Customer Reviews

Telesales Tips From The Trenches: Secrets of a Street-Smart Salesman

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was prompted to purchase Joe's book after reading the high praises the book received from past readers. Alas, after reading it, I became clear that, to paraphrase a well known saying, '50+ 5-star reviewers actually CAN be wrong'.

But first, my bias. I am involved in an inside sales position where what I call a "sale" is a just cold called prospect saying "OK, I will sit down and meet with your field sales representative". So what my clients "buy" is not a actual product or service, but rather they 'buy into' the AOK to start business discussions. So call this 'soft', 'consultative', 'strategic' selling...whatever, 40+ hours a week I am on the phone talking to people whom I have never met about businesss issues that may or may not be relevant to them.

Keeping this in mind, if I were to try many of Joe's recommendations in my daily discussions with business clients they meet with as much welcomed receptivity as a loud fart in church. Joe's sales vision and ideas simply would NOT work in my sales world. If you are a sales person making a living on your ability to entice a business person whom you have never met to discuss big money solutions/products/services/etc., this book will NOT do you any favors.

But, if you sell a service/product that can be purchased in a one time shot over the phone then definitely give the book a try. I have read a number of telesales books in the past and this book definitely gives more solid tricks of the trade, tactics you can use immediately, than most books I have read. Just make sure that what you are selling can be sold in a single call (or at least within a week and without an actual presentation).

Happy hunting!

This is a no B.S. book on what it takes to sell by phone.
Whether you're setting appointments or closing the deal by phone it really doesn't matter. This is a hard hitting book.
I like the authors no nonsense approach to selling. They're either a high probability prospect or not.
The book teaches you how to get in and out of calls quickly and find the buyers today. The best on phone sales I've ever read.

Overall, I would say it is a good book for non-sales people to buy. Joe points out many things to think about and makes many good suggestions.

Two things bother me about the book:

- It has numerous typos and grammatical errors. Sometimes I've had to re-read sections to understand what he meant to say.

- There are several contradictions. One example is on page 25. He says: "If they don't return your call, wait two days before calling back." But then 2 sentences later says that you should leave a voice mail stating: "If I don't hear back from you by the end of the day, I'll try back before I leave the office."

Personally, I don't want to buy from a sales person that doesn't do what they say they are going to do, so this is a really poor suggestion and really poor customer service (especially if the person you are calling really does want to talk to you)!

A few things struck me about this book.

1. It teaches you when to say "No" to suspects. I learned from it to be more discerning with whom I am talking. This book tells you how to determine, in minimum of time, if you are talking to someone who can buy from you (even if the other party won't admit that he's not interested or that he doesn't have the authority to buy). Like they say on Wall Street: "fill or kill".

2. It gives you tips to help you establish your authority early in the call. How to deal with various brushoffs (more or less graciously).... When it's better to be direct, or even blunt... It's not just one style of selling, but rather a mix of hard- and soft-sell techniques that can be adapted to the situation.

3. It gives you specific expressions to use. Short sentences that sound natural and go past the initial indifference and suspicion of people... I'm studying it to learn how to keep the flow of conversation so that it doesn't seem contrived, and how to go from one idea to another in a natural way so that I don't sound like a telemarketer.

4. There's indeed no filler. Just lots of ideas about prospecting, presentation and closing. Some may not apply to your work, but you can extract the priciples. I've read this book two times and I open it almost every day. You must read it - now!

We get telemarketing sales calls all the time and the first thing they always ask is " How are you doing " . Right away my resistance is at its highest level . How in the world do they have any chance of selling me when my mind is closed ? They always 'product dump ' and never ask any questions to see if there's any possibility of generating interest . Many are arrogant at best . I read Joe Catal's book with some skepticism and oh it's just another sales book but oh man! What a pleasant surprise . I found myself reading and reading and the next thing I know it's 4 in the morning . I wish telemarketers in the country would learn the common sense approach and reasoning this person teaches .If they used and applied the approaches Joe teaches , there probably wouldn't be any no call laws . I will implement his ideas and techniques right away and know it will work . I'm so glad I found this book . I hope whoever is reading this review that you don't get the book because if you do , I have more competition to contend with . Please don't get this book . But get it before your competition does . Just read the first three chapters and the table of contents . Oh oh ! I'm overselling . Just get the book will you ? You'll see what I mean .

I've been doing a bunch of jobs, CSR, Techie,
Help Desk, LAN ADMIN, telcom sales, upselling for
existing customers, etc. And, as such, the more
I learn from books, the more I know how valuable
my own personal career experience is, and the more
I guess that there's a lot more to learn and master
in this craft than anyone can imagine.

Think about moving from a bicycle speed, to tractor
speed, to car speed, to high performance roadster,
to airplane, to rocket ... this is how a sales

star evolves ...all the while, staying within the
bounds of acceptable phone behavior in terms of
honesty, truthfulness, not deceiving, not lying
obviously, and generally, being nice on the phone.
The big difference, is SPH, and getting a lot more
done, in a small period of time.

In this regard, Joe Catal's book, SALES FROM THE
TRENCHES is really great.

I take it with me all the time to work. In the beginning,
I figured my collegues might take me as an amateur
for needing a book on my desk, while I work...after a while,
and meeting and exceeding all targets imposed on me, as a sales
rep, and mainly because I often have 2 jobs and work 13 hours
a day sometimes, and boredom, I take Joe's book with me to
work ...it really keeps me awake, amused, and I keep trying
out the rebutals, techniques that are new all the time.

Most of them work marvelleously...for example, "are you
prepared to DENY your family so-and-so priviledge ?" or
"I've been in the business for a while. When I'm told me
a customer like yourself, that you need to think about, it's
often because of the price. The price is too high, right ? How
much too high ? " etc. etc. etc.

All gems...

The other comments, about super-stars being a different breed
from other people punching in the clock and behaving like the
GRIM REAPER and often getting rewarded for being among the worst
possible employees in the company, bringing everyone down, even
the top performers, also rings true. I've been in the business,
sales, for under 3 years, and Joe Catal is on the money.

I think the GOOD MONEY is not in sales or telemarketing, but
higher in account management and project management, by the way.

Thanks Joe! Worth every penny !

I've been a telesales rep and I've trained and managed more than 100 reps over the years. The book does a great job of combining telesales skills and sales fundamentals.

I was skeptical about this book, even after I read the reveiws... I went ahead and bought it and I was very pleased with the results. It should be a handbook for anyone doing telesales (Inbound and Outbound). Good for Business owners, who call clients and potential clients (He focuses on that as well). Also great for sales reps who want to increase sales. My sales increased dramatically and my calls were more productive. I think it could even prove effective for sales reps who are not on the phone.

He even goes over how to answer the phone, what to say when someone is out to lunch, and how to get past gatekeepers when making outgoing calls.
It's an easy read, almost a page-turner and interesting too. I want to memorize it and anyone in sales/marketing should... Even a seasoned salesperson.

Don't buy another book about telesales until you have read this one. Trust, it is the only one you will need.

In this book, the author makes no bones about it. You're going to work to make a sale and get money TODAY! The guy know's his stuff. In our line of work, if you don't write business on a daily basis, you're out of a job. He cuts through the cutsy stuff and gets right to the point. Are we doing business today Mr. Prospect? He teaches you to get in and out of calls quickly to find the buyers and the real players. Why spend 15 minutes on the phone with someone who's not interested? He's right. If you're making 100 plus cold calls a day, and can close on the initial call or a follow up, you hit the lotto with this book.
I believe it's the only book ever written on the subject of the one call close. By the way, the author is very sarcastic, and really likes to hammer middle management and business owners.
Good book, thank you Joe.

Although SaleMan covers many of the basics, most of this is just script after script - many of which don't do it for me.

This is for the turn and burn dial from the phone book tele-sales person rather than for the person that is trying to close active leads over the phone.

This book really lost me when it stated that you should leave an "incentive" on the voice mail you leave including a product discount in order to get them to call you back. From my personal experience, "discounts" to generate interest almost never work -- discounts to close is more effective.