[Ep#310] Breaking Old Ineffective Sales Habits with Pancho Merohtra

Breaking Old Ineffective Sales Habits

with Pancho Merohtra

There's a world of clients out there who can benefit from your business. The question is, are you reaching out to them? Many salespeople still have ineffective sales habits that are holding back their performance. One of these is shying away from cold calls. This is one of the best techniques in negotiation that you can use to form a direct connection with a potential client. Cold calling is more than just the sale — it's building relationships that can compound results over time. 

Pancho Merohtra joins us today to talk about how to break your ineffective sales habits and master techniques in negotiation. Change your mindset around practices like cold calls, and your performance will shoot up. Pancho also shares the ways we can understand people more so we can guide them through the customer journey more effectively.

Listen to this episode if you want to learn more about actionable techniques in negotiation  that you can try out!

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:

  1. Learn how to overcome fears of cold calling and change your mindset about it.
  2. Discover how you can break ineffective sales habits and master techniques in negotiation.
  3. Understand how you lose clients through disconnect and overwhelm.   

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WATCH NOW (and check out the Resources and Episode Highlights below): 

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Episode Highlights

[02:40] How Pancho Worked on Cold Calls

  • Pancho developed his skill in cold calling through working in call centres.
  • Over time, he has come to love cold calling because it allows him to have conversations with people.
  • Even if he got rejected, he never took them as personal offences.
  • Pancho eventually set up his own call centre.

[05:37] Treating Cold Calls Like Conversations

  • Track your numbers, and you can eventually predict your results. Statistics like these can help take away the fear from each phone call.
  • For example, Pancho shares how 27 to 30 calls will probably lead to 5-7 conversations and 3-4 meetings.
  • One of Pancho’s techniques in negotiation is having a precise script. This script turns rational words into emotional ones to create more meaningful connections.
  • Once you have a script, it’s easier to frame the conversation and lead people to a meeting.

[10:17] Focus on What Matters

  • Ultimately, you know your product or service can solve problems, but people may not be ready to take them on.
  • As the salesperson, you need to listen to the hidden meaning behind what people are saying.
  • Don’t miss signals, both verbal and non-verbal, just because you’re too focused on saying clever things.
  • Focus your techniques in negotiation toward helping the client. Be engaged in the conversation and understand that you don’t need to be right all the time.
  • It's more important to be honest with your clients. You can't help everyone — sometimes, the best action is to end a call.

[14:12] How to Treat the Customer Journey

  • Many salespeople find themselves going through emotional rollercoasters because they’re working with the wrong clients.
  • Start with understanding yourself: your values and what you find non-negotiable. Have clear boundaries.
  • Make sure you have a clearly defined value proposition that you can share with your clients. This includes knowing what their pain points are.

[19:24] Strategic Techniques in Negotiation: Psychological Profiling

  • Remember that your value proposition is not just about what's rational. There are also irrational aspects like emotion.
  • Understand that people are driven by self-preservation. Once you know this, you can develop a psychological profile of the person you’re going to call.
  • Using techniques in negotiation isn’t only about business but about life.
  • People are very consistent with their decision-making because they choose based on successful past strategies.
  • Be curious about people. You will find it easier to understand them and their triggers.

[25:04] Ineffective Sales Habits to Break

  • Pancho highlights two habits to break immediately: don’t give up too quickly and stop buying into other people’s negativity.
  • Over time, these dysfunctional habits will affect performance.
  • Habits are our immediate way to respond to things unconsciously. Start to question your actions.
  • For example, when you procrastinate making calls, your hesitance may be rooted in fear of rejection.

[28:27] How to Change Your Ineffective Sales Habits

  • Ideally, have an outsider give you a better perspective of the situation. This can be a mentor or a friend.
  • You can also ask yourself if your mindset is a fact.
  • Start to debate your thoughts, and you will find that you're more capable than you give yourself credit for.

[31:34] Overcome Your Fears

  • Imposter syndrome is a common occurrence across all genders. People who learn to overcome these fears will progress quickly.
  • There are only two types of fear – imagined and real. It helps to learn to distinguish what you can and cannot control.
  • Focus on the process instead of the outcome.
  • Keep practising, and you will become better at it. A higher conversion rate equals more chances for you to influence and master techniques in negotiation.

[36:48] Why We Experience a Disconnect with Some People

  • Everyone will have different perspectives on reality. You need to learn to speak the other person’s language.
  • Disconnect will always happen on a communication level. Once someone feels that you don’t understand them, it’s easy to lose them.
  • Think about what it takes to persuade someone logical. Would it be the same for someone who makes decisions based on feelings?

[39:40] Techniques in Negotiation to Connect with People

  • Language is more than just words; it’s also about how you say it.
  • Create an opening process that helps you identify the profile of the prospective client.
  • Don't overwhelm them. This can also make your potential customer say no.
  • Approach the call with a script to stay on track.
  • Ask deliberate questions that will help you gauge the truth of their words, like their yes and no. Learn more about this in the full episode!

10 Powerful Quotes

‘You've got to learn the art of listening. Because if you can listen well, then you can influence really, really well.’

‘A lot of people miss signals because they're mostly in their head trying to think about what clever thing they can say instead of actually listening to the client and figuring out what really matters to the client.’

‘If your whole focus is ‘how can I help this person,' when you come across like that, it removes your right to be right all the time. You're willing to engage in conversation.’

‘When we don't have clear boundaries, our decision-making is flawed. We get impacted by our own emotions, and we take other people's viewpoints as being real.’

‘One of the most important things that any salesperson should know, and every sales manager, or anyone running a team, is to have a very clearly defined value proposition that you can clearly enunciate to your clients.’

‘If you focus on having a really good conversation and migrating the client towards a conclusion whether it's to go ahead with you or not, it's a win for you either way.’

‘If you improve your conversion rate, your influence rate also increases… You have a chance to now improve the other aspects of your deal-making which is when you're negotiating and influencing people.’

‘Language is more than just words. It's a currency of meaning you must be able to understand because people can say one thing and mean another.’ 

‘You get some salespeople feature dumping, hoping something will stick but never taking a step back to actually develop a strategic opening process to actually identify how the client thinks.’

‘What we do know about people, and when I get involved in negotiation, is people don't want to work hard to make a decision. Everyone wants it easy but we tend to complicate things.’

 

About Pancho

Pancho Mehrotra is the founder of Frontier Performance and has helped clients generate and increase their sales for more than 30 years. Pancho's extensive sales experience includes setting records selling insurance, making over 220,000 cold calls, and mentoring high performing salespeople. He teaches his clients how to open the doors to opportunities, close deals, negotiate higher fees and develop a resilient mindset.

Pancho's method includes incorporating psychology to know how to read and influence others. His signature course, ‘People who Read People', has helped over 5000 salespeople in all kinds of industries.

Interested in Pancho’s work? Check out Frontier Performance.

You can also reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, and support@frontierp.com.au.  

Enjoy This Podcast?

We have access to a wealth of prospective clients if we just overcome our fears and reach out. Pancho Merohtra teaches us how to conduct cold calls effectively, master techniques in negotiation, and form a connection with your prospective clients. Learn to change your ineffective sales habits and replace them with a mindset geared for success!

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To staying ambitious,

Annemarie

2021-09-19T20:54:32+10:00

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