Sales 101: First Approach - Rule #3 - 60seconds

You got the name, you picked up the phone, you called the direct number at 7:45am, you got the guy who owns the organic/herbal store around the corner from your house - you’re ready to make a sale… nice, big money, every month.

Whatever. Remember what I said before… selling is building trust and a relationship. Start with the following Rule - Rule#3: 60seconds… ask for SIXTY seconds of their time but…

Here’s what you do when you get the owner of your local business on the phone:

1. Introduce yourself: Hi, my name is [name]. I live in your neighborhood. How are you? [make sure you say that you live in the neighborhood, he has to listen to you because you are a potential customer, there's a win-win situation here]
2. Say the following exactly: May I take sixty seconds of your time to tell you who I am and why I am calling you?
   9 out of 10 times you will get a “Yes” reply. - go to step 3
   5 out of 10 times you will get a laugh and a “Yes” reply. - go to step 3
   2 out of 10 times you will get a reply “I can’t talk right now can you call me back” - Ask what is a good time to call. This is actually a great response to your sixty seconds because they are giving you permission to call them back. They want you to call them back. So make sure you find out when to call them back.
3. You got permission to speak. Very important. They told you that they will listen to what you have to say. Isn’t that great. Mak sure you say “Thank you” before you say anything else. Don’t you think telemarketers should be this polite and ask for permission?
   Your next mission is to get a 10 minute face-to-face meeting. Here you can be creative in terms of what you say about yourself, you may for example say “I am a local online publisher of a blog magazine. I attract many people to my site everyday. I developed a trusted following with many of them and I have successfully marketed products to them. The reason why I am calling is to secure 10 minutes of your time to come in, introduce myself in person and introduce my publication to you and see if there may be an opportunity to work together.” Stop and say nothing more. Wait. and Wait. Whoever says something next wins the conversation… To be continued.

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