Sales Players Blog

You’ve probably heard the term consultative selling before.

Maybe in a sales book.
Maybe from a sales coach.
Or maybe it was thrown at you in a meeting with no explanation.

Consultative Selling: The Only Way to Sell in B2B Sales

Consultative selling isn’t a way of selling. It’s the ONLY way of selling.

Especially if you sell SaaS, tech, or services.

In this post, I’ll break down what consultative selling means, why it’s misunderstood, and how you can start doing it today.

What is Consultative Selling?

Consultative selling is a sales approach where the seller acts like a trusted advisor, asking questions, understanding the buyer’s needs, and recommending solutions that genuinely help.

Sell Like a Consultant – Not a Sales Rep

Instead of pushing products, the focus is on helping buyers solve problems and make informed decisions.

Consultative selling simply means selling like a consultant.

You ask smart questions.
You listen properly.
You understand the buyer’s situation, problems, and goals.
And only then do you recommend something that genuinely helps them.

In other words – you give them a consultation.

You help them make a good decision.

And if your solution is the right fit? Great. You sell it.

Why Most People Overcomplicate This

Forget the Buzzwords – This is Just Good Selling

Consultative selling has become one of those buzzwords that trainers love to throw around to make their sales courses sound fancy.

But the truth is, it’s just basic, good selling.

If you sell like a pushy, desperate salesperson, you’ll scare buyers off.

If you sell like a trusted consultant, you’ll disarm them, build trust, and have an honest conversation about whether you can help.

That’s it.

When Should You Use Consultative Selling?

B2B? SaaS? Services? Always Use It

Simple answer – almost always.

• Selling B2B? Do it.
• Selling tech or SaaS? Do it.
• Selling services? You probably already do it.
• Selling cheap B2C products with a short sales cycle? Probably not worth it.

For everyone else, this is the only approach that works long-term.

The Core of Consultative Selling: Qualification

Ask the Right Questions – That’s the Job

The heart of this is asking the right questions.

Questions that help you, and the buyer figure out:

• Do they have a real problem worth solving?
• Can you actually help?
• Are they serious about making a decision?
• What’s stopping them from solving it now?

This is what I teach in my sales qualification training, and this is consultative selling in action.

It’s not about pitching. It’s about guiding.

How to Sell Like a Consultant

A Simple 5-Step Approach That Actually Works

Here’s how you do it:

1. Do your homework.
   Know who you’re speaking to and what problems they might have.
2. Lead with questions.
   Start the call with curiosity, not a sales pitch.
3. Listen like a human.
   Don’t interrupt. Don’t fake interest. Actually listen.
4. Diagnose before you prescribe.
   Just like a doctor, don’t “sell” until you fully understand the problem.
5. Be honest.
   If you can’t help — say so. If you can — show them how.

Final Thoughts

If you’re serious about sales, consultative selling isn’t optional.

It’s not something you “try” — it’s something you commit to.

So next time you’re selling, forget the buzzwords. Forget the pushy tactics.

Just be the consultant your buyers need.

Timing is everything in sales.

You can call a prospect one week, and they will put the phone down on you, and you can call them the next, and you’ll close a sale.

One of the reasons for this is that situations change.

Maybe your prospect did not need your solution last week, but they read an article or saw an event that convinced them they did this week.

If you’ve worked in sales for any length of time, I’m sure you or someone in your team has made a sale to a prospect that one of your colleagues had been calling for months without success.

More often, this comes down to the timing rather than the salesperson’s ability.

You’ll also come across prospects who sound red hot when you first speak to them and cold as ice or impossible to reach the next.

The ‘Buying Zone’ is a term I use to describe a period in which your prospects are in a psychological state of mind where they’re ready to invest in your solution.

But this zone does not last forever.

It can last for days, hours, or even just a matter of minutes.

If you sell low-priced solutions, your prospect can likely make a decision the same day; but if you fail to capitalise on this and take too long to follow up, they will either buy from your competitor or decide not to buy at all.

To give you an example, I walked into a sports store a couple of months back to buy a new pair of football boots.

I knew what make, model, and size I wanted because I had seen them on the internet, but I wanted to ensure the fit was comfortable.

The service I received was so slow that I walked out without the boots and bought a different pair from another store a few weeks later.

I can also remember times when I ended up not buying anything at all due to the salesperson being poor at their job.

I’ve sold multiple solutions to thousands of companies worldwide and can tell you from experience that if you give your prospects too much breathing room, they will always convince themselves why they should not invest in your solution.

When you reach the point in the sales process where your prospect is in the buying zone, you must complete the transaction before that time zone expires.

You can discover if your prospect is in the buying zone by asking how they heard about you, listening out for early buying signals and asking how long they have been looking for a solution.

Prospects in the buying zone will often try and rush you through the sales process, send lots of buying signals, and will often come from specific sources such as customer referrals or paid marketing.

Again, I will stress the importance of never letting a prospect rush you through the sales process, but I will also warn you that prospects in the buying zone are like an endangered species.

When they’re gone, they’re gone.

Cold calling scripts are a hot topic in my sales coaching sessions, and cold calling in general is something people still seem to struggle with.

In this article, I talk about cold calling scripts and discuss what they are, why they are essential, and how to use them.

You need a cold calling script if you’re new to sales or starting at a new company.

What is a Cold Calling Script?

A cold calling script is a written version of what you plan on saying during a cold call.

Like an actor, as a salesperson, you use a script to ensure you remember what to say when it’s showtime.

There’s nothing more soul-destroying than winging your first cold calls without a script and sounding like a fool.

Many salespeople dislike cold-calling scripts, but they are essential to the learning process.

I was also always resistant to them as a salesperson and trainer earlier in my career.

I always considered them rigid and didn’t like the idea of robotically reading from a script.

Only after I studied training for some years did I realise how much cold calling scripts helped to execute on repetition.

And repetition leads to mastery.

Regardless of how you feel about using a cold call script, you won’t need to use one for long.

The Elements of a Cold Calling Script

For context, I typically work with software companies that sell in the business-to-business (B2B) sector.

The objective of a cold call for most companies I work with is to book a follow-up meeting with the prospect.

In this scenario, your cold call script should include the following five elements:

1. Your Call Opening
2. Your Pattern Interrupt
3. Your Value Statement
4. Your Qualifying Questions
5. Your Closing Question

You may think I have forgotten to include the famous elevator pitch.

But pitching is banned unless you’re working with sales cycles that are less than seven days.

Your objective should be to qualify if your prospect has a need for your solution and get a commitment to talk more.

Your Call Opening

Your call opening is the words that leave your mouth when your prospect answers the phone.

Typically this is a short introduction of your name and company name.

“Hello John, this is David White from DCW Coaching”.

Your call opening should take two to three seconds.

Your Pattern Interrupt

A pattern interrupt is a distraction technique to divert your prospects’ attention from trying to end the call.

A well-executed pattern interrupt will free up your prospect’s brain to digest your opening statement.

I created an article recently with some examples of pattern interrupts, and there are plenty on the internet.

But don’t be afraid of creating your own pattern interrupts because the more unique it is, the more effective it will be in the long run.

When I cold call, I tend to use a couple to mix it up:

“John, I know you’re busy, so I’ll just get to it”.

Or

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

You must deliver your call opening in a professional, direct and authoritative sounding way.

Tonality is critical when cold calling.

Delivering your pattern interrupt should take no more than five seconds.

Your Value Statement

Your value statement is a short line or two that communicates the core benefit and value your prospect can get from your solution.

I typically work with a value statement such as:

“I help sales leaders unlock the potential of the individuals in their sales team and improve performance.”

Or another reverse alternative:

“I work with sales leaders who don’t have the time or resources to get the best out of their sales teams”.

Value statements should ideally be no longer than ten seconds.

However, you will find some examples of value statements that are much longer and still effective.

Your Qualifying Questions

I always recommend having three to four open-ended qualifying questions prepared for your cold calls.

These questions should extract the qualification criteria you need to decide if a prospect has a need for your solution.

My most commonly used first question is:

“Apart from yourself, who else is helping you coach all of the people in your team?”

Or another alternative:

“What resources do you currently have to help manage your time so you can coach your team?”

I also have another two to three questions designed to continue the dialogue if I get an answer to my first question.

Here are some examples;

“How often do you manage to run training or coaching sessions?”

“What are the most common challenges the team struggles with?”

“What have you tried so far to help them with that?”

Asking practical qualifying questions will help you discover if your prospect has a need for your product or service.

That need will usually come in the form of a pain they need to fix or a goal they need to achieve.

Your Closing Question

Your closing question is a question you ask to get commitment from your prospect to take action.

If you have uncovered a pain or goal you can help with, you specifically include that in your question.

And it sounds a little something like this;

“John, If I could help you coach the team more frequently and improve their performance, would you be open to the idea?”

Or another example;

“John, If I can help your team improve their qualifying skills so they book better meetings, is that something you’d be open to?

In a perfect scenario, you’ll get a positive response, to which you respond by asking;

“Do you have your calendar in front of you?”

Or even better;

“Great – do you have time again this week to discuss this further, or will next week be better?”

Conclusion

So, as you may have gathered by now, cold call scripts contain a lot of information.

With practice and repetition, the elements of your script will become second nature, and you can ditch the script.

But until then, keep it with you as a guide and tweak it until it feels natural.

Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Crafting a Winning B2B Sales CV, where you will learn how to stand out from the crowd and land more job interviews.

Crafting a Winning Sales CV

I was approached by an experienced salesperson recently who was interested in sales coaching, but he didn’t actually have a job. He wanted help finding one.

Despite having 13 years of sales experience and being a true sales hunter, he had very little idea when it came to putting a good sales resume together.

As sales professionals, we understand the significance of a compelling pitch. Our expertise lies in making connections with prospects, solving problems, and closing deals.

However, when it comes to marketing ourselves, it can be a challenging endeavour. This is where a robust sales CV becomes invaluable.

A meticulously crafted sales CV offers you the opportunity to showcase your success history and the value you can bring to a potential employer.

If executed well, your resume can serve as a gateway to new opportunities and career advancement.

Below are tips for creating a resume that distinguishes you from the competition:

1. Tailor Your Sales CV/Resume to Each Position

In the cutthroat world of sales, one-size-fits-all sales resumes are ineffective.

Customization is the key to success.

Take the time to thoroughly review the job description and adapt your sales CV to emphasize the skills and experiences that are most pertinent to the position you’re applying for.

For example, if the job posting highlights experience with SaaS products, you could state in your sales CV, “Generated £1M in annual recurring revenue by targeting new verticals within the SaaS market.”

This not only demonstrates your experience with SaaS products, as mentioned in the job posting, but also highlights your ability to identify and exploit new market segments, a valuable skill in the sales industry.

When personalizing your sales CV, it’s essential to consider both the explicit and implicit requirements of the job posting.

Read between the lines to understand what the employer values most in a candidate, and then tailor your sales CV to reflect those qualities.

Show the hiring manager that you have the specific skills and experiences needed to excel in this particular sales role.

It’s also important to remember that hiring managers often use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen sales resumes and CVs.

These systems scan your sales CV for keywords related to the job posting.

By tailoring your sales CV to the job description, you increase the chances that your sales CV will pass through the ATS and be reviewed by a human reader.

Tailoring your sales CV requires effort, but it’s an investment that pays off.

By customizing your sales CV for each position, you demonstrate that you’ve carefully considered the role and that you’re genuinely interested in it.

Hiring managers will appreciate the attention to detail, and you’ll be more likely to land an interview.

So, remember to make customization a top priority when crafting your sales resume. Identify the key requirements of the job posting, incorporate them into your sales CV, and showcase your ability to meet and exceed those requirements.

In doing so, you’ll position yourself as the ideal candidate for the role and increase your chances of securing an interview.

2. Showcase Your Achievements with Numbers

In the sales industry, success is often measured by numbers, and your CV should reflect that. Numbers provide concrete evidence of your accomplishments and show that you can deliver results.

Including specific figures in your sales resume will help you stand out and demonstrate your ability to meet and exceed targets.

For example, rather than simply stating that you were successful in your previous role, you could say, “Exceeded sales targets for 12 consecutive months, achieving 145% of my sales target in Q4 2022, and consequently being named Salesperson of the Year.”

By using specific numbers, you offer a clearer picture of your performance and showcase your ability to achieve outstanding results consistently.

Presenting your achievements in this way gives potential employers a sense of your track record and shows them what you can bring to the table.

It demonstrates your ability to set goals, work diligently to achieve them, and contribute significantly to your company’s growth.

When you’re writing your sales CV, think about the most significant numbers that reflect your achievements in your previous roles.

This could be sales figures, percentage increases, or any other data that shows your success in a quantifiable way.

Remember to provide context for your numbers, as this helps employers understand the scale of your accomplishments. Did you contribute to a 10% increase in sales?

That’s great, but it’s even more impressive if that translated into an additional £2 million in revenue.

In short, including quantifiable metrics in your sales resume is a powerful way to show your success, demonstrate your impact, and prove your value as a sales professional.

3. Highlight Your Skills and Expertise

Your CV should make your skills and expertise clear in a way that speaks to the hiring manager. Steer clear of generic terms like “excellent communicator” or “team player.”

Instead, provide real examples that demonstrate these qualities.

For instance, you might say: “Used strong communication skills to negotiate complex deals with high-profile clients, including Fortune 500 companies, resulting in an additional £10 million in revenue.”

This not only shows your negotiation skills but also highlights your ability to handle deals with major clients, bringing value to the company.

When you’re crafting your sales CV, consider the specific skills and expertise that set you apart.

Maybe you’re adept at building relationships with clients or you’re a wizard at analyzing market trends. Whatever your strengths, use concrete examples to showcase them and make your CV stand out.

4. Update Your LinkedIn Profile

In today’s digital world, your LinkedIn profile acts as a crucial part of your professional image. Make sure it’s current and matches your CV.

This is also a great opportunity to show off endorsements and recommendations from colleagues and managers, which can be especially valuable in sales roles.

Remember, your LinkedIn profile is often the first place potential employers will look to learn more about you. Make sure it paints a clear, compelling picture of your skills and experience.

Include details of your accomplishments, share relevant content, and join groups that align with your professional interests.

A great LinkedIn profile can make all the difference.

5. Be Honest and Accurate

While it’s natural to want to present yourself in the best possible light, it’s important to be truthful and accurate on your sales resume.

Don’t embellish your achievements or take credit for others’ work. The sales community is often smaller than it seems, and any discrepancies could come back to bite you.

Honesty and integrity are highly valued in the sales profession.

Being truthful about your achievements and experience will help you build trust with potential employers and set you up for success in the long run.

6. Add a Dash of Uniqueness

Perhaps you once worked as a financial analyst before moving into sales. This unique background allows you to approach sales in a way others might not.

For example, you could write: “Leveraged financial analyst background to create tailored solutions for prospects, increasing deal sizes by 25% and leading to a promotion to Senior Sales Executive.”

This shows how your distinctive background has helped you boost sales and earn a promotion.

When crafting your CV, think about what sets you apart. Maybe you have a unique combination of skills or an unconventional career path.

Use these differences to your advantage and show potential employers how you can bring a fresh perspective to their sales team.

7. Get Your References in Order

Think of your references as your cheerleaders; their backing can make a big difference in your job search.

A reference from a former manager might read: “During their time here, this candidate turned a struggling sales territory into our top-performing region, exceeding revenue targets by 150%.”

Such endorsements can reinforce the achievements listed on your sales CV and bolster your credibility.

When asking for references, choose people who know your work well and can speak to your skills and accomplishments.

It’s a good idea to give them a heads-up about potential calls from employers and provide them with an updated copy of your sales CV so they can speak knowledgeably about your achievements.

8. Present Your Accomplishments in a Compelling Way

It’s essential to narrate your achievements in a way that is not only truthful but also compelling. Maybe you once orchestrated a complex deal that required navigating numerous challenges, yet you persevered and brought it to a successful conclusion.

Instead of merely stating, “Closed a major deal,” you could write, “Navigated multiple challenges to close a high-stakes deal with a Fortune 500 company, generating £5 million in revenue.”

This provides a more comprehensive, compelling description of your accomplishment and showcases your problem-solving and perseverance skills.

When discussing your achievements, think about the journey, the obstacles you overcame, and the impact of your efforts.

By providing context, you can paint a vivid picture of your accomplishments and make your sales CV stand out.

9. Keep it Clean and Error-Free

A neat, error-free sales CV not only looks professional but also shows that you pay attention to detail.

Instead of writing, “Assisted with the preparation of quarterly sales reports,” you could say, “Collaborated with the finance team to prepare comprehensive quarterly sales reports, offering valuable insights into revenue trends and growth opportunities.”

This describes the same task in a more precise, detailed manner.

Be sure to proofread your CV several times for spelling and grammar errors. Consider asking a trusted colleague or friend to review it as well.

Small mistakes can make a big difference, especially in a field like sales where details and first impressions matter.

With tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly, spelling mistakes are almost unforgivable these days.

10. Ditch the Objective, Embrace the Summary

Swap out the outdated objective with a powerful summary that showcases your value.

Instead of saying, “Seeking a sales position,” you could write, “Dynamic sales professional with a proven track record of consistently surpassing revenue targets and building long-lasting client relationships.

Skilled at using analytical insights to identify market trends and drive sales growth.” This immediately highlights your value to potential employers.

Your summary should be a concise yet impactful introduction to your CV. It should capture your professional essence and entice the hiring manager to read on.

11. Believe in Yourself

You’re a successful sales professional with much to offer. Don’t be timid about showcasing your achievements.

If you once spearheaded an initiative that significantly increased lead generation, you could write, “Initiated and led a targeted outbound marketing campaign that resulted in a 300% increase in qualified leads and a 20% uptick in conversion rates.”

This demonstrates leadership, initiative, and tangible results.

Believing in yourself and your accomplishments is crucial. When you’re confident in your abilities, that confidence will come through in your CV, your interviews, and ultimately in your sales.

So, go ahead and let your achievements shine.

Remember, a well-crafted CV is more than a list of jobs and achievements. It’s a reflection of your skills, your experiences, and the value you bring to an organization.

By presenting your accomplishments in a compelling way, keeping your CV clean and error-free, embracing a powerful summary, and believing in yourself, you’re well on your way to creating a winning sales CV.

Conclusion to Crafting a Winning Sales CV

Remember, crafting a strong sales CV takes time and effort, but it’s worth it. Your CV is your first impression on potential employers – make it count.

So, roll up your sleeves and start refining that CV. Soon enough, you’ll have hiring managers eager to bring you in for an interview.

As David Ogilvy once said, “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.”

Likewise, hiring managers aren’t faceless entities; they’re people looking for someone who can help their teams succeed.

Present yourself as that person, and you’ll be well on your way to landing that dream sales role.

Bear in mind that each job application is unique. Customize your CV to align with the specific requirements and culture of the company you’re applying to.

Demonstrate not only your skills and achievements but also your potential to contribute to the success of your prospective employer’s team.

Happy selling!

Most people think sales coaching only covers general sales skills or pipeline management, but knowing how to be more confident comes up much more frequently.

Knowing how to be more confident and combat low self-esteem is one of the most critical skills we need to achieve things in business and life.

But despite what some claim, learning how to be more confident isn’t easy.

But it is very achievable.

So, in this article, I will share some practical advice on how to be more confident and combat low self-esteem today.

The Foundation of How to Be More Confident

We become self-confident when we become good at something.

Let me say that again, so you can write it down and remember it because it’s important.

We become self-confident when we become good at something.

That is when confidence comes naturally.

But, in order to get good at something, you have to do it over and over and over.

Repetition equals mastery.

Whether you’re making cold calls, pitching investors or trying to beat your kids at Fortnite, you must put in the practice.

And doing things once or twice won’t help.

You must practice, drill and rehearse multiple times until what you are doing starts to feel natural and automatic.

This is when you will start to develop real self-confidence.

It is called reaching an unconscious level of competency.

Self-Confidence Hack

Some people recommend using the ‘Fake it until you make it’ strategy for how to be more confident, but for this to work, you’ll need a little help.

Let’s say you are going to an important interview for a management role or meeting with a huge client.

Even if you are an experienced master of your trade, self-doubt can appear out of nowhere and take bites out of your confidence.

To avoid this, before you set off or enter that meeting or event, take a quiet moment for yourself and close your eyes.

You then need to think back to a time in the past when you were at the peak of your confidence.

A time when you did or achieved something amazing.

Maybe it was winning a sports event as a child, getting your first job, last promotion or something else.

When you have isolated that moment in your head, take yourself back in time to that specific moment and recall the five senses you felt.

When was it? Where was it?

Remember the smell in the air and the taste of the confidence you felt.

What could you hear?

How did you look?

How did you physically feel?

Once you have yourself isolated in that moment of ultimate confidence, stay there and re-live it for a minute or two.

Notice how re-living the moment fills you with the same feeling of confidence right now.

And then open your eyes, take a deep breath and remind yourself you are good enough and can do anything you put your mind to.

One of the most common topics of many of my sales coaching sessions is about how to negotiate, but most salespeople fail to identify the early signals.

Many negotiation tactics signal the beginning of a negotiation, and it’s essential you become aware of these to avoid treating them either as an objection or rejection.

In my experience, the signs commonly used by the prospect to try and negotiate a better deal are as follows:

1. They Send Buying Signals

The prospect may send you clear buying signals.

A well-oiled negotiator knows how the seller’s brain functions.

They know that if they send you enough buying signals, you’ll smell the sale, and the discounting will begin.

During my live sales negotiation workshops, I often show a picture of a cute fluffy teddy bear.

The bear is meant to resemble that fluffy feeling you get in your stomach when you think you’ve hooked a prospect who sounds ready to buy.

What usually happens, as a result, is you drop your guard and start to throw in some free extras because you’re so happy.

By this point, the prospect has you in an entirely vulnerable position.

You must pull yourself together next time you feel that fluffy feeling.

Your prospect’s flirtatious buying signals can be nothing more than a way of buttering you up to see what deal they can get.

Don’t fall for it. Burn the bear.

2. They Raise Objections

Another common negotiation sign is when your prospect raises objections.

The most obvious example might be when they say something like, “We feel the price is too high” or “We’ve got a better price somewhere else.”

Nonsense always.

If your prospect has a better price elsewhere, why are they still talking to you?

Use the objection handling strategy to isolate the smoke screen and progress to handle the real one.

This statement is often nothing more than a shakedown to get a better price.

3. They Complain or Criticise

Another common smoke screen objection that can signal the start of negotiation is when a prospect nitpicks about certain missing features.

The average salesperson usually has a good comeback.

They promise to get the feature in the next release or devise a perfect workaround.

Smart enough, but a complete waste of time.

When your prospect starts to nitpick, especially on multiple occasions, use the objection handling strategy to isolate the smoke screen again.

More often than not, these missing features are of little value, and the prospect won’t be able to explain why they’re of any importance.

Remember, though, if the prospect raises objections about anything that puts them in the position of being the owner of your solution, it’s a buying signal. It’s not the start of a negotiation.

If the prospect is at the stage where they’re reading the detailed terms of your offer, there’s little need to negotiate unless you’re negotiating brick wall objections such as strict company regulations about payment terms, property rights issues or something similar.

There are, however, certain exceptions to this.

From time to time, you’ll have to get approval on your sale from people with different motives than your primary contact.

As frustrating as this can be, you must stay calm and treat these people respectfully.

An individual in a financial department has one goal – to save the company money.

If your sale needs approval from someone in finance, it’s often because it exceeds a certain amount.

So, when your prospect tells you they need approval from finance, be prepared to negotiate because this is often why these processes are in place.

Another common hurdle in the approval process can come from legal departments whose common goal is to protect their company from making harmful or risky deals.

In my experience, getting past the legal department can either be a breeze or an absolute nightmare.

Some legal teams will request a detailed list of large, small, and sometimes strange contract amendments, whereas others will request few to none.

In my experience, most of the changes are negotiable. I had a new client query fourteen different areas in my contract not long ago, and I agreed to amend just two.

You must not become overwhelmed when dealing with finance or legal departments. A defensive and argumentative response to innocent requests will get you nowhere.

You’ll find that some people just need to be educated on how your solution works.

I once had a legal team request that his company get exclusive rights for the software they were about to purchase.

I had to explain to him they would have to buy our company before I could request such a change.

If you can make the required legal changes, then do so. If you can’t, then explain this to them in an unemotional way.

A stubborn, inflexible approach to contract negotiations is a winning strategy for losing the sale.

The signed contract is too close.

4. They State their Budget

This is commonly a bluff when a prospect tells you how much they have to spend.

In my experience, if the prospect says they only have £200 to spend, they most likely have 3, 4 or even £500.

The figure given could either be an estimate of what they feel your solution is worth or a rough calculation of what the prospect estimates as a good starting point in the negotiation.

This is, again, a buying signal, and with a little creative thinking, you should be able to handle it without trouble.

Sadly though, it’s all too easy to give in and close a quick and easy sale, and that’s usually what the average salesperson does.

The prospect wins, and the sale is closed. This is a result of fear.

You fear if you don’t give in and let your prospect win, they will walk away, and all of your hard work will have been for nothing.

What most salespeople fail to consider is how much time and effort the prospect has invested into the sale, and how badly they may want your solution.

By the time you’ve reached the final stages of the sales process, your prospects have often invested just as much, if not more time than you in getting the sale approved.

On top of the time spent talking with you, your prospect may have dedicated hours to researching and testing solutions, getting budgets approved, coordinating with other team members and stakeholders, and much more.

Trust me; they won’t walk away if they want your solution.

If they do, it’s because they didn’t see the value in the first place.

If your prospect tells you they only have x amount to spend, repeat it back to and paraphrase where possible.

Then hit them with any of the following questions where applicable.

“Will it help if I can spread the payments?”

“How do you feel about starting on the lower package and upgrading later?”

“When will you get more budget allocated again?”

“Which other departments could benefit from the solution?”

“What do you suggest we do now?”

Most importantly, you must be prepared to walk away.

The idea of doing so at this stage of the sales process may seem outrageous, but unless you can learn to hold your cards tight to your chest, you’ll never win a negotiation and will leave money on the table every time you close a sale.

5. They’ll ask, “Is That Your Best Price?”

The smart, direct, and fast-moving negotiator will always ask, “Is that your best price?”.

This is a huge buying signal.

A quick rebound question like, “What makes you ask?” is a smart response when followed by silence.

The question will often prompt your prospect to explain precisely why they asked.

Here are some examples of typical responses I’ve witnessed.

“Because that’s what your competitor offered me.”

“I feel it’s too expensive.”

“I’m just asking.”

Either way, you’ve isolated the real objection and will better understand how to proceed.

6. They Get You Excited

Another strategic approach used only by master negotiators is to ask for more than they need.

These negotiation Yoda’s know perfectly well how to tap into the average salesperson’s emotions.

They do it by creating excitement.

And they create excitement by requesting your biggest package with the most number of users or whatever other add-ons you have, resulting in a potentially huge-looking sale.

The prospect’s objective is to see how flexible you are with negotiating the pricing.

Their strategy is to get you excited by the potential size of the sale. They will then negotiate the best deal for that package before dropping down to a lower option.

To avoid this situation, you must ensure you’re the one recommending which package your prospect needs.

If they start asking about a higher package, beware of the dollar signs that may cloud your judgement and re-qualify the prospect’s needs.

Treating every prospect with a cautious and somewhat pessimistic approach will serve you well.

7. They Use Your Competitors

Another common sign of a prospect who is negotiating is the constant mentioning of your competitors.

These prospects will often not be rushed into making any decisions and will be sure to let you know they’re speaking to your competitors.

You must not allow the name-dropping of your competition to trigger your ‘discount mode’.

I refuse to enter negotiations with such prospects.

In my experience, they often end up being poor clients with no loyalty who will do the same again next year.

Focus on your solution, and treat the prospect as if the competition was not involved.

If you enter into a negotiation with these prospects, be sure to give them a ‘buy-right-now-at-this-cost’ ultimatum to avoid them playing you against your competitors.

8. They Befriend You

You’ll be blown away at how easy it is to make friends when you work in sales.

And you’ll also be blown away at how quickly those friends want something from you, too.

Getting too friendly with your prospect will make negotiating difficult.

Your prospects know that if they get friendly with you, you’ll likely give them a good deal.

You’re asking for trouble if you fail to draw the line between your personal and professional relationships.

I genuinely believe most prospects are friendly and without an agenda.

However, a few always ruin it for others, so stay on your guard.

9. They Play Weak

A common tactic the smart negotiator uses is to play the ‘lack of authority’ card.

Both decision-makers and non-decision makers can utilise this strategy.

If you’ve not already uncovered the stakeholders involved at this stage of the sales process, then you’ve got your work cut out for you.

I won’t suggest a strategy for this scenario.

I’d rather have you struggle, feel pain, and be motivated next time to qualify using the process questions covered earlier in the book.

I believe it’s called being cruel to be kind.

You’re in serious trouble if you enter a negotiation with a non-decision maker.

If you’re lucky, your primary contact will help you. If you’re unlucky, they will play you.

It’s easier said than done but try at all costs to negotiate with the decision-maker directly.

I suggest you all get together on a call, communicate via email, text, chat – whatever – so long as you negotiate with the right person directly.

Negotiating via a go-between prolongs the process, gives more power to the decision-maker and leaves you in the dark about how your opponent is feeling emotionally.

It’s important to know if your last offer enraged them or not before making your next move.

If you know or have a suspicion you’re already dealing with the decision-maker, this could be the start of a negotiation or stall.

A prospect who feels pressured into making a decision may pull the ‘I-need-to speak-to-my-partner’ card to buy more time.

This is good. It tells you their brain is in full working order, and they need a little time to ensure they’re not making a rash decision.

You may be in trouble here if you’re selling a fluffy ‘nice to have’ solution.

If you give your prospect time to process their decision, they’ll likely disappear, never to be seen again.

But if you believe your prospect can get value from your solution, and you feel you’ve done enough to earn the right to ask for the business, grab their tail and pull them back in.

Ask them a question such as;

“Apart from the final sign-off, is there anything else that’s stopping you from going ahead today?”

What you want to do now is take them through those commitment steps again, ensuring they see value in your solution.

If you sense pricing is the concern, bring it up.

Ask them if the payment terms align with their company policy or expectations.

There are plenty of ways to fish out the real objective behind the ‘lack of authority’ card, but if you truly know you’re dealing with someone who can sign off, it’s time to get cheeky.

The best and most direct way of cutting to the chase is to say’;

“You’re not saying that just to get rid of me, are you (First Name)?”

You must say this in a direct yet friendly tone, and it must be followed by instant silence, so you can monitor how your prospect responds and decide on what to do next.

Most salespeople fear using this approach with gatekeepers, let alone decision-makers.

They fear the stakes are too high at this stage of the sales process.

I can tell you from personal experience that I have used this approach repeatedly throughout my career, and it separates the real prospects from the potential time wasters every time.

Your prospect will likely respond in one of three ways.

1. They laugh and begin to negotiate.
2. They innocently and repeatedly confirm they’re not trying to get rid of you, which signals guilt.
3. They respond angrily and end the call, in which case, they just saved you valuable time.

Fear will hold you back in sales and life.

If you lack the confidence and ability to call your prospects bluff, you’ll lose the negotiation every time, even if you win the sale.

If there’s one strong belief you should have when negotiating with the decision-maker, it’s that if they’re negotiating for your solution, it’s because they want it.

So, learn to negotiate with confidence and use fear to your advantage.

In the words of Harvey Spector from Suits, “Play the player, not the game.”

Limiting beliefs are the negative things we tell ourselves that stop us from trying things and ultimately limit our personal development.

We often accept a belief to be true based on our experiences and assumptions rather than facts.

One of the most challenging parts about limiting beliefs is that they are often subconscious, so we don’t recognise we have them until someone them out.

Examples of Limiting Beliefs

Here are a few examples of some of the most common limiting beliefs I hear from my clients and other people in my daily life:

• I keep getting really angry and don’t know why.
• I’ve tried that in the past, and it doesn’t work.
• My work life makes it impossible to find any balance.
• I’ve tried everything and don’t know what to do now.
• I don’t get on very well with people.
• I’m not very good with authority.
• I just can’t control my anxiety.

The Power of Limiting Beliefs

I first learnt about limiting beliefs when I was studying Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and it turned out to be quite a big personal breakthrough for me.

You see, our beliefs (positive and negative) make up what’s called our belief system which ultimately influences our identity as human beings.

For example, if you believe you’re a shy person who doesn’t get on very well with people, that limiting belief will significantly impact your entire life.

And the thing is, most people know these limiting beliefs aren’t true but continue to say them because they feel like it’s part of their identity.

How to Identify Your Limiting Beliefs

The best way to identify limiting beliefs is to ask yourself questions.

For example, you could ask yourself a list of ‘Are you good’, questions such as:

• Are you a good person?
• Are you a good parent?
• Are you a good leader?
• Are you a good colleague?
• Are you good at selling?
• Are you good at learning?
• Are you good at driving?

Before coming up with a list of questions, asking yourself what areas of your life or career you feel you need to improve most can be helpful.

For example, you might feel like you want to improve your conflict management skills so you should ask yourself the question ‘Are you good at dealing with conflict?’

If your answer is anything other than positive, the big question to ask yourself is;

Why?

Your limiting belief(s) will almost always be hidden in your answer.

How to Challenge Your Limiting Beliefs

Once you uncover your limiting beliefs, you can now begin to question them.

You may find this exercise challenging as some of your beliefs may be deeply embedded in your identity since childhood.

You may also have a belief that has been reinforced multiple times too.

For example, one of my coaching clients once believed she wasn’t suited for a leadership role.

When I asked why, she said she didn’t think she had the right qualities.

And when I asked her to describe her version of a leader, she immediately started talking about a couple of her past leaders who were very controlling and not nice.

She had created a template for what a leader should be based on a past negative experience, which had been reinforced more than once.

Thankfully we were able to correct her belief of what qualities a leader needed and, as a result, remove her limiting beliefs that she was not suited to leadership.

Fact or Fiction

I often get my clients to play a game of ‘Fact or Fiction’ with me to help remove limiting beliefs and to help with general doubts.

It’s a great way of ridding yourself of making decisions based on assumptions.

For example, I once worked with a high-performing senior account executive who felt pressured to always work late.

I found it strange that someone who overperformed consistently would feel this way, so naturally, I had to dig into this and ask her, “Why?”.

“I feel like my boss is staring at me and judging me for leaving on time if he is still there”, she said.

“Okay, so if we were to play a game of fact or fiction, which would that statement come under?”, I asked.

Obviously, her statement was based on fiction as she had no concrete evidence her boss was judging her or thinking anything of the sort.

Maybe he was just looking at her, thinking she was rude for not saying goodbye.

Or maybe he was just daydreaming.

Who knows?

Conclusion

Limiting beliefs can be powerful and destructive and keep you from achieving your goals and dreams.

So many of us go through our days with a fixed mindset based on beliefs from our past experiences that may not necessarily represent reality.

But, by using some of the techniques suggested in this article, you can quickly raise your self-awareness and start working on creating a new reality for yourself.

If you say you can’t, you’re right.

If you say you can, you’re right, too.

What is the secret sauce for creating raving customer advocates that never leave?

I’m talking about customers that will repurchase and renew time and time again and never even entertain a conversation with your competitor.

Three words.

Under Promise. Overdeliver.

Amazon and Gong.io Set the Bar

Although I had heard the saying ‘Under Promise. Overdeliver’ many years back, I’d never really experienced it until I moved back to the UK for a couple of years in 2018.

And then I started using Amazon to order stuff for my new apartment.

Delivery estimate: Tuesday 16th April

Actual delivery: Monday 15th April

Amazon offers a wide range of products at competitive prices, a slick buyer experience, fast delivery, excellent communication and easy returns.

But their real ace card is that they frequently deliver earlier than estimated.

They do entirely the opposite of what we expect from most companies.

We have become so used to late deliveries and returns being a painful experience over the years that we have come to expect and accept it.

Gong.io – The B2B Example

On the surface, many people know Gong.io as a sales coaching tool that records calls and provides sales reps and leaders with call feedback.

It’s a fast-growing large US company with a strong brand and over 1,500 employees.

If you work in business-to-business (B2B) tech sales, it’s hard not to know about Gong, as everyone raves about it.

But people often say the same thing at the end of that passionate pitch.

“But it’s pretty expensive”.

Past buying experiences would make it easy to conclude that it’s likely going to be expensive and difficult to use, and I am not going to get much customer service.

But hopefully, it will deliver on its promise of what it does.

And then you get the budget approved and take the risk, hoping it works out so your CFO doesn’t crush you at the next budget meeting for an expensive mistake.

One of the biggest problems with most companies is that their websites and salespeople do such an excellent job of overselling their solutions.

It’s common to feel oversold when you finally get your hands on a product.

But not with Gong.io – not, at least, in my experience.

Even though I had been convinced to invest on the back of rave reviews from two sales leaders I trusted, I was still sceptical of how good it would be.

And then I was met with something way better than I could have imagined.

I won’t go into detail because you’ll probably start thinking Gong is paying me a commission or something, but it is a fantastic tool in many ways.

Like Amazon, the buying process was slick, and communication was excellent, but Gong’s ace card was their fantastic product.

Despite the many appealing promises made on their website, the product delivered so much more.

So much so that I think their pricing is way too cheap – don’t tell them, though 😉

And even if another competitor came along, how could anybody else possibly live up to standards that have already exceeded what I expected?

Conclusion

If you want to create raving customer advocates for your business, you need to stop overpromising because even if you have a good solution, it will never be amazing.

You are in control of setting the expectations for your customers.

But unless your solution exceeds those expectations, your customers will only ever feel like they got what they paid for at best.

Let’s Work Together

I help startups and small businesses of all sizes to start up and scale their businesses locally and internationally.

Learn more about my small business consulting services today.

In this article, I share the most important sales negotiation strategy lessons I have learnt throughout my career and talk about the importance of negotiation cultures.

During my sales career, I have been lucky enough to win clients in over 60 different countries.

I’ve also trained and coached thousands of people in 128 countries and worked with multiple international sales teams.

This experience taught me many valuable lessons about how important culture is when negotiating.

International Negotiation Cultures

Certain nations have particular negotiation cultures and so do companies.

For example, when selling to many African nations, you should always expect to negotiate.

It’s almost customary to do so.

I’ve also experienced the same in the Arab countries as well as India, Italy, and others.

And yet, in places like the UK, negotiation is often seen as rude and unnecessary.

Many people fail to respect cultures, including many companies and their salespeople, when they attempt to break into international markets.

Whether you’re selling on the international market or locally in your own country, you’re going to be dealing with prospects from a variety of cultures.

There are no guarantees the person you’re trying to sell to was born in that country, so their negotiation style may be driven by another culture much different from yours.

I learnt from my own painful experiences how adaptive one needs to be when negotiating in different cultures.

Initially, I would take my prospect’s low starting point in the negotiation as an insult, get all emotional, end the call, and close the opportunity down as ‘lead lost, no budget’.

Heavens knows how much business I lost back then as a result of my immaturity.

Company Negotiation Cultures

I’ve also worked with many fast-growing start-ups and witnessed how quickly a culture of heavy discounting can be born and how costly it can be.

The culture of winning new clients at all costs in the startup phase is a lot of fun, but the negotiation culture of heavy discounting is an expensive and hard habit to kick.

There’s certainly no mistaking why companies such as Apple, Salesforce, or Tesla are so successful in winning and retaining clients despite fierce competition from lower-priced suppliers.

They do this by offering high-quality products and services and almost always maintaining a strict no negotiation policy.

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, hit the nail on the head in 2016 when he heard some of his salespeople had been offering discounts on new cars.

In a company email, he wrote:

“If you can’t explain to a customer who paid full price why another customer didn’t without being embarrassed, then it’s not right.”

I couldn’t have put it any better myself.

I used to give a similar message to my sales teams, and I stick by it today.

A seemingly harmless discount can appear worthwhile when it gets you above target.

But if that client spreads the word, it can quickly become a costly error.

I remember one of my past employers creating a ‘win at all cost’ strategy to get the top ten brand names on board in particular verticals.

In one of those verticals, we landed the UK’s biggest retailer at a heavily discounted rate.

It was a roaring success and was celebrated throughout the company.

I also remember when one of my reps was about to close their main competitor a few months later.

It was the last day of the month, the deal size was huge, and it was down to the final call.

the day the second biggest brand in that same vertical was about to become a client at full price.

I remember the look on the rep’s face as he came to me after the call had ended.

Turns out the prospect was friends with the marketing director at his competitor, who had shared the details of his agreement, including the price.

That one discount alone cost the company thousands in lost revenue.

Conclusion

Sales negotiation lessons can be hard to take, but if you if implement the following two factors into your sales negotiation strategy, it can save you a lot of pain (and money).

1. Always respect and be aware of the culture of your prospect. They may not have been raised in their country of residence, this may not negotiate as you expect.
2. Be very cautious of creating a culture where heavy discounting is used to win deals. It’s often great for the short-term, but costly in the long run.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to negotiate, my sales training courses or sales coaching services may be of value.

In this post, I am going to share with you the two critical negotiation lessons you need to learn from to improve your sales negotiation skills.

If you want to learn how to negotiate, try having kids.

When I became a father in 2010, I can honestly say my sales and coaching skills were tested on a whole new level.

I remember being in a negotiation scenario with my son, Alexander, when he was five.

Alexander was going through a testing period, and I had been strategising with my wife about how we could best handle his temper.

The following evening, I got the chance to apply one of those negotiation strategies.

How to Negotiate with an Angry Customer

We’ve always had a set bedtime routine in the evenings with Alexander.

We aim to have him ready and in bed by 7 pm, which means we’ve to get things rolling by 6.30 pm to leave room for the explosive reaction to come.

Part of our new strategy was to give Alexander a short pre-warning five to ten minutes before the bedtime routine was to begin, and this was where I began.

On this particular evening, Alexander was happily playing with his toy trucks in the hallway.

I approached and gave him a pleasantly toned warning.

“Five minutes before it’s time to start getting ready for bed, Alexander,” I said.

“FIVE MINUTES? THAT’S NOT MUCH,” he yelled with an angry tone.

Luckily, Alexander wasn’t at the age where he fully understood time, but he was at the stage where he would negotiate everything.

“Okay then, you can have two minutes,” I said, knowing full well his response would be to negotiate an extra minute or two more.

As expected, he settled for three minutes and continued to play.

Phase one complete.

Now that’s how to negotiate.

I had successfully negotiated an agreement seven minutes better than aimed for and, more importantly, avoided the explosive tantrum we expected. 

Bravo, Daddy.

Knowing three minutes feels more like thirty seconds in a child’s brain, I let Alexander play for a couple of extra minutes before approaching him again.

“Okay, Alexander. It’s time to go to the bathroom now,” I said, to which I got a super aggressive “NO!” in response.

I took a deep breath, smiled and calmly knelt to his level and, in a low tone, said, “Hey, listen. We agreed on three minutes before, and I’ve allowed you almost ten.”

“Ten,” he said in shock.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Okay then,” he said, and off we walked to the bathroom to get ready.

I looked at my wife with a huge smile.

“I’ll be using that one again next time,” I said.

The negotiation was complete, both parties were happy, and I had a recipe for success.

Or so I thought.

When Negotiations Go Wrong

A couple of days later, I found myself in a similar situation.

Alexander had just started playing with his building blocks in the living room, and I calmly walked in fully prepared for action and gave him his ten-minute warning.

Only this time, there was no negotiation.

Alexander smashed his building blocks to pieces, sending them flying across the living room floor, and spent the next ten minutes kicking and screaming.

What the hell went wrong?

The Two Important Factors of Negotiation

So, here we have a story of two similar negotiations, approached with the same strategy but with two different outcomes.

And it’s a story with two very important lessons about how to negotiate.

1. Every Negotiation is Unique

There is no one winning formula to ensure you win every negotiation on your terms.

You can master tips, tricks, and techniques, but the outcome is often never the same.

2. Emotions Drive Decisions

If you’ve been in sales for long enough, you’ve probably witnessed a prospect get angry after you’ve told them the cost of your solution.

This emotional response can often come down to their expectations about the cost.

Maybe they had seen a lower price on your website or made a foolish assumption.

You never know.

There was one small critical difference in the two almost identical scenarios I just shared about Alexander.

In the first negotiation, I approached Alexander after he’d been happily playing for some time with his trucks.

He would have liked to play a little longer but had no big plans.

In the second negotiation, I approached him just a few minutes after he’d started to construct something with his building blocks.

This time he had expectations of playing a little longer and maybe building whatever he had planned to complete.

Then along came Daddy, who destroyed those expectations, resulting in the emotional reaction that essentially ended the negotiation.

Sure, I could have avoided or stopped his emotional outburst by offering him a better deal, but the result would have been a tired and grumpy child in the morning.

The child wins the negotiation, and Daddy wins the sale, but it’s a bad deal for both parties.

When reality doesn’t align our expectations, we often react in an emotionally negative way.

It’s a common human error you’ll need to navigate with your prospects.

So next time you enter a negotiation, remember Alexander and try to treat every situation as unique, and learn how to control your emotions so you can stay calm and in control.

When it comes to breaking bad habits, there are not many that are tougher to break than micro-pitching.

What is Micro-Pitching?

Micro-pitching is the habit of pitching your solution multiple times during a conversation. It usually starts with you asking a question, which your prospect answers.

You then match one of your features or benefits to that answer and tell your prospect all about it.

Here’s a live example from a call I reviewed recently:

Salesperson: “What do you do to drive traffic to your website at the moment?”

Prospect: “We mainly spend money on search engine advertising.”

Salesperson: “Great. The reason I asked is that we have a licensing agreement with XYZ Ltd, which enables you to get star ratings and can increase your CTR by up to 17%.”

Prospect: “Oh right, interesting.”

The conversation continued with the same flow, and the prospect requested an email with some more information before escaping from the call.

It’s common that some salespeople use the same approach when handling objections, too, ultimately leaving them unresolved.

Why Salespeople Micro-Pitch

Some people micro-pitch because they’ve been poorly trained, whereas others do it because they’re not comfortable asking questions.

The urge to micro-pitch often comes from your healthy passion for your solution. The excitement to tell your prospect how you can help solve their pains or achieve their goals proves hard to resist.

The last thing I want to do is kill your passion, but I do want to persuade you to use it when the time is right.

Micro-Pitching is a killer.

It kills conversations, it kills presentations, and it kills rapport.

Your prospects want to feel like they’re in a dialogue with a professional consultant who cares about their business and wants to understand and help with their challenges.

When you micro-pitch, it not only becomes incredibly tedious for your prospect to listen to, but you begin to sound like a stereotypical salesperson from the 60s.

Not good.

How to Kill the Habit of Micro-Pitching

Instead, picture being a soldier at war trying to get to the front line with limited ammunition.

The front line is your presentation stage, and the ammunition is the contents of your presentation.

If you start firing too early, you’ll not be much use on the front line if you’ve used all of your ammunition, right?

The faster you understand that the best method of selling is by not selling, the more successful you’ll become in the sales profession.

Ask questions with the purpose of collecting the valuable information you’re going to use to deliver your compelling presentation when the time is right.

You’ll only be able to break the habit of micro-pitching if you replace it with a new one.

I highly recommend pinning a very visual sticky note or poster in your place of work to remind you to shut up and save the pitch for the presentation.

It will make you much more efficient on the front line.

The reason why cold calls fail hasn’t changed much over the past decade.

The video below was my first ever live recording I published on YouTube in 2013. As much as it makes me cringe everytime I watch it, it’s still on point.

Too many salespeople are unprepared for reaching the right person and instantly blurt out their elevator pitch in the hope their prospect won’t hang up.

Being unprepared isn’t the only reason why cold calls fail though.

Cold calls can fail for a number of reasons, whether that’s talking too much, too fast, not asking open ended questions or just catching your prospect on a bad day.

This is just part of working in sales.

How to Improve Your Cold Calling Success Rate

I could probably write a list of 100 things you could do to improve your cold calling success rates, but for this post, I will give you a list of 5 things to get you started.

1. Call the Right People in the Right Companies

This one sounds obvious, however, the amount of companies still relying on quantity over quality when it comes to cold calling is shocking.

You need to know or try to define your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Too many salespeople spend their days just calling anyone with a marketing director or CEO title at any company in the region they cover.

By making your target audience niche, you have a better chance of having more relevant conversations with prospects that have a real need for your solution.

2. Separate Lead Preparation and Cold Calling

In order for cold calling to be effective, you need to get in the zone.

If you have to spend 5-minutes preparing for each dial you make, you’re not going to get much done and it’s going to frustrate you.

Schedule a dedicated number of slots each day or week to get your lead preparation done.

And when I say lead preparation, I mean the tedious things such as adding and updating the data in your CRM for the companies and contacts you will call.

In an ideal world, you will have the company name, contact name and phone number as a minimum.

You should complete your lead preparation during the off-peak parts of your day and not during peak calling hours.

By completing your lead preparation in advance, you will be able to get in the zone when cold calling, which will improve your flow, volume, confidence and conversations.

3. Pick a Script and Stick to It

You might not need a physical cold calling script, but you do need a script.

A script is what you will say when you reach your desired contact person.

If you don’t prepare for what to say, you won’t be able to create consistency in your calls, resulting in random outcomes.

I experience far too many salespeople winging it on every call because they’re confident enough to think on the spot, and although it can work, it’s not scalable.

You need to test your call scripts at volume, so you can measure which works best, and then you should keep tweaking and testing it to see if you can get even better results.

4. Remember to Breathe

One of the main reasons many salespeople talk so fast and mess up when they reach a prospect is because they forget to breathe.

No matter how experienced and brilliant you get at sales, your heart rate and anxiety always increase when that phone starts ringing.

So, remember to take a deep breath before dialling and another just after your pattern interrupt.

I would also recommend listening to music before and, if possible, during the call until you reach the prospect.

Feel free to use my B2B Sales Playlist – Don’t judge me. I’m an 80s kid 🙂

5. Focus on the Outcome, Not the Call Volume

I recorded a podcast with Casey Carnevale from SellX recently and asked; what was the main reason she felt was behind her success in cold calling.

She replied, “I always begin with the end in mind. So, to me, it didn’t matter if I needed to make 200 calls or 2 calls. I just focused on getting the meeting.”

This stuck out for me as it’s been quite some time since I’ve been measured on call volumes, but I remembered that’s exactly how I always worked.

You shouldn’t be in a rush, feeling stressed about doing as many dials as possible. You should be on a mission to achieve your desired outcome.

So, screw your boss if they’re a micro-manager and demand you do 200 dials a day and focus on the one goal that counts.

Do you have any great ideas for improving cold call success rates, or want to ask any questions about this post? Let me know in the comments.