On today’s Billboard Insider podcast, out of some sales expert Kevin Gephart answers reader questions on cold calls, sales compensation, finding a job after a layoff and how best to coach out of home sales reps.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:45 — 31.3MB)
Some of the highlights.
Is cold calling dead?
No. If you want to sell sales training in books and seminars, advertise that cold calling is dead and you’ll get tons of people that sign up and want to hear what you have to say because we all want cold calling to be dead. Cold calling isn’t dead. I don’t have any business purpose for calling you is dead…My boss is making me make this call is dead…I don’t have any thoughts about your business is dead. So intelligent cold calling is alive and well and it’s one of the tools in the toolbox….You’ve got referrals you’ve got networking you’ve got e-mail marketing social media you’ve got affinity group marketing. Those are all tools but cold calling is the one that really relies on your initiative…My father used to say do something even if it’s wrong. So pick up the phone call somebody. Make an intelligent call and have a well-planned, well-targeted message to that person and you’ll cut through.
What’s a good compensation plan for out of home sales reps?
Companies want to use straight Commission. Straight Commission is also permission to not sell. You want to create a salary plus bonus based on activity. You want to create a a salary that is 80% of the livable wage in your market area. You need to know what the livable wage is in your market area and you also need to know what are the average incomes of the media people within your marketplace. When you know that then you can develop a compensation plan. Now the other 20% of the compensation plan should be based on achieving KPI’s and they’re very important: the number of self-generated cold calls, the number of meetings weekly that you have with a qualified client…the number of qualified proposals and then your sales numbers… 20% is bonus based on achieving those KPI’s…
Should a sales manager call with sales reps.
Absolutely, but when you’re on a call with a sales Rep do not salvage the call yourself as the sales manager. I’ve been on sales calls which are going south fast so I dive in and save the call. No sales call is worth the price of sacrificing your sales person’s experience and education. They’re going to leave that call knowing that they failed. You can coach them on why they failed…They’re never again going to make that mistake.
Another thing that a sales manager brings is importance. If I own a I own five hardware stores in town and all of a sudden a sales rep is coming out to call on me and they bringing their manager if conveys that I am important. You convey an importance and a just an overall importance that is hard to get any other way so you should absolutely go on sales calls. The best sales managers I know of do it on a regular basis they have a regular rotation and the sales reps know they’re going to be taking the manager. It’s just a part of the culture.
Why it’s important to ask out of home sales reps “what’s the biggest objection you hear?”
Ask your sales reps individually what is the biggest objection they hear. They’re going to tell you something that may not be what they hear most often. They will tell you the objection that they have the hardest time dealing with. Give them training and strategies to answer that objection and then you’re preparing them for their next sales call.
An OOH sales training program for $74.95 per rep! Leading OOH sales organizations have adopted “The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide” as a 35+ segment sales training regime:
- Comprehensive, sequential sales training chapters
- Designed for regular sales training/meetings in 30+ minutes each
- Proven, actionable sales strategies and ideas; providing a huge return on training investment
- No travel cost/minimal sales time lost
- Q&A access/support with Kevin Gephart throughout the training to clarify/expand on the teachings
OOH sales organizations find huge value in learning from an OOH sales pro who has “been there, done that.” See Kevin Gephart’s credentials at OOHSalesFaster.com.
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