Episode 007 How to Win a Sale in the first 10 seconds of a cold call

Power Sales Guru With Will Harris podcast

How to close a sale in first 10 seconds of a Cold Call - Winning Sales Message

For this podcast, we are going to look at the most important part of your opening statement…the interest statement.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. When you are prospecting to a client there are no second takes. If you stammer the initial call, you cannot hang up and call right back to try again.

Regardless of the business or organization, everyone has the same problems all over the world. In order for you to achieve differentiation with your prospecting efforts, you need to mention one or more of these six needs in your WIIFM Statement. Take a look at an example for each:

Operations WIIFM – You operate better with me

Operations represent the biggest challenge for any business. This area has a dual focus on cost control and inventory management. Even for service companies, inventory is present in the form of human labor. Your WIIFM should focus on how you can have a direct impact on overseeing key areas of their inventory, or the way in which they conduct their business.

For your clients, differentiation of companies in your industry becomes tougher every day. Look for operational superiority in your offer if you cannot easily show product superiority. In the absence of product differentiation, focus your WIIFM on process differentiation. Most businesses interact with companies based on what works for the company and not their customer. Highlight this difference and you will stand out.

Operations: These ideas will gain you more control over your expenses.

Marketing WIIFM – You have more customers with me

Marketing focuses on generating revenue. Every company is in the business of making money. A strong WIIFM focuses on how your company can help them make more money. In some cases, you may be positioned to use Power Prospecting to contact organizations and not businesses. This includes non-profit organizations, like a city council or other government agencies. Not for Profit organizations have a reason for existing and that reason is the source for developing a strong WIIFM. Show how you can help them find new customers or reach their objectives quicker.

Marketing: I specialize in helping my customers find customers.

Financial WIIFM – You make money with me.

Financial needs involve a business’ ability to collect billed revenue. Getting business is good, but collecting money on business is great! All decision makers have a concern around ensuring that billing and collecting is a smooth process. It may require a creative WIIFM to connect your offering to this regard. However, that connection will immediately resonate with the decision maker during your prospecting call.

Productivity – You gain more resources with me

Productivity is the area where businesses look to accomplish more by using fewer resources. Using fewer resources could refer to things like money or time. Every business leader seeks ways to prevent over spending. Nothing frustrates a vested business professional more than spending too much time on administrative activities and not enough time on revenue generation.

Productivity: I will show you ways to spend more time on revenue-generating activities and less time on administrative activities.

Information – You stay ahead with me

Information empowers any business to make the right decisions to keep themselves in business. Company owners and leaders want to ensure that they are up to speed on the latest trends within their industry or market. No one wants to be behind the times. In addition, no one wants to be too far ahead which could result in not having any customers. For business leaders, having complete and correct information about the business environment makes for a compelling WIIFM.

Information: My company prides itself on supplying you with the most valuable resource in the market right now…information on the industry’s best practices.

Planning – You make the right decisions with me

Planning for the future, based on the past, is the cornerstone of business longevity. The fast pace of business finds management’s role changing each day. As business situations become more complex, most managers lack time to manage. Instead, they spend the majority of their time putting out fires. So much time is spent putting out fires that they lack time to build a better fire department. It is importation to mention your ability to help with strategic thinking and planning. This will showcase you as a Trusted Advisor.

Planning: You will be able to become more proactive than reactive through our strategic planning process.

Let me give you an example to explain my point of planning. There are beautiful Japanese fish named Koi. They can be found in little ponds and water gardens at the nicest hotels based on their decorative appearance. If Koi are kept in a fish bowl, it will only grow a few inches in length. When the Koi is placed in a large pond it can grow longer than twelve inches. Amazingly, if the Koi is allowed to live in a lake it will grow up to three feet in length!

The size of the Koi is always in direct proportion to the size of its environment; the bigger the scope of their living environment, the bigger the potential for growth.

The same applies for the WIIFM you discuss during Power Prospecting. Most sales calls focus on product, product and product. Rarely do sales people expand their scope to include one of the six business needs. These critical needs are perceived as being too large an environment to discuss concerning their product offering. If you expand the scope of your WIIFM, you will find your success with Power Prospecting will expand in direct proportion.

These are all examples of WIIFM messages condensed to an interest statement. It is broad enough not to turn anyone off and specific enough not to isolate anyone based on the specific products or services you are selling. Think about it. Be creative with paring your offerings to their need.

Depending on your product, you may have never considered telling the potential customers you can help them in this area. Great! That means your competition may not have thought that way either.

During the World’s Fair in St Louis, Missouri, a waffle vendor applied creativity to turn business disaster into business legend.

The vendor ran out of paper plates. The lack of supplies prevented him from selling hot waffles. Seeing an opportunity, an ice cream seller suggested the waffle vendor switch products. The ice cream vendor suggested to the waffle vendor that he should buy ice cream from him and sell that product instead.

Out of desperation, the waffle vendor began selling ice cream in small cups. But he did not know what to do with the remaining waffle mix. The waffle vendor’s wife helped him make one thousand waffles and use an iron to flatten them. They rolled the flattened waffle and left a pointy end at the bottom. Next, he began marketing the very first waffle cone. Today, those cones are just as popular as ice cream.