Here is the point. They RETURNED the call BEFORE they had any idea who Amy was or why she was calling. It was the curiosity factor that got them to call back.

Once they returned the call it was up to me as a skilled professional salesperson to respond to them appropriately. What has not been addressed in any of this discussion is how important the communication and sales skills of the person receiving the returned calls are.

Perhaps those who don’t have my superior sales skills would not get the same results as me. As you know from your participation in our training, our training goes way beyond the run of the mill fluff that most traditional sales training teaches – hence the name of our company – New School Selling.

As a result of our approach clients typically experience a 30% increase in sales production. Some even double or triple their production.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this post.

Steve Clark

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to this. Comments from our subscribers are always welcomed and appreciated – even if I don’t agree with them.

In your response you make my point for me by saying,

“Upon hearing a message similar to these, the prospect immediately puts his/her mental Rolodex on hyper-drive. We’re racking our brains trying to figure out if/how we know the caller:
“Someone I met a network function?”
“Might this be an unhappy customer?”
“Is this a prospect I forgot to follow-up with?”
“Could this be someone with an issue with one of my employees?”
In other words, everything else in our “mental RAM” gets displaced with new (unnecessary) thoughts.
I called the gentleman immediately “

THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS APPROACH – IT GETS PROSPECTS TO CALL YOU BACK.

Does if offend 1% – 2% of the prospects who receive the message – absolutely! Offending a small percentage of people in order to get the overwhelming positive results we want is a business decision for us. We are in the business of getting results not appeasing people – especially in this New Economy where every minute of our time is precious.

Let’s talk real world here. I recently sent out a mailing to a group of prospects inviting them to a marketing seminar. I then had my 26 year old daughter follow up the mailing by calling. She is not in sales and has never been through sales training of any kind.

To help her prepare for these calls I wrote a script and conducted one hour of role-playing with me. We rehearsed her lines – the same ones I write about in this article – until she could deliver the script verbatim.

She sat in my office – next to me so I could monitor what was happening -and dialed the phone 133 times. Most of the calls resulted in getting voice mail – no surprise there – and she left the exact same message that I am describing here. THE RESULTS – 27 returned phone calls over a period of two days and 4 sales. When they called back I had her transfer the calls to me. Not one person who called back was rude or upset with me or her.

I will change my approach in a New York minute if another sales person or manager can show me empirical data to support that they have a more effective approach. So far in 13 years I have had no one prove with data that they have a more effective process. I have had people who take strong exception to what I do but none who have proof that whatever they do is more effective. And as you know as a business person, it is about results not about opinions.

As business people we need to move past our personal opinions, belief systems and bias about what works and what doesn’t work, what we can and cannot do and what we can and cannot say to prospects and buyers. Once we determine with data what strategies work – as long they are legal, moral and honest – we must implement those strategies and tactics whether we are comfortable with or agree with those strategies or not. To not move past our own self limiting beliefs and behaviors guarantees that future results will be just like current results because more of the same always produces more of the same.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Steve Clark

I prioritize my work and communications, so I greatly appreciate knowing what a call pertains to.

Once, while on vacation, I received a voicemail almost identical to the one you suggested: “Mr. Zimmerman, this is ______. I need to speak with you and I may be reached at _______.” End of message. Period.

Here’s the point you miss: Upon hearing a message similar to these, the prospect immediately puts his/her mental Rolodex on hyper-drive. We’re racking our brains trying to figure out if/how we know the caller:

“Someone I met a network function?”

“Might this be an unhappy customer?”

“Is this a prospect I forgot to follow-up with?”

“Could this be someone with an issue with one of my employees?”

In other words, everything else in our “mental RAM” gets displaced with new (unnecessary) thoughts.

I called the gentleman immediately (from Lido Beach on my cell) only to discover that he sold sales training!

I asked him if he would teach me or my employees the same technique he just used to get a return phone call, and when he said “Absolutely!”, I made sure to get his name and company name twice. I memorized them and made certain to NEVER use his services in the future.

The good news is that he gave me a great story to use in my speeches and books (as what NOT to do), so I guess I am somewhat indebted to him.

If you take an honest, upfront approach, you may get FEWER return calls. However, I’ll bet my house that you’ll get nicer phone calls.

Effective salespeople don’t focus on quantity; they much prefer QUALITY interactions!

After all, isn’t your time every bit as valuable as the top-level executives you call on? Of course it is!

Toward your success,

Scott Michael Zimmerman