How to Effectively Use The Telephone To Make Sales

I will discuss the anatomy of a sales calls as well as the importance of crafting override's.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• You will need to know what your prospects objections will be.

1. Dr. Robert Cialdini says in his book Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion that people respond better to request when you have a "reason" why you need something. When you are cold calling you will either be looking for the decision maker or asking for them because you already know who they are. The gatekeeper's job is to keep you from reaching this person so you have to have a reason for calling. The first part of your presentation if you don't know who you are asking for would go something like this, "Hi my name is ___, I'm with(company). My company sells___ and the reason I'm calling is because I would like to speak with the person that(orders these/makes these decisions). If you don't get through then ask for voicemail and call back the next day asking for that person by name.
2. If the gatekeeper won't give you a name and won't transfer you to voicemail then move on. There are plenty more people out there that need and want your products and services. Once you get your decison maker on the phone you need to be swift, concise and prepared. Every musician knows what cord to strike in order for the melody to sound beautiful. Just like the musician you must be prepared to enage your prospect in:
   
   1. Why you are calling
   2. Briefly why your company, product or service demands attention
   3. Conduct your needs analysis(see my previous article)
3. Most likely you are going to be met with objections right away. People get cold called 5 times a day by people selling long distance, toner, copiers, you name it. You will never get to present your solution to their problem unless you can override these objections with precision and transition to a needs based question. Before you start making calls to sell your products or get an appointment to see someone you must know what your objections will be and craft knee jerk responses to them followed by a transition question. Sit down with a piece of paper and write down all of the objections you regularly get from prospects. Now craft some 2-3 sentence responses followed by a needs based question. Here is an example: Hi John, my name is Mike Stone..I'm with Express Computer Products. My company sells office supplies, computer supplies, things of that nature. I understand you order these supplies and the reason I'm calling is I'd like to see If I can save you some money, time and effort. When you do order supplies do you order more copier paper or toner cartridges? John says, "I'm happy with my current supplier". My response is, "John I'm sure your current supplier is doing a great job, how long have you been working with them? Or I understand, I'm not looking to interfere with any existing relationships, just to be an asset or complimentary vendor. How many boxes of paper would you say you order a week, a month, a year? The idea is to address their concern and move into a question that will allow you to look for opportunities. Next article we will discuss selling North South as opposed to East West.