Gehegan Insight http://www.gehegan.com/blog Telephone Skills Workshops for Financial Institutions Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:00:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 ANTICIPATE RESISTANCE http://www.gehegan.com/blog/anticipate-resistance/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/anticipate-resistance/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:00:14 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=110 Continue reading →]]> Resistance to an appointment is a predictable element of any sales call.
Understand that NO is part of the process and you cannot get to a yes without going through the initial NO. NO can be a reflexive response and frequently means I do not know enough to make a decision.
The prospect’s response to your request for an appointment is not: NO NO NO. It is usually couched in statements such as “I Am Happy With My Bank”, “Too Busy”, “Send Me Some Information”, etc. Having a response to common objections to an appointment will increase your confidence and convince your prospect that it would be a valuable use of their time to meet. (Use your Gehegan guide.)
If you trust the process and use the guide, you will experience higher rates of success.
Here is some sage advice: if you are going to give up after the prospect’s initial resistance then do yourself, the bank and most importantly your prospect a favor – don’t make the call – because you are not convinced and committed that what you personally bring to this relationship has value.
You do make a difference – Believe it!

]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/anticipate-resistance/feed/ 0 A DOZEN REASONS TO PICK UP THE PHONE http://www.gehegan.com/blog/a-dozen-reasons-to-pick-up-thw-phone/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/a-dozen-reasons-to-pick-up-thw-phone/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:09:01 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=73 Continue reading →]]> 1) YOU WILL BROADEN AND DEEPEN EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS

2) YOU WILL BETTER SERVE EXISTING CUSTOMERS

3) YOU WILL HAVE HAPPIER CUSTOMERS

4) YOU WILL ENHANCE YOUR SELLING SKILLS

5) YOU WILL ENHANCE YOUR PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

6) YOU WILL BE BETTER ABLE TO RECOGNIZE CROSS SELLING OPPORTUNITIES

7) YOU WILL CONTROL THE COMPETITION

8) YOU WILL REDUCE CUSTOMER ATTRITION

9) YOU WILL INCREASE YOUR INCOME

10) YOU WILL GET MORE REFERRALS

11) YOU WILL MEET AND EXCEED YOUR GOALS

12) YOU WILL ENHANCE YOUR VALUE TO THE BANK

JOHN J. GEHEGAN

]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/a-dozen-reasons-to-pick-up-thw-phone/feed/ 0 CUSTOMER RETENTION DEMANDS ATTENTION http://www.gehegan.com/blog/customer-retention-demands-attention/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/customer-retention-demands-attention/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:19:05 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=70 Continue reading →]]> Inattention is the primary reason a customer discontinues a banking relationship.  Why is it that we spend so much time cultivating prospects to turn them into customers and then ignore opportunities to expand the relationship beyond the initial sale?

Developing a call frequency strategy is critical to proper account maintenance.  This strategy should include joint calls with senior management.

On a quarterly basis, take a good look at your client base for cross sell opportunities.  A satisfied customer is not only your most important source of advertising – if he is happy and has other requirements, your bank will be given first consideration to offer other products and services.  Most people do not like change, so use this to your advantage and keep your customer comfortable by expanding the relationship.

The more products and services the customer is using, the stronger the relationship.  Every time your bank introduces a new service, or enhances a product, see your customers.

A happy customer will help you develop more business while an unhappy customer will cost you both time and money.  If you develop and maintain a good working relationship with your customers they will be loyal.

If you have done your job and created a satisfied customer, you have earned the right to ask for referrals.  Be specific and ask for the name of the customer’s most important vendor, or the name of a colleague in the industry.  You have confidence in knowing that you will be able to give them the same excellent service your customer currently enjoys.

 

John J. Gehegan

 

 

]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/customer-retention-demands-attention/feed/ 0 RECOGNIZING YOUR CALL AS AN INTRUSION http://www.gehegan.com/blog/recognizing-your-call-as-an-intrusion/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/recognizing-your-call-as-an-intrusion/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 16:13:30 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=64 Continue reading →]]> Whether it’s a personal call to your friend or an owner of a business, the phone call is always an interruption.  The problem is NOT the interruption; it is what you DO with the interruption.  Most sales reps, when the decision maker comes to the phone, immediately introduce themselves and move right into the reason they’re calling.  TWO main things that start to happen with the decision maker is his resistance level starts to increase rapidly, and worse, his chance of actually listening to what the salesperson has to say becomes almost non-existent.

When the decision maker comes to the phone and you introduce yourself and your company, the next step should be something to the order of, “Did I catch you at a bad time, or do you have a moment?”  Some would argue this gives the decision maker an “out”, but doesn’t the “out” exist regardless?  There are three main responses to your question and each give you the permission to proceed.  First she may say, “I’m kind of busy, but what is it?”  GREENLIGHT!  Second she may say, “I’m too busy to talk right now.”  Your next response is “WHEN is a better time to call you back?”  It’s either rescheduled or, even better, she may ask what the call is reference to and you get to proceed!  GREENLIGHT!  Third she may say, “I’m not busy.”  GREENLIGHT.

This simple acknowledgement that you’re interrupting them does three positive things for you: 1) It shows you have plain common courtesy 2) Most other sales reps DON’T do it, so it sets you apart 3) It gets the decision maker LISTENING to what it is you have to say!

Chris Lovett

 

 

 

]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/recognizing-your-call-as-an-intrusion/feed/ 0 MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO MAKE APPOINTMENTS http://www.gehegan.com/blog/make-an-appointment-to-make-appointments/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/make-an-appointment-to-make-appointments/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 18:01:08 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=60 Continue reading →]]> Over the years one of the biggest laments I hear from bankers is “how do I find the time to make calls?”  Granted, as a banker in the branch, you have a multitude of tasks to complete on any given day.  However, unless you block out a specific time on your calendar to make calls, I can assure you it will not get done.
We need to set an appointment to make appointments.  By scheduling a specific time to make calls and adhering to your designated time you will be able to work this critical task into your daily routine.
Block out 30-45 minutes and do nothing but make calls during this time. Find an area in the branch where you will not be interrupted.  Do not take inbound calls and stay focused on the task at hand.
This allocated calling time should not include doing your pre-call planning, that is something you should have done prior to your calling session.
If you are calling business prospects an excellent time to call is before 8:00 AM.  If you are calling customers a good time to call is after 5:00 PM.  Keeping track of your activity (calls-contacts-appointments) will allow you to gauge the best time to call for your particular market.
Remain committed to your schedule and you will be successful.
Let’s not make excuses. Let’s make some calls.
John J. Gehegan
]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/make-an-appointment-to-make-appointments/feed/ 0 DO YOUR HOMEWORK http://www.gehegan.com/blog/do-your-homework/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/do-your-homework/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 15:35:51 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=56 Continue reading →]]> Preparation is an essential element in making a successful call. If you are calling an existing client make sure you review the entire relationship before picking up the phone. Don’t get caught up pushing product because of some campaign or promotion.  Take a more relationship oriented approach to each call.  Look for gaps in the customer’s relationship and then lead with a product or service that the customer is not taking advantage of.  Keep in mind, what you may see as a need is not necessarily what the customer sees, so be sure to probe for a need before you offer any product or service.

If you are calling on a non-client your preparation should include all pertinent information about the business e.g. sales size, # of employees, length in business, industry segment and decision makers name and contact #.  All of the afore mentioned information is available at various web resources (referenceusa is a great resource). Also, review the prospect’s website before you call to glean pertinent company data. Your objective with the non-client is to sell the appointment and the appointment only.

Your preparation will let your customer/prospect know that you are a professional banker looking to enhance relationships and develop new business not a tele-marketer pushing products.

John J. Gehegan

]]> http://www.gehegan.com/blog/do-your-homework/feed/ 0 First Data Training In Las Vegas MAY 1st-3rd http://www.gehegan.com/blog/first-data-training-in-las-vegas-may-1st-3rd/ http://www.gehegan.com/blog/first-data-training-in-las-vegas-may-1st-3rd/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 17:04:22 +0000 admin http://www.gehegan.com/blog/?p=49 Continue reading →]]> Gehegan & Associates was engaged in a three day event May 1-3, 2011 with First Data at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV.  Chris Lovett spoke to over 600 Account Executives in the general session and conducted 5 workshops on selling skills!!

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