Chapter 20

A Smart Call Case Study and Makeovers

A “Healthy” Smart Calling Case Study

I take on a very limited number of personal coaching clients. There must be a good fit, meaning the sales pro has to demonstrate that he or she is motivated, willing to do whatever it takes to be successful, and is a student of the sales process. Chad Vanags met that profile and we decided to work together.

Chad is a sales pro in his late 20s who had success in the real estate business. He saw an opportunity with a young, progressive, rapidly growing company, HUMAN Healthy Vending (www.healthyvending.com). The company is a franchisor of vending machines that provide nutritious, good-tasting food options, and was on the Forbes’ list of most promising companies for 2011.

Chad’s job as a sales pro was to contact schools and sell them on replacing their existing machines with HUMAN’s healthy alternative.

When Chad contacted me, he was frustrated because, like many quickly growing companies, they did not have a well-defined sales process and system in place. Chad is a process-oriented guy and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Chad followed the Smart Calling process diligently, spending hours on defining buying motivators, creating Possible Value Propositions and testing them, working on his research and social engineering, and developing interest-creating openings and voice mail messages. He painstakingly went through the questioning process, creating questions, anticipating possible answers and follow-up questions.

Together we listened to calls and refined each part of his approach. If there is a poster child for the Smart Calling process, so far it is Chad.

Chad rapidly started seeing the payoff from his work. In fact, he was almost doing too well. He was quickly reaching the allotment of machines he could place in franchisee territories. And within a few months he was given additional management and training responsibilities, including teaching his Smart Calling process to the other sales reps.

We’ll take a look at just several parts of Chad’s process, and some of the specific word-for-word tactics that he employed.

Chad’s Process

Chad primarily targeted principals in public schools and administrators in districts. As it related to vending and nutrition, here are the motivators he defined.

• They are primarily concerned about revenue. Vending revenue has been severely reduced because of vending restrictions enforced by school districts and local, state, and federal governments. For example, one local public school district went from $380,000 annually to $30,000 annually. More restrictions are being enforced by the White House this year.
• Nutrition is also of importance to principals and administrators, but revenue is most important and measureable. Of course, vending is often the lowest item on their priority list because of the hundreds of other duties they have to deal with.

Chad would do a fair amount of research before calls, checking out the school district’s site and that of the individual school, trying to uncover any relevant information about the district, school, principal, nutrition . . . or anything related to vending. He would also do social engineering, calling into the district office, determining how decisions were made, either at the district or individual school level, and calling into schools, asking about their existing vending machines, food service, and any wellness initiatives. In listening to his calls, Chad was quite proficient at probing and prompting people to share useful information.

His process then was to speak with a decision maker, generate interest on the first call, and then probe for needs, pains, problems, and motivators. Ideally he would take prospects to the point where they would share detailed information, and at the same time, be reminded of their problems or desires. Then he would briefly explain some benefits of HUMAN Healthy Vending, and recommend the next step, which would be an online presentation of the program. He would also ask trial closing questions during the first call so that if someone agreed to the presentation, they were about 70 percent sold already.

Smart Calling Opening Statement

Here is an opening that Chad developed for a specific prospect.

“Dr. Cook, this is Chad Vanags from HUMAN Healthy Vending. I’ve read your ‘Turnaround Plan,’ and Renee Swanson told me you’re contemplating taking out all vending in Lawson Public Schools. Well, what I do is help schools get rid of the junk in their vending and replace it with healthier options, provide nutrition education, and can guarantee an increase in revenue instead of eliminating it. I’d like to ask some questions to see if I might be able to provide you with some information.”

If the prospect offered resistance with “We already have vending/healthy vending,” Chad’s prepared response that we came up with was,

“Oh, that’s fine, most schools I talk to do. We’re actually quite a bit different and not concerned JUST about vending, that’s why I wanted to ask you/them a few questions.”

With that response he wasn’t trying to overcome an objection, just acknowledge the response, and differentiate himself in the process.

Questions

Next, he would move to the questioning.

“I know that vending probably isn’t something at the top of your priority list, and I’m sure there are a lot of companies that call you just wanting to place vending machines in your school(s), is that right?”

Our goal here was to empathize with the decision makers, acknowledge that they get calls all day long from typical salespeople, and get a “yes” response from them.

Next, we begin to frame the conversation and lead them a bit.

“Well we’re quite a bit different because we’re concerned about the same things you are and I’d like to tell you why, but first I’d like to confirm that my thinking is accurate. When it comes to vending I find that, normally, there are 3 main areas that (principals) are concerned about. One is revenue for the school(s); the second area is health, wellness, and education; and the last area is making it as easy and as hassle-free as possible. Would you say that’s accurate?”

“Of those three, which is the most important to you?”

If they didn’t pick any, then he would reply with,

“What, then, are the three areas you’re most concerned about and which one is most important?”

In a coaching session, we had discussed the following, and Chad had it written as a reminder by his questions:

“NOTE: As you begin this next phase of questions, write down their answers diligently and word for word. You will be using their exact wording not only in the appointment closing phase but for the meeting presentation as well. This is CRUCIAL!”

Continuing on, if they answered that revenue was most important, he would continue to keep them talking about why this is important, what they’re doing now, and ask about them things he learned from research and social engineering. Where he went from there was dictated by what they said. Listening was crucial. Some of his questions included,

“Why is that area the most important to you?”

“How important to your school is the annual revenue you generate from your current vending?”

“In what ways do you use the revenue to help your students grow?”

“How are sales and commission reports currently provided to you?”

“What payment options are available on the machine?”

“How has the district/school been affected by the vending guideline changes that have occurred in recent years?”

“How have you been handling the losses?”

“In what ways are you trying to recover lost revenue?”

“The White House is going to be tightening guidelines for snacks and drinks offered in vending machines at school. It is supposed to happen this year and the New York Times estimates that schools will lose a total of 2.3 billion dollars in vending machine sales annually. How are you going to offset your drop in revenue because of these changes?”

“What would you improve about your current vending’s financial impact at your school?”

“If you asked your current vendor how healthy products would sell when mixed with unhealthy products, what do you think they would say?”

“How does your current vendor determine what products are healthy, tasty, and what your students will buy to help you drive your commissions?”

If after the opening question they answered health/wellness/education, he’d follow with these questions:

“Why is that area the most important to you?”

“How would you say your current vending is complementing your school’s goal for cultivating a healthier environment?”

“How is your current vending situation helping you positively change student food choice behavior?”

“In what ways is your current vendor involving your students in nutrition education?”

“What were the deciding factors for districts’/schools’ decision to remove/restrict vending?”

“How is your current machine(s) helping you encourage students to actually purchase and consume healthy snacks and drinks?”

“How is the current nutritional value of your vending affecting student behavior, attendance, and performance?”

“What would you improve about your current vending’s nutritional and educational impact at your school?”

“What nutritious and performance-enhancing snack and drink options are available to your school’s athletes?”

“How do think parents would react if they saw an interactive, educational, vending machine feeding their kids healthier snacks and drinks?”

If their first answer was ease/hassle free:

“Why is that area the most important to you?”

“How have stricter vending guidelines and revenue loss affected your daily responsibilities?”

“What would you change or improve about your current vending situation to make it easier for you to deal with?”

“How would you like to make your current vending more hassle-free?”

If Chad wasn’t getting a good response, and/or determined there wasn’t much interest from the prospect, he’d try some final questions to see if he could salvage something, or light a bit of a fire.

“How would you determine if it’s worth it to look at some more information on a healthy vending program?”

“What results must a vending program produce for you to be open to looking additional information?”

If at some point they said, “they’re satisfied,” he’d reply with:

“What would it take for you to be more than satisfied?”

The Close

The primary objective was to ultimately get them to agree to the next meeting. After sufficiently determining their need and interest, Chad would ask for commitment with,

“Dr. Cook, it seems to me like we might have something here worth taking a look at. If there were a way for you to see some options that would help you to (benefit), (benefit), and (benefit) while making it as hassle-free as possible, would you be open to a conversation about some ideas?”

As you can see, this is definitely NOT an example of someone just smiling and dialing and playing the numbers. It is a case of a motivated sales professional willing to put the time in to follow a process, practice, and refine it. And, the results showed.

I checked in with Chad right before I turned in this chapter. He said,

As a young start-up some of our sales processes were still in development so we took Art’s book, Smart Calling, and used that to build our sales foundation. It has become our go to source for all things sales-related and has enabled us to continue growing at an incredible pace. We’d recommend this book and Art’s development process regardless of what you sell.

Smart Calling Makeovers

My websites always experience spikes in traffic when I post examples and recordings of calls I’ve received and those submitted by readers and customers. I attribute it to the American Idol phenomenon: In sort of a twisted way, people take some amount of joy in seeing and hearing others struggle and make fools of themselves.

Nevertheless, these calls are great learning tools. (You can hear examples of the calls I’ve already posted at my blog, www.SmartCalling.com. Go to the Call Recordings category.) Here are just a few of them.

Freight Industry Opening Statement

One particular caller sounded quite distressed as he explained, “I’m an outside sales rep, and my teleprospector quit. So I have to do my own prospecting, and I hate it. I’m a good outside rep, but I’m freezing up when I have to call these people.”

“What are you saying to them?” I asked.

“I’m_____ with_____. We are a freight shipper, and I’d like to come out and take some of your time to explain what we do.”

Analysis and Recommendation

No wonder he didn’t like prospecting. I would have been paranoid, too, with the resistance he was surely getting from that opening. But it was entirely unnecessary—because like most resistance we encounter, he was creating it himself.

Because that opening was awful.

To paraphrase, it said, “We’re one of the hundreds of companies in this business. I want to show up at your office and take your valuable time so I can blab about my company and why I think we’re good. It’s all about me, you know.”

There is nothing of interest for the prospect here, no reason for him to even listen on that call, much less agree to an appointment. It puts the listener on the defensive, closes his mind to possibilities, and causes him to shift into his “Let’s get this guy off the phone” mode.

This is a classic example of openings I often see and hear from sales reps who believe that they should get an appointment merely because they place a phone call. That’s why they also feel they need to place 100 calls to get one appointment. I guess if you went to the mall and asked 100 people if they were interested in buying from you, you probably would bump into one who just might. That’s not a particularly smart tactic, though. Why people would want to subject themselves to such a beating is beyond me. Doing and saying the right things minimize resistance and reap more success.

First, I suggested that he study all of the steps we covered in this book, especially identifying his Possible Value Propositions, since that was absent in this approach. Once that was done, he needed to do some precall intelligence research and social engineering to see what useful information he might be able to uncover. Ideally, he’d like to find prospects with dissatisfaction issues with the carriers they were currently using. I gave him a simple suggestion for an opening that could be modified and tailored with Smart information when it is collected:

“I’m_____ with_____. In speaking with Mike, your dock manager, I understand you’re anticipating a rush of scattered shipments over the next few months. We’ve worked with many traffic managers in the [fill in prospect’s industry], helping them get the best rates and on-time deliveries with no hassles. Depending on what you ship, and to where, it might be worth our time to talk.”

He liked it but mentioned it doesn’t ask for the appointment right away.

Precisely. That is one of the mistakes I suggest you avoid. I asked if he ever had situations where he visited a so-called prospect who was less than euphoric about the appointment, conducted a lobby interview where they spoke as the prospect walked to his next task, or met with someone who really wasn’t a prospect at all. Of course—many, he admitted.

So why even visit these people? Why not conduct the preliminaries by phone? If you’re using the phone to prospect—regardless of whether your next step is to communicate in person—be certain you have something of interest in order to get prospects talking. Your results will be much more pleasurable and profitable.

A Mistake-Filled Call

Many sales reps look to ads, direct mailing pieces, catalogs, the Internet, or anywhere that advertising exists as sources of prospects. This is wise and a source of Smart Calling information. However, many of these reps stop there with their intelligence gathering. They do not effectively use what they learn and are therefore ill-prepared for what they inevitably hear on calls.

Here’s an example of a call I received.

Caller: “Hello, this is Bill Jones with Video Recorders. I saw the promotion for your Telesales Success DVD videos and wanted you to know that we do DVD duplication.”

“Okay.”

He became flustered at this point, probably because I didn’t say, “Oh, you do DVD duplication? Where should I send my master copy? You can do mine.”

Yeah, sure I will.

Analysis and Recommendations

You might be thinking that I gave this guy an iron-clad objection that would eliminate me forever as a prospect for him. And maybe you’re right for the most part—when it comes to getting a sale on that call. However, he undoubtedly runs into that same objection quite a bit, so I’m surprised he hasn’t learned to use something that won’t totally slam the door so suddenly in his face. Here’s what I would do, were I in his situation:

Call Strategy and Preparation

If I were placing this call, my primary objective would be to get commitment that the prospects would use my service the next time they had a DVD project. Although I wouldn’t achieve this on a majority of the calls, it’s always best to aim high. After realizing on the call this wouldn’t be reached, objectives—in descending order—would be to get a commitment that I could at least bid on their next job and, if that wasn’t met, to get agreement that they would at least keep us on file as a backup supplier in case their existing duplicator for some reason no longer met their needs. A bigger-picture, more strategic objective would be to identify their marketing plans and initiatives for the future and if they had other future projects coming up.

Preliminary Intelligence

This salesperson knew nothing about me when he called, other than the fact that he saw a promotion for some DVDs. He very easily could have seized the opportunity to ask the person who answered the phone here who we now use for duplication, how many we typically order, what we pay, what issues we run into, and any other qualifying information that would have better equipped him for the call. Plus, he would have learned that person—not me—is the one who actually deals with the duplicator regularly.

Opening Statement

He gave no reason for me to even listen. He may as well just said, “Well, I’ve finally called you, so I guess you can start using us now.” Simply dialing the phone does not give a salesperson the right to take a prospect’s time; promising or hinting at some value they could get does. I would have listened to something like this:

“I’m Bill Jones with Video Recorders. I see you are regularly producing training DVDs and understand that you feel you might be paying a premium for short runs. We specialize in top-quality DVD duplication and now work with quite a few training organizations, especially for smaller orders that require quick turnaround. Depending on the price you’re now paying and your level of satisfaction with the quality and service you’re getting, it might be worth it for you to take a look at a bid we could do for you.”

I would have been more likely to answer questions at this point. However, even if I did retort with the same early-resistance objection mentioned earlier, he could have picked up on it and used it to ask more questions, for example, “I see. What price are you paying?”

If that resulted in a dead end, a last resort question to at least try to accomplish the last chance objective would be “What plans do you have in place for a backup supplier? If, for example, you needed a large quantity in a hurry and your supplier wasn’t able to accommodate you for some reason?”

Determine if any parts of your call process are similar to this one. Analyze every step of the process, home in on your strengths and enhance them, and shore up the weak areas.

Beware of the Bad Information Floating Around

Here’s an opening statement suggestion I read from a sales trainer and author in an online article. It’s no wonder so many people get beat up on the phone if they practice stuff like this, which is from a supposed expert. While there is a lot of free sales tips and information online, in many cases, that’s exactly what it is worth.

“Hello, this is_______ with Reclamation Services. We specialize in commercial recycling services, and I’d like to ask you about your company’s recycling policy. Do you have just a moment for a couple of quick questions?”

I’m sure you can see the one glaring, critical component that is missing: why the person should take a moment to answer a couple of quick questions. Most busy people who very well might be great prospects see nothing of value in the call, and quickly exit. Even if someone actually does answer the questions in response to an opener like this, consider their frame of mind: They probably are bracing themselves for the sales pitch. They’re tentative and skeptical as they answer the questions—not the desirable state of mind for people you’d like to persuade.

You can fix all of that by using the Smart Calling process in this book. Your opening must make them think that you might be able to do something for them. This sparks their curiosity and interest, earns you the right to take some of their time, and puts them in a more favorable frame of mind to answer your questions—since you’ve already hinted at the payoff for them. This missing component can very easily be added, combined with even the slightest bit of Smart information, making the example much more effective:

“Hello, this is_____ with Reclamation Services. I saw the news on your company blog about your new green initiative for next quarter. We specialize in commercial recycling services for the_____ industry, by helping companies reduce their trash-hauling expenses, and also cutting their costs on everyday paper goods, in some cases as much as 37 percent. If I’ve caught you at a good time, I’d like to ask you about your new recycling policy to see if this would be worth your taking a look at.”