What You Say and How You Say It – The Importance of Skill in Inside Sales

Skill is an all-encompassing sales element. It’s what you do, what you say, what you write, how you present, how you say it, and when you say it. It’s everything. The important thing is that with each thing you do – you do it with a purpose in mind and in a way that makes sense to your prospect.

For example, do you have a way to track what pages your prospect was looking at on your website? Think of the power that would bring to a sales rep. If your prospect was looking at phone dialer software it would be foolish and a waste of time to talk to them about email functions, customer relationship databases, or anything else not related to an inside sale dialer. They didn’t come to you for information on those other things – they want a dialer. Plain and simple. Think of it as if you were an archer. You’re holding the bow and arrow, aligning the arrow with your eye and looking straight at the target. Everything is in line with the target to complete the sale.

Besides having the skill to sell your product efficiently and in alignment with the needs of your prospect, it’s also important that sales reps develop skills to help them in their calls. Some great resources for skill development can be found in our blog posts about the First Call Strategy and Climbing the Trust Ladder. In addition to those resources it’s important that no matter how great your message is, often times the way in which you deliver your message has a stronger impact.

When was the last time you got an email and you didn’t open it? Probably this morning! But when was the last time you got a fax that you didn’t look at? Probably less frequently. Even voicemail, which people say does not yield responses, is 16 times more effective than email in generating response. Social media is also increasingly more effective in generating responses. LinkedIn messages are three-times more likely to get opened than an email! The point is, the media you use to send a message may be even more effective than the message you are sending. Think about your target prospects and how they are most likely to respond.

Check out this webinar for more tips on how to better increase your skill. Pay particular attention to the section between 23:27 and 31:12.

Author: Ken Krogue |
Summary of Ken Krogue’s Forbes articles

The Ultimate Revenue Engine

Free eBook: The Ultimate Revenue Engine

Learn how to dramatically increase revenue by combining sales and marketing automation.

Receive email updates from the Sales Insider

Related Posts