Setting the appointment  for any direct sales associate  should be the number one priority.  As stated in this NETWORKED BLOG  “If you don’t have anybody to tell your story too…Then nothing else matters!” 

One of the common mistakes I make and many seasoned associates will make whether it’s Retail, Direct Sales or MLM is forgetting the whole point of why your talking to this “Suspect”.  All you need to do is set the appointment. When it comes to a sales process where you have to develop your clients outside of building a list or having them walk through the door the first step has to be the appointment.

Let’s help define this a little more by breaking down what a prospect is from what a suspect may be. A “Suspect” is somebody you feel may be interested in yor information and you are going to approach them, call them , market to them to see if they respond in a positive manner.  A “Prospect” is somebody we have engaged and we now know they do not have our service or product (and this is key)  ..and are willing to listen to that information.  So a “Prospect” by definition is somebody you have already set an appointment with,  have presented too and or has told you they are interested and want more information. The “suspect” is the person we are engaging for the first time to set that appointment. 

Many, many people entering and even those already working in the field of marketing and sales get all “keyed up” over prospecting and setting that appointment.  I know I have tripped up many times including  just yesterday where I have let the possibility of a sale come before the importance of setting the appointment.  Once we grasp the idea of what we are doing everyday while chatting with friends, going to the store, making the calls and dealing with existing clients the appointments should come to you almost naturally. This is a mind set however…You have to go into the day with a goal of “I’m going to set X amount of appointments today. Yes, this includes the easy ones that call you directly wanting time with you or those that walk into your office or store front. They can just as easily walk out!  Engage them – Ask the open ended questions – Close the Appointment.  ” Sure, I can help you with that Bob. Let’s go over her and look into it”  Bazinga!  You just set an appointment!

When making those phone calls through the day keep your focus on why your making the call…is it to sell them something over the phone?  YES! Sell the appointment!!  Use a Script to keep things on track. Have a calendar ready with available time slots set aside. Give them an option to meet with you Thursday @ 3:00 or Friday @ 11:00.    – The phone will be a lot easier to manage when you focus on the one product “The Appointment” instead of worry about the “NO” you may get and never get the chance to present the actual product or service. Remember they are just a suspect at this point and your calling or engaging in conversation to see if they may be a prospect… Nothing more, nothing less.

Learn to Earn!

Jeff Beeman

Copied in from Gareth Emberton’s Ecadomy Blog!

by Entrepreneur’s Coach Gareth Emberton on 19-Aug-10 7:59pm

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Is the telephone still your best marketing strategy?

In 1991 I started my first business. In those days I only really knew of two marketing strategies – the telephone and Yellow Pages. Whilst I can tell you a true story about how I generated a £1m per annum account with Tesco because of Yellow Pages advertising, it was the telephone which grew my company to the point where it had £££ multi-million sales per annum.

In those days there were perhaps half a dozen marketing strategies you could use but most of which were beyond the abilities of most small to medium sized businesses as the expertise wasn’t there for the average business to utilise like it is now.

In this day and age we now have a minimum of 21 strategies (listed below) and we are taught that you have to be your very own marketing guru and be an expert in each one! The question is, can you be that expert or do you want to be?

So where do you start with your marketing today…well the simplest strategy remains talking to people by picking up the telephone. That way, once you have sales you can then develop the more elaborate strategies. This is particularly interesting as recently I started another business in the construction industry and whilst I have had some particularly good results with google adwords, it has been work generated by the telephone which has had the best the conversion rates. Now that is not to say that a lead generated by electronic means cannot be converted but at some point you are going to need to speak to the prospect and whilst the cyber prospect has now decided to try and distance themselves from the sales person through e-mail, their bluff can be overcome by simply picking up the telephone.

There is however, a problem and that is the lengths to which a business owner will go to avoid picking up the telephone. But it is the basis of everything. If you have no sales system for the telephone you have no way to qualify or convert your prospects into customers. Then on top of that, if you cannot do it yourself, you have no basis on which to teach others so that you can delegate to leverage your time.

There is also something else here, in this day and age of technology there are many great ways to generate leads but ultimately the best way to convert a prospect is to build rapport on the telephone through the tonality of a voice and the opportunity to ask questions/respond to the prospect, which is something which just cannot be done using e-mail.

Here is the list of strategies you may contemplate:

1. Telemarketing
2. Website
3. E-newsletters
4. Networking: Physical
5. Networking: Social
6. Blogs
7. Testimonials
8. Qualification/Pain Questionnaires
9. Videos and DVDs
10. Books and Downloads
11. Direct Mail
12. Advertising
13. Signage
14. Strategic Alliances
15. Ask for Referrals
16. Seminars, Keynotes and Exhibitions
17. Press Releases
18. Internet Marketing (Pay Per Click & SEO)
19. Internet Affiliate Programmes
20. Magnify Your Expertise
21. Test and Measure

Gareth

If you have your own business you can register for a complimentary coaching session by emailing: success@the-entrepreneurs-coach.com and by doing so I will also send you a complimentary access to my on line business tool www.measureyourbusiness.com.

Using www.measureyourbusiness.com you will answer 100 questions in 10 key areas of your business and the results will be delivered in a 20 page bespoke report on your business.

Book your complimentary coaching session today: success@the-entrepreneurs-coach.com

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YOUR THOUGHTS????

I was always the guy asking how I could do it for FREE! Do you know a few people like that?

Maybe you are an Affiliate or Network marketer and have been asked that on a regular basis??

Well, there are plenty of FREE tools out there to be found but, when it comes down to running a serious marketing campaign YES, you will have to invest a little of the green stuff…and some time. However here is a quick and fairly painless way to start putting together a workable system.

#1 You are going to have to invest (monthly) into an auto-responder system. I don’t care who you use weather it be Aweber or one like I use through PROSPERITY CENTRAL but you will have to use one. Investment? $20-$25 a month. Try out Aweber for a $1 or try PROSPERITY CENTRAL for FREE!

#2 Get signed on with a FREE Splash Page or Squeeze page service. The one I am using for this example is INSTANT SQUEEZE PAGE GENERATOR.COM You can use it for FREE!

#3 Produce a BLOG with a FREE Service like BLOGGER.COM or WORDPRESS if you prefer. May even be a FREE static web site service out there but I prefer the FREE Blogs for this system. Gives a few more options!

Now – Set up an email campaign and generate a sign up box for your Splash Page or Blog Site. In the following example the flow goes from Splash Page to A (blog) LANDING PAGE with directions on how to join the NEWSLETTER for more info. And that is my goal!! I capture there info through the Newsletter so I can keep an email campaign going or actually speak with them live!!

Here is my current  SPLASH PAGE for an email campaign I created to generate new leads for my day job. My career  is in direct sales for Pre-Planning Cemetery and Funeral services. A little different than what you might think Huh? LOL!! But it’s a good example of what I just laid out for you!

We’re all aware of how difficult it is to find business builders. This can be tough…Even with the best recruiting techniques. For me one of the better ways to find business builders is to Recruit from your Customers. Read more »