I’ll get to his cartoon in a moment. But first, here are five advantages of using the phone more effectively:<\/p>\n
1. You’re converting a one or two day trip into a short sales phone call.
\n2. You’re saving your company thousands of dollars.
\n3. You’re able to deal with the issues immediately instead of days – or weeks – in the future.
\n4. You’re much more productive because you’re in your office – at your desk – working.
\n5. You’re happier because you’re able to spend more time with family and friends.<\/p>\n
A Bit Of Background John was tired of traveling. There were too many sleepless nights in uncomfortable hotel rooms. Too many meals in bad restaurants.<\/p>\n Too many meetings with prospects<\/a> who didn’t buy – even though he had taken the time to travel hundreds, or thousands, of miles to meet with them.<\/p>\n * He wanted to spend more time with his wife and kids. John wasn’t even concerned about increasing his sales volume. For him, quality of life was the issue.<\/p>\n John sells industrial supplies. His job was to travel all over the midwest – he had a 13 state territory – to meet with customers, potential customers, sales reps and distributors.<\/p>\n The size of the account wasn’t even important. His boss expected him to have face-time with his prospects and customers.<\/p>\n On average, he was out of town three days a week. And once a month he was out the entire week.<\/p>\n On a typical day John would meet with four or five accounts, that took a total of two hours time. The rest of his day was spent driving from one town to the next. Five or six hours was wasted each day.<\/p>\n After doing this for several years, John came to the conclusion that the majority of his meetings could be handled just as efficiently by phone. The face-to-face meetings weren’t necessary.<\/p>\n He realized that it was more important for him to keep in frequent contact with his customers, potential customers, sales reps and distributors – sometimes as often as weekly – than he see them once every three or four months.<\/p>\n That was why he called me. During the month we worked together I taught John how to use the phone to:<\/p>\n * Reach decision makers. This is what John had to say when we finished our engagement:<\/p>\n * By using the phone I have eliminated unnecessary trips. Dilbert’s Cartoon<\/strong> Dilbert is sitting in his boss’ office. The boss says “Fly to Austin and answer some questions for a big customer.”<\/p>\n “Doesn’t this customer have a telephone?” Dilbert asks.<\/p>\n “You don’t CALL big customers.” yells the boss.<\/p>\n “Um… Why not?” asks Dilbert sheepishly.<\/p>\n “You have to go in person to show that you care.” implores the boss.<\/p>\n “Actually, that would show that I don’t understand the concept of the telephone.” pleads Dilbert.<\/p>\n “Just Go.” the boss orders.<\/p>\n In the final frame Dilbert is sitting with a colleague who asks, “Do they have these where you come from?” while holding up a cell phone.<\/p>\n Speed, Efficiency & Time The greater the number of people you can touch, the larger your customer base and the greater your income.<\/p>\n Let’s go back to the 80\/20 rule<\/a>: 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your activities. This means that 80 percent of your time is wasted.<\/p>\n How much of your time is wasted traveling to and from meetings that could have been conducted with a 15- or 30-minute phone call.<\/p>\n Convert wasted time into productive time and\u00a0 your sales – and income – will soar.<\/p>\n – Jeffrey<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>John, one of my consulting clients, sent me the Dilbert cartoon because that was why he hired me: To teach him how to better use the phone.<\/p>\n
\n* He wanted to coach his kids’ little league and soccer teams.
\n* He wanted to be home at night.<\/p>\n
\n* Ask great questions to identify their needs\/problems.
\n* Identify buyers and non-buyers in under 15-minutes.<\/p>\n
\n* I’ve reduced my travel budget by 6 percent. Saving the company thousands of dollars.
\n* I’m able to look at my schedule and handle it more effectively by using the phone.
\n* My follow-up system has improved dramatically.
\n* I’m able to spend more time with buyers and less time with non-buyers.
\n* By asking better questions I’m able to disqualify a prospect in minutes.
\n* My lifestyle has improved because my out of town travel has been cut in half, giving me more quality time with my family.<\/p>\n
\nHere is the summary of Dilbert’s cartoon:<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In today’s highly competitive business world you can best serve your customers by answering their questions, solving their problems, and giving them over-the-top service.<\/p>\n
![\"Reblog](\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/reblog_e.png?x-id=244b961b-143f-4c99-97fb-af9db58f0cdb\")
<\/a>