In nearly every speech I do, the question — or, objection, really — comes up:

“But young salespeople don’t talk on the phone…”

Or young people don’t like the phone. Or they only like to text and use social media.

“What do you have to say about that,” they challenge. (Almost always, it’s a frustrated owner or sales leader asking the question. It’s a manager of said young salespeople.)

My answer is always the same:

“It’s not that they don’t want to talk on the phone, it’s that nobody has ever shown them how.”

Those of us who grew up using the phone to talk to family and friends are comfortable using it professionally.

The younger generations grew up not using the phone. But they’re a lot more comfortable and business-proficient on social media than we middle-aged folk are. Because this is what they grew up using.

Guess who the most successful people are with my proactive phone-selling program?

The “seasoned” and experienced salespeople? No.

It’s the youngest generation of salespeople who do best with this work. They grow the most. They add the most sales. They help customers the most.

With the phone.

Which is exactly what leaders assume they will not do.

Why is this so?

Because they’ve never had a system, or even just a guide, for selling with the phone before.

They’ve never had a process.

Nobody has ever given them scripts and language for successful phone selling.

Because we assume they simply won’t.

So we don’t try to help them with it.

Given a simple approach to sales growth with the phone, younger salespeople outperform everyone else.

A big reason is that, as younger professionals, their families are growing.

Their expenses are growing.

Their homes are growing.

Usually, younger salespeople need more money the most.

Which is why they tend to outperform the field with this work.

So, don’t discount your younger salespeople as being uninterested in using the phone to sell.

Help them.

Arm them with tools.

And they will reward you with quickly growing your business.

 

Where’s Alex?

Last week I did three speeches in three different cities. The most memorable one was on Wednesday, in Wausau, Wisconsin, of all places. They say this city is in north-central Wisconsin. Which is why, perhaps, my friend and the organizer, Jeny Nieuwenhuis, president, and owner of REI Engineering, promoted the session with “Professional Sales Speaker Comes to Wausau!”

Jeny put this event on as a value to her clients in town. To her immense credit, she filled the room and had 200 people in attendance. It was a wonderful group, and incredibly patient to boot. The night before, I had lost my voice — maybe for the second time ever in my life. I woke up with absolutely no voice, and by the time the session started at 10 AM, I was at about 10%.

Thanks to Jeny’s lovely audience, we had a tremendous time together. As my sessions tend to be, it was totally interactive, and I even did a live testimonial call in the room, with a customer of an attendee. It was, quite frankly, out of more than 1,000 live sessions, a career highlight. One of the attendees generously wrote, “Your presentation is a piece of art. Fantastic material, fantastic presentation.” I am grateful.

Here is the feedback, and a photo from the event: