Chapter 8
Need to Know Exactly What to Say to a Lead on the Phone?
How to Have a Perfect First Minute on a Sales Call with an Internet Lead
Every sale is won or lost before it's ever pitched.
It is your job to immediately take control of every call(er). In this chapter, I will teach you exactly what to say during the first minute of your call(s). There are two very specific things (gaining control and ARPing) that you must do at the beginning of every call if you want to close the sale at the end.
Also, it is important to note that The Conversion Code does not involve cold-calling. Cold-calling is so 1980s. We are well into the twenty-first century, and during the past decade people have willingly put most of their life's happenings online. If you are in sales, social media should make you salivate. The ability to hyperpersonalize a sales call gives you an unfair advantage. These are Internet leads who you are calling and who at some point (ideally recently) willingly submitted their information and wanted to be contacted. Before you call, I will show you how to properly (and legally) stalk an Internet lead, and then use the intel you gather against them during the first minute of (and throughout) your call.
By the way, when salespeople (myself included) hear a term like “big data” or “social selling” we usually tune out immediately (and puke in our mouth a little). That sounds too much like C-suite jargon. So instead, I simply think of it as using “big data” to make big bucks. Salespeople like money, not data. But what I do know as a fact and why I personally use the following techniques to stalk all my leads, pre-pitch is when I hyperpersonalize my sales pitches, I close more deals and make more money. Period.
So anytime I mention data, it is only as an enabler of me making more money on the phone. Ahead you will learn exactly how I quickly use social media (mostly Facebook), mobile apps, and Google searches to win the sale, before it even starts.
Thanks to the Internet and social media, it is easier than ever to “stalk” your sales prospects, gaining valuable insights that will easier enable you to close them at the highest rate possible. Gathering intel pre-pitch takes only a few seconds, is a repeatable process, and, most importantly, will impress the hell out of your leads, helping you close more sales.
Don't think about what you will learn in this chapter as “big data”—think about it as ammunition for your sales pitch. A bullet, with your lead's name on it!
The Two-Step Precall Lead “Stalk”
Let's say you have a sales call scheduled with me and you are hoping I will buy your product or service. My name is Chris Smith. Seriously, that is my real name. In fact, it might be one of the most common first name/last name combinations in U.S. history. So, if you can learn how to gather intel on me, you can gather it on anyone. One thing to note here is that what leads provide on your various landing pages and website contact forms may vary greatly. At Quicken Loans, we had their name, phone number, email, address, current interest rate, current home value, and current loan amount. This data was not always accurate, but it was critical for us to have in order to make a call immediately and still have some solid, personalized talking points.
As I covered in the intro, it is critical that you are set up to call leads as soon as they come in. When that is the case, you will not have time to stalk. It is more important to make contact quickly than it is to gather more intel before you dial—thus the importance of collecting more information up front on the landing page.
At Fashion Rock, we had name, email, phone number, and what they hoped to become famous for. At Curaytor, we collect name, phone number, primary zip code, # of homes sold per year, and average sales price. Even though it's common knowledge that you'll get fewer leads when you request more info on your forms, each of the companies I've been a part of collected more than just name, phone, and email. It's not an accident, and this many successful companies probably aren't wrong. Why get that extra info when we know it will hurt our lead conversion rate? Because when our sales teams call, they have some SOLID talking points without doing any manual stalking whatsoever.
Note: What I detail ahead is most ideal if you have an appointment on your calendar at a set date and time with an Internet lead. When that is the case, I do what is ahead during the five minutes leading up to the time I am supposed to call them. Again, speed matters more than intel, so never stalk at the sake of speed to respond.
The entire purpose of your landing pages and the “stalk” I outline ahead is to gather two to four very specific data points (or items of interest) about the lead to use during your conversation. Our goal is to have a strong, custom opening to our script, like:
“Hey, Susie, my name is Chris Smith and I work for Quicken Loans. I was calling to follow up about your property at 123 Main St. Looks like you currently have a 6 percent interest rate and a loan amount of plus or minus $400,000.”
OR
“Hey, Susie, my name is Chris and I work for Curaytor. I was calling to follow up about our availability in 90210. I see here that you sold 150 homes last year at an average sales price of $500,000. That is awesome—congrats!”
OR
“Hey, Susie, my name is Chris and I work for Fashion Rock. I see here that you are looking to become a model and are in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
OR
“Hey, Susie, my name is Chris and I work for RE/MAX. I was calling about the home you found using Zillow over on Madison St. that is for sale and currently asking $525,000.”
“Hey, ________, my name is _____________ and I'm with _____________. I was calling about __________ and I noticed __________, _____________, and ___________ before I called you.”
In each of these examples, the bolded words are the unique data point and would have been available to me the second the lead came in. This is why a script is so critical. When you are trying to call an Internet lead within one second of them opting in and you want to sound competent, you need a plug-and-play approach like this.
When you do have more time to prepare for a pitch, you can do a much more advanced variation of what I just explained. Here is exactly what I do before every sales pitch that is at a set time and date:
Step 1 of the Two-Step Lead Stalk. I always start with a Google search. However, I do not just search for the lead's name (unless it is very unique). In my case, there are 3,730,000 exact matches for “Chris Smith” when you Google it. None of the guys pictured in Figure 8.1 are me, although I did always hope to play in the NBA one day.
Instead, you are going to Google search the lead's email address. By searching [email protected], instead of “Chris Smith,” the results are reduced to 13,900 total (and now they are all about me in some capacity). You can see Google found my company website (with phone number), plus my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles (see Figure 8.2); both have a plethora of information about my career, interests, and family life.
Think of a lead's email address as their online thumbprint or Social Security number. There may be millions of people with my name, but there are zero people with my exact email address. You should also use email addresses when searching for people on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We all registered for those sites using our email address, so when you search by email it finds one result, not tens of thousands.
You should also do a quick Facebook search using their email address and/or phone number. When you find a lead on Facebook, it immediately opens up a treasure chest of personal information about them that is highly empowering for me as a salesperson. Because this is inside sales, finding a lead on Facebook also helps me remember that it is still a person on the other end of the call. I even find it helps to look at their profile pic while I chat with them.
Professional Sales Stalking Tools
There are also some pro tools you can use to stalk your leads prepitch when a Google search is not enough or does not return the insights you need. Spokeo, Intelius, Wink, Zabasearch, and PeekYou all also provide “big data” that is super useful for salespeople. Many CRMs also enrich the lead's profile automatically with “big data.”
My favorite tool for stalking leads these days is an app called Charlie. Once you install it, it syncs with your calendar and provides an email alert or a mobile push notification to a data rich “brief.”
Because Charlie syncs with my calendar I automatically get a one-pager about the lead 10 minutes before each of my sales calls are scheduled. Charlie will show you the person's interests and hobbies (the ones they grabbed for me are spot on: coffee, basketball, House of Cards, entrepreneurship), recent social updates, and Twitter connections in common. These “data points” become your “talking points” during the first minute of your call—perfect icebreakers for emotionally connecting with your prospect about something other than what you want to sell them and getting them to take their guard down.
Step 2 of the Two-Step Lead Stalk. Based on what you found in step 1, jot down two to four talking points or insights that prove you did your homework (leads always appreciate this). So in my case, you could have started your call by saying:
“Hey, Chris, it's Mr. Sales Guy from Company X. I saw a tweet you sent out yesterday about your Facebook groups and how Zillow actually made a change based on their influence. Impressive stuff! I actually spent a few minutes in the group you created, and it looks like you have built a special community. Congrats! The reason I called is that I saw you were interested at one point in what we sell and I wanted to talk more about it with you.”
This strategy works even better when the lead happens to be a blogger or has been featured recently by the press or on a website in some capacity. The more specific what you find is, the more specific your opening can be:
“Hey, Chris, I just read an article about how you got your company Curaytor to over $3,000,0000 in annual recurring revenue in less than two years, and it really inspired me. I also sell technology for company X and saw you inquired at one point about our services.”
OR
“Hey, Chris, I was reading an article you and your company Curaytor were featured in on Inc.com. Nice work!”
It is virtually impossible to say no to someone who does their homework and flatters you out of the gate, even in a sales pitch. No matter what level of success someone has achieved, we all like being told we are pretty before you try to kiss us.
The first widget of “the script” should include the following.
Your Four Custom Bullets
- ________________ 2. __________________ 3. _________________ 4. _________________
“Hey, _________, my name is ____________ and I work for ________________. I was calling to follow up about 1. ______________. Looks like you said 2.___________, 3.___________, and 4.__________. How are you today?”
These “bullets” will disarm the lead, let them know you are a professional, and make it crystal clear that they gave you their information. This is “unguessable” stuff and immediately separates you from the other cold callers.
Most salespeople start their calls like this:
“Hi, my name is Chris Smith and I am calling from Curaytor. How are you?”
OR
“Hi, my name is Chris Smith and I am calling from Curaytor. Is now a good time to chat?”
By inserting hyperpersonalized data points into our script at the very beginning, before we let them speak and before we ask our first “how are you?” or “is now a good time?” or “did I catch you at a bad time?” question, the person on the other end is much more inclined to hear you out.
That being said, this is still an Internet lead, not a referral from a friend or happy customer, so we need to have our guard up from the outset. After you have nailed your opening, next you need to gain psychological control over the caller. We need to begin the conditioning process (albeit subconsciously) so that at the end of the call, when we say, “Jump” (Buy!), they will say, “How high?” (Yes!)
How to Gain Control over the Call(er) with One Simple Sentence
So you just said something like this to start your call:
“Hey, Susie, my name is Chris and I work for RE/MAX. I was calling about the home you found using Zillow over on Madison St. that is currently asking $525,000. How are you today?”
What you say next is critical, and it needs to be the same every single time. Once you find a “gain control” statement that works for you, trust me, you should just use the same one every time. Here is exactly what I say next:
“I need you to please grab a pen and paper so that I can give you some information that isn't available online. Let me know when you are ready.”
OR
“Can you please grab a pen and paper—I want to give you my personal contact information in case we get disconnected?”
OR
“I have some information that you are going to want to jot down. Can you please grab a pen and paper and let me know when you are ready?”
Then once they are ready I say, “Great. My cell phone number is 555-5555 and my email address is [email protected].”
Notice the common element? By giving them an order to do something physical, and them doing it, it makes me/you the alpha. Will some people pretend to grab a pen and paper or be driving and unable to? Sure. But the people who will actually buy something will be willing to grab the pen and paper 95 percent of the time. If they are genuinely driving, just say, “No problem—I will email it over to you after our call” and move on to the next step.
A professional salesperson controls the call at every turn, none of which are more important than the opening of the call/relationship with the lead. Remember that tone matters a TON on the phone, so be very nice, but also be assertive when you ask them to do this. Think of it this way: If they won't grab a pen and paper to write a few things down, will they give you their credit card 20 minutes later? This technique of gaining control not only empowers you over those who will buy, but also helps to identify the more serious leads within seconds of the call starting.
After they write down the information you give them, the next sentence is pretty simple: “Tell me the primary reason why you inquired about _________.”
The challenge is that everyone says some variation of “No” immediately. Leads/people are conditioned to put up a brick wall. Especially when a salesperson calls us. Our job in sales is to knock the brick wall down so that they will have a normal, human conversation with us. What I have learned is that no matter what you sell, during the first minute of a call with an Internet lead they will say something like the following:
At Quicken they would always say, “I just want to know what the interest rates are.”
At Fashion Rock they would always say, “I just want to learn more about how it works.”
At Curaytor they always say, “I just want to know how much it costs and if it is available in my area.”
What they are all really saying is, “I don't want to be sold—I just wanted to learn more before I might buy.”
The nice thing is that it is usually very easy to identify the “brick wall statements” that your leads will make day in and day out. Once you know them, the last step in a perfect first minute of a sales call is to use a technique called ARPing. ARP stands for Acknowledge, Respond, Pivot.
Here is how you would acknowledge in each of these cases:
“I just want to know what the rates are.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know what the rates are. No problem!”
“I just want to learn more about how it works.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to learn more about how it works. No problem!”
“I just want to know how much it costs and if it is available in my area.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know how much we charge and if we are available in your area. No problem!”
The acknowledgment lets them know with 100 percent certainty that you heard them. Remember, physiology is the number one way that humans communicate, and we don't have that luxury over the phone. Where normally as someone would ask you a question you would look at them and nod along so they knew you were listening and understood, on the phone the acknowledgment is the equivalent of the head nod. It also buys you a moment to think about what you will say next—the “Response.” Thankfully, your responses will almost always be the same because you will identify responses that are comfortable for you to say and that work.
Here is how you would respond in each of the foregoing cases:
“I just want to know what the rates are.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know what the rates are. No problem!”
Respond: “The rates are currently at historic lows, and most of the people I speak with are saving a ton of money.”
“I just want to learn more about how it works.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to learn more about how it works. No problem!”
Respond: “The way the event works is that we put you in front of the best talent scouts in the world.”
“I just want to know how much it costs and if it is available in my area.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know how much we charge and if we are available. No problem!”
Respond: “I will cover pricing once I feel like we can truly help you.”
As you can see, with each response I am keeping it very simple and straightforward, but I am also never really answering their question too specifically. Remember: I am in charge, not them. We talk about what I want to talk about when I want to talk about it, or I lose and they win.
If your responses were “The rate is 6 percent,” or “We charge $1,275/month,” you will find that it will be a very quick call.
The last step is to pivot the conversation to where you want it:
“I just want to know what the rates were.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know what the rates were. No problem!”
Respond: “The rates are currently at historic lows, and most of the people I speak with are saving a ton of money.”
Pivot: “How long have you owned your home?”
Acknowledge: “You just want to learn more about how it works. No problem!”
Respond: “The way the event works is that we put you in front of the best talent scouts in the world.”
Pivot: “Have you done any acting/modeling/singing yet at the local level?”
“I just want to know how much it costs and if it is available in my area.”
Acknowledge: “You just want to know how much we charge and if we are available. No problem!”
Respond: “I will cover pricing once I feel like we can truly help you.”
Pivot: “How long have you been a real estate agent?”
The pivot gets the conversation back to where we want it.
It also leads us into the next part of the code: how to build rapport with an Internet lead by asking the right questions. The pivot question is the first in a series of questions that we will ask the lead in an effort to “dig deep,” build serious rapport, and close them more easily.