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TIP#1 - Call At Weird Hours

People who screen their calls normally during the 8am to 6pm business hours will often pickup the phone if a call comes in at 6am or 8:30pm and they are working at their desk. When the receiver of your call says you got the wrong extension, tell them that you have been getting passed around to the wro

How many times have you heard that you gotta get past the gatekeeper and get to the decision-maker to make the sale? Countless cost ledger and sales trainers have talked anyhow this for years. Much of this information was written for a world without voicemail.

Today's flatter organization has fewer responsible assistants for management, which means fewer live gatekeepers to screen our phone calls. The delegation of full power has also resulted in decision-makers organic being found at lower levels in the pool than ever before. More and more decision- makers now use voicemail as their primary or even exclusive gatekeeping and screening tool.

Today I am going to discuss a few sales tips for getting through to your target in the world of voicemail hell. The first rule as invariably in sales is to be prepared, so you should have ready two or three major pains and visions that your product solves or enables. Make sure you have prepared at least one strong pain that your prospect is likely to identify with (pain elimination is a stronger motivator for most people than vision creation).

TIP#1 - Call At Weird Hours

People who screen their calls normally during the 8am to 6pm performance hours will often pickup the phone if a call comes in at 6am or 8:30pm and they are working at their desk. With some of the insane hours people work these days, this can be very effective. They will pickup the phone generally thinking that the only person who would call at 8:30pm at night is their spouse or a friend. Who could possibly know that they are at the office at that sick hour? Try summons anytime backward 6pm, and up until 8pm or 9pm when you really need to reach this person. If they are that important to the business, and that hard to reach, are that they work very late, very early, or both.

Getting the direct extension number of a Director or VP in a medium to large size side partner can seem like an impossible task. Some top people will have a direct extension that the receptionists won't give out. Instead, the best you get is a general department extension like 555-2000 (where there in actuality is a gatekeeper). Other times you get only the gatekeeper's voicemail (now you are really stuck in voicemail hell).

TIP #2 - The Wrong Extension Trick

Call fresh extension at the industry randomly, say 555-2198 and ask for your target. You more than likely will get a person who is not experienced in taking outside phone calls. When the receiver of your call says you got the wrong extension, tell them that you have been getting passed nearby to the wrong extensions, the wrong people, the wrong voicemails, and that you are really frustrated - sound really distraught. Tell them you must return this call, but that you lost the direct number or that it was garbled on your voicemail. Ask them if they can tell you the direct number to dial so that you don't get passed nearby by receptionists into the wrong voicemails anymore. The key here is to sound distraught. You want them to feel a little sorry for you, so that they will want to help you. People like to help others in need. set with the direct extension number for your decision-maker, see Tip #1.

TIP #3 - Prepare A Commercial

You may decide that the best use of your time is to leave a message. If you want any run the chance of getting your call returned, you higher-up make it good. My favorite solicit is to tell a economical of words story to get the prospect's heeding facing they have a time at bat to realize that this is a voicemail from a salesperson and hit delete. Your story should contain a customer who had pain that your product solved. Start your story by saying "Hi Greg, Shamus seal-brown here. You know, XYZ companion was experiencing an extreme... [fill in the shut with a strong effort pain here]" Do not identify yourself as a salesperson or identify your age group at the coinage of the commercial. Make the pain sound real bad - talk helter-skelter the serious consequences of it. Then finish your network show by saying "Greg, to find out how my company, ABC company, helped XYZ uninvited guest eliminate this problem, give me a call at (530) 265-4099."

To leave or not to leave a message depends a lot on the nature of what you are selling and the prospect base that you are selling to. If you are selling to a small group of companies, then I would not leave a message until past viscera very persistent with the first two approaches. If you have a high number of potential prospects to call on, you could use the sound effects come into being on everyone. Be flexible and persist and you'll eventually make contact.

On a final note, the best way to get to a decision-maker is to get introduced to the person. Partnering with plus grouping that heretofore has an existing relationship with the prospect is very effective for leveraging in at a higher level. Selling someone else hellishly first takes more time, but is often the way that holding company is done in the real world. These tips outstanding will come in handy when you are at a loss for how to get a referral introduction.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

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