Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog

Increase sales by using your enthusiasm to get prospects motivated to want to buy from you

  

  

 delicious  

  

One of my mantras when I teach my sales training courses is that you've got to quickly determine how your solution is either going to make your prospects money, or stop them from losing money. Then tell them. That's all about ROI. But pumping up the enthusiasm is really important as well, and I witnessed this concept first hand recently when someone sold me a whole bunch of stuff I never intended to buy when I walked in the door. I was happy with my purchase too, and follow-on sales resulted. We can all learn a lot from this story, so here's what happened:

There's a company called Rosenblum Cellars that makes Zinfandel wines, and they're located way at the northern tip of Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. I'm not a big zin drinker, but Alameda's a great town, and I was curious about this winery that's located on an old naval air base, so one Sunday a friend and I drove out there. We paid a small tasting fee, and began sampling. And that's when we ran into Kenny Goodman. He asked immediately what we thought of the first glass, and I told him it didn't have enough "pop" for me, because typically I like cabernets. Then he really went into action. "Look," he said, "I'm not supposed to do this, but I'm gonna pour one of best zins that usually I'm supposed to charge for, but I won't charge you. This stuff is really fantastic!" And it was pretty good! "I knew you'd love it, I just bought a whole case last week myself. And if you think that was great, getta load of this one!" He poured another glass from another hidden bottle, and in an animated fashion jumped all over the place, raving about those two new bottles.

We weren't his only customers, but he treated us like we were the only ones in the place. We walked around the tasting room a bit, and I noticed he was going into his performance with all the other customers, too. He wasn't pouring from the same bottles, but made everyone feel like they were special, and he was going to do something special for them. I just loved Kenny's enthusiasm for his product, and it was infectious. My friend and I loaded our trunk with bottles we hadn't intended to buy, and joined the wine club, too. My friend standardized on one of their zins, and serves it as her wine of choice at home. Kenny made a lot of money for the winery that day, and pumped follow-on sales for months to come, too.

My sister Vickie works in the wine industry in the Napa Valley, and I told her the story. She said everyone in the industry knows Kenny, and his enthusiasm is legendary.

So what can we in inside sales learn from Kenny? Two important things:
1) Enthusiasm. We deal with the same products every day, and to us they're old hat. But they're new to the prospect. Try to talk about your solution the same way you did when you found out how great it was. Rave about how it's helping other customers, and tell each prospect about how you just can't wait for him or her to get it on board so you can hear about their success stories, too. And don't be afraid to put yourself in the story, either. Kenny was a such a big fan of his product that it made us want to try everything, and we felt that if he liked it so much, we would, too.
2) Treat each prospect as if he or she is special. We talk to sometimes dozens of prospects every day, and it's easy to go into the same old rap. Take a look at your prospects' websites. Get really enthusiastic about what they're making, and talk about their products. Change your conversation to reflect what's going on at your prospect's company. Ask how their own products are making their customers' lives better. If you're one of their customers yourself, talk about how much you love their product or solution. Make each prospect feel as though he or she is the most important person you've talked to that month.

If you take Kenny Goodman's approach, prospects will want to buy from you, and sometimes that's what will drive the business to you, and not to a comparable competitor. Selling over the phone is a tough job, and some days are tougher than others. I'm sure it's like that in the wine room, too. But if you pump up the enthusiasm and make each prospect feel unique and special, you'll have more fun, your day will go faster, and you'll write more business. Sales managers and execs ask me every week how to better motivate their teams. Self-motivation is the best answer, and if we all think of our prospects as being unique people working in fascinating environments, the enthusiasm can be infectious. While you're on your way to work tomorrow, seriously think about how you'll go about re-crafting your rap to add more "pop" to your conversation.  And consider adding Kenny's techniques to your Best Practices playbook.