sales calls that don't immediatly activate defenses

[imadam]

going to start making a load sales calls in the coming weeks to my customers and wondered if i could get any advice on how people go about this.

as a business owner i know how annoying it is to get sales calls throughout the day when you're being sold the same old online advertising bs, like when the first thing they say is "can I speak to the person in charge of XXXXX please......" you just know you might as well hang up.

interested to hear how others get around this and what first line they use? how much detail do people go into on the phone? i imagine you don't want to explain too much and save it for the meeting?

any other tips are welcome

 

[Normansmith]

going to start making a load sales calls in the coming weeks to my customers and wondered if i could get any advice on how people go about this.

If you are calling your customers,don,t try to sell. Ask about their business,how your last job went,then before you ring off ask them if they may have any future opportunities for you ? But don,t sell

 

[Blood Lust]

going to start making a load sales calls in the coming weeks to my customers and wondered if i could get any advice on how people go about this.

as a business owner i know how annoying it is to get sales calls throughout the day when you're being sold the same old online advertising bs, like when the first thing they say is "can I speak to the person in charge of XXXXX please......" you just know you might as well hang up.

interested to hear how others get around this and what first line they use? how much detail do people go into on the phone? i imagine you don't want to explain too much and save it for the meeting?

any other tips are welcome

If you listen to the way some people are on the phone is it surpising the customers are hostile?

I say 'Hi my names ****** and I'm calling from ******. Its about marketing is the owner there so I can run it past him and see if he's interested?

I'm calm, confident, friendly, polite and upfront about it being marketing. I'd say 1 in 500 customers gives me grief. I make loads of appointments and 1 out of 2 turn into a deal.

Look at a business where the staff are instructed to steam roller, force, lie about it being marketing etc. Every now and again they get someone weak enough to be forced into a deal (about 1 in 50) while everyone else gives them a hard time on the phone.

Having worked at a few telesales businesses throughout my life I'm quite confident most sales managers dont have a clue about anything.

 

[Montaigne]

going to start making a load sales calls in the coming weeks to my customers and wondered if i could get any advice on how people go about this.

as a business owner i know how annoying it is to get sales calls throughout the day when you're being sold the same old online advertising bs, like when the first thing they say is "can I speak to the person in charge of XXXXX please......" you just know you might as well hang up.

interested to hear how others get around this and what first line they use? how much detail do people go into on the phone? i imagine you don't want to explain too much and save it for the meeting?

any other tips are welcome

There's nothing wrong with that opening line. In less than 5 seconds you have explained who you are, where you're calling from and identified it as a sales call. Most of the time you will be speaking to a receptionist who is paid to answer incoming calls. She/he will not appreciate a sales rep' dodging around the reason for their call so as not to appear like a sales call; all it does is drag out the length of the call when they could be doing other things and is quite dishonest (not really the best start on a cold call).

Most of the time you will get immediately put through to who you need to speak to or be told they're not available, get put through to their voicemail etc.

Be honest, don't be pushy, don't be aggressive, NEVER work from a script, know your subject matter, be friendly, never be sarcastic or rude even if the person you're speaking to treats you badly and work hard.

Don't be afraid to sell your product/service. The whole point of the call is to make a sale or set up another call to make a sale or send a quote to make a sale. Trying to be smart by selling without actually seeming to sell, from the customer's point of view, is transparent; it won't do you any favours to be spotted trying to manipulate a person on the phone when they know exactly why you're calling.

 

[Montaigne]

sales calls that don't immediatly activate defenses

All sales calls immediately activate defenses! You just have to be good enough to quickly overcome that. It's amazing how simple it is to overcome such defenses simply by being friendly, polite and concise.

 

[Business News]

Soft sell always gets a better response from prospective customers. If anyone tries to sell me anything over the phone I figure my numbers just come up and thats, unfortunately, why they are talking to me and seeking to waste 5 minutes of my life.

We always open dialogue by offering to post company literature and a price list, simple do you want it yes or no? At least then when you do call back you have something to talk about that they will have had the opportunity to view and cosider beforehand.

 

[Montaigne]

We always open dialogue by offering to post company literature and a price list, simple do you want it yes or no? At least then when you do call back you have something to talk about that they will have had the opportunity to view and cosider beforehand.

And how many people just say yes to get you off the phone then have to deal with your call a second time when you follow up on that call?

 

[Blood Lust]

There's nothing wrong with that opening line. In less than 5 seconds you have explained who you are, where you're calling from and identified it as a sales call. Most of the time you will be speaking to a receptionist who is paid to answer incoming calls. She/he will not appreciate a sales rep' dodging around the reason for their call so as not to appear like a sales call; all it does is drag out the length of the call when they could be doing other things and is quite dishonest (not really the best start on a cold call).

Most of the time you will get immediately put through to who you need to speak to or be told they're not available, get put through to their voicemail etc.

Be honest, don't be pushy, don't be aggressive, NEVER work from a script, know your subject matter, be friendly, never be sarcastic or rude even if the person you're speaking to treats you badly and work hard.

Don't be afraid to sell your product/service. The whole point of the call is to make a sale or set up another call to make a sale or send a quote to make a sale. Trying to be smart by selling without actually seeming to sell, from the customer's point of view, is transparent; it won't do you any favours to be spotted trying to manipulate a person on the phone when they know exactly why you're calling.

Spot On

If someone lies, manipulates and tries to push a customer around then why on earth would they agree to do business?

Trust, honesty, friendlyness, calmness, confidence and tell the business owner your products advantages. Overall your sale rate will be much higher and you will get no grief either.

In fact you will come out a top 5% salesman.

 

[Business News]

And how many people just say yes to get you off the phone then have to deal with your call a second time when you follow up on that call?

There are a great many that do but I personally would find it harder to resist a call if I've agreed to take information relative to a straight sell first contact.

For anyone interested we ship literature to 60% of cold contacts and then retain half of those on an active mailing list (quarterly price letters). Of this 30% of orginal contacts, 25% are converted to customers within 2 years or roughly 8% of the original cold call list. I haven't researched if this is a good or bad conversion rate within a commodity market where we are not the low ball supplier but I'm certain someone will have.

 

[maxine]

The approach will vary by whether it is a sales call or a marketing call. Honestly there is a difference

If it is a sales call then the objective is to get to the decision maker, make the pitch, get the sale (obviously that sounds easier than it is lol)

If it is a marketing call then the main objective is to locate and qualify prospects. The receptionist or gatekeeper can sometimes help with that depending on what the product or service is and the way to phrase questions is very carefully planned.

The opening line is the absolutely most important part of the call. It will completely make or break a campaign.

Personally I never ever start with "Can I speak with the person in charge of XXX". Here are my reasons:

* You are implying that you don't want to waste your time with anyone who is not important enough to be in charge (this ignores the value of influencers)

* You demonstrate that you have not done your homework in why you feel it is ok to interrupt their working day without having a good reason for it.

* You make it very easy for the person dealing with the call to say No ... followed by an enormous list of possible reasons and excuses.

* By parading yourself as a blunt telemarketer/telesales caller it walks into a competitive opening almost challenging you to have the skill/tenacity to get past them. Not a start that I would prefer if can be avoided.

If you are introducing mobile phones then expect "Oh we just renewed for 3 years". If it's advertising space then "We get all our work through referrals" or if it's Accountancy services then expect "We already have an accountant".

There are much better ways of opening calls. Some pre-empt the main objection and build on it. Others lead into business benefits. Others are consultative and ask questions. There are other techniques too.

The main bit of advice apart from the opening, is to really understand in your heart of heart why you are calling and what the real benefit is to the person you are making the call to. If you cannot connect emotionally and logically with a campaign then it is like swimming uphill through treacle

 

[telemax]

Just tell them it's a sales call, and ask if it's ok? We do this and 99% of people will give you a fair hearing which is about all you can ask for.

 

[Montaigne]

The approach will vary by whether it is a sales call or a marketing call. Honestly there is a difference

If it is a sales call then the objective is to get to the decision maker, make the pitch, get the sale (obviously that sounds easier than it is lol)

If it is a marketing call then the main objective is to locate and qualify prospects. The receptionist or gatekeeper can sometimes help with that depending on what the product or service is and the way to phrase questions is very carefully planned.

The opening line is the absolutely most important part of the call. It will completely make or break a campaign.

Personally I never ever start with "Can I speak with the person in charge of XXX". Here are my reasons:

* You are implying that you don't want to waste your time with anyone who is not important enough to be in charge (this ignores the value of influencers)

* You demonstrate that you have not done your homework in why you feel it is ok to interrupt their working day without having a good reason for it.

* You make it very easy for the person dealing with the call to say No ... followed by an enormous list of possible reasons and excuses.

* By parading yourself as a blunt telemarketer/telesales caller it walks into a competitive opening almost challenging you to have the skill/tenacity to get past them. Not a start that I would prefer if can be avoided.

If you are introducing mobile phones then expect "Oh we just renewed for 3 years". If it's advertising space then "We get all our work through referrals" or if it's Accountancy services then expect "We already have an accountant".

There are much better ways of opening calls. Some pre-empt the main objection and build on it. Others lead into business benefits. Others are consultative and ask questions. There are other techniques too.

The main bit of advice apart from the opening, is to really understand in your heart of heart why you are calling and what the real benefit is to the person you are making the call to. If you cannot connect emotionally and logically with a campaign then it is like swimming uphill through treacle

I think there's too much being made of the initial opening line in general (not to say that the above doesn't work) but it's just a telephone call where you're ringing to have a chat with the person who makes decisions about the product/service you're selling. I think it's really easy to overthink the whole process but in reality as long as you're friendly and polite then go with whatever works for you (but never ever via a script. Have I mentioned how much I hates scripts? ).

 

[imadam]

thanks guys for all the advice so far.

 

[eventdomain]

Send an email, then contact 2 days later saying "Good Morning/Afternoon, its ABC Ltd here - Hello... can I speak to Mr/Ms whoever, as I've been in communication with him/her about XYZ and wondered if they had time to look it over, would it be possible if I can speak with them, its quite urgent."

The above is open, business-like and to the point. The email gives them a non-pressured chance to consider the offering at their leisure, opens dialogue and creates opportunity for further contact, reducing the shock/surprise of those cold-calls.

 

[Ameliepoole]

DONT

get them into a group like twitter or facebook
and share with them free ideas.
Your expertise will be welcome, and you will build better relationships
and create more customers

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I'm not sure that some of the previous posters have bothered to look at your website?

You are calling YOUR customers, not aliens from out of space.

'Hi, it's Adam here from Green Clean, we done some work for your company last year............getting rid of the musty smell after the office hamster died, I think it was *John, mary, Steve.....who we dealt with. Is he available.. (*Make it up if you don't know, go on their website or have a guess. They will almost certainly correct you and give you a name If not ask them outright) .......

'Whats it about?

'We spoke about a new service we hadn't quite got in place, new price structure , new cleaning machine/product etc., etc., and he/she expressed an interest and as promised i'm calling now.

Now you may have white spots on your tongue by this stage but the receptionist or the customer will not hesitate to claim they are in a meeting, unavailable, ill, on holiday or simply not interested so don't feel bad about it. After all. YOU are calling to offer something that you believe will benefit their business. If you're not you shouldn't be ringing them in the first place.