Tell Them!

 

Before I jumped into the world of roofing sales, I was a telemarketer. My last phone sales job before roofing was selling animated Bible videos for NEST Entertainment.

 

I hated telemarketing. I had a hard time making it to work 5 days a week. The only reason why they didn't fire me was because I sold more videos in 4 days of work than everyone else sold in 5 days. 

 

However, I couldn't afford to pay my bills on 4 days pay. Fortunately, there was always a weekly sales contest. The winner of the sales contest would usually get a chance to put for a $100 bonus after work on Friday.

 

The normal sales contest was whoever could sell the most orders by credit card. It was a lot easier to sell the videos by invoice because people could just mail back a check. It was a lot harder to get people to pay by credit card in advance.

 

 

 

Most of the other salespeople would hope the person would want to pay by credit card. 

 

 

You have to tell people exactly what you what them to do, step-by-step, because people usually don't know what to do on their own. They are waiting for somebody to confidently lead them to the solution.

 

When I finished my presentation, I would confidently tell them, "Go ahead and grab your credit card now so we can get this right out to you. Are you using Visa or Mastercard?"

 

Obviously, it's a little challenging to get people to give their credit card numbers, zip code, and 3-digit security code on the back to a total stranger who just called them out of the blue. They don't know me and I don't know them, but if they want what I just sold them, they're going to have to give me the digits.

 

Yes, sometimes they would ask, "Can't I just mail you a check?"

 

If I knew for sure they wanted the videos, I would tell them, "No, we'll have to use your credit card. Go ahead and grab it now." The only way I was going to sell them that video was if they did business my way.

 

The company may have been willing to take a check, but when I needed a half dozen more credit cards by the end of the day in order to putt for a chance to win the extra $100, they were going to have to give me a credit card or I was hanging up to find somebody who would.

 

 

Very seldom did somebody who objected up-front fail to go ahead and grab their credit card when they could hear the conviction in my voice. "Oh, okay. Let me go ahead and get that for you. Give me a second..."

 

 

Are you telling your prospect exactly what you want them to do?

 

 

The more your prospect has to figure out on their own, the more likely they are to do business with somebody else. They'll wait for somebody stronger than you to come along and sell them.

 

Stronger doesn't mean you're a sales bully, it just means you're convinced, and because you're convinced, you are convincing. Some of the best salespeople on the planet are kind, gentle, and firm.

 

✌ Mike