Later, review this prospecting by telephone checklist from time to time in the months to come. Here’s a checklist of items to listen for as you assess and improve your phone skills. Did you sound natural? As you listen, keep this phone skills checklist before you, and score yourself as an independent sales coach would.
Did your voice sound confident and friendly? If not, why not?
Prospecting by Telephone – Skills Self-Checklist
Everyone wants more sales.; So here’s how.; Manage your sales territory better.; Bring in more prospects.; Improve closing ratios, or do both.;
2.; Go after the right prospects and opportunities.
Any successful person learns process and probability – business person, athlete, gambler, sales person, etc.;
- Existing Customers – Existing Products/Services – 67%
- Existing Customers – New Products and Services – 50%, (80% if they helped develop it with you)
- Old or Lost Customers – 40% Existing Products/Services
- Old or Lost Customers – 25% New Products/Services
- New Customers – Existing Products/Services – 25%
- New Customers – New Products/Services – 5%
This tells you how to manage your sales territory.; That is, spend more time prospecting with existing customers.; To be more exact, spend 50% of selling time with existing customers, 30% with old or lost customers and 20% with new or competitors’ customers.; Readjust your time allocations to the above and watch your closing rates go up.
Now let’s talk process for selecting prospects and opportunities
Sales Territory Management Starts with Building Your Opportunity Matrix
Include new or potential products as well. Use categories if there are many products.; Check off with a “+” the products/services existing customers buy and note your percentage if they also buy the same from competitors.; Leave blank (for now) all the services and products they don’t buy from you, but could.; Indicate with an N/A’s those boxes that don’t apply or fit at all.; Don’t use dollars or quantities.
Create this Matrix with your Customer Service/Engineering/Tech Support/Operations people.
4.; Now Build Your Sales Territory Management Action Plans
Knowing the inventory of sales opportunities will give you a handle on growth.; You can now build action plans for keeping existing business and capturing other potential opportunities.; Cover every opportunity in every marketing/selling phase.; The farther down toward the sale the more energy/time you should allocate.;
The sales person calls the competitors’ clients.
Managing the Sales Territory Management Process
Sale management should review the Opportunity Matrix and Funnel of Actions for each sales person to be sure all potential opportunities are covered and people are assigned for the scheduled actions.; Managers should also review time allocations to be sure sales people are spending time on each category of opportunity in the right proportion.;
