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Which
Makes A Better Presentation - You or Technology?
by
Bill Brooks
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I was recently contacted
by a sales representative who had been attempting to reach me about purchasing her
services. Unfortunately, her letter had not gotten to me prior to her phone call.
As a consequence, when she called to follow-up on the correspondence I wasn't aware
of who she was.
It was very obvious that she was excited about the possibility of selling me her
services (that's good), but was so enthusiastic that she made a 21st century error.
What is it?
In order to "speed up" the process, during the conversation she told me
to "go to her website" where I would learn all I needed to know about the
great benefits she could provide. And I was supposed to do that during our phone
conversation?
It is easy to direct someone to your website, isn't it? Perhaps too easy? Getting
someone to actually do that is quite another issue. I simply informed her that I
was not going to go directly to her website and that she should send more materials,
include her website address, and that she should call me again in a week or so to
pursue the possibilities. I would tell her that I would check her website if I had
the time.
Here is the proverbial bottom line to this whole issue. You are the salesperson.
It is important for you to be proactive, make calls (don't expect prospects to call
you back ó you are the salesperson), download and print pages from your website and
get them to the prospect to ensure that they are viewed. Don't make your prospect
do the work!
It is extremely interesting that salespeople sometimes need to be reminded that technology
is a tool to be used as a support and backup for their sales effort. It doesn't replace
their personal sales activity. It never will.
Sales will always require a "high touch" mentality. Even highly successful
on-line sales efforts have buttons to call for help and ask to talk with a human
being! And they always will, too.
Let's take a look at three specific situations and activities where salespeople need
to be more proactive than reactive and rely on themselves rather than technology
to do the sales work.
- Don't say "Go
to our website." It is presumptuous and appears to be an easy way out of the
hard work of sales.
- Don't expect prospects
to call you "on your cell" and leave a message. If you are going to be
difficult to contact, make the effort to use your cell phone to call the prospect
- don't expect them to call you.
- Check your voice
mail as often as you can. When I am on the road I will check it 4-6 times per day!
Why is that? You need to actively return phone calls - and to do that in a timely,
urgent way. Prospects wait for no one - including you or me. Simply because your
phone system will store messages is no excuse not to return calls.
Technology is here
to stay and getting better every day. The problem is that some of us are so enamored
by its potential that we tend to overestimate our prospect's desire or ability to
use it or we use it as a way to replace us in doing the things we really don't want
to do!
In either of these cases we can too easily lose sight of two very important concepts.
Here they are:
- In the sales profession
it is the responsibility of the salesperson to place himself or herself in front
of a qualified prospect. Not to rely on technology to carry the message.
- Sales is a profession
that requires tremendous self-discipline, extra effort and the capacity to face your
fears and provide no excuses.
Your most important
job is to place yourself in front of qualified prospects. Not to rely on prospects
to "call you back" or for you to hide behind technology to deliver your
sales message. It also doesn't mean that you urge them to learn about your message
themselves ("go to my website").
The other essential ingredient is to avoid using this technology as a substitute
for hard work, difficult discussions, effective presentations, or your knowledge.
It isn't designed for that.
Perhaps the easiest thing to remember is the phrase "personal proactivity."
What does that mean? Simply this. It is important for you to be (a) the one who delivers
the phone call, sales message or presentation, and (b) to do this in a positive way
that doesn't expect your prospect to do the work. After all, aren't you the one making
the sale, being paid to do it and reaping the rewards? The last time I checked salespeople
sell and prospects buy. Who should do the work? The answer to that is real simple,
isn't it?
Bill
Brooks is CEO of The Brooks Group, an international sales training and business
growth firm based in Greensboro NC. For more information visit www.thebrooksgroup.com.
If you would like to receive The Brooks Group's free e-mail monthly sales or sales
management newsletter e-mail:
Barbara@thebrooksgroup.com or call The Brooks
Group at 800-633-7762.
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