The 250 Power Words That Sell

The Words You Need to Get the Sale, Beat Your Quota, and Boost Your Commission

Stephan Schiffman

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781440556258
• eBook ISBN: 9781440556265
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Game-changing terms every salesperson should know Wouldn't you like your prospects to know that you can help them develop new solutions, create substantial efficiencies, and improve profit margins? In order for them to even give you the time of day, though, you'll need to be prepared with the words and phrases that will get you in the door.Stephan Schiffman, America's number-one corporate sales trainer, has gathered a powerful list of words and phrases that every successful salesperson needs in order to gain the competitive edge, leave a lasting and positive impression, and ultimately make a sale. Pulled from his sessions and key discussion points, these important terms will help you:

• Turn leads into prospects.
• Learn more about your clients' needs.
• Convey the ability to meet your clients' demands.
• Overcome objections during negotiations.

With The 250 Power Words That Sell, you will watch your performance soar as you beat out the competition and surpass quota every quarter!

PART I

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU’RE PROSPECTING

Prospecting is essential to the sales cycle. It’s something salespeople should do—must do—every day. Elsewhere I’ve talked about the importance of keeping up your numbers, your cold-call-to-appointments ratio. As we’ll see, choosing the right words is an invaluable tool in that process.

CHAPTER 1

The Right Words for a Cold Call

Cold calling is one of the most basic parts of the sales process. The cold call plays an essential role in successful prospecting. It’s the best and most economical way for you to develop sales leads into prospects on an ongoing basis. And it’s a place where using the right words and phrases can make a huge difference in how the call goes.

• In the introduction: Hello, Mr. Smith. My name’s Bob Johnson.
• In the reason for your call: I’d like to talk to you about improving your sales performance by at least 25 percent.
• In asking for an appointment: We’ve got a lot to talk about, Mr. Smith. How about meeting this Friday at 2:00 P.M.?

This may seem simple, but straying too much from these key words and phrases can cause your cold call to go badly off track. Above all, you have to keep this in mind: When you’re following up with leads, your first and most important step is to get the appointment. So the main task of a cold call is to get an appointment. It’s as simple as that.

Cold Call Mechanics

There are five basic elements to the initial cold call:

1. Get the person’s attention
2. Identify yourself and your company
3. Give the reason for your call
4. Make a qualifying/questioning statement
5. Set the appointment

I’m going to cover these in order, explaining key words and phrases that are appropriate to each element.

Here then are the five elements.

1. Get the Person’s Attention

Let’s assume I’m calling you. Depending upon what I say, you’re going to respond. No matter what I say, you’re going to respond somehow. And the better I get at my opening, the more likely I am to get a good response from you!

People Respond in Kind

When you try to get the person’s attention, remember that people respond in kind. Most salespeople think they have to say something unique or provocative to grab a prospect’s attention. The easiest, simplest way of opening up and getting the prospect’s attention is by saying his or her name. Call up and say, “Good morning, Mr. Jones.”

Words and Phrases to Introduce Yourself

Good morning

Good afternoon

How are you?

It’s good to speak with you

Always remember to follow any of these openings with the lead’s name. That’s the most important thing you can do.

The opening of your call is going to lead to a response. You can anticipate that response. You are then going to produce an appropriate turnaround, which should get the appointment. The key to the call is actually not the opening. The reality is no matter what you say in the opening, people are going to respond to you, and you can prepare for those responses.

2. Identify Yourself and Your Company

If I called you up and simply said, “Good morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc.,” you probably would not know who I was—or what D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc. was—and you probably wouldn’t give me the kind of response I wanted. Therefore, I have to go further. I have to build a brief introduction, or commercial, into the call. For example, I could say, “Good morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. here in New York City. We’re a major sales training company that’s worked with over 500,000 salespeople.”

Words and Phrases to Identify You and Your Company

This is John Johnson from the XYZ Company. We specialize in information systems maintenance and repair.

This is Alice Allison from ABC Company, Inc. We’re a nationwide dealership in used electronics.

We make

We create

We service

We provide

We assemble

We manufacture

We innovate

We communicate

In each of these cases, the second sentence distills down the essence of what your company does. Notice that the second word is always a verb, one that captures the essence of what your company does. There’s no need for a long explanation, which is going to derail the call and give your lead more information than she or he wants at present. Avoid something like:

Good morning, Mr. Jones. My name is David Davidson from ClickClack Company. We do a lot of our business in the Midwest, servicing farm implements. We have offices in Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, and Sioux City, Iowa. We have over 800 employees, and we offer full-service contracts every year for more than 10,000 machines in the following states…

“Click.” The lead has already hung up. You gave too much information at the wrong time. For right now, keep it simple and one sentence long.

3. Give the Reason for Your Call

Now, the third step, the reason for the call, becomes important. Of course, if you make enough cold calls, you’ll get some kind of response. What we’re interested in here is improving the response you get.

When calling for an appointment, I suggest you say the following: “The reason I’m calling you today specifically is to set an appointment.”

Now, if that were all I said, if that were my entire program, what do you think would happen? I would get appointments.

If I simply say, “The reason I’m calling today is to set an appointment,” someone will see me. In fact, my experience is that something like one person out of twelve will see you simply because that person is not sure what you’re calling about and will agree to meet with you because you asked. Now do you see why it begins to make sense just to ask for an appointment in a straightforward way?

I can enhance that third element of the script. Instead of simply saying, “The reason I’m calling is to set an appointment,” I can turn it into something more compelling by saying, for instance, “The reason I’m calling you today specifically is to set an appointment so I can stop by and tell you about our new sales training programs and how they can increase the productivity of your sales force.”

Notice that what I’ve just said paints a picture for Mr. Jones. I’ve really given him a reason for my call. I’ve talked about increasing productivity. I’ve actually given him some reasons we should get together.

Words and Phrases to Say Why You Called

The reason I’m calling you today is to set up an appointment

Our program can benefit your company

My company’s systems can increase your workforce productivity

We’ll work with you to develop new customer service solutions

improve

expand

further develop

4. Make a Questioning or Qualifying Statement

Now, I’m going to add a questioning statement that’s going to allow the prospect an opportunity to respond to me in kind—favorably. The question that I’m going to ask has to be based on my reason for calling Mr. Jones.

My qualifying or questioning statement has to follow easily and logically from that statement. It has to be a reasonable and nonmanipulative extension of what’s come before.

I can start out with, “Mr. Jones, I’m sure that you, like a lot of the other companies that I work with…” and here I insert some real names. I might mention a computer company, an HMO, or a life insurance company. It could sound like this: “I’m sure that you, like ABC Company, are interested in having a more effective sales staff.” We now have a name inserted as a reference. Mr. Jones is much more likely to say, “Yes, I’m interested.”

Words and Phrases for a Questioning Statement

Like the XYZ Corporation, I’m sure you’d be interested in improving your customer service response times.

Since the BigSales Corporation has increased its market penetration by more than 15 percent, I’m sure you’d like to match them in that.

Would you be interested, like the ABC Company, in seeing a growth in your door-to-door delivery times of around 20 percent?

expanded its area

increased sales

more effective staff

developed outreach

5. Set the Appointment

Now I’m ready to set the appointment. Here’s how:

“That’s great, Mr. Jones, then we should get together. How about Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.?”

That’s it. Look at it again! You are simply going to say something like the following: “That’s great, Mr. Jones, then we should get together. How’s Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.?” Be specific. The request must be this direct, this brief, and this specific. Don’t change it!

The discussion should focus on when we’re going to get together, not whether we’re going to get together. Now I have a better chance of getting the appointment.

The biggest mistake most salespeople make is that they fail to ask directly and specifically for the appointment. When I say, “Let’s get together Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.,” I’m being specific, and I’m going to get a response in kind—that is, a specific answer about the appointment on Tuesday at 3:00 P.M.—because as I told you earlier, people respond in kind.

Words and Phrases to Get the Appointment

We should talk further. How’s Monday at 4:00 P.M.?

We certainly have a lot to discuss. Are you free Tuesday at noon?

I’d like this to be the basis for further discussion. Shall we say Friday at 9:00 A.M.?

Let’s talk more about this Wednesday at 2:00 P.M.

Now let’s put all this together. Before we do so, though, I want to emphasize the value of using a script.

“But I Don’t Want to Use a Script!”

Have you recently seen a movie or a television show that you really enjoyed? Sure you have. Did the actors in that drama or that comedy sound like they were reading from a script? No. It doesn’t sound like a script because the actor has internalized what has to be said. That’s what you must do. You should use a script, but you don’t have to just read mechanically from the paper in front of you. Instead, you have to internalize what you’re going to say so it sounds natural.

For example, I’ve been teaching the Cold Calling Techniques program for years. I’ve learned it, I’ve memorized it, and I’ve internalized it. I can, therefore, take that program and change it and adjust it as the circumstances require. It always sounds natural.

The objective here is not to “handcuff” you with a script. The objective is to help you develop a script that will help you say what you need to say, while freeing you to pay attention to the prospect’s response, which is what’s really important.

What is the response? What is the person saying? Are we creating an atmosphere that will make it easy to prompt positive responses? Or are people responding negatively because we’ve asked the wrong questions, or asked the right questions in the wrong way? Using a script makes it easier for you to listen for crucial information, since you know exactly what you’re going to say.

Sa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: What to say when you’re Prospecting
• Part II: What to say when you’re Interviewing
• Part III: What to say when you’re Presenting
• Part IV: What to say when you’re Closing
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Sample Sales Dialogues
• Copyright