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Showing posts with label gregwalters #theimagingchannel #coldcalls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gregwalters #theimagingchannel #coldcalls. Show all posts

Monday, September 14, 2020

New to Copier Sales: Cold Calling Post COVID-19 is More of the Same




There is great pressure in the sales realm no matter what you’re selling. But for those of us in the imaging industry, the stress is exacerbated. Our volumes were dropping before COVID-19, consolidation was a daily occurrence, and layoffs happened almost every month. COVID-19 kicked all that into high gear, accelerating the transformation in a most turbulent way. 

Today the talk about town is working from home, the death of the office, and surviving the next month. Few meetings are centered on new copiers and toner supply management. When the world presents chaos and uncertainty, returning to our core values and foundational skill set is both rational and confidence building. 

Back to the basics like blocking and tackling, throwing, catching and batting, dribbling, jump shots and layups — for the selling professional it’s more like clear messaging, open-ended questions, relevant talk tracks, and phone calls. 

That’s right. Cold phone calls. Chills run down your spine, don’t they? 

Fear not – there are volumes of books on coaching, dozens of techniques, and hours of seminars chock full of advice and wisdom. 

 Unfortunately,... Read the Rest, here.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

New to Copier Sales: Evolving Into an Advisor


One of the milestones of moving from a newbie to a seasoned veteran is your ability to present yourself as a colleague to your prospects. One catchphrase I’m sure you’re hearing is “consultative selling.” The phrase is a bit disingenuous as it refers to giving prospects advice on how to best utilize your offering when solving business problems.

Indeed, consultants (i.e. advisors) receive compensation for knowledge shared, not the number of devices placed. The word “consultant” infers an air of neutrality without bias. You are advising. A sales manager, on the other hand, is extremely biased — there’s no neutrality in sales.

The best way to gain your prospect’s trust is to offer advice without expectations. For instance, when a prospect has an issue with their fleet of trucks, selling them a 50 ppm device isn’t going to help them get the oil changed.

On the other hand, because you’ve been asking all your other clients and prospects about their businesses, and you know one of your contacts repairs trucks for a living — and is good at it— you can simply forward their contact information to the prospect in need. Do things like this without expecting a payback, and you’ll be on your way to being seen as a trusted advisor in no time.

The concept is simple, but there are many characteristics to consider when becoming an advisor. Here are three of the most important:

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Thursday, September 20, 2018

The H8full Cold Call: #ManagedPrintServices


Newbies, take caution. Some say phone cold calling is dead. But, for the new copier salesperson, the phone is your lifeline. For you, the cold call is alive and well. For you, it’s dial for dollars or hit the bricks. It is a miracle anyone survives. Yet, some do, some even thrive.

The phone, a mirror and the Yellow Pages. That’s all it took for the rise of copier empires and fulfilled selling destinies — the stuff of legends.

I once loved to cold call. Back then we called them “phone blocks.” Phone blocks filled Franklin planners. Appointments paid for diapers, private school and vacations.

Read the rest, here.

Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193