Mr. Inside Sales

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

A few months ago, both AT&T, and then Google Fiber, dug up our street and lawns and bushes to install fiber Internet cable. AT&T then sent a letter announcing superfast speeds and made an offer for first time subscribers. And then nothing from them. Google Fiber did things differently. They also sent out a letter announcing their superfast service, and then two weeks later, they sent out another.

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Mr. Inside Sales

OCTOBER 14, 2023

Greetings to you on an early fall morning! I hope the changing of the seasons inspires you as much as it does me. Speaking of inspiration, here are some of my favorite quotes for you to enjoy today: “If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for.” –Florence Shinn “Forget past mistakes.

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend and that you’re charged up for the best time of the year: fall! Starbucks already has pumpkin lattes out, and the stores are already stocking fall items—make me giddy just thinking about it! As some of you know, today, September 5 th , my new book, The Owner’s Manual to Life: Simple Strategies to Worry Less and Enjoy Life More has been released!

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Mr. Inside Sales

AUGUST 18, 2023

Establishing rapport with a prospect in the very beginning is perhaps the most important first step to earning the right to have a conversation that might eventually lead to a sale. Get it wrong, and that could mean the end of your call—and your chance to make a sale. Given how important this step is, it’s sad to hear so many sales people get it wrong: They either rush into their pitch; talk over prospects; or use other ineffective techniques.

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Mr. Inside Sales

JULY 24, 2023

In today’s world of communicating through texting, memes, and hashtags, we’ve lost the warmth and underlying decency that make our everyday interactions enjoyable and respectful. Though we’re sometimes not aware of our tone and demeanor, other people do feel its impact, and they react to it as well. A few years back, my wife and I were on vacation in Venice, Italy, and we were having trouble navigating our way back to St.

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Mr. Inside Sales

JULY 9, 2023

Do you enjoy quotes like these? “Next time someone tells you ‘never,’ remember that means ‘not for at least one hour.’”—Jeffrey Gitomer “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

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Mr. Inside Sales

JUNE 26, 2023

Do you enjoy inspirational, motivational, and wisdom-packed quotes? They always seem to make the day brighter for me. I’ve collected and shared quotes with clients, friends, and family members for years. In fact, this was the motivation behind my latest book: The Owner’s Manual to Life. Some of these quotes include: “We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong.

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Mr. Inside Sales

MAY 26, 2023

I’d like to invite you all to join me on my journey through a new phase of my career: From this point forward, I’m going to spend more time pursuing what I’ve always done professionally (write), but I’m going to be writing more of the kind of books that have always spoken to me. Moreover, (and this is a big change), I’m going to begin publishing under my real name: Michael Zajaczkowski!

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Mr. Inside Sales

MAY 11, 2023

Have you ever observed your self-talk after you lose a sale? Mine used to go something like this: “Darn it! I suck at this!” “This product will never sell!” “The leads are trash, and I actually agree with some of my prospect’s objections!” “I wonder what I can sell that’s easier than this?” “Should I go back to school?” And on and on. While managers want you to jump on the next call, go from a negative experience and be positive again and “smile and dial,” you know how hard that is.

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 30, 2023

Problem: Salespeople talk too much when they finally get a prospect on the phone. They pitch features and benefits instead of asking questions and qualifying. They talk over their prospects and generally learn very little about what it takes to close a sale. Result? They may get some leads out and set up some “demos or presentations,” but because they didn’t discover whether a prospect was truly a buyer and in the market at that time, their close rate is a disappointing 2 sales out of 10 full pr

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 14, 2023

To follow up on the blog post from two weeks ago (about the one quick fix to get your VMs returned ), here is the second quick fix: Stop trying to trick your prospect! Everyone knows that a partial message like: “Hey _, this is Mike. Call me back as soon as you can…” just reeks of a tricky salesperson calling. I ALWAYS delete these messages the moment I hear them.

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 2, 2023

It happened just this second. I checked my voicemail and found two messages. One was from a business owner who wanted to speak to me about training for his sales team. The other was a vague message from someone named, “Ty” who just said, “Hey Mike this is Ty; call me back when you can. “ Now here’s the problem: They both left their phone numbers so quickly that I had to listen back to the message four times—all the way to the end, by the way—before I was able to write down their whole number.

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Mr. Inside Sales

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

It took me years to believe this. At first, it seemed almost rude to utter it… But let me ask you: out of ten prospects you pitch to, how many end up actually buying? My guess? Two. Yep, two out of ten prospects you speak with turn into buyers. And this means that you spend hours each day pitching to people who are never going to buy! That’s why most people get burned out in sales.

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Mr. Inside Sales

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

Want some quick (and easy!) tips that will make you better Right Away? You’ll find them below, and I guarantee that if you use them, you’ll not only identify buyers faster, but you’ll feel more confident, you’ll close more sales, and your income will grow— starting today. Here are quick/easy things you can say to make yourself—or your sales team—better: Instead of saying, “I don’t know if you have any budget for this…” Say: “And what type of budget do you have set aside for this?

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Mr. Inside Sales

JANUARY 2, 2023

Welcome back to the office, how do you feel? Overwhelmed? Under pressure already? If so, then you’re not alone. Most companies are under immediate pressure already to begin accomplishing their new goals and sales targets. In fact, this is also felt in the accounting department, the marketing department, and everywhere else. You can probably feel it in your company, too.

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Mr. Inside Sales

DECEMBER 9, 2022

Happy Holidays everyone! While you’re all on the final push to make your year-end numbers (or December quotas), and while you’re all getting ready for the holidays—getting gifts for family members and arranging travel and holiday parties, etc.—I thought I’d give you, my readers, a gift: Click Here to download a sample chapter from my bestselling book, Power Phone Scripts , on “ Better, Smarter Prospecting Techniques That Really Work !”.

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Mr. Inside Sales

DECEMBER 5, 2022

Now that December is here, it’s time to get clear on exactly what you’re going to accomplish in 2023. When it comes to setting and reaching your goal, use this simple and proven 3 step process that virtually assures success. I’m going to lay it out here as it applies to a financial goal but recognize that this method applies to successfully reaching ANY goal.

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Mr. Inside Sales

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

Want to save money on TWO of my bestselling products this Black Friday? I’m having my best Sale EVER! Now you can get my best-selling audio program: “Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone” AND my most popular e -book of phone scripts: “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts” for one low price: Just $79! Click Here to see the MP3 Audio program. Click Here to see The Complete Book of Phone Scripts.

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Mr. Inside Sales

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

Finding and hiring good inside sales reps has always been a challenge, and it’s gotten even tougher since the pandemic. The entire work landscape has changed, and working remotely has made it harder on both companies and individual producers. Recruiters, HR departments, and sales managers are working harder than ever, and they all ask me the same thing: “Where has everyone gone?”.

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Mr. Inside Sales

OCTOBER 28, 2022

If you’re ever challenged with the objection, “Your price is pretty high for that…” and you are tempted to see if you can lower your price to compete, what is the most important bit of information you need? Think about this…. I was listening to a training call the last week, and the prospect told the rep that his price was quite high for a certain item.

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Mr. Inside Sales

OCTOBER 21, 2022

One of the most important things I learned early on in my sales career is that attitudes are contagious. My manager told me that when I’m on the phone with a prospect or customer, someone was going to sell someone—either the customer was going to sell me on why he wouldn’t buy, or I was going to sell him on why he should buy. And most of that came down to my attitude.

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

I’m sure you’ve heard that practice makes perfect, right? Do you believe that’s true? For those of you who said yes, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Bad news first…. Practice doesn’t make perfect; it only makes permanent. So, if you’re winging it, ad-libbing your way through your sales career, then I know you’re struggling—and I know you’re not making your revenue goals….

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

So many sales reps hate hearing NO. In fact, constant rejection is the number one reason most sales reps dislike sales. One of the most useful things you can do, however, is to embrace getting a no, and reframe it for what it is: Simply someone getting out of your way and helping you get to your next buyer faster. I realized a long time ago that I was going to get a lot more no’s than I was yes’s.

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

What’s the number one blow off prospects use these days? “Can you email something to me?”. If you think about it, that’s the perfect stall. They aren’t saying no, and it implies that they’ll talk to you later…. Unfortunately, later becomes never, as chasing down busy professionals—especially people who now don’t want to be followed up with—becomes nearly impossible.

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Quick tip this week. I worked with a client years ago, and he had a one-line rebuttal to the price is too high objection. Whenever a prospect told him that, he simply asked: “And besides price, what else is holding you back?”. That’s it. Simple. Direct. And powerful. This client understood that objections are generally smokescreens hiding other objections, so questioning it in this way immediately tells you whether it’s really price—or something else.

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Mr. Inside Sales

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Are you still looking for a dynamic speaker or trainer to kick off 2023? If so, then reach out to Mike Brooks today to see if your event date is still available! By booking Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, you will ensure that your inside sales team returns to their offices not only pumped up, but also equipped with proven sales skills they can use to instantly perform better!

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Mr. Inside Sales

AUGUST 29, 2022

What are you going to do to ensure you close out the year strong? The most effective thing you can do as a sales manager or business owner is to upgrade the skills of your existing inside sales team. Nothing you can do will make more of an impact on your end of year revenues. (Sadly, not increasing their competency will lead to sales as they are now…).

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Mr. Inside Sales

AUGUST 12, 2022

Are you ready for some football? The first preseason games are in the books, and coaches are watching game film and teaching players how to improve every week. I read a piece by Peter King from SI.com about his conversation with Ellis Hobbs—former cornerback with the New England Patriots. He was talking about how much respect he had for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

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Mr. Inside Sales

AUGUST 7, 2022

If you are new to receiving these sales tips, or even if you have been subscribed for a while, I want to give you something that will help you sell more. It’s not often that we get something for free, but I’m going to give you some resources, some inside sales techniques that will help you sell more with less resistance. Now here’s the crazy thing about this no-strings attached offer: Over half the people reading this won’t take advantage of these valuable resources.

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Mr. Inside Sales

JULY 31, 2022

I was giving a training today and emphasizing the importance of directing the sale, assuming the deal, and leading the prospect through the close. As I did, I reminded the team of closers of my very favorite closing phrase, and one that has literally made me millions of dollars in my career. When you get to the reason to place the order now, or purchase your product or service, what’s important is not to ask if they agree, or if they have the budget, or anything like that.

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Mr. Inside Sales

JULY 24, 2022

One of the best things about sales is that you already know what all the objections are. For every sale, there are only about five core objections: price, think about it, talk to someone else, etc., and then some outliers you get less frequently. But overall, you know what’s coming. So, why not eliminate, in advance, your top one or two objections? Here’s how: If you’re qualifying a prospect to pitch later, and you know that price is the biggest objection you get, then qualify for it so you’re n

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Mr. Inside Sales

JUNE 17, 2022

Jeffrey Gitomer tells a great story about how he once bet a client his entire training fee on whether there were more than eight objections their sales team got on a regular basis. The client, sure their sales cycle was more complicated and therefore required more advanced closing techniques, considered the bet: If the sales team could come up with more than eight standard objections, then Jeffrey would do the training for free.

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Mr. Inside Sales

MAY 30, 2022

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all the new sales tracking technology that seems to come out every month (almost every week)? If you’re like most companies, then you’ve probably got enough technology in place to measure just about everything: talk time, conversion rates, number of demos being given, lead flow and lead placement in the funnel—top end, middle, and end stage of leads.

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Mr. Inside Sales

MAY 14, 2022

Each time I work with a new company, the first thing I ask for are recordings of both their top two or three sales reps, and then recordings of everyone else. And each time I do, I immediately identify one thing that the top reps are doing that the other reps aren’t. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and things have remained constant during that time: top sales reps are better for many different reasons (personality, work effort, etc.), but they all share this one thing.

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 29, 2022

Writing a deal (making a sale), is an exhilarating thing, and there are many ways to celebrate. Some companies have a deal board where you can write down your latest sale so the other team members can see it. Other companies have a bell to ring, so, again, other team members can be encouraged by your success. I’ve seen some reps strut around the office, stopping at their workmate’s desk to share their glory or tell the (often long) story of how that deal went down.

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 15, 2022

Sometimes, when something doesn’t turn out the way we want, it turns out to be a good thing… This happened to me early on in my consulting career, when I started working from my office in my home: One day my router stopped working and my internet went out. I was in the middle of a large work project when the connection went dead. I panicked as I tried to reboot it, and worried about the lost work, the deadlines I’d miss, and all the emails piling up.

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Mr. Inside Sales

APRIL 8, 2022

This blog post is for those of you who haven’t purchased and read any of my book of scripts yet (what are you thinking? ). For those of you who are prospecting, this objection, “We’re happy with who we’re using,” is something you most likely encounter often. The question is: what do you say to it? This objection—like all others—is a perfect one to script an effective response to, and here is one of my favorites: Objection: “We’re happy with who we’re using” (Or any variation like, “We’re all set

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