Stephan Schiffman - The 250 Power Words That Sell: The Words You Need to Get the Sale, Beat Your Quota, and Boost Your Commission

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What do these words and phrases mean to you? Do you use them during cold calling, sales presentations, or when youre closing a deal? What kind of words do you use to elicit a strong responsepositive or negativefrom your prospects?

Words are the basic tools of your trade. Theyre what make a sale happen. And the better you are at using them, the more successful your professional life will be. In fact, this is true for just about any trade or profession. For example:

The next time you have occasion to call a professional into your home to fix somethinga plumber, saywatch him while he works. What will strike you is that hes extremely precise in his movements. Theres no wasted motion or effort. And a big part of that is that he has his toolbox open beside him and obviously knows where each tool is and what hell need it for. He barely looks as he reaches time and again into the box to pull out now a wrench, now a pair of pliers. And in what often seems like very little time, hes packing up his tools, being careful to put each item away in its designated spot.

Like the plumber, you need to have all your toolsthat is to say, your wordsneatly arranged where you can find them and use them. Also like the plumber, you need to know which words are appropriate to each given situation. This book will teach you how to do that and how to choose the best words for any part of the sales cycle.

These are the four parts of any sale: Prospecting, Interviewing, Presenting, and Closing. Your success as a salesperson depends in large part on understanding what each one of these components does and how it works with the other three. Youve got to keep your word tools organized and understand how to use them effectively.

If a plumber stopped keeping his tools organized and went to jobs with his tools tossed willy-nilly in his toolbox, hed be constantly groping for the right tool. Each job would take longer and be a less efficient use of his time and skills. He might, of course, get the job done, but people would be less inclined to hire him; after all, who wants a plumber who takes the entire day to fix a simple leak?

In the same way, when youre selling you should always use the right words for the right job. You should know where they are and what they do. And in the same way as a successful plumber can stop a leak, unplug a sink, or install a bathtub with little mess and fuss, youll be able to improve your sales and increase your commission with the aid of the right words.

Good luck!

Prospecting is essential to the sales cycle. Its something salespeople should domust doevery day. Elsewhere Ive talked about the importance of keeping up your numbers, your cold-call-to-appointments ratio. As well see, choosing the right words is an invaluable tool in that process.

Cold calling is one of the most basic parts of the sales process. The cold call plays an essential role in successful prospecting. Its the best and most economical way for you to develop sales leads into prospects on an ongoing basis. And its a place where using the right words and phrases can make a huge difference in how the call goes.

• In the introduction: Hello, Mr. Smith. My names Bob Johnson.
• In the reason for your call: Id like to talk to you about improving your sales performance by at least 25 percent.
• In asking for an appointment: Weve got a lot to talk about, Mr. Smith. How about meeting this Friday at 2:00 P.M. ?

This may seem simple, but straying too much from these key words and phrases can cause your cold call to go badly off track. Above all, you have to keep this in mind: When youre following up with leads, your first and most important step is to get the appointment. So the main task of a cold call is to get an appointment. Its as simple as that.

There are five basic elements to the initial cold call:

1. Get the persons attention
2. Identify yourself and your company
3. Give the reason for your call
4. Make a qualifying/questioning statement
5. Set the appointment

Im going to cover these in order, explaining key words and phrases that are appropriate to each element.

Here then are the five elements.

Lets assume Im calling you. Depending upon what I say, youre going to respond. No matter what I say, youre going to respond somehow. And the better I get at my opening, the more likely I am to get a good response from you!

When you try to get the persons attention, remember that people respond in kind. Most salespeople think they have to say something unique or provocative to grab a prospects attention. The easiest, simplest way of opening up and getting the prospects attention is by saying his or her name. Call up and say, Good morning, Mr. Jones.

Words and Phrases to Introduce Yourself

Good morning

Good afternoon

How are you?

Its good to speak with you

Always remember to follow any of these openings with the leads name. Thats the most important thing you can do.

The opening of your call is going to lead to a response. You can anticipate that response. You are then going to produce an appropriate turnaround, which should get the appointment. The key to the call is actually not the opening. The reality is no matter what you say in the opening, people are going to respond to you, and you can prepare for those responses.

If I called you up and simply said, Good morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc., you probably would not know who I wasor what D.E.I. Franchise Systems, Inc. wasand you probably wouldnt give me the kind of response I wanted. Therefore, I have to go further. I have to build a brief introduction, or commercial, into the call. For example, I could say, Good morning, Mr. Jones, this is Steve Schiffman from D.E.I. here in New York City. Were a major sales training company thats worked with over 500,000 salespeople.

Words and Phrases to Identify You and Your Company

This is John Johnson from the XYZ Company. We specialize in information systems maintenance and repair.

This is Alice Allison from ABC Company, Inc. Were a nationwide dealership in used electronics.

We make

We create

We service

We provide

We assemble

We manufacture