Questions and Imagination!

I receive Jeffrey Gitomer's Caffeine Jolt newsletter every week in my email. This week there were two items in Jeffrey's latest article that I thought were very good to pass along. They concern answering questions effectively and using your imagination to connect with potential customers. 
Read the entire article here. 

ON QUESTIONS:
When someone asks you a question, ask yourself, “Why are they asking this, and what does this mean in terms of this person moving toward a purchase?”

There's a motive behind every question a prospect asks. And that motive is the sales driver. In reality they're thinking to themselves, if this function works, I can increase my sales. That's the motive, not the function.

For example, they may ask you, “Can this function take place?” If you answer, “Yes,” then you've gone right past sale. If you answer yes and then ask, “What will this function lead to?” or “What makes this function important to you?” you will then uncover the real buying motive. In sales this is known as the hot button. The reality is, it's your money.

ON IMAGINATION AND WOW!:
Salespeople are missing huge opportunities for engagement and opportunities to gain response from customers by not being imaginative or creative in their communications.

• Show me a sales script, and I'll show you a boring message.
• Show me a slide deck prepared by marketing, and I'll show you a boring message.
• Show me an email prepared by a salesperson, and I'll show you a boring message.

Where’s the value? Show me the value. Where's the WOW? Show me the WOW! If you show me WOW and value, I will respond, I will engage, I will connect, and I will buy.

'Follow Me' The Flexibility Of Your Private Ring Group

One of the most popular features on new IP-PBXs is the 'Find Me, Follow Me' feature. Many employees today are in and out of the office at different times of the day, often unscheduled, and this calls for high flexibility in call routing. The 'Follow Me' feature provides this flexibility.

Traditionally, when a caller was transferred to your extension, or when calls came directly to your extension with a direct phone number, you either answered the call in a specified time or it went to voice-mail. With the 'Follow Me' feature, the extension can be paired with other extensions, cell phones or even with phone numbers at other locations.

Follow Me

In the example below you can see that the first two devices to be called are the office extension and the cell phone. When a calls comes into extension 2209, the extension and the programmed cell phone both ring at the same time for 3 rings. Then as designated by priority 2, the call then rolls to the home phone for 2 rings and then the caller would go to the extension voice-mail. The system then can be programmed to send that voice-mail to your email account where you can listen to it on your cell phone, tablet, laptop or PC.

This flexible option allows users to customize a ring pattern that best suits their everyday needs. Someone who is in the office most of the day may want to ring their extension first for several rings and then try their cell phone, for example. Someone who is in and out all day can ring both at once, etc. This setting can also be changed on the fly from a smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC.

Other Forwarding Options

For those who may be on vacation or out of the office for an extended period of time with limited access to office VM, they may want to have all of their calls go straight to their cell phone and then have voice-mails go to their cell phones. This is where traditional forwarding comes into play. The user would go in and direct forward all of their calls directly to their cell phone number, and if the call is not answered the cell phone voice-mail would answer. This gives the user flexibility as to where they want to receive their voice-mails.

Cell Phone Transfers

On IP-PBX systems such as the IPitomy IP-PBX, users can transfer calls they receive on 'Follow Me' to any extension on the system by dialing a code and then the extension. For example Susan has her 'Follow Me' set up to ring her desk phone, and then her cell phone. She receives a call while she is out to lunch and finds she needs to transfer the call to Paul who is back in the office at extension 2201, Susan simply dials ##2201 and the call is transferred over to Paul's extension.

Today's VoIP technology offers more flexibility than ever. No matter where you may be you can always get your calls and your voice-mail messages!

Author: Matthew Bellisario

Matt has over 23 years in the communications industry. Starting off in the US Coast Guard, he acquired the skills necessary to be successful as a senior technician in the telecommunications and wireless world. Now Matt has moved on to another side of the industry which includes sales, marketing and product training. Some of his recent accomplishments include publishing professional white papers, newsletters, sales articles, and producing training and marketing videos.

How $75.00 A Month Can Help Disaster Proof Your Telecommunications Network!

Now more than ever, businesses are looking for affordable ways to build disaster recovery options into their telecommunications networks. For those who utilize VoIP technology there is a great way to build redundancy into your system. For those who are still using old technology, this is yet another reason to upgrade your phone system.

IPitomy's SIP trunking packages now allow businesses to add in 10 DID phone numbers, burstable to 20 incoming, with 5000 minutes for just $75.00 a month. This means that your business can continue to use traditional analog lines or a T1/PRI on one carrier and add in additional SIP lines on another. Many carriers can automatically forward a company's main number when the D channel on the their T1/PRI goes down. If this happens you can have your main number forward over to your SIP trunks, which ride over the Internet. You can have the SIP trunks programmed to ring anywhere on your phone system as the PRI number is forwarded to an existing number on the SIP trunks. You can even have the SIP DIDs ring to cell phones if needed. This gives you versatility as to call routing should an outage occur. For those without an automatic failover option, you can call your carrier and have them manually forward your numbers to your SIP trunks until the outage is corrected.

The burstability feature allows a business to have twice as many incoming calls as they have SIP DID lines. So for example, on this 10 DID line package, when incoming call traffic increases, you can have up to 20 calls coming into your business at once. This is a great option for disaster recovery since you can use your 10 SIP trunks for normal outbound local calls for example, and if the need arises you can move traffic off of your PRI onto your SIP trunks. This gives you the capacity to route twice as many incoming calls.

For those businesses not utilizing SIP trunks, this basic SIP trunk package gives them incentive to add this option into their telecommunications platform. For those looking to utilize SIP for more than just disaster recovery, there are many other packages to choose from to accommodate your needs. SIP trunks can cut monthly costs by as much as 50%! If you are not utilizing VoIP technology yet, check out the IPitomy IP-PBX. The money you save with SIP trunks can pay for your new phone system!

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.
Matt Bellisario 941-306-2209

BMW's Marketing Videos

As you know, I am a huge BMW fan. Aside from that there is much to be learned from their marketing strategy. One great way to market your product and company is to produce videos. They can be product specific or they can be testimonial videos. Visual forms of marketing are always very effective in pulling your targeted audience into your "zone." Watch the two videos below and see how well done they are! Then figure out a way to do something for your YouTube channel and website!

Value Over Price: The Tipping Point of the Sale

Many companies today are finding it more difficult to increase sales in incredibly tight industries. How can we get those sales over the hump and close more business? One critical key element of the sales process is being able to demonstrate that you offer superior value than your competitors, and excellent value on your price point. Jeffrey Gitomer has said that when value exceeds price, a sale usually occurs. We have all heard the phrase "its a deal you can't pass up!" right? It is important to examine the process of how our clients come to find value in our offering. There are many ways to offer superior value, I will cover three. For more ideas, ask some of your existing customers what they like best about doing business with you, and make them even better.

The first value avenue is in our product or service. This is where we can differentiate tangibly our offering from our competitors. For example, in my case I have a very robust, feature rich Voice over IP telecommunications platform that I can offer at a very competitive price. Compared to my competitors I can offer more features, more options and higher usability than my competitors can, and I can offer it at a more competitive price point than they can. This is one avenue where I can offer superior value.

The second way to offer more value is in the way we conduct business at our company. Are you easy to do business with, or are you a pain in the neck to work with? Can you connect with your customers on a personal level and offer them superior service than your competitors? Is your company generic or memorable? Another example is in order. At my company I have the freedom to really engage my dealers on a regular basis and offer them a high level of personal service. I can be reached directly, very  easily by email or phone, and there is not a roll of red tape to go through for me to get something done for my customers. When they need something I can get it done, and I can do it very quickly. I am always available to them.

The third way to offer value is the "you" value. You are the most important differentiating factor in the sales equation. Products and services don't sell themselves. Who are you as a person? Do you have a positive attitude? Do people like you? Are you committed to your company? Do you go the extra mile to help your existing customers and potential customers? Are you genuine? Do you stay engaged with your customers and give them the tools they need to be successful with your product or service? Can you be reached when your clients need you? A final example is in order. Whenever I conduct an online webinar to share information on my product and company, I make every effort to find out what the potential customer is looking for, to make sure I can meet their needs. I know my product well and I know my industry well. I educate them on the market place and how my product and company helps other companies to excel in VoIP communications. Personalization is important in how you engage people. Find out what interests them, rather than focusing on what interests you.

I offer value personally by helping people make educated decisions. I make my existing clients a priority, and I make every effort to help them succeed with my product. I also enjoy training them on my VoIP solution and teaching them how they can offer superior value to their customers by offering my product. By conducting sales webinars for my dealers, I am able to educate their prospects on the benefits of my VoIP solution. Putting together quotes and answering any questions my customers may have is a priority for me. It is my belief that by helping others to succeed puts me on the road to success. In short, you are the key factor to the sales process. Yes, it helps to have the first two elements, but without the third one, the first two will not stand. So no matter where you are on the first two elements, always be sure to work on the third.

I believe that by knowing and communicating these key three values will help you in winning new customers and keep your existing customers coming back to do business with you. Do everything you can to bring your value offering over the top of your price point and you will naturally grow your business!

Gitomer Sales Tip Video: Overcoming Barriers Or Objections

The End of BLF Consoles? Desktop Call Presence Software is the Future.

Busy lamp consoles have long been a favorite tool of the trade for receptionists. Many consoles can have hundreds of buttons on them so calls can be transferred throughout a company to employees. Many times this has resulted in a cumbersome layout, often taking up large amounts of desk space. With the integration of desktop presence software  BLF consoles are slowly being phased out.

Although people are always prone to resist change, desktop call presence software has given receptionists, and even ordinary  phone users something to get excited about. Instead of having to hunt for BLF keys on consoles, now calls can be easily transferred with a click of the mouse!  For example, IPitomy Communications has developed a powerful desktop call presence manager called Q-Manager. For about the same price of a BLF console, you can put Q-Manager up on a separate computer monitor and see the status of all users on the system. You can easily transfer calls and chat to other users on the system. Important statistics such as call time, caller ID, alert windows and park queues all make the job of call management easy.

Calls can be transferred with one click directly to an extension or directly to voice mail. You can also page to an extension to announce calls. Park zones are located conveniently down the left side of the screen where they can be easily monitored and picked up. Chat bubbles appear in each extension block who are also utilizing Q-Manager on the system, so that texts can sent back and forth between users.

For those looking for more, Q-Manager also offers features such as whisper, listen, and record features as well as conference room monitoring and management. For example, call centers can use the listen and whisper features to coach employees on calls, they can also record calls on demand for later review and coaching.

As the need for conference calls increase, the desktop software utilizes color imaging to let the viewer know who is talking on the bridge by lighting up the call in red along with the caller ID and name of the participant. Conference participants can be muted individually as well, and the conference room can be locked and unlocked with a click of the mouse.

With an ACD package even more information is present on Q-Manager pertaining to call queues. Q statistics can be an effective means of monitoring the performance of call centers. Valuable statistics such as average wait time, average call length, answered calls, abandoned calls as well as individual agent stats are available on the screen.

The age of large BLF consoles and large phones with multiple tiny buttons on them crammed onto the face of the phone are coming to a close. As technology continues to push telephony in new directions, desktop call presence management is sure to continue to evolve and offer more options and usability for receptionists and ordinary users on their business phone systems.