When you’re hiking in the mountains, it always seems like you’re just about to reach the pass and that it will be easier from there. But when you finally get to the pass, you see that there’s still a whole mountain range ahead of you. You descend and start climbing again, only to see… yes, a new pass in front of you.
Another illustration. You’re standing in a good, well-fed spot, fishing. Suddenly, a crowd of idiots rushes in, setting the wrong depth, using the wrong bait, and the wrong hook size. They’re shouting and singing songs. They keep running in and out of the water, throwing stones, waving their arms, and belting out tunes. The only thing they’ve learned about fishing is how to hold a rod. Will they catch anything? No. Will you?
People who start building their sales face… that’s right. The skill or lack of skill in speaking on the phone. Everyone makes the same mistakes. This includes trying to sell over the phone, using phrases like “I’m calling to bother you” or “I represent,” dragging out conversations, and so on. But that’s not the point. The issue is that the problem of phone negotiations is perceived by people as the key problem in sales overall. They spend a tremendous amount of time and resources trying to overcome this issue, learning how to speak correctly on the phone and set up meetings, and… end up with zero results.
And here we take off over the mountain range and see a bunch of people gathered in the valley after the first pass, not knowing where to go next. Phone conversations account for 5%-10% of the overall success. Yes, without this skill, nothing will work out, but having only this skill won’t get you anywhere either.
What do we get? On the part of the salespeople, there is disappointment in training for phone negotiations, disappointment in the concept of “call and set up a meeting,” disappointment in everything, and as a final note, a forgetfulness about what the trainers discussed.
An even bleaker picture emerges from the clients’ perspective. Clients who agree to a meeting end up having a conversation that is completely uninteresting to them, resulting in nothing but a waste of time. Their resistance to meetings set up through cold calls is increasing, making it harder to sell.
This is poaching, damaging the market, misleading people, and wasting their time, which this client has in limited supply for all sellers, and each seller needs to conserve it so that there’s enough for everyone. There’s no need to rush to a meeting just because you’ve acquired one sales skill—setting up that meeting. So you’ve learned that skill, but what’s next? Do you really believe that by showing a nice presentation, crafting a commercial proposal, and keeping the client engaged with regular phone calls, you will achieve results? If there are any results, they will be due to some clear need of the client, not because of you.
Sales are more than just the ability to set up a meeting. Much more. The key challenge in phone sales is not the skills of individual salespeople, but the lack of skills among a crowd of sales amateurs, which makes life difficult for both clients and sellers.