Selling on the Telephone Part 1
Selling on the Telephone Part 1
Be Non-Threatening
In your phone presentations, be the person people would like to talk to and get to know better. Do this in your voice mail messages, with gatekeepers and screeners and decision-makers. The key is to listen and ask probing questions. Follow your customer's lead and be analytical or build rapport and establish a friendship-like conversation. This builds trust, which is essential to closing a sale.
The First 15 Seconds
The first 15 seconds of your sales call are critical. The first 15 seconds can make or break the sale. Have a good opening that is sincere and catches attention without becoming a claim or boast. Questions can work in this area. Make a third party reference or follow-up on a mail piece, fax, email, or ad. Your first line must be powerful. Use phrases like, "we help businesses, we offer, and we provide." Explain how you can help, push hot buttons and have a sincere hook that adds value in the first 15 seconds of the call.
Get to the Point
Have a very clear objective and reason for your call. Telephone selling is a skill that requires simplicity and the ability to get to the bottom line fast. Selling on the phone is very direct and should hit to the heart of the matter very quickly. Time is money. Do not waste your time or the customer's time.
Non-Verbal is Powerful on the Phone
People often overlook the importance of non-verbal skills in telephone selling. Who you are, your motives and intentions, will speak very loudly over the phone in your non-verbal skills. In some ways this is the case even more than in a face-to-face meeting where perceptions and appearance can be misleading or a distraction. Your focus should be on discovering the needs of your customers and working with them to determine how you can add value. Sell on the phone first and foremost because it better meets customer needs, not because you want to make money.
Keep Excellent Records and Be Organized
The volume of phone calls needed to be successful in tele-sales requires excellent organizational and time-management skills. Fortunately, contact management software such as ACT or Goldmine are excellent tools for tracking calls. Always return calls as soon as possible. This allows you to stand apart from the competition.
Send Literature Objection
The number one objection in telephone selling is the prospect asking you to send literature. Never send literature until you have qualified the prospect. Literature is almost always thrown out. Refer prospects to your web site, fax or email information. Direct mail should be coordinated with telemarketing campaigns and sales people should use these mailings as a reason for the call.
Proper Equipment
Headsets are essential to successful tele-sales work. Most people do not speak with a hand to their ear or their shoulder pushed up into their neck, so why should we speak to customers in that manner on the phone? Invest in a quality pair of headsets and the proper equipment to work in a relaxed and efficient environment.
Practice Your Phone Skills
Tape yourself, role-play and analyze your speaking voice on the telephone. Can you build trust and confidence that will lead to a sale? How well do you listen on the phone? As it is in all parts of selling, the more your practice the better your success.
Keep these ideas in mind as you dial for dollars by meeting customer needs and adding value on the telephone. Look for more telephone selling tips in the next issue of InBIZ.
Selling on the Telephone Part 1 - To learn more about this author, visit Thomas Young's Website.
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The telephone has become the sales professional's greatest tool. It meets customer needs, is cheaper and more effective than other forms of direct response marketing. Telemarketing is in a growth phase and is expanding as a sales outlet for small to giant companies. Yet, many consumers and businesses are very vocal in their dislike for telemarketing. However, they overlook the fact that every year millions of people are buying on the phone. Here are a few tips on how to effectively sell and market your products and services over the telephone.
Be Non-Threatening
In your phone presentations, be the person people would like to talk to and get to know better. Do this in your voice mail messages, with gatekeepers and screeners and decision-makers. The key is to listen and ask probing questions. Follow your customer's lead and be analytical or build rapport and establish a friendship-like conversation. This builds trust, which is essential to closing a sale.
The First 15 Seconds
The first 15 seconds of your sales call are critical. The first 15 seconds can make or break the sale. Have a good opening that is sincere and catches attention without becoming a claim or boast. Questions can work in this area. Make a third party reference or follow-up on a mail piece, fax, email, or ad. Your first line must be powerful. Use phrases like, "we help businesses, we offer, and we provide." Explain how you can help, push hot buttons and have a sincere hook that adds value in the first 15 seconds of the call.
Get to the Point
Have a very clear objective and reason for your call. Telephone selling is a skill that requires simplicity and the ability to get to the bottom line fast. Selling on the phone is very direct and should hit to the heart of the matter very quickly. Time is money. Do not waste your time or the customer's time.
Non-Verbal is Powerful on the Phone
People often overlook the importance of non-verbal skills in telephone selling. Who you are, your motives and intentions, will speak very loudly over the phone in your non-verbal skills. In some ways this is the case even more than in a face-to-face meeting where perceptions and appearance can be misleading or a distraction. Your focus should be on discovering the needs of your customers and working with them to determine how you can add value. Sell on the phone first and foremost because it better meets customer needs, not because you want to make money.
Keep Excellent Records and Be Organized
The volume of phone calls needed to be successful in tele-sales requires excellent organizational and time-management skills. Fortunately, contact management software such as ACT or Goldmine are excellent tools for tracking calls. Always return calls as soon as possible. This allows you to stand apart from the competition.
Send Literature Objection
The number one objection in telephone selling is the prospect asking you to send literature. Never send literature until you have qualified the prospect. Literature is almost always thrown out. Refer prospects to your web site, fax or email information. Direct mail should be coordinated with telemarketing campaigns and sales people should use these mailings as a reason for the call.
Proper Equipment
Headsets are essential to successful tele-sales work. Most people do not speak with a hand to their ear or their shoulder pushed up into their neck, so why should we speak to customers in that manner on the phone? Invest in a quality pair of headsets and the proper equipment to work in a relaxed and efficient environment.
Practice Your Phone Skills
Tape yourself, role-play and analyze your speaking voice on the telephone. Can you build trust and confidence that will lead to a sale? How well do you listen on the phone? As it is in all parts of selling, the more your practice the better your success.
Keep these ideas in mind as you dial for dollars by meeting customer needs and adding value on the telephone. Look for more telephone selling tips in the next issue of InBIZ.
Selling on the Telephone Part 1 - To learn more about this author, visit Thomas Young's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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