Who Ya Gonna C-A-L-L? Phone Sales Tips – Pici & Pici

We ain’t afraid of no phone call!

That’s because we know that phone sales calls aren’t a Ghostbusters villain, they’re more like a Scooby-Doo villain…Something very human hiding behind a mask.

Why are we so afraid to pick up the phone?

1. We don’t know the objective of the call.

The majority of salespeople pick up the phone thinking they are trying to sell their product. They think of the sales call as being the sales presentation. This puts A LOT of pressure on a single interaction with someone who may or may not be the decision maker.

The purpose of a “sales call” is NOT to make a sale. The call serves as your first point of contact with a potential client.

Let’s put this interaction in a different context.

Think of the sales process as a dating relationship, with closing the sale as marriage. You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you right away and expect to get a “Yes”, would you? Of course not. The two of you need time to get to know one another before making any commitments.

In this scenario, think of the first phone sales call more as asking for a girl/guy’s phone number you would like to get to know better.

The phone call serves as a way to ask someone for a first date. The call will serve to make contact, connect, and book the appointment (the first date), that will lead to a sales presentation and asking for the sale (the proposal), which can then lead to closing the sale (the marriage).

This may seem like a lot of work and time, and you would be right. Sales happens at the speed of rapport. This means that your potential client need to know, like, and trust you before they will buy from you. In fact, 80{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} of sales happens after the 5th contact.

So, our first phone sales tip is to slow down the sales process.

Use the first phone contact to make your first impression.

But that’s not all.

 2. We don’t want to be a telemarketer.

Why do we dread BEING a salesperson? Why do we all hate sales SO much?

Because we dread encountering salespeople.

We dread those telemarketer calls! They call us at dinner time, they waste our time, they try to sell us something we don’t want/need. They don’t care about us.

The biggest ghost story of phone sales is that all phone sales call HAVE to be this way.

So we come into the interaction with this adversarial mindset. We come in with the attitude that our interaction will be completely unwanted.

But there’s good news! You don’t have to be that telemarketer!

Sales is not the business of persuading anyone to buy anything you might be selling. Sales is about providing people/businesses with a solution to a problem they are having.

When we come to a potential client with this attitude, the sales person is no longer their adversary, but their advocate. Present them with a benefit, result, or solution, to a problem they may be having instead of pushing products/services on everyone.

Now, when you get a “No”, it isn’t that you bothered them, or they disrespected you, or even that they didn’t like you. Maybe they simply wouldn’t benefit from our product/service.

The call serves to qualify them! We aren’t going to sell to everyone. We want to sell to the people who will benefit from our product/service. That is why giving a value proposition during the call is so important. You need to make sure they are a qualified lead for YOU. You don’t want to spend time and gas money making appointments with people who don’t have need of your product.

So, our second phone sales tip is keep the call benefit focused with the client being the focus.

Bottom Line: We need to learn to see the first phone call as your means of connection as well as your qualifier.

Our Rapport Mastery^TM training has a proven 80–90{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} success rate at booking real appointments. A great way to follow this phone sales methodology is by following our aptly named C-A-L-L method.

Connect with the person on the phone

The best and quickest way to make a connection with a potential client is by matching their communication style. This is not done as a form of manipulation, but to facilitate communication.

Effective connection tips:

• The best way to make this connection quickly is to match the tone and tempo of their speech based on how they answer the phone and ask questions. The tone and tempo will give you a clue as to whether they are more outgoing or reserved.
• Based on the percentage of task vs. people-oriented people in the population, odds are they are more people-oriented so start here. Adjust your approach based on the response.
• Adjust wording based on what you know about them. If they are more outgoing, speak quickly and more volume. More reserved, slowly with less volume. If they are task-oriented, use thinking and results words. If people-oriented, use feeling words and stories (if appropriate).

Answer the question, “Why are you calling me?”

This is the number one question on their mind. Respect their time by getting to this as soon as the conversation permits. Use a prepared script with client-centric value propositions that will answer that question.

Listen to their response

This is the most important part of the whole interaction. It will help you continue to work to build a connection. However, it will also let you know if this is a qualified lead for you. They many times will say exactly what they are struggling with or in need of. If this is a service/product you offer, you can then come back with an appropriate value proposition. This will also help you find clues that will help you to schedule the meeting.

Lock-In the meeting

IF you sense they qualify for your offer, address any objections they may have and book the appointment. Do not push hard or shift into a sales presentation. Remember, the purpose of the call is to make contact, connect, and book the appointment that will then lead to a sales presentation. The purpose is not to sell your product or service at this point in the relationship.

An Important Note: Pressuring someone into a meeting or a sale at the phone call stage will break trust and will end the relationship before it ever has a chance to get started.

We hope we’ve “unmasked” some phone sales myths and provided you with confidence for your next calling session. Remember, the voice on the other end of the phone is a potential client. Work to connect with them and build the initial rapport, keeping their needs at the center of the conversation. Following our C-A-L-L method of phone calling sales should take the “Boo!” out of your ghosts.