and concerns. After confirming, we push the deal forward to either the next steps or to a close. Only about 10% of customers will close themselves. This means 90% of deals will stall out if you skip this step! Check out the image below to see 5 different types of closes. Which one feels the most comfortable for you?
BONUS! Here are a few additional tips to use after you’ve mastered the 4 steps above:
Always run through the proposal live with your client. If you are only emailing a quote you will lose a larger percentage of business.
If you are getting pricing objections from a lot of clients, you are probably selling on features only. You’ve got to include those SWIIFT℠ values!
If you don’t know which questions to ask, then remove the objection. Example: “Suppose you didn’t have ______? How would the situation be different?”
If you don’t know what to ask, then ask “why”? Example: “I’m sorry to hear you feel that way. I would like to understand your concern. May I ask why you say that?”
If you master the 4 steps above, you’ll find those sales objections turning into deals in no time!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
