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Episode 008 What to Say in Your Opening Statement
Episode 008 What to say in your Opening Statement
Hello, I’m Will Harris. Welcome to the Power Sales Guru podcast.
The title of this episode is What to Say in Your Opening
Statement.
I love the story of the high school basketball coach who was
attempting to motivate his players to persevere through a difficult
season. Halfway through the season he stood before his team and
said, “Did Michael Jordan ever quit?” The team responded, “No!”
“What about the Wright brothers? Did they ever give up?” “No!” the
team responded. “Did Steve Jobs ever quit?” “Again the team yelled,
“No!” “Did Elmer McAllister ever quit?”
There was a long silence. Finally one player was bold enough to
ask, “Coach…who’s Elmer McAllister? We never heard of him.” The
coach snapped back , “Of course you never heard of him….he
quit!”
I love that story. In this podcast we are going to discuss the
four parts of a great opening statement. And ensuring you never
quit before you connect with a new customer.
Allow me to paint a picture for you. You made a call to
speak with a potential client. You have built rapport with the
gatekeeper, who was happy to supply helpful
information.
When you are transferred to the Decision
Maker,
He answers the call and says: “Hello. This is
Tom.”
The clock begins….
You have ten seconds to generate interest before you
lose them forever. The moment is here and the pressure is on. What
you say next makes or breaks the call.
What do you do when the pressure is on?
What do you say to gain progress?
The desires of our heart often require unquenchable
spirit, sweat, energy beyond what we think is possible, and an
undying commitment. These prerequisites to success culminate in one
overriding quality – Perseverance.
I’m a big fan of the great psychologist William James.
Dr. James said “Fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, when
gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than
before!”
At that point we have tapped a new level of energy…There
may be layer after layer of this experience, a third even fourth
‘wind.’ We find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed
ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed, because
habitually we never push through the obstruction right in front of
us.
Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book was rejected by 23
publishers. The twenty-fourth publisher sold six million copies and
Dr. Seuss realized his perseverance resulted in challenging and
educating millions of children.
After having been rejected by both Hewlett-Packard and
Atari, Apple microcomputers had first-year sales of $2.5
million.
And Formula 409…got its name because 4 hundred and 8
times they submitted their compound and were rejected. But the 4
hundred and 9th time …………….was accepted.
So how do you know when enough is enough?
When we achieve what we set out to do, that is when it
is enough?
Are you willing to do enough?
To cold call, or to prospect within an account you need 4 parts
in your opening statement. For a great opening statement 4 things
are enough.
The four major parts to a powerful opening statement
are:
The opening statement creates a bridge from “I don’t
know you” to “I need to know you.”
Different is the new great. The goal is to stand out
amongst the sea of sales people fighting for your prospect’s
interest.
Now let’s take a look at the first thing to say in your opening
statement:
Some sales people whisper the name of their company as if they
were passing notes to another student in class. Or they say it so
quickly that it lacks the luster and power the name deserves. The
greeting is where you acknowledge who you are and which company
employs you. This should be said slowly and with pride.
“Hello. My name is Will Harris. I’m with Willpower
Consultation.”
The Greeting quickly says: Hi, Me, & Us. A great opening
statement quickly shifts focus from the salesperson onto the
prospect. Avoid the trap of focusing on you during the call.
Introduce yourself and your company, and then quickly move the
conversation onto the prospect.
I have been asked whether to use first name only in your
greeting….or should we use first and last name for ultimate
professionalism. Whatever makes you feel comfortable…that’s what
you should do.
If you have some super cool name like Alexander Fraiser III.
Then you may use it in order to stand out and be different. But if
your style is more laid back then you may say, “I’m Alex.”
You can phrase the greeting whichever way fits your style. Just
remember, the greeting is simply “Hi, Me, & Us.” Done!
That was the first part to say in your opening statement.
The second thing to say in your opening statement is your
attention statement.
A salesperson traveled out of state for a big meeting with a
prospect. He was dining at a restaurant chain he was familiar with
back home. The usual steak ordered well-done was served in rare
condition. Irritated, he furiously motioned for the waiter.
When the waiter came to his table, the salesperson blurted
fastly, “I said WELL-DONE!”
“Well, thank you, “responded the waiter, “your compliment is
appreciated.”
Have you ever received a phone call and it took a minute to
understand what was being said to you…either you struggled to
recognize the voice or figure out why this person was calling you.
Maybe it was the accent or even the speed in which someone spoke.
Many opening statements are great but they have the content in the
wrong order…and prospects miss out on what you actually say because
they were still trying to process what you were saying and what’s
the call all about.
Like the waiter, they totally miss out on your point. But when
prospecting, they have the control to end the call quickly without
ever finding out what you really want.
The attention statement allows time for your prospect to process
your speech pattern and recognize the reason for your call.
But, the main goal is to grab the prospect’s attention. Before
you called them they were not sitting around waiting for you to
call. Prospecting is an interruption in someone’s day. So you have
to say something that will make them stop, drop their pen or stop
typing long enough to hear you. 10 seconds, right.
The key to a great attention statement is that you must mention
something familiar to them. Something that they recognize enough to
make them pause. You may say, but Will if this is a cold call, if I
never spoke to them before then how can I mention something
familiar?
So, I have a Free Power Tools for you called Grabbing Attention.
You can find it www.PowerSales.guru under Power Tools. You can use
that Power Tool to know what to say in your Opening Statements. And
I am going to lay it out for you right now.
The various types of attention statements:
vertical market
These four areas make you stand out when you say your Opening
Statement. So grab that Free Power Tool called Grabbing
Attention.
The next part of the opening statement is the most important
part….The
Different is the new great because people do not just go through
the motions when they are different. The ability to approach Power
Prospecting from a fresh outlook and staying away from conventional
ways of prospecting is paramount.
Different does not mean crazy. Different arises when people look
at old problems in a new way.
The interest statement is the most important part of the opening
statement. While all parts are important, this one is the
end-all-be-all of your opening statement. The WIIFM message you
developed gets condensed into one simple statement that says it
all. Remember, your prospect will always wonder what’s in it for
them. While they may not say it while you are talking, they are
definitely thinking it. If you cannot help them come up with a
reason they should be talking to you, your call will come to an
end.
You know ….Several bankers were debating the question: who was
the greatest inventor? One cast his vote for Stephenson who
invented the railroad; another for the Wright brothers for
inventing the plane. One man even voted for Leonard Kleinrock, for
contributing to the invention of the Internet!
Finally, one banker turned to a man in the lobby listening, but
not contributing to the debate. The banker asked the man what he
thought.
“Well,” the man replied with a big smile. “Whoever created
INTEREST was the greatest.”
The man’s reply has double meaning. Interest attributed to a
loan or interest in buying a product. The sales person in me likes
the idea of creating interest in buying a product. No matter what
product you sell, people buy because of their interests.
Many business-to-business sales people launch into talking about
their products without focusing on the prospect’s interests. Since
different is the new great, speak about the overall business
problems the customer is interested in solving.
I had a coaching call with a client who sells barcode scanning
equipment. She complained that when she prospects, she quickly
hears that the potential customer does not have a need for her
product. After listening to her opening statement, I informed her
that the reason for her failure was that she was being too specific
in how she was going to help the prospect.
She had a hard time grasping this concept. She did not want to
resort to tricks or gimmicks to sell her equipment. I asked her if
she had ever heard of a company named Smith Corolla. She knew that
the company sold typewriters.
Smith Corolla was the largest manufacturer of typewriters in the
world. In their hay day, a young executive had suggested they take
a look at data processing. His suggestion was quickly shut down by
the other executives who felt they were in the business of selling
typewriters and only typewriters.
Now, many years later, we are hard pressed to find a Smith
Corolla anywhere. They missed the fact that they were not in the
business of selling typewriters. They were in the business of
processing and transferring information. I explained to the sales
rep that she was suffering from the same disillusion.
She did not sell barcode scanners. She was in the business of
developing businesses. The goal is to find solutions for your
customers and not customers for your solutions. By adjusting her
opening statements to reflect her prospect’s overall business
needs, she would be able to increase her prospecting
effectiveness.
Creatively paring a customer’s need to your product is the
wining philosophy around a great interest statement. So in this
part of your opening statement you want to start with a business
development need…and not a product feature.
There is a difference in saying I specialize in helping my
customers find customers. And saying I sell barcode scanning
equipment to help you have real time information.
What is the root business cause that you champion….because that
is where you will find what to say during your Opening Statement?
Another Power Tool you can get on my site is “Power Prospecting”.
It can guide you through writing your opening statement.
Now we will look at the last part of what to say during your
opening statement….the question.
At this point in your opening statement it is time for you to
get them involved in the conversation. This is where you ask a
question that serves as a bridge out of the opening statement and
into a deeper conversation. A question must be properly selected
for maximum engagement. Remember, you have been talking for the
last 8 seconds and now you merely want to get them talking.
Consider it the launch pad for closing your sale. This is a huge
thing that is the crashing point for many sales. There are tips
around crafting the perfect questions that we will cover in
upcoming episodes. But, if you proactively select a great opening
question then it will be enough to increase your success.
The four parts we discussed today around the Opening Statement
is what I have worked on every day for the past 15 years. What you
say in your Opening Statement can be used personally or
professionally. It can be used over the phone or in email. By email
it only takes some tweeking on the last part…the question can
become a suggested next step.
But in order to have a next step…you have to take the first step
and then comes the next.
Charles Goodyear was obsessed with the idea of making rubber
unaffected by extreme temperatures. Years of unsuccessful
experimentation caused bitter disappointment, imprisonment for
debt, family difficulties, and ridicule from friends. He persevered
and Goodyear discovered that adding sulfur to rubber achieved his
purpose. I have four of them on my car right now.
But he’s not the only one with a great story of
perseverance.
In his first three years in the automobile industry, Henry Ford
went bankrupt twice.
Inventor Chester Carlson cold called for years before he could
find backers for his Xerox photcoyping process.
Don’t give up before you win. Develop an opening statement that
includes the four parts and you will have enough….for success.
I hope I kept your attention during this episode. I do this
every day in my own prospecting and working with others. So I love
it. This podcast’s Free Power Tool is available now on my site
www.PowerSales.guru grab
the one called Grabbing Attention. Thank you for listening to the
Power Sales Guru podcast. I am your host Will Harris wishing you
Happy Selling and remember different is the new great.
View all episodes
By Will Harris
5
2929 ratings
Episode 008 What to say in your Opening Statement
Hello, I’m Will Harris. Welcome to the Power Sales Guru podcast.
The title of this episode is What to Say in Your Opening
Statement.
I love the story of the high school basketball coach who was
attempting to motivate his players to persevere through a difficult
season. Halfway through the season he stood before his team and
said, “Did Michael Jordan ever quit?” The team responded, “No!”
“What about the Wright brothers? Did they ever give up?” “No!” the
team responded. “Did Steve Jobs ever quit?” “Again the team yelled,
“No!” “Did Elmer McAllister ever quit?”
There was a long silence. Finally one player was bold enough to
ask, “Coach…who’s Elmer McAllister? We never heard of him.” The
coach snapped back , “Of course you never heard of him….he
quit!”
I love that story. In this podcast we are going to discuss the
four parts of a great opening statement. And ensuring you never
quit before you connect with a new customer.
Allow me to paint a picture for you. You made a call to
speak with a potential client. You have built rapport with the
gatekeeper, who was happy to supply helpful
information.
When you are transferred to the Decision
Maker,
He answers the call and says: “Hello. This is
Tom.”
The clock begins….
You have ten seconds to generate interest before you
lose them forever. The moment is here and the pressure is on. What
you say next makes or breaks the call.
What do you do when the pressure is on?
What do you say to gain progress?
The desires of our heart often require unquenchable
spirit, sweat, energy beyond what we think is possible, and an
undying commitment. These prerequisites to success culminate in one
overriding quality – Perseverance.
I’m a big fan of the great psychologist William James.
Dr. James said “Fatigue gets worse up to a certain point, when
gradually or suddenly, it passes away and we are fresher than
before!”
At that point we have tapped a new level of energy…There
may be layer after layer of this experience, a third even fourth
‘wind.’ We find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed
ourselves to own, sources of strength habitually not taxed, because
habitually we never push through the obstruction right in front of
us.
Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book was rejected by 23
publishers. The twenty-fourth publisher sold six million copies and
Dr. Seuss realized his perseverance resulted in challenging and
educating millions of children.
After having been rejected by both Hewlett-Packard and
Atari, Apple microcomputers had first-year sales of $2.5
million.
And Formula 409…got its name because 4 hundred and 8
times they submitted their compound and were rejected. But the 4
hundred and 9th time …………….was accepted.
So how do you know when enough is enough?
When we achieve what we set out to do, that is when it
is enough?
Are you willing to do enough?
To cold call, or to prospect within an account you need 4 parts
in your opening statement. For a great opening statement 4 things
are enough.
The four major parts to a powerful opening statement
are:
The opening statement creates a bridge from “I don’t
know you” to “I need to know you.”
Different is the new great. The goal is to stand out
amongst the sea of sales people fighting for your prospect’s
interest.
Now let’s take a look at the first thing to say in your opening
statement:
Some sales people whisper the name of their company as if they
were passing notes to another student in class. Or they say it so
quickly that it lacks the luster and power the name deserves. The
greeting is where you acknowledge who you are and which company
employs you. This should be said slowly and with pride.
“Hello. My name is Will Harris. I’m with Willpower
Consultation.”
The Greeting quickly says: Hi, Me, & Us. A great opening
statement quickly shifts focus from the salesperson onto the
prospect. Avoid the trap of focusing on you during the call.
Introduce yourself and your company, and then quickly move the
conversation onto the prospect.
I have been asked whether to use first name only in your
greeting….or should we use first and last name for ultimate
professionalism. Whatever makes you feel comfortable…that’s what
you should do.
If you have some super cool name like Alexander Fraiser III.
Then you may use it in order to stand out and be different. But if
your style is more laid back then you may say, “I’m Alex.”
You can phrase the greeting whichever way fits your style. Just
remember, the greeting is simply “Hi, Me, & Us.” Done!
That was the first part to say in your opening statement.
The second thing to say in your opening statement is your
attention statement.
A salesperson traveled out of state for a big meeting with a
prospect. He was dining at a restaurant chain he was familiar with
back home. The usual steak ordered well-done was served in rare
condition. Irritated, he furiously motioned for the waiter.
When the waiter came to his table, the salesperson blurted
fastly, “I said WELL-DONE!”
“Well, thank you, “responded the waiter, “your compliment is
appreciated.”
Have you ever received a phone call and it took a minute to
understand what was being said to you…either you struggled to
recognize the voice or figure out why this person was calling you.
Maybe it was the accent or even the speed in which someone spoke.
Many opening statements are great but they have the content in the
wrong order…and prospects miss out on what you actually say because
they were still trying to process what you were saying and what’s
the call all about.
Like the waiter, they totally miss out on your point. But when
prospecting, they have the control to end the call quickly without
ever finding out what you really want.
The attention statement allows time for your prospect to process
your speech pattern and recognize the reason for your call.
But, the main goal is to grab the prospect’s attention. Before
you called them they were not sitting around waiting for you to
call. Prospecting is an interruption in someone’s day. So you have
to say something that will make them stop, drop their pen or stop
typing long enough to hear you. 10 seconds, right.
The key to a great attention statement is that you must mention
something familiar to them. Something that they recognize enough to
make them pause. You may say, but Will if this is a cold call, if I
never spoke to them before then how can I mention something
familiar?
So, I have a Free Power Tools for you called Grabbing Attention.
You can find it www.PowerSales.guru under Power Tools. You can use
that Power Tool to know what to say in your Opening Statements. And
I am going to lay it out for you right now.
The various types of attention statements:
vertical market
These four areas make you stand out when you say your Opening
Statement. So grab that Free Power Tool called Grabbing
Attention.
The next part of the opening statement is the most important
part….The
Different is the new great because people do not just go through
the motions when they are different. The ability to approach Power
Prospecting from a fresh outlook and staying away from conventional
ways of prospecting is paramount.
Different does not mean crazy. Different arises when people look
at old problems in a new way.
The interest statement is the most important part of the opening
statement. While all parts are important, this one is the
end-all-be-all of your opening statement. The WIIFM message you
developed gets condensed into one simple statement that says it
all. Remember, your prospect will always wonder what’s in it for
them. While they may not say it while you are talking, they are
definitely thinking it. If you cannot help them come up with a
reason they should be talking to you, your call will come to an
end.
You know ….Several bankers were debating the question: who was
the greatest inventor? One cast his vote for Stephenson who
invented the railroad; another for the Wright brothers for
inventing the plane. One man even voted for Leonard Kleinrock, for
contributing to the invention of the Internet!
Finally, one banker turned to a man in the lobby listening, but
not contributing to the debate. The banker asked the man what he
thought.
“Well,” the man replied with a big smile. “Whoever created
INTEREST was the greatest.”
The man’s reply has double meaning. Interest attributed to a
loan or interest in buying a product. The sales person in me likes
the idea of creating interest in buying a product. No matter what
product you sell, people buy because of their interests.
Many business-to-business sales people launch into talking about
their products without focusing on the prospect’s interests. Since
different is the new great, speak about the overall business
problems the customer is interested in solving.
I had a coaching call with a client who sells barcode scanning
equipment. She complained that when she prospects, she quickly
hears that the potential customer does not have a need for her
product. After listening to her opening statement, I informed her
that the reason for her failure was that she was being too specific
in how she was going to help the prospect.
She had a hard time grasping this concept. She did not want to
resort to tricks or gimmicks to sell her equipment. I asked her if
she had ever heard of a company named Smith Corolla. She knew that
the company sold typewriters.
Smith Corolla was the largest manufacturer of typewriters in the
world. In their hay day, a young executive had suggested they take
a look at data processing. His suggestion was quickly shut down by
the other executives who felt they were in the business of selling
typewriters and only typewriters.
Now, many years later, we are hard pressed to find a Smith
Corolla anywhere. They missed the fact that they were not in the
business of selling typewriters. They were in the business of
processing and transferring information. I explained to the sales
rep that she was suffering from the same disillusion.
She did not sell barcode scanners. She was in the business of
developing businesses. The goal is to find solutions for your
customers and not customers for your solutions. By adjusting her
opening statements to reflect her prospect’s overall business
needs, she would be able to increase her prospecting
effectiveness.
Creatively paring a customer’s need to your product is the
wining philosophy around a great interest statement. So in this
part of your opening statement you want to start with a business
development need…and not a product feature.
There is a difference in saying I specialize in helping my
customers find customers. And saying I sell barcode scanning
equipment to help you have real time information.
What is the root business cause that you champion….because that
is where you will find what to say during your Opening Statement?
Another Power Tool you can get on my site is “Power Prospecting”.
It can guide you through writing your opening statement.
Now we will look at the last part of what to say during your
opening statement….the question.
At this point in your opening statement it is time for you to
get them involved in the conversation. This is where you ask a
question that serves as a bridge out of the opening statement and
into a deeper conversation. A question must be properly selected
for maximum engagement. Remember, you have been talking for the
last 8 seconds and now you merely want to get them talking.
Consider it the launch pad for closing your sale. This is a huge
thing that is the crashing point for many sales. There are tips
around crafting the perfect questions that we will cover in
upcoming episodes. But, if you proactively select a great opening
question then it will be enough to increase your success.
The four parts we discussed today around the Opening Statement
is what I have worked on every day for the past 15 years. What you
say in your Opening Statement can be used personally or
professionally. It can be used over the phone or in email. By email
it only takes some tweeking on the last part…the question can
become a suggested next step.
But in order to have a next step…you have to take the first step
and then comes the next.
Charles Goodyear was obsessed with the idea of making rubber
unaffected by extreme temperatures. Years of unsuccessful
experimentation caused bitter disappointment, imprisonment for
debt, family difficulties, and ridicule from friends. He persevered
and Goodyear discovered that adding sulfur to rubber achieved his
purpose. I have four of them on my car right now.
But he’s not the only one with a great story of
perseverance.
In his first three years in the automobile industry, Henry Ford
went bankrupt twice.
Inventor Chester Carlson cold called for years before he could
find backers for his Xerox photcoyping process.
Don’t give up before you win. Develop an opening statement that
includes the four parts and you will have enough….for success.
I hope I kept your attention during this episode. I do this
every day in my own prospecting and working with others. So I love
it. This podcast’s Free Power Tool is available now on my site
www.PowerSales.guru grab
the one called Grabbing Attention. Thank you for listening to the
Power Sales Guru podcast. I am your host Will Harris wishing you
Happy Selling and remember different is the new great.