Tag: Inbound prospecting

New Course for 2024: High Probability Selling for Inbound Selling

The Backstory: HPS and Inbound Selling

Since the 1990s, High Probability Selling (HPS) has focused predominantly on outbound telephone prospecting, followed by a sales appointment or closing process. Despite the fact that Jacques Werth, one of the co-authors of the HPS book, successfully implemented HPS in several businesses with primarily inbound traffic, the book and training did not cover how to handle inbound sales.

When I asked Jacques about applying HPS to inbound sales calls, he suggested, “just listen to them long enough to give them an outbound prospecting offer.” However, I found that this approach was ineffective and often counterproductive, frustrating both the prospect and me, as well as the referral source.

Through my own experiences, I quickly realized that the traditional HPS methods were not suited for inbound calls. Abandoning HPS was not an option for me, as it would create more chaos. Instead, I adapted HPS to fit inbound selling scenarios.

From 2010, over 13 years working in health insurance agencies and call centers that handled 95% inbound calls, I developed a new approach. I created what we now call “HPS in a non-HPS world” for inbound selling. As I successfully applied these adaptations as an agent, I also trained, coached, and supervised others in implementing HPS for inbound callers.

Why Adapt HPS for Inbound Selling?

Outbound calls are straightforward; you know the topic, the offer, and the likely responses. However, inbound calls are unpredictable. You don’t know who is calling, why they are calling, or even if it’s a sales call. This unpredictability can unsettle even the most seasoned sales professionals.

Through trial and error, I learned how to listen effectively to inbound callers, determining if a sale was possible and if the caller was a High Probability Prospect (HPP). If they were not, I developed ways to gracefully lead them to an exit point while preserving the opportunity for future warm calls. This gentle and respectful disqualification is crucial for maximizing inbound call opportunities.

Workshop Content

This course will teach you how to handle inbound calls using the HPS framework. You will learn:

  • Common Pitfalls and Mistakes: Identify and avoid common mistakes made during inbound calls.
  • Effective Listening Skills: Listen to discern the caller’s primary and secondary concerns, ensuring open and transparent communication.
  • Customer Needs Identification: Identify both expressed and unspoken customer problems and determine their conditions of satisfaction.
  • Resolving Customer Concerns: Find mutually beneficial solutions and establish a respectful, ongoing business relationship.
  • Overcoming Salesperson Biases: Recognize and mitigate preconceived ideas and beliefs that hinder understanding and connection.
  • Creating a Safe Space: Make prospects feel safe to share necessary information for both their benefit and yours.
  • Maintaining HPS Mindset: Balance qualification and disqualification while maintaining neutrality.
  • Implementing HPS Processes: Design and implement written processes to handle inbound inquiries efficiently.

Personal Insights and Strategies

During the workshop, I will share personal anecdotes and strategies that helped me adapt HPS to inbound selling. You’ll learn:

  • How to handle inbound calls confidently and effectively, maintaining the HPS mindset.
  • How to design and implement HPS processes specific to your business needs.
  • How to ensure inbound calls become enjoyable and profitable experiences.

Conclusion

This interactive workshop will equip you with the skills and insights to manage inbound calls successfully, even the unexpected ones. You will discover that handling inbound calls can be a highly enjoyable and profitable part of your sales process.

Instruction: Live and interactive on Zoom, taught by Paul Bunn (with over 13 years selling this way and teaching others) in three sessions. Recordings of live sessions also provided. One-on-one coaching available.

Schedule:  The next course begins Fri 24 May 2024 at 9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time).  The second and third sessions of that course are Fri 31 May and Fri 7 June, same time. 

Price:  $547 USD per person
Purchase:  click here

For updates on this course, see https://www.highprobsell.com/training/inbound.html

Inbound Selling Basics: 2024-02-23 Fri

How to use High Probability Selling (HPS) when a prospective customer contacts you.

  • What is covered in this course.
    – Making HPS work in a non-HPS world.
    – How to apply the HPS Mindset for Inbound Sales.
    – HPS with and without a script.
    – Closing the Inbound Sale.
  • Taught by Paul Bunn, who has 13+ years of experience selling this way and teaching others how. 

Schedule:  Starts Friday 23 February 2024 at 1:00pm USA Eastern Time.  Three interactive sessions on Zoom, spaced one week apart, same day of week, same time.  Also see the HPS Calendar for updates. 

Price:  $547 USD
Sign Up & Purchase:  click here

Here is recent feedback from a client:

Paul and Carl, 

Nothing but positive feedback for your Inbound High Probability Selling Course. 

Since reading the book a few years ago I’d been piecemealing some of the practices together from the original Essence of High Probability Selling class, community forums, and blogs. Now I feel like I have a much firmer grasp on the mindset and the methods of high probability selling.

I’ll admit, going into the class I thought it would be more of a marketing focus on how to generate inbound calls. I’m really glad it wasn’t. As a Real Estate Broker, the activities I’ve always focused on are taking and selling more listings which requires talking to a lot of people. Most inbound calls I’d get were sign calls, calls from listing ads online, and the occasional return call from a voicemail. By working on the “get” for my scripts during your course and the inbound call framework I’ve doubled down on my outbound calls to get more signs in the ground (listings) and can now confidently handle those inbound calls by being an actual person on the other end of the phone. 

The focus on inbound calls was extremely valuable for me. My business comes from mostly outbound dialing, so when I’d get an inbound call, I’d find myself freezing and trying to figure out what to say to shift the control of the call back to me. I didn’t realize it but the fear of not knowing what to say had me searching for all sorts of methods to avoid them (recorded messages, call routing, no yard signs, not leaving voicemails etc.). It was simple all along…”How can I help you?” And listen, without trying to sell anything. That simple question along with the qualifying questions you laid out was the two-millimeter shift that I needed to simplify my business. I’ve gotten rid of all the gimmicks just to “scale” which can sometimes be a fancy word for avoidance. 

Thanks again. I’m looking forward to future courses, continuing to improve, and working towards BEING High Prob. 

Very best regards,

Blake

Price:  $547 USD  Sign Up & Purchase:  click here

If you have any questions, please Contact Us, or call +1 610-627-9030, or email Ingalls@HighProbSell.com

Inbound Selling Basics with High Probability

Features:

  • How to use High Probability Selling (HPS) when a prospective customer contacts you.
    – Making HPS work in a non-HPS world.
    – How to apply the HPS Mindset for inbound sales.
    – HPS with and without a script.
    – Closing the Inbound Sale.
  • Taught by Paul Bunn, who has 13+ years of experience selling this way and teaching others how. 
  • Live group webinars on Zoom, two sessions, two hours each, spaced one week apart.
  • Webinar recordings will be sent to everyone who purchases this course.
  • Exercises will be assigned to do between sessions.
  • Coaching (one-on-one) after the course:  two sessions, 60 minutes each.

Schedule:  Starts Tuesday 12 December 2023 at 11:30am USA Eastern Time.  Session #2 is one week later, same time.  Also see the HPS Calendar for updates. 

Price:  $497 USD

Sign Up & Purchase:  click here

If you have any questions, please Contact Us, or call +1 610-627-9030, or email Ingalls@HighProbSell.com

What do High Probability Selling and improvisational acting have in common?

Some of the guidelines for improvisational acting have much in common and harmonize well with the mindset of High Probability Selling (HPS) and also with the Trust and Respect Inquiry (TRI) process.

I invite you to watch this TED video about improv:  Be An Improvisor.  Change the World.

Here’s a summary of the rules of improvisation found in the video, and how each relates to High Probability Selling:

1. MAKE A CONNECTION — We focus on who the other person is, what kind of decisions they make, how things usually turn out for them, and how they react.  The conversation is about the other person.  It’s not about us.

2. LISTEN — We listen in a special way because we want to learn and find out things.  The less we talk, the better we listen.  We listen to the other person without influencing them, so we get the deeper truth, and not just what we hope to hear.  We listen to what they say, we remember it, and we ask about that.

3. SAY “YES, And…” — It’s about accepting what another person just said or did, and then adding to it.  In HPS, we do this without agreeing or disagreeing.  We usually convey this by what we do, without saying those words out loud.  We add to the conversation by asking the other person to tell us more about what they said.

When we do use words to convey our acceptance without judgment, we might say something like, “Yes, I see” or “I hear you” or “OK”.  We keep our tone of voice neutral and calm.

As a magician who performs magic shows and magic entertainment, I avoid contradicting or arguing with an audience volunteer who I have invited onstage.

Instead, just like a jazz musician, I feed off the spectator’s and audience’s energy and steer it in a positive direction to enhance their magic experience.

4. BE IN THE MOMENT — The time to find out why a sale is not going to go through is early in the sales process, when you’re meeting with the prospect, rather than after having invested valuable time with someone who clearly disqualified themselves up front.  Discover it in the moment.  Then, you have the time to respond, and to choose your best course of action, whether to continue or walk away.

5. STAY FLEXIBLE — This is especially important with Inbound Prospecting.  Adapt to what the other person says and does.  In the TRI process, we give control of the topic to the other person, and we follow their lead.

6. AVOID PRECONCEIVED IDEAS — Never make any assumptions or presumptions or guesses about the other person’s background or story.  No leading questions, no questions that suggest an answer.  Ask open questions rather than closed ones, whenever possible.

7. RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE’S CHOICES — When a prospect says “no” to our prospecting offer, we respect that by saying, “Ok.  Bye now.”  And then we go away.  Accept without judging.  No comments.  No reactions.  Keep calm and neutral.  Don’t act surprised.

8. LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE — It’s ok if you don’t feel like disqualifying a prospect just because of how they answered your disqualification questions.  Ask the questions anyway, and do what you feel like doing, without deciding in advance what the answers must be.  Gain the experience, and your inner voice will update itself.

9. FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION — Use it or lose it.  Practice will improve the accuracy of your intuition.  We rarely have enough data to make a purely logical decision.

Learning to listen, connect, and play like an improviser can make all the difference, whether selling a product, an idea, or ourselves.