Selling on the Phone as a Deaf guy

[jpanarra]

Hey all, for those who have been following my progress thread and stuff, I still haven’t given up I still am chipping away at my wall.. What I’m doing is I’m selling websites to businesses so I can either grow my business that way or even bootstrap some of my ideas. However, the wall right now for me is the telephone, as a deaf guy it’s a major challenge. So my primary marketing method at the moment is cold emails of prospective clients. With some tweaks and adjustments and with some help from @Fox and his facebook community. I have had warm email responses in the past but now with the help I am getting maybe 3 out of 10 people responding with interest and asking for more information. So at this point my approach has been picking up the phone up and call ‘em.

This is where my biggest dilemma begins. First of all, I am deaf.. So I can’t use the phone in the same way you all do. I have to go through a relay operator that interprets every word I say. Understand, the operator comes across as a telemarketer based on their tone and the way the system is set up they have to mention/explain that there is a deaf person on the other end and they will be in the middle of the call.(the confusion can be a turn off already here) I do usually try to mention the relay service in the email so people are aware of the situation. Then comes the problem of mistranslation, I had a warm email with an amazing prospect that had high dollar potential. When I got on the phone, The interpreter told me, “I don’t need a website, my husband is an IT” This led to a confusing phone conversation which I followed up after the email. Turns out she said “I don’t need a website (RIGHT NOW), me and my husband needs IT help first. Now they were going to ask me if I was able to do the IT help, but the phone conversation became so confusing and could’ve lost a possible client.

Now, you have the back story and I believe there is a solution in all of this. I’ve accepted the fact that me speaking on the phone is not a reasonable solution. I’ve tried it with over 50+ people and it has failed every time so far.

At the moment I’m looking for a sales person/phone guy, I don’t believe he/she needs web development experience yet or even sales experience. I just need someone on the phone and control the conversation to warm them up for me to close via email. Now, I’m open to other ideas and marketing methods, because the truth is… without an increase in sales my business can’t grow.

 

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[Fox]

I have been working closely with Jason and his progress has been great. He is getting huge response on his emails and is currently looking at a possible mid 5 figure deal that he lined up himself.

But yes the problem is closing on the phone. Everything is done great and then at the final step you have sone guy making $10 an hour trying to close a sale he has no interest in or knowledge about.

Great opportunity for someone to partner up with him. I have offered to help with zero % but I think it would be a cleaner deal for him to work with his own sales person and have his business completely self sufficient. He has everything else in place so would be cool to see the final piece line up. I know he can kill it with a good sales guy and I am excited to see how it goes for him this year.

 

[G-Man]

@jpanarra You're damn impressive. That is all.

 

[jpanarra]

@jpanarra You're damn impressive. That is all.

No different from the people on here.. just hustling and trying to get off the ground! Thanks for the rep add @G-Man

 

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[Jon L]

You downplay just how cool and amazing you are. Don't. The vast majority of people, much less deaf people, never even try to open a business. You're doing it, and having some success, and you're figuring out a way around your hearing issue. That's inspiring.

I do think you need a salesperson that can pick up the phone and talk to people themselves. You also need a way to interact with the customer while you're doing the actual work. Customers are going to worry that their interaction with you will be difficult, and the resulting product won't be very good because of that.

Here's a thought: can you read lips? If so, get your prospects onto a webcam meeting as soon as you can. GotoMeeting or Webex are both great. I've had trouble with Skype. Once you land a client, I think you should even buy them a webcam if they don't already have one. That personal relationship is so important, and some $10/hr phone operator isn't going to cut it.

 

[Scot]

Great work so far! I really hope someone steps up to fill your sales role.

I see an awful lot of people complaining about not having a business idea yet or needing money to start their business and this door to opportunity is WIDE OPEN.

You're an inspiration @jpanarra, not because you're deaf, but because after the first unsuccessful phone call, you tried 50 more times. Perseverance always rewards.

 

[jpanarra]

You downplay just how cool and amazing you are. Don't. The vast majority of people, much less deaf people, never even try to open a business. You're doing it, and having some success, and you're figuring out a way around your hearing issue. That's inspiring.

I do think you need a salesperson that can pick up the phone and talk to people themselves. You also need a way to interact with the customer while you're doing the actual work. Customers are going to worry that their interaction with you will be difficult, and the resulting product won't be very good because of that.

Here's a thought: can you read lips? If so, get your prospects onto a webcam meeting as soon as you can. GotoMeeting or Webex are both great. I've had trouble with Skype. Once you land a client, I think you should even buy them a webcam if they don't already have one. That personal relationship is so important, and some $10/hr phone operator isn't going to cut it.

Great work so far! I really hope someone steps up to fill your sales role.

I see an awful lot of people complaining about not having a business idea yet or needing money to start their business and this door to opportunity is WIDE OPEN.

You're an inspiration @jpanarra, not because you're deaf, but because after the first unsuccessful phone call, you tried 50 more times. Perseverance always rewards.

Joking aside, thanks for the compliments. You seriously are helping me build more confidence and want to push even harder. I can read lips, but I have done skype conferences with people in the past and tried to read lips.. the truth is the bandwidth is not smooth enough to make the video clear enough so I can read their lips. If I could meet in person, that wouldn't be an issue for sure.

My ideal salesman at the point would be someone that can handle sales, and be capable of doing sign language so that way he can take over the three-way video-meeting if needed and switch back to the interpreter role so I can continue to talk to the consumer directly. That kind of person is going to be expensive and I hopefully will find one in the later stages of my business.

Once again, happy to inspire because you guys inspire me too!

 

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[G-Man]

I would help, but the only thing I know how to do in sign language is respond to rejection:

 

[FastNAwesome]

My ideal salesman at the point would be someone that can handle sales, and be capable of doing sign language so that way he can take over the three-way video-meeting if needed and switch back to the interpreter role so I can continue to talk to the consumer directly. That kind of person is going to be expensive and I hopefully will find one in the later stages of my business.

First off, man you're awesome and props to you for going at something that you have a perfect excuse not to try.

Why does the kind of interpreter you need has to be necessarily expensive? Maybe someone who's already doing it professionally is expensive, I don't know. Maybe ask for rates and find out?

On the other hand, there may be people passionate about being an interpreter who would gladly learn about sales and your business and work for you. And then as your business grows you pay them more and have someone reliable on your team, whom you trust, and who knows your business well enough to travel with you to meetings and any other places as needed, when your business expands.

Basically, I'm saying there might be people who would love to work with you in that role, but they don't even know it yet, as nobody ever proposed them such a thing.

And you can also find salesmen who will work on their own. There's so many reasons to outsource things, and yours is more than valid. The end game is to detach your time from business anyway, isn't it?

Best of luck!

 

[jpanarra]

Great work so far! I really hope someone steps up to fill your sales role.

I see an awful lot of people complaining about not having a business idea yet or needing money to start their business and this door to opportunity is WIDE OPEN.

You're an inspiration @jpanarra, not because you're deaf, but because after the first unsuccessful phone call, you tried 50 more times. Perseverance always rewards.

I would help, but the only thing I know how to do in sign language is respond to rejection:

the most important word in ANY language

 

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[jpanarra]

First off, man you're awesome and props to you for going at something that you have a perfect excuse not to try.

Why does the kind of interpreter you need has to be necessarily expensive? Maybe someone who's already doing it professionally is expensive, I don't know. Maybe ask for rates and find out?

On the other hand, there may be people passionate about being an interpreter who would gladly learn about sales and your business and work for you. And then as your business grows you pay them more and have someone reliable on your team, whom you trust, and who knows your business well enough to travel with you to meetings and any other places as needed, when your business expands.

Basically, I'm saying there might be people who would love to work with you in that role, but they don't even know it yet, as nobody ever proposed them such a thing.

And you can also find salesmen who will work on their own. There's so many reasons to outsource things, and yours is more than valid. The end game is to detach your time from business anyway, isn't it?

Best of luck!

Thanks man,


The funny thing is.. Interpreters are a cornerstone in the deaf community and I do have a massive amount of respect for them not only because my own mother is one but the fact the have to deal with people and make sure they can facilities information between the deaf community and the world. I know the running joke on here the interpreters only make 10$ an hour because their skill levels regarding sales on the phone is equal to 10$ an hour but they actually make closer to 30$ an hour because they know how to interpret sign language and they are just message carriers. They don't have the specific skills to make sales or even gauge their tones to try and lure people in to close it. Its a complicated process that i know too much about and realize its flaws

Now, for my ideal employee to deal with this issue, they would have to be almost like an assistant/interpreter/secretary/salesman hybrid. They would need to be there inside and out of the business and understand how i operate so they can understand how i communicate and deal with business dealings just like i do. Now I might ask a few hearing friends of mine that does know sign language to see if they're interested.