John Gehegan Speaks At Bank Of The West's Annual Conference

John J.Gehegan was one the featured speakers at Bank of the West’s annual conference held at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Over 700 Branch Managers and Business Banking Officers from the Retail Banking Group were in attendance.

Mr. Gehegan discussed the importance of using the telephone as an effective, efficient and economical business development tool.

His main focus was on the six common errors bankers make when attempting to obtain an appointment with a prospective business client.

Preparation is the key to making effective outbound calls. This is not a call anybody process. Oftentimes the banker relies solely on the information provided by the bank. These internal lead lists are not always up to date and are subject to inaccuracies. The banker must take the initiative to develop their own lists making sure they have sufficient information about the business and decision maker prior to make the call. Researching a company via their website is an integral part of the pre call plan.

Blocking out time to make business development calls each day is critical to a successful calling session. The first phone call is always the most difficult. If calls are made intermittently throughout the day each call becomes a first call thus diminishing your effectiveness. “Unless uninterrupted time is set aside to make new calls more than likely they will not get done. Sporadic activity will inevitably produce less than desirable results.”

Many bankers struggle with getting past the gatekeeper. Mr. Gehegan stated that you must treat the gatekeeper as an “ally not an adversary”. They are there to offer assistance not resistance. Too often the banker provides too much information to the gatekeeper thus allowing them to make a decision on the importance of the call and whether or not to allow access to the decision maker. An effective opening would be to state your name and say you are calling for (decision maker’s name) nothing more. This creates the impression that your call is expected and you assume the gatekeeper will put you through.

Prospecting for new business is the most critical tenet in the sales process. After all, without an audience it does not matter how good your sales skills are or how much product knowledge you possess. The fewer prospects you have the more pressure you put on yourself and your prospect. The more prospects you have the less pressure you put on yourself and your prospect.

Mr. Gehegan is president of Gehegan & Associates, a San Diego based consulting firm specializing in helping bankers become more effective in their outbound calling activities to prospective and existing customers. For the past 27 years Gehegan & Associates has worked with major money center, regional and community banks both domestically and internationally.

Additional information about Gehegan & Associates can be found at gehegan.com or by calling 619-280-4169

John J. Gehegan, a New York native, is the president and founder of Gehegan & Associates, a San Diego based sales training firm. He started this in house sales training company in 1983 and has seen consistent growth ever since.

His extensive experience in sales and sales management provided him with a solid grasp of phone skill training, cold calling tips, relationship calling and proactive calling instruction, to name a few. He spent years discovering the most effective sales methods, tactics and deciding upon the best telephone cold calling steps. He then took these discoveries and transformed them into clear and concise sales and communication courses, thereby giving sales people his proven industry secrets for success in the sales industry. Gehegan & Associates intensive one day seminars break down the basics of successful phone sales training and give sales people the tools and ability to succeed on their own.

Mr Gehegan has held workshops for financial institutions globally from the US and New Zealand, to Singapore and the UAE. His company and the workshops they provide have seen staggering results in the form of significant improvement in the ratio of number of calls to contacts and more importantly, a near 40% increase in appointments.

Focusing on Our Business Development Workshop

In the modern world in which we live, relying on referrals and connections alone is simply a thing of the past. From social media and consistently increasing competition, it takes more than a solid network to get ahead. Especially considering that much of this network is most likely already working with someone else, it takes hard work, persistence, personality and quality to make a sale. All of these things are great; but they don't mean anything if you don't get that first meeting.

Cold calling is the last thing most people want to do so imagine, if you loved it, lived for it, how far ahead you'd be. This is why we've come up with our business development workshop. This one day telephone skills for business development workshop will give you the cold calling tips to be a master in relationship calling. You'll be given the leadership training needed to excel in cold calling, thereby getting you more contact and then, more appointments. From there it's all up to you but imagine the increase number of contacts you would take advantage of if you were ready and willing to cold call.

From an employer's point of view, seeing success in cold calling as a result of cold calling seminars and cold calling techniques training translates to more appointments. More appointments equal more sales and you know what that means for you? Greater success professionally and financially.

In just one day our Telephone Skills workshop teaches you how to effectively communicate for cold call training. Our business development seminar will include a live calling section, which will show you what to do when on a cold call. After participants have learned specific telephone skills and have practiced them, they can then make live calls to prospects and secure actual appointments.

Students will learn the following:
The best tactics for creating targeted prospect lists.
How to pre-screen companies to make sure they fit your target market.
How to ask for referrals and more importantly, how to actually get them.
How to make the gatekeeper your ally in reaching the person who makes final decisions.
How to overcome opposition such as "I'm happy with my current bank," "Send me some information" and "Your locations aren't convenient."
How to stay in control of the conversation and get the appointment.
How you can improve your relationship calling for appointments by using statistics, careful calcluation and more.
How to multiply your prospecting effectiveness after each appointment.

From Bank of the West of Citicorp Singapore to Fidelity Investments and Citibank New York, we have worked with countless clients and have seen staggering results. Citibank New York for example, saw an overwhelming increase in new business, soaring to over $12 million in just one month.

Our advanced sales training course are expertly crafted and tailored your industry, no matter if you're in the market for bank training, bank sales training, manager communication training or simply, phone skills training. Any professional in any industry can benefit from the extensive research we at Gehegan & Associates have done, tweaked and refined over the years.

Communication skills are imperative for success in any and every professional position. We've been where you and your employees are before and we made it our mission to make your mistakes for you. Now, we've taken those cold calling mistakes, communication mishaps and the hindrances that block your path to success, analyzed them and have found the best ways around them. The leadership training and phone skills training you will receive from us is truly invaluable, time saving and bottom line, will get you proven results.

The other day I was asked what I'm good at. Then, what I'm not good at and finally, if I ever participate in the things I don't always succeed in. My response was that while I know I'm not good at say, football, I still play occasionally, but when it comes down to more important matters, I rarely partake in activities that push my comfort zone. I constantly say 'complacency kills' but apparently, have yet to practice what I preach. Cold calling is precisely the type of skill that many people fear, even loathe, but without discomfort, comes complacency and subsequently, stunted growth.

Knowing what outbound calling steps to take, the proven secrets of relationship calling and phone skills courses in general, will put you leaps and bounds ahead of your competition. The majority of human beings get comfortable and refuse to put themselves in any position foreign or daunting to them. Your responsibility is to constantly evolve with the times and if that means being uncomfortable for a while, that's what you have to do. Leadership and management courses and leadership training give you, yes, temporary discomfort, but in the long run, that discomfort will become commonplace and comfortable leading you toward your next obstacle, and the next and so on and so forth. Strive for excellence and be willing to experience anything in order to achieve that - you and your success are contingent upon it.

Results are the bottom line in the financial services industry. Sales people flail around calling company after company, person after person and are frustrated at their lack of contacts, connections and sales. We were there once but instead of accepting frustration, we took a proactive approach to one of the many aspects of the sales process: the call. Our one day intensive phone skills courses teach associates the outbound calling steps, cold calling tips and the leadership training they need to better their numbers on the phone.

Say for example, you're calling 1,000 people and you're just not seeing conversion. Your prospects are either not answering your call or just aren't interested. Our proven pro active calling instruction teaches you the tricks of the trade thereby showing you how to tweak every aspect of your approach from the time of day you call and what you say, to how to respond to hard to answer questions. These seemingly simple alterations result in an overwhelming change of approach and result in more appointments and sales. This training is beneficial for every industry from bank training to business management training. Gehegan & Associates have helped thousands worldwide and you can be next to see proven results from our cold calling training.

Wonder why you're not getting the results you want? It might be because your staff isn't cold calling to the best of their ability. This weakness in sales is due to lack of cold call training and we, at Gehagan & Associates, can help you.

Giving your sales associates the confidence and training they need to succeed in cold calling is integral to success in sales. Our intensive one day cold calling seminars make it clear and easy to both understand and implement the best cold calling tips and outbound calling steps. Once your employees get over the daunting insecurities of cold calling and transform it into an exciting prospective business call complete with systematic approach, well calculated timing and proven response mechanisms, your ratio of calls to contacts and subsequently, contacts to sales will increase tenfold.

These phone skills courses come complete with classroom lecture and practical application with both mock and real clients. Students learn the art of relationship calling and telephone prospecting in this workshop for sales and hone in on which aspects of telephone training they really need to focus on. Give your staff the tools they need to succeed in Gehegan & Associates intensive one day cold calling techniques training.

Learn How To Effectively Cold Call

Practice makes perfect and cold calling is no different. From unplanned, flighty cold calls and missed opportunities to repetition, practice and perfection, the art of cold calling is just like anything else; the more you do it, the better you get. If you've selected a career in sales, you've undoubtedly sought out the information to know the best cold calling tips and outbound calling steps. Participating in one of Gehegan and Associates intensive one day seminars makes this time and labor intensive process easy.

In our executive communication training and phone skills training courses, we give you access to the knowledge you need to learn how to close a sale. From pro active calling instruction and cold calling training, to business training tips and relationship calling trends, you will get all the information you need to practice and succeed in the sales industry. Get the knowledge you need to succeed!

Telephone Cold Calling Tips

Early in my career I failed to keep track of the details. To be honest, they didn't even cross my mind. I never imagined the power that could come with analyzing statistics and that I would essentially beat the system and go on to teach people the cold calling tips I learned while fumbling around the classic outbound calling steps. Here a few telephone cold calling steps that have proven to be wildly successful for me. 

Write everything down. Being organized and systematic is a vital component of telephone skills training. Note what time you call someone. Write down who you cold call. Keep track of how many times you call, what day of the week, what time of the day; any detail you can think of, record it. The next step in our mini cold calling seminar lies in analysis. Look deep into the information you recorded when you were cold calling. Use this leadership training and think analytically about your data. So more people answered the phone between 3 and 5pm than between 9 and 11am? Make more calls during that time and compare your results. Over time your professional telephone prospecting skills will improve and you will begin to see patterns  and trends that will surely lead to more contacts, appointments and sales. Consider this the beginning of your how to close a sale training. 

Professional Telephone Prospecting

In today's world, there are so many investment options available that choosing the right ones is entirely too complicated for the average person to deal with. Your clients are looking for a knowledgeable financial resource who can guide them in selecting investment services that best fit their needs. 

Contacting clients by phone using the pro active calling instruction skills learned in phone skills training courses to educate them on the services you offer will benefit them while fulfilling a vitally important sales role for your financial institution. Unfortunately, most investment officers are too dependent on branch referrals to generate leads via professional telephone prospecting and are hesitant about re-working their existing book of business. It is imperative for investment officers to take phone skills courses and learn cold calling tips in addition to how to use the telephone to increase contacts, appointments and eventually sales. 

Phone Training Helps Sales Immensly

Solicitors and salespeople have plagued the sanity of hard working business people for decades. From no soliciting signs and immediate hang ups, to caller id and unreturned emails, people have a solid shield up when it comes to sales pitches. In leadership training courses such as the ones we offer at Gehegan & Associates, attendees will learn the phone skills training techniques necessary for success in any industry. 

Specifically, you will learn how to stay in control of a conversation by using proven telephone skills for client relationships, the best sources for developing targeted prospect lists, relationship calling and how to overcome objections such as 'I'm happy with my current X' or 'Send me some more information', to name a few. Extensive research has been done to address these issues and with professional telephone prospecting and leadership training, you can minimize your dead ends in exchange for considerable increases in your number of appointments and subsequently, sales. 

Telephone Training Skills Are Vital

So you want to expand your client relationships. Good- as that's the first step in a successful business model. In a world where the definition of marketing is constantly evolving, businesses of all shapes and sizes need to stay current in their strategies, forever improving on their client relationships, relationship calling, telephone prospecting, the list goes on. 

It's no secret that people would rather do business with friends or acquaintances than with complete strangers, and as a result, it's vital to take advantage of your own personal network. While this part is certainly integral, you must have the basic skills necessary to impress these personal contacts. For example, if you don't have the basics of telephone training, investment sales training or whatever the case may be, even your closest connection won't give you the time of day. That means engaging in pro active calling instruction by taking phone skills courses and learning outbound calling steps. This way, you'll impress your immediate and extended network, thereby building new relationships and nurturing old ones.  

Training Sessions for Business Banking

Today we're going to talk about results as after all, results are the bottom line in the business development world. The following statistics are taken from January until December of 2010 and are as a result of taking our training sessions for business banking. These trainees were taught how to cold call in our corporate finance training course and left with skills including telephone prospecting, relationship calling and pro active calling instruction as part of our phone skills training program. 

After taking our telephone skills for business development seminar, these business banking officers picked up the phone 7,874 times. They actually spoke to their prospective client 2,033 times. These numbers equate to a 27% ratio of contacts to calls and further, a 38% ratio of appointments to contacts. These numbers are staggering in the telephone training world and are a direct result of the phone skills courses at Gehegan & Associates.