Colleen Answers Your Most Pressing Question

“How do I capture the prospect’s interest?”

This is probably the Number One Question I hear.

Once you grab a prospect’s attention, you just close the sale, right? It’s just a matter of that first moment – the moment when a prospect decides whether she’s interested in what you have to say, or has something better to do with her time and her money.

So how do you do that? What can you say or do to get a prospect to stop what she’s doing and pay attention to your pitch, however you’re going to present it?

One of the keys: Testimonials.

Testimonials work.

And that’s because they:

1. Reaffirm for others what you already know is true.

2. Use what noted psychologist Robert B. Cialdini calls social proof to capture the prospect’s attention.

3. Reaffirm your claims are credible and your services are the real deal.

4. Validate the feelings that a prospect has for you.

And they do so with a message that is unmistakably authentic and sincere.

With testimonials you can say, “don’t just take my word for it, have a look at what my customers say … “

Best yet, testimonials are a form of word-of-mouth communication, which according to a McKinsey & Company study, influences three quarters of all purchasing decisions.

Here are a couple of attention-grabbing opening lines for cold calls:

“Hello, Chris, this is Colleen from Engage. When I work with VPs of Sales, they tell me we are able to help them reduce their sales cycles while increasing their average order size.”

“Hello, Chris, this is Colleen from Engage Selling. We work with VPs of Sales to help them reduce sales cycles while increasing order size. For example, at ABC Corporation their VP of Sales told us that …”

Notice in a call script like this, we are talking about a Unique Selling Proposition in the words of our clients: “VPs of Sales tells us that…”

What does that do for you? It helps your prospect to understand that you work with people like them, that you see an insider, and that very likely, you can help them, too.

For even more ideas about how to grab your prospect’s attention, join us for our FREE event, “5 Secrets on How You Can Sell More in 2010,” Thursday, January 21 at 12 NOON Eastern

Click here for more information or to sign up: www.engageselling.com/secrets

Dedicated to increasing your sales

Colleen