2012: THE Q4 JUMP-START | ESA & COMPANYEstimates for 2012 are all over the map, and most are cloaked in a waning degree of confidence. How good will your 2012 be? It’s directly related to your sales performance in Q4 of 2011. The following is one of a series of quick posts to help local sales teams get a jumpstart on 2012 … right now.
QUESTION:
Is your sales team handling objections, or mishandling them?
ANSWER:
Quarter Four of any year is marked by more “change of heart” than any other. Advertisers in this mode — evaluating local media — have plenty of questions and objections. The best salespeople realize that there are 5-6 “right answers” that handle about 80% of these objections.
ADVICE:
Script your :15s! We’re not talking commercial scripts here — we’re talking objection-handlers. Take the five most common objections and have succinct, 15-second responses for each. Why 15 seconds? Any longer than this and the confidence in our answer takes a nose-dive. You know what these objections are already; we hear them all the time. The answers are right in front of us. This practice will demonstrably increase close ratio during a very competitive 4Q and early 2012. Do it today!
Dave Eckstein is a Partner in the firm ESA & Company. He specializes in highly profitable market share growth for local businesses and gets a kick out of demonstrating a declining cost of customer acquisition. He plays baseball, but isn't that Dave Eckstein.
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