I run a small custom software business (me + an assistant and a couple contract developers on occasion). I write software that makes businesses run more efficiently. Here are a few examples of past projects:
1) Automation of payroll calculation, saving payroll clerk 15 hours of work every two weeks
2) Automation of a monthly report that takes 20-40 man hours to run every month. Report now runs in just a few minutes
3) Rental tracking system that keeps track of rental orders - none of the products on the market met the customer's needs within a reasonable price
4) Project management system that reduces the time spent reporting on projects by 3/4. Also allows customer to produce reports on activity and resource allocation that were previously impossible to produce.
Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what I do. Now, the problem:
For small sales ($5000-$20,000), if a customer already knows that they need to hire a programmer, I'm quite successful with closing them ... 80%+. For larger sales, I have some technique to master, but that's not the topic of this question.
I just finished the book, "Spin Selling" that talks a lot about the sales process once you have an interested prospect, but they only spent a few paragraphs on what to say during the opening pitch.
I've read a few other sales books that talk about how to sell, but all of them leave me feeling a bit slimy. Perhaps I need to reread them with a different mindset?
Getting a new prospect to say, 'I'm not sure I have a problem, but tell me more' is where the difficulty lies. (If they ask me that question, I can start the conversation by asking them questions about their business,but getting them to that point is scary). I'm not sure what to say. I've tried a few things, but they all leave me feeling exhausted after just a few phone calls.
What should be my opening lines when cold calling these prospects?
1) Automation of payroll calculation, saving payroll clerk 15 hours of work every two weeks
2) Automation of a monthly report that takes 20-40 man hours to run every month. Report now runs in just a few minutes
3) Rental tracking system that keeps track of rental orders - none of the products on the market met the customer's needs within a reasonable price
4) Project management system that reduces the time spent reporting on projects by 3/4. Also allows customer to produce reports on activity and resource allocation that were previously impossible to produce.
Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what I do. Now, the problem:
For small sales ($5000-$20,000), if a customer already knows that they need to hire a programmer, I'm quite successful with closing them ... 80%+. For larger sales, I have some technique to master, but that's not the topic of this question.
I just finished the book, "Spin Selling" that talks a lot about the sales process once you have an interested prospect, but they only spent a few paragraphs on what to say during the opening pitch.
I've read a few other sales books that talk about how to sell, but all of them leave me feeling a bit slimy. Perhaps I need to reread them with a different mindset?
Getting a new prospect to say, 'I'm not sure I have a problem, but tell me more' is where the difficulty lies. (If they ask me that question, I can start the conversation by asking them questions about their business,but getting them to that point is scary). I'm not sure what to say. I've tried a few things, but they all leave me feeling exhausted after just a few phone calls.
What should be my opening lines when cold calling these prospects?
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