Want To Improve Your Sales Results?Pick Up The Phone More

I experienced success in a consultative sales role before the internet and cell phones.  The tools I had at my disposal consisted of a telephone land line and a list of people to call (a physical phone book or corporate directory).  To build my book of business – I picked up the phone and called new prospects to set up in person meetings.  The more calls I made, the more meetings I generated- which resulted in more sales.

These days when working with salespeople to enhance their sales pipeline, it is not uncommon for me to reference this basic “just pick up the phone” concept.

Yes.

I know.

That sound you hear is the chorus of salespeople proclaiming with absolute certainty that “nobody answers their phone anymore”.    For this reason, they will suggest – it is much more difficult/impossible to speak with prospective clients and generate meetings*.   The irony of course is salespeople now have access to more tools to assist their prospecting and communication efforts than ever before:

CRM systems**, Zoom, Teams, Slack, email, text, social media, LinkedIn, etc.…. not to mention the universe of capabilities A.I. technology layers on.

However for prospecting to be effective, it is critical to leverage them in the appropriate manner, in the right amount, at the right time, and with appropriate objectives/next steps within the context of your sales process.

The “phone” salespeople should be picking up has evolved- it is now multidimensional.

The good news= this can mean much more efficient prospecting and increased meeting activity/sales results.

The not-so-good news = simply using these technologies without a coordinated plan (and expectations) will not work nearly as well, and can lead to frustration.

So when I ask a Salesperson how they are going about their prospecting to grow their meeting activity/pipeline and the response is simply “I sent out 500 emails” or even “I called 100 people” – it is a sign that they are not actually “picking up the phone”.     What I mean is- they aren’t picking up the entire phone.

In actuality- there are two components which are the building blocks of any Sales Plan:

  • The tools and technology used
  • HOW the salesperson uses them. Having all the tech in the world at one’s disposal isn’t inherently helpful.  It is the selling skills (research, questioning, etc) which a salesperson applies that will set them apart from their competition***

Notes:

*Meetings should be in person as much as possible.  That is not to say that remote meetings (ie Zoom) aren’t a useful tool- but they need to be used strategically (not as a replacement for in person meetings).

**I have never met a salesperson who liked the CRM they use, however the successful salespeople I know use it extensively.  Not surprisingly,  underperforming salespeople tend to make minimal use of the CRM and suggest that spending time in the CRM “takes them away from selling” (?!).

***No, it is not the “product” or “price” – ever, but that is a topic for a separate article!