EARNING APPOINTMENTS WITH THE "CONVERSATIONAL TELEPHONE APPROACH" by William L. Willard, CLU In a consumer world inundated with junk mail, junk e-mail, annoying telephone solicitors and other Culture Clutter, you must demonstrate that you are somehow superior in your field or fail to get your prospects' attention. And getting people's attention is the first step to sales. In today's crowded, competitive marketplace, prospects will be looking at you as hard, if not harder, than you're looking at them.People have had it with telemarketers with strobe-light personalities, but no manners or listening skills (and that, unfortunately, includes some financial service representatives). As time becomes increasingly scarce, people will want to spend more time on the phone qualifying you before agreeing to an appointment. Thus, the pre-approach, in which you get people to agree to see you, is arguably the most challenging part of selling. Appointments must be earned.The best way to do that is to find real reasons for people to want to see you. Contrived pre-approach methods that manipulate people into agreeing to appointments are widely rejected in today's family, business and professional markets. To earn the right to meet with prospects, you must first establish yourself as a competent, courteous professional in ways that motivate people to seek a meeting with you.This makes having good reasons to contact people just as important as having a lot of people to contact. Because not everyone will agree to a meeting the first time you call, be prepared to recycle qualified prospects. We know people may need to see or hear your message as many as nine times before your name even registers with them. For this reason, a series of coordinated marketing techniques--beginning with (for example) one or more mailings (letters, consumer bulletins, articles), enhanced by seminars or workshops, and culminating in several personal contacts--are recommended in most relationship-based sales situations. Even if it takes weeks or months to get an appointment with qualified prospects,it's worth the wait, if you use every contact as an opportunity to: Build rapport and win the prospect's confidence. This is a relationship business. People like doing business with people they like, who ask important questions and know how to listen. Establish yourself as someone worth listening to.Be very specific about what you do and your primary marketplace. Demonstrate your competence in dealing with the prospect's needs, objectives and concerns. Always have something new and interesting to talk about. Learn more about your prospect's personal or business situation.The more leverage you have with prospects and the more you know about their special situations and goals, the easier it is to identify needs and concerns which people will wantyou to resolve. Set a specific date, time and reason for a follow-up call.Having a specific purpose for a follow-up call is critical. You can discover reasons for calling back by asking smart questions. Timing is crucial.The prospect who has no interest in seeing you one month may be wishing you'd call back the next. That's why it's so important to have a steady flow of qualified prospects, an effective prospect follow-up system (preferably fully automated), and use pre-approach techniques that put you in the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons. That's what distinguishes marketingfrom selling,and helps make you better than your competitors in the eyes of your prospects. Telephone Contacts - The Better the Reason, the Better the Result Though, they may not always like it, most people will talk on the phone if (a) they have a good enough reason (it's so much more interesting for the listener), and (b) they recognize immediately they're speaking with a courteous, competent professional, not a boiler-room sharpshooter. What's more, if the reason is important enough to your prospect, the appointment is virtually assured. The problem with most telephone tracks is that the salesperson has to do all the talking.While the agent delivers a monologue, the prospect can barely get a word in--until it's time to say "no," that is. There's a better way. It's called conversation! The Conversational Telephone Approach - A Path, Not a Track The best way to get people's attention and start conversations is by asking about their all-time favorite topics: Themselves, their families and their businesses. So once prospects have agreed to speak with you, don't tell them about you, ask about them! By linking your questions to your reason for calling--and using whatever third-party influence or other leverage you might have--you'll be surprised at the number of interesting conversations you'll get into. You'll be even more pleased with the number of sales appointments that will result from these conversations. Though flexible and easily adapted to many different situations and personal selling styles, the Conversational Telephone Approach follows this general path: Identify yourself and your Company, and ALAYS ask if the person has time to speak with you.This civil, courteous approach instantly marks you as a professional. Explain the reason for your call.The more important the reason is to your prospect, the more interested he or she will be in speaking with you. Also, mention any third-party influence you have with the prospect, as well as any letters or other information you sent before you called. Try These... Referral Call: "Fran Frank suggested I call you. She and Carl are clients of mine, and we've been working on an idea she thought would be right up your alley!" Pre-approach Letter Follow-up Call: "The reason I'm calling is to follow-up on a letter I sent a few days ago. Have you received it?" Direct Mail Follow-up Call: "A few days ago, I mailed you a letter offering free information on __________________. Did you receive my letter?"(If not, briefly explain the content, then continue) Cold Call to Personal Observation Prospect: "We apparently know many of the same people [or: belong to many of the same organizations], and I've intended to call you. Sorry I've taken so long...!" Cold Call to a Business Owner: "Since a number of my clients own small or closely held businesses like yours, I'm calling to introduce myself and see if we can meet. I'd like to show you the kind of work we do." 3. Start a conversation by asking prospects about themselves, their families, their businesses. One of your goals is to establish rapport and build the prospect's confidence and trust. So, let your conversations take their course. Try These: "Fran tells me you're an architect. Are you with a firm, or do you have your own practice?" "May I ask when you started your company, and why you chose this area?" "Are you from here originally?" ìDo you still have children in school?î (Don't rush! Build on your third-party influence or a nominatorís recommendation; establish rapport by following-up the response in a friendly, conversational manner, then say something like thisÖ) "As you may know, my Company has provided insurance and financial products to individuals, families and business owners in our area for many years. If it's all right with you, I'd like the opportunity to explain our services and see if we should be doing business together.î 4. Ask for a daytime appointment. If that's not convenient, suggest an evening meeting. "This won't take more than 15 to 20 minutes, so would it be convenient for me to stop by your office next Tuesday morning at 11:45, or would sometime Wednesday be better for you? (Wait for a response. If a daytime appointment is not convenient, say...) "Well, would one evening at your home this week or next be appropriate?" 5. If the prospect won't agree to an appointment, ask probing, open-ended questions. One critical way people will judge you is by the questions you ask. You can start a conversation with one or two thought-provoking questions that help people focus on important financial security concerns, perhaps for the first time. Hereís a sampling: Sales Representative: "At this point, I'm not sure what we should be talking about; but let's go through some preliminary questions to see if we should be doing business together... "What would you like financial products and services to do for you?" "Are you comfortable with what you've done so far to protect your most valuable asset: your ability to earn income?" "What specifically have you done to guarantee your family will continue to enjoy their current lifestyle if you're too sick or hurt to pay the bills...or if you're no longer here?" "Do you know how much your retirement will cost?" "Have you calculated the combined income value of your pension, 401(k) and Social Security benefits?" "Are you going to be working past regular retirement age?" "How concerned are you about the possible effect an extended market downturn might have on your retirement savings?" "How do you feel about college education for your children? Are you happy with what you've been able to save so far?" "Have you looked into the tax benefits of Roth IRA? Do you know about the upside and downside of converting regular IRAs to Roth IRAs?" "What are your thoughts about pre-need long-term care planning for yourselves or your parents?" "What level of liquidity will be available to pay wealth transfer costs when you die? How sure are you that this allow you to leave your property to your heirs intact?" "Would you be interested in some specific ideas that could help improve your planning in any of these areas?"(Wait for an answer) Pretty much no matter what the prospect says, you've now created an opportunity to identify a priority issue you can address with your products or services. That's the magic momentin any telephone contact, and knowing how to create the moment and capitalize on the magic is what separates the pros from the also-rans. Even if prospects say they're not interested in any of those issues,continue the discussion by asking: "May I ask why you feel that way?"Prospects may have an entirely different set of financial priorities, or there may be some other reason they can't see you now, or ever. 6. Discuss the prospect's financial priorities.Take the conversation as far as it goes. Each will follow a different path, but you'll know instinctively when it's time to move on. 7. Ask for an appointment, again. Note: The Sales Representative offers a choice of appointments at odd times because people tend to remember them better. "If you'll invest 15 to 20 minutes, we can go over some ideas other successful people have found very effective in dealing with this issue, and see which one makes sense for you. You'd be under no obligation, of course. "I have Thursday morning at 10:25 and Friday afternoon at 2:45 available. Which is best for you?" Ideally, by demonstrating your specific expertise, people will want you to help them meet their goals or address their concerns.But you may not feel comfortable discussing every need in every situation, every time. When that happens... Try This: Offer to deliver information about the prospect's priority in person: If the prospect agrees, you have an appointment! If the prospect wants you to mail the information, not deliver it, agree to do so, but ask for a specific date and time to follow-up with the prospect. Be sure you're up-to-speed with the prospect's priority issues,or can bring in an expert before the appointment or your follow-up call. 8. Confirm the location of the prospect's home or place of business--and find out where to park. Get a good locator map. Don't waste prospects' time giving you geography lessons. The beauty of the Conversational Telephone Approach is that all you're doing is "selling the appointment" (as in any pre-approach contact).The difference is, by establishing rapport with the prospect, identifying the person's priority issues and suggesting that you have a specific way to solve them, you're also building a relationship and qualifying the prospect (and vice versa). The result? People will want to see you--which will cut down on the number of no-shows and have a positive effect on your closing ratios. And, as with any new skill, the more you use it, the more comfortable it will become. A former insurance agent, William L. Willard, CLU is a financial services writer in Clearwater, FL. He is the author of Guidebook 2000 - Relationship- Based Marketing & Selling (Pelican Island Publishing - A Division of the Diversified Group). This and other components ofSeries 2000 - Connecting to Generational Marketing are available by calling 1-800-385-5558 or by e-mail at dgroup@tiac.net Mr. Willard may be reached by e-mail at wwillard@bigfoot.com