The Source of all Sales Problems

Yesterday Lewis (Sales Director at Engage) and I completed a full day calling blitz to Engage clients who had expressed interest in our live programs. All in all we completed a total of 120 outbound calls. I like to participate personally in call blitzes regularly to ensure I remain a practitioner in my expertise, as opposed to just an “arm chair expert”. It gives me a chance to try new ideas, retest some of the material we teach to ensure it’s still relevant, and ensure best practices are still best practices. The last thing I want is to teach sales skills that don’t work in today’s market.

What struck me about this batch of calls is how much bizarre and funny feedback we received. Check these out:

On a client’s business answering machine:

“You have reached (name). I am not at the phone so I might be sleeping, watching TV,  or in a meeting, but you can be sure I’m not in the shower”

 …Have to admit that this message got me wonder if that is is that because they never take a shower? Seriously – this was on her business line

A client answered the phone and I asked “did I catch you at a bad time”.  (SOP if you follow our work).  She replied with,

“err…..well…I’m naked”

…My response?  “Well I certainly don’t want to interrupt that!” (Seriously, what else could I say?)

Another client told me he retired last year but was back selling real estate to “work off a few marriage mistakes”.

Lewis had a customer tell him “I’m going to tell you straight up. I love Engage. I Love what Colleen does but I’m never going to spend any money on you!”

Besides the bizarre and funny we did also close 1 sale on the spot, open 9 new opportunities, and clean up some “dead files”. We also have a nice round of follow up calls for next week.

A 1 day dedicated call blitz is a fabulous way to fill your pipeline. In our business at Engage I urge all coaching clients to try it once per quarter, for all reps, every quarter, for a year. And when they take the advice, our client’s find their pipeline fills up and remains overflowing all year and into the next.

The source of ALL sales problems is poor prospecting skills. Either your funnel is not full enough, or it’s full of the wrong prospects. The more proactive work you do at filling your funnel full with the right prospects, the more you will profit.

Take action. Make some calls

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen