My sister likes to chat on skype and a typical chat from her will look like this:

Hey sis

Are u there?

I want to ask you about coming up to the city the weekend of the 3rd, will you be around?

K and J want to come and we want to stay at your house. We can all have dinner together on Saturday night and stay until Sunday- can you hang with us? We want to try that new Japanese restaurant near your place. Maybe at 7:00pm?

What do you have going that weekend? You’ll probably be taking a few classes, how about a bike ride? We could all do a hearty ride together? Sounds, good, we’ll load the bikes up in the car- you’ll have to see J’s new bike? Have you been riding lately? Now that it gets dark early, does your bike have a good light? I’m sure you’ll be up for a ride with us.

Are you there? I’ll try you on your cell and in the meantime, look at your calendar and let me know if this date works.

I use this anology because it reminds me of salespeople who finally get a live call after dialing for hours and getting stuck in voice mail jail. Once they hear a living and breathing voice on the line- this launches them into self-selling utopia.

Have you ever sold from self-selling utopia? It’s a very comfortable, familiar and safe place to sell from. It’s comfortable because you don’t have to risk rejection, it’s familiar because you mostly do all the talking and it’s safe because if anyone is going to reject you, it will come from you first.  This is the way it works:

1. The salesperson engages the prospect with an introduction

2. Salesperson initiates discussion by asking a strong probing question that encourages the prospect to respond

3. The prospect begins to formulate their response but the salesperson interrupts by volunteering the answer and formulating another question and attaches a quick explanation of that question. 

4. The prospect is still attempting to answer the original question before tackling the latest question but gets side-swiped once again with a new question from the salesperson.

5. The prospect begins to shut down in their listening and starts to look for an easy exit.

6. The salesperson misinterprets the silence from the prospect as interest and now begins to push for an appointment.

7. The prospect is mentally exhausted and weakens their stance by accepting an appointment hoping to get the salesperson off the phone.

8. The salesperson confirms the appointment, explains what it will include, provides more information on preparing for the appointment and asks the prospect if they have any questions.

9. The prospect doesn’t even know where to begin with questions and isn’t exactly sure who this salesperson is and what their company does or how the solution can help their organization. They just want to get off the phone and feel warn out with the call.

10. The salesperson puts this appointment on the calendar and adds this prospect on their forecast that exists in self-selling utopia.  

It’s been 18 months and 388 blog posts since I first ventured into the blogsphere. Today, my writing life is full and my blog is my business partner, my confidante, my inspiration and my mirror. 

Why do I blog? Mainly because I love to write and communicate my thoughts, ideas and values to the world.  I like to get up close and personal with inside sales people as well as field sales, service and support teams.

Sometimes I think I’m moving very slow on a highway that is racing. Other times, I feel I’m speeding in a 25 miles per hour zone. Today I am going at exactly the right pace.

I want to dedicate this blog posting to YOU. Thanks for stopping by and reading a post or two, thanks for the time you take to read and comment, thanks for your kind words of support and most of all, thanks for being my inspiration. 

I have compiled my top 50 list of favorite blog post- here is the best of the Life in the Telebusiness Blog:

1. Setting Appointments.

2.  Get More Live Voices

3. Change up your messaging

4. Oops, when you realize you’re in the wrong place

5. When someone goes radio silent on you

6. 5 ways to set your non-negotiable time

7. The Dynamic Duo

8. Keep in shape

9. Clues we lose

10. Telestressed?

11. 8 reasons to test your phone courage

12. Email rejections

13. Changes lead to uncertainty of power

14. Listening for red flags

15. Are any No-Po’s lingering in your forecast?

16. Learning your No-Po lacks power before they do

17. Betrayed by No-Po’s?

18. I just have one more question

19. When a No-Po has to protect their turf

20. Winning coaching qualities

21. Are you avoiding being coached?

22. Sales intuition

23. The cancelled sales appointment

24. Is voice mail in or out?

25. Key words and phrases that lack influence

26. Trend talk

27. Sales training is like going into rehab

28. The first few times it’s tough and then it gets easier

29. Are salespeople happy?

30. Notes on motivation

31. Mr. Unavailable is a No-Po

32. Sales yoga

33. Tuesday conversation with a No-Po

34. You finally get the appointment, now what?

35. Let’s talk about trust

36. Different messages= different titles

37. End of quarter sales stats

38. Watch out- it’s the No-Po entourage

39. You sound busy so I’ll let you go

40. 10 tactics for engaging a gate-keeper

41. Looking for motivation in all the wrong places

42. Unavailable power

43. When was the last time you…..

44. Sales 2.0 prospecting

45. Opt-out of desperate discounting

46. The 3 C’s of social networking

47. Sales 2.0; A Report from the front lines

48. Top 7 responses impatient salespeople hate to hear

49. What’s on your wish list?

50. Why do we can people who have no power?

The Friday before a long holiday weekend is always a bit slippery. People seem to cut out early, plan their weekend activities and wish one another a Great Holiday Weekend! Well, I’m doing some of that but I’m also excited about Video Blogging.
As you know, I started my blog last year and as much as I learn about blogging, I am so far from ever really getting there. Sure I have my favorites that I always look to for inspiration because they always blog and provide exceptional content.

When I want to know what is happening, I go to Guys’ blog and when I want to see who is hot in the tech world, I listen to Robert Scoble’s PodTech show. I always laugh with brilliant Scott Adam’s Dibert’s blog- as a matter of fact, if I had 15 minutes with someone amazing, it would be Scott Adams. When I want to know what is happening in the blogging community, the very hip BlogSquad ladies keep me on my toes. These are only a few.

So yesterday, I’m checking out video blogging and I came across a few I want to share with you:

1. Roxanne Darling’s Beach Walks with Roz- I’m super excited about this. Rox takes us on daily walks on the beach in Hawaii. That’s right, here I am in foggy San Francisco with the heater in my office and I get to watch and listen to the very articulate and bright Rox.
2. Since my blog is Life in the Telebusiness Trenches and completely dedicated for inside sales folks, we can relate to the phone. I’m always looking for fun stuff on about phones. Well, check out That Phone Guy- he is hysterical. If you watch very closely, you will realize he is not talking into a cell phone- it’s his wallet!
3. Of course, we can’t forget Amanda Congdon who is prolific in her use of video.

All I have to say is stay tuned for some surprises next week.

This prospect has been on your radar for months. Every 6 weeks, you diligently call and get updated on his initiatives, hiring goals, systems roll-out and new management. You continue calling and ask for the meeting. Your prospect tells you to call back at the beginning of the next month and your notes field looks like a sea of c/b action items.

Finally, you call at 7:45 a.m. one morning and the decision-maker picks up the phone. He is calm, ignores interruptions, is very ready to finally talk, and agrees to clear his calendar for the Wednesday 3 weeks from today. He opens up 40 minutes and suggests you include your solution specialist on the call and he’ll invite a few managers. He accepts the Outlook Meeting Maker and you are in good shape.

You assemble the team, brief them on your strategy, poke around into the prospect’s organization and prepare, prepare, prepare. One week before, you send a confirmation and yes, the meeting for next week is on. 24-hours before, you send a reminder and they acknowledge the meeting, bridge number and who will be attending. Most excellent.

The day comes; you load up your slides, prepare for your discussion, contact your partners and prep for the call. 10 minutes before the call, you get a call from his assistant who informs you that an all-hands meeting has been called and they will need to reschedule today’s meeting.

Sound familiar? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Take advantage of the guilt factor on your prospect’s end and set another appointment sooner than later.

2. Find out what was announced in the all-hands meeting and tie it into your convincing email of why they need your solution.

3. Don’t take it personally and don’t accept this as their excuse, find out what is behind this.

4. Use the “3 strikes you’re out” rule, don’t let this happen again.

5. Find out how much influence this person really has or go higher.

Fleet Week is coming to San Francisco this weekend. It’s a pretty amazing air and boat show in the bay honoring the Coast Guard, Navy and Marines. Now let’s talk about the Blue Angels. These guys have been around since 1946 and each year they take performance flying to new levels. Rolling, diving and spinning upside down, Blue Angels pilots continue to dazzle and inspire millions. 

A few days before their air show, they practice their tricks throughout the city. It’s not unusual to be sitting downtown in some conference room and seeing the Blue Angels right outside your window flying in between buildings. These practice sessions stir a lot of controversy in the city as some people complain of the noise while others are just completely distracted.

The concept of practicing doesn’t really exist in sales. We are paid to think on our feet, shoot from the hip and just do it. What if we practiced our pitch? Our messaging? Articulate some questions? The most we practice is while someone is talking and we are pretending to listen. Here are five ways to practice selling:

1.  Visualize what you want to achieve before you make a presentation or demo, or qualify your prospect.

2. Take the time to articulate the most important phrase, sentence, paragraph or question and verbalize it.

3. Rehearse it in your mind and anticipate the response.

4. Prepare your rebuttal strategy to the potential objections.

5. Be great when you go live!

There’s a popular radio station we all listen to- WIIFM. What does it stand for? What’s In It For Me. Somehow this gets lost in our messaging whether we are leaving a voice mail introducing ourselves or sending an email about our services. We tend to forget to talk about this and yet that’s what our prospect wants to hear the most about.  The best way to think about formulating your WIIFM is to try to answer some of these questions:

1. Why, from a business perspective, is your solution important?

2. Why is your company the best choice?

3. Do you genuinely believe that your solution will significantly benefit the organization you are targeting?

4. Can you clearly demonstrate those benefits quickly and easily?

5. Do you truly feel that your offer is superior- or at least equal- to anything else available to that organization?

6. What value will your service/product bring?

7. How does your contribution distinguish you from the competition?

When formulating WIIFM, always start statements with….”many of our customers consistently rely on us for….” or “our happy customers say they like our company because…..” or “each year, we find our customers want us for…….”

Remember to speak from their perspective.

Like my new blog design? It’s new and improved don’t you think? A few months ago I had no idea I was going to dive into this blogging world. My new web site was about to go live and I thought I would throw a blog in there. That’s usually how I dive into projects, I start with the end first and then work backwards.

But just featuring a blog on my site means a lot more …. it means setting it up, learning about it and buying books on it. It means managing it on a daily basis, trouble-shooting problems when they come up, going to conferences to meet other bloggers, reading other bloggers’ work, marketing my blog, talking about it at dinner parties. It means conversing with geek techies about it, integrating my blog into my marketing mix, designing it to include more eye candy, building a community of people, revealing different parts of myself, and it gives me one more passion to talk about.

Every year, exceptional actors are honored for their performances in film. And every year, we answer polls, enter pools, and watch with excitement as the stars show up to receive their golden statues.

Admit it, most sales people have a secret desire to be actors—but sales is a much faster and more professional way to make good money. And every day, salespeople put themselves out there, acting for the sake of the sale:

• We give the most persuasive presentations at quarter-end.
• We respond to prospects’ emotionally driven purchasing concerns.
• We’re sublimely convincing in selling product that may never get made!
• We mirror prospects, becoming who they want us to be.
• We read and respond to body language and use the power of our voices.
• We hold ourselves to the highest standards of excellence.

What about your team? Don’t they deserve honors? Yes, it’s quarter-end, and salespeople are fiercely working to make it to President’s Club. But this is different. Take a minute, look around, and consider who deserves recognition:

• Best at Having High-Level Conversations: This person is fearless and can engage at the highest levels. He knows how to speak the language and how to address the “hot buttons” that keep executives awake at night. He’s smooth with communications and drives the sale from a high-level, big-picture perspective.

• Best at Closing: She knows how to move a sale along. She’s patient, persistent, and very focused on driving the close. She always projects accurately, and she’s reliable and steady.

• Best Technical Advisor: Everyone calls on him before they call technical support. His technical knowledge isn’t “geek talk” but sales talk, and the customers listen and understand. He makes it all sound simple.

• Best Prospector: She loves to pick up the phone, send out an email, and generate new opportunities. She doesn’t look at it as prospecting but as research. She has a driving curiosity to engage people and assemble a puzzle that fits.

• Best Leader: He’s a manager who knows how to grow, build, and drive his team. He’s a leader in the true sense, and his people will follow him anywhere. He connects through empathy and self-awareness; he knows how to manage people who are different from him; he’s ambitious and driven toward results.

• Best Newcomer: She raises the bar and sets new standards. Although she may be new on the team, she hits the ground running and makes an excellent first impression. She goes beyond beginners’ luck — she knows what she’s doing.

• Best Team Player: Everyone wants him on their team, because he’ll make them win. No matter what rumors are flying around about possible mergers, acquisitions, etc., he knows how to rally the team and get people motivated.

• Best Adaptation of a Screenplay: She’s a whiz with words and can finesse any message into a winning proposition. Far from relying on the typical script, she takes risks and uses new approaches to address the customer with exciting, vibrant messages.

• Best Supporting Person in a Major Account: He’s responsible for bringing in one of the biggest deals in the quarter. He was the first contact, made the biggest impression, developed trust, and knew how choreograph a cast of characters that took the sale to the next level.

• Best Actor in a Foreign Script: She’s highly intuitive and sensitive to the customer. She understands buyer behavior and how customers want to be sold. She takes full responsibility for understanding the cultural idiosyncrasies within each of her organizations’ international partners.

And the winner is…………………….