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Cool Offline tip to get more out of your phone presentations

by localvseo
9 replies
Have you ever been doing a presentation on the phone and this happens:
-You pre-qualified the person
-Spend however long it takes to discuss their needs
-Pitch your services
-Had a great conversation/discussion

At the end the person is very interested but confesses they don't have the budget (at least right now) despite alluding to having a marketing budget early on during pre-qualification?


What I have been doing is taking it in stride, understanding that they may not be able to afford the services today, but in the meantime, here is a way they may be able to build up their marketing budget and help both of us.

I offer them a credit (or check, their choice, but give more for the credit) for any referrals they can send that I am able to sign up as a client. I find it's a nice way to wrap up the call and everyone has someone they can refer. If they feel you are adding value, then you should get business out of it. I have just started this approach and already have one person offering to introduce me to one his clients.
#cool #offline #phone #presentations #tip
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Or, you could change the order of your sales process steps. Discuss budget after you've defined the prospect's problem, and before demoing any kind of solution. This will keep you out of trouble. Otherwise, you're giving away a lot of free education.
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    • Profile picture of the author localvseo
      Originally Posted by kaniganj View Post

      Or, you could change the order of your sales process steps. Discuss budget after you've defined the prospect's problem, and before demoing any kind of solution. This will keep you out of trouble. Otherwise, you're giving away a lot of free education.
      I think it depends on your sales approach and what services are being offered. I have tried both ways and my close rate is better once I get people excited about how I can add value to their business. (These are pre-screened appointments.) Going straight into price/budget often doesn't give me the chance to do that as people may not be as open until they understand what you are offering and have trust in me that I know what I am talking about. So for me, the amount of times I have had someone kind of say they don't have money after the fact is small relative to the interest I get in the service I am offering from a demo.
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      • Profile picture of the author HypeText
        Originally Posted by localvseo View Post

        I think it depends on your sales approach and what services are being offered. I have tried both ways and my close rate is better once I get people excited about how I can add value to their business. (These are pre-screened appointments.) Going straight into price/budget often doesn't give me the chance to do that as people may not be as open until they understand what you are offering and have trust in me that I know what I am talking about. So for me, the amount of times I have had someone kind of say they don't have money after the fact is small relative to the interest I get in the service I am offering from a demo.
        Pre-Screened? What is your Definition of "Pre-Screened"?

        To me, "Pre-Screened" would mean enough information has already been collected from the prospect so that the chances of hearing that they are broke isnt an option...

        People will often find a way to pay for something if it makes sense and they BELIEVE it will benefit them. If they aren't convinced then the "can't afford it" excuse usually comes into play.

        There are, of course, going to be exceptions to whether or not the prospect can a afford a product or service, but more often than not it's an excuse to bail.
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        • Profile picture of the author localvseo
          Originally Posted by HypeText View Post

          Pre-Screened? What is your Definition of "Pre-Screened"?

          To me, "Pre-Screened" would mean enough information has already been collected from the prospect so that the chances of hearing that they are broke isnt an option.l.
          I think a thread on pre-screening is in order from the sounds of it. That wasn't the point of this thread, but we can evolve. In my case I take a combination of paid data as well as our own research to filter (we have parameters we shoot for) our target potential customers. Before an appt. we make sure it's the decision maker who will be on the phone and try to get some more info beyond what we have done with regards to their current marketing during the appointment setup call. Generally this works as the roi to maybe get 10% more info to know with 99% certainty that a private company can afford a certain service does not make financial sense for my company vs. going ahead with an appt. (Again the situation referred to in the first post is not a commmon "excuse" that I have come across, but does happen from time to time.)

          I am all about learning here if people have ways they find useful to prequalify they want to share that we be appreciated.
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          • Profile picture of the author HypeText
            Originally Posted by localvseo View Post

            I think a thread on pre-screening is in order from the sounds of it. That wasn't the point of this thread, but we can evolve. In my case I take a combination of paid data as well as our own research to filter (we have parameters we shoot for) our target potential customers. Before an appt. we make sure it's the decision maker who will be on the phone and try to get some more info beyond what we have done with regards to their current marketing during the appointment setup call. Generally this works as the roi to maybe get 10% more info to know with 99% certainty that a private company can afford a certain service does not make financial sense for my company vs. going ahead with an appt. (Again the situation referred to in the first post is not a commmon "excuse" that I have come across, but does happen from time to time.)

            I am all about learning here if people have ways they find useful to prequalify they want to share that we be appreciated.
            Okay, thats what is commonly referred to as a "Targeted Lead".

            That's why I asked what you were considering a "Pre-Screened" lead to be.
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          • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
            Originally Posted by localvseo View Post

            I am all about learning here if people have ways they find useful to prequalify they want to share that we be appreciated.
            I pre qualify the owner once i have them on the phone, there are many
            many different ways to do it, as a matter of fact it is never a one glove
            fits all situation.

            Here is a link to a good thread, check it out has a lot of really good info.

            also, i did a post on pre qualifying. its just one way of doing it.
            and ill copy and past a snippet of it below ....

            If you want i'm sure we can come up with other ways to pre qualify that would suite you and your campaign better


            copied from other thread below this line
            -----------------------------------------

            Setting myself up as the authority, also allows me to ask questions about there private fiances which in turn allows me to pre qualify them, on how much i can make the sale for.

            I take the authority vibe one step farther, and i establish it with in 10 seconds on the phone.

            pull this off properly, and you can ask them any damn thing you want.

            this is how i do it.

            "Hi Bob this is Rick, I'm one of the senior business consultants with XX consulting, here at richard hiltons, daytona beach office."

            That might look corny in print. but try it before you knock it. because if you pull that off properly, you can not only establish control quickly, but you will be able to ask the important questions.

            to me the important thing is. what am i going to sell them?, and how much can i sell it to them for? and can i get a credit card today.

            That might sound harsh. but i'm on the phone to make money. So during my phone sessions, it is all i care about.

            Getting the money. and getting it in a way that will not result in a charge back.

            ( that means no lying, no stretching the truth )

            Here i'm going to give you a quick example of ONE of the ways i pre qualify.

            word of warning, pre-qualifying is an art form, in my opinion, to do it properly it is harder then sales.

            if you do it wrong, you sound nosy at best, and a scammer at worse.

            ---------------------------------

            Ok, bob great, so you have been in business 10 yrs, and your seeing a 3% growth every 6 months,
            am i right, is that what you said?

            (Bob) yes

            (me) excellent, well first i want to ask you, are you happy with that?

            (bob) no

            (Me) of course not, your in business to make more money that that.
            The next important question is how are you doing it.

            (bob) we are doing a half page spread in the local newspaper or radio. or whatever.

            (me) OIC, yeah those newspapers dont work as well as they used to, do they bob ?

            (bob) no, they sure dont

            (me) I remember back in the day when ads were running only about a grand a wk.

            (bob) i wish.

            (me) sound like your getting raked over the coals on price

            (bob) yeah i am

            (me) whats the circulation on that ad your running

            (bob) i think its 300,000

            (me) and whats that running you per wk.

            (bob) $2500.

            (me) bob , so your spending 10k a month for only 3% growth. those numbers seem way off. sound to me like you need some thing to work better, and cost less, am i right Bob?

            (bob) yes

            (me) bob, tell me real quick, how long have you been running that ad?

            (bob) 6 months

            (me) bob, let me ask you, how bad does it sting to right that check every month ?

            (bob) a bit

            (me) Bob im just curious, if i could show you a strategy to use the money coming in from your business instead of taking any more cash out of your pocket, using your credit cards, would you be interested?

            (bob) of course

            (me) well it only works with a few kinds of cards visa, master card and discover.

            it does NOT work with american express. so bob do you have one of those?

            (bob) yes

            (me) i use visa myself bob, which one do you use?

            (bob) visa

            ( me) great, and that is a credit card right ?? not one of those debit cards ?

            *** ( if he says debit, ill ask him about any other cards, i get too much buyer remorse with debit cards ) ***

            and you said your currently paying $2500 a wk. now, so let me ask you, can your Visa hold $2500?

            it can? excellent.

            ok bob ill explain the strategy part here in a few min. but i'm trying to get a better overlay of your business right now, so i really want to know what other types of advertising you have tried.. even the ones that failed.


            (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhh)

            ( let him talk )

            ------

            if u got here YOU HAVE HIS ATTENTION and you know the minimum amount you can charge.

            and if you let him keep talking you will find out what stuff he has tried, and why it failed.

            this is in danger of becoming a lay down. simply because the more he talks, the more ammo you have for closing him

            ----


            And you haven't even pitched him yet.

            There is a 1000 and one ways to pre qualify some one, the trick is to know every thing you say and do and every thing the potential client on the phone says and does has a value , perceived or real.
            its there, and you can always use that value as a rebuttal and to pre qualify.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Originally Posted by localvseo View Post


    -You pre-qualified the person


    At the end the person is very interested but confesses they don't have the budget (at least right now) despite alluding to having a marketing budget early on during pre-qualification?
    If this is happening, there are only 2 reasons why.

    A) they were not pre-qualified properly.

    B) you lost them in the pitch, therefore the money is just an excuse
    not to buy from you.


    Did you do the pre-qualifying ?

    Care to share how, or what was asked as part of the process?

    pre-qualifying is an art form, its actually harder to do properly then sales.

    If you want some help with it, ill try and help you with it right here in this thread.
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    • Profile picture of the author localvseo
      Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post


      B) you lost them in the pitch, therefore the money is just an excuse
      not to buy from you.
      You are right , I wasn't clear with my original post. My point was it is most likely an excuse to politely say not interested right now. This doesn't happen often in my sales calls, but I have seen it a few times here and there. Everyone has different ways of saying no.

      By asking for referrals it allows a couple things to happen:
      1) you may get referrals out of it
      2) gives you a stronger reason to check in more often via email or phone to remind them about referrals and keep communication open as opposed to seeing if they have a "budget" for the project now

      So for me it works with my style, may not be everyone's cup of tea as an approach.
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  • Profile picture of the author warrioradam
    aweomeness... in that strat
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