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TELEPHONE SKILLS THAT SELL

By Abraham Yakobi

How to get the most out of your phone!

All of us use phones, the question is do we get the maximum benefit from our phones? Anyone can learn the art of using the phone profitably. Successful people have excellent telephone etiquette. Learn how they do it.

Be pleasant!

Have you ever called a company and a gruff voice at the other end answered, "Yes"? Or maybe you called a company and a smiling warm voice answered, "Good morning, Thank you for calling company XYZ, how can I help you?"  What was your reaction to the two voices?

Using the phone is the easiest way of reaching many prospects for a sales person.  Successful sales people employ telephone skills that sell.

 

Cultivate your voice

A telephone conversation limits your presence to just your voice. There is no body language, No samples, no brochures, and no graphic presentation. You must therefore cultivate your voice.

Be pleasant and interesting to listen to; Smile as you talk. The other person can ‘hear' your smile! Speak clearly, audibly, enunciating every word. Be sincere and downright friendly. Rehearse and record your voice if necessary to improve on your diction.

Plan

Planning your calls means that you set objectives. Whom do you want to reach? What will you tell them when they come on the line? How will you arouse their curiosity? How will you get through the get keepers to the decision makers?

Think out your answers to these questions.

Before launching into calling your prospects, list down all the prospects you want to talk to, leave empty margins against their names where you will write comments, names of people to talk to, the best time and day to call them, and any other relevant piece of information you may learn.

Making the call

Be relaxed and comfortable as you make your call.

Unless you are making a cello phone call directly to your would be prospect when calling a company you will get to the switchboard first. Switchboard operators are trained to prevent sales people from getting through to the decision maker.

To get through explain your reason of calling as a discussion in a new, technique, product or service that the company is offering.

For example, if you are selling handset components you could say something like,

"Your company is producing new handset xyz; I would like to discuss the features of this handset."

Alternatively, you could say something like, "There is a new set of handle bars that your company can profit from, who can I talk to."

Or, "our company is a farm implements manufacturer I am sure your director will be interested to know how he can profit from a new line of products that we have introduced."

Do not get into a sales pitch with the operator.

Arouse Interest

When you get through to the decision maker, arouse their interest.

You could say something like, "I know your company will profit from a new detergent that has been introduced in the market."

Or, "I would like to offer a service that will reduce your carpet cleaning expenses by half at a faster turnaround time of only two hours!"

Arouse interest, and move on to booking a face-to-face appointment.

As a response to the question, "And what is this new product or service?" you could say something like, "Our new duo core computers have a processing ability that is a hundred times better than the current P4s, I can come to your office at a day and time of your convenience to show you how they work."

Or, "Our services are tailor made I would therefore request to come over to your premises, so that I can find out more about what you do before I can recommend what might be of interest to you."

What to say

Speak spontaneously; respond to the flow of conversation. Avoid written scripts if you can, use scripts only as a guide.

Picture the person you are talking to as though they were in the same room with you. The person's voice will tell you a lot about whether they are excitable, young, old, bored, tired, or just nice. Your approach should be to open them up so they can talk.

People love talking about themselves, their businesses, their families, achievements etc. Open your conversation with a remark like, "your company was in the papers yesterday…." follow it up with the ‘who', ‘what' ‘when' or ‘how' questions.

Listen

Listening will help you to discover your prospects needs. Listen to identify their objections and needs.

Remain interesting through out the conversation. Respect their time. Hang up after The prospect it is polite

Telephone selling need not be a nightmare use it with clear objectives and watch your business skyrocket.

About the Author

I love Selling! I am a professional marketer, Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute, Having worked in the last seventeen years with five insurance companies as an underwriter later as a marketer, I currently run Insurance consultancy services in addition to being a motivational speaker, preaching the theme "Go Get It" to inspire the youth to go after their dreams and vision.

The Second Annual Combine Demolition Derby

“Oh, we have got to see this!”  It was an ad for the Hillsdale, Michigan County Fair.  The entertainment for the opening night was the Second Annual Combine Demolition Derby.  We could hardly stand it.  Long a fantasy of mine to demolish a ’73 Chrysler in a derby, the next best thing had to be seeing giant farm implements annihilating each other in the mud and dust of a county fair track.  Veronica, who grew up outside the farming belt was a bit confused, “Aren’t combines those machines that do something or other with crops?”   Oh yeah, they harvest crops, are extremely huge and this is gonna be great! Immediate Googling was needed for more information on Hillsdale and this wacky, must-see event. 

To make the pot even sweeter, we found out that Hillsdale is the town in Michigan that elected the 18 year old highschooler, Michael Sessions, for mayor and proudly proclaims themselves as home of “The Most Popular Fair on Earth.” Sweet.  Not the biggest, not the best, not the oldest or even most famous, but the most popular.  Intriguing.

A bit more research, a few phone calls and we were on our way.  We arrived in Hillsdale, a charming little village with a Wal-Mart on the outskirts and more than half of their main street storefronts closed.  The décor of the town seemed to be flag draped with intense lawn ornamentation.  Hillsdale could possibly be the yard ball capital of the world.  And hey, who doesn’t love a good Victorian garden gazing globe? 

We checked in to our room at the Hillsdale Motel, a piece of Americana if there ever was one, complete with the marquee letter board that read “Anything Almost Right Is Wrong” and complimentary lawn chairs for watching the traffic go by on route 99.  Excited to get a bit of flavor before seeing the main event, we immediately headed off in the direction of the fairgrounds. 

Homemade signs directed us toward the parking area, run by a local church, in the cemetery. Wait, what?  Yup, graveside parking, right in the middle of the burial grounds, just 3 bucks. 

Inside the fairgrounds, folks were already lining up at the grandstand gate over an hour before the big event.  This was gonna be huge!  We got our tickets and joined the line so we could stake out the best possible vantage point.  With some fresh roasted peanuts and the obligatory county fair sausage, we were ready. 

The machines entered the arena for the judging, by applause, of  the “Best Decorated” and the $100 prize.  Competition was stiff with numerous great slogans lovingly spray painted across the sheet metal.  “We Eat Deere”, “Git ‘er Done” and “She Thinks My Combine’s Sexy” were among our favorites.  Tributes to sweethearts and sponsoring farms adorned them all, as well as some interesting color schemes. This also gave us some time to size up the drivers.  They were young, determined and very appreciative of their pit crews, standing on the sidelines with welding torches, extra parts and great ideas. The competition was over when The General Lee sounded his horn that blasted Dixie. Nothing fires up a crowd way up north in Michigan like a confederate flag festooned combine that plays Dixie. 

The rodeo-style announcer had the crowd count down to the green flag and they were off.  The site and sound of multi-ton, twelve foot high, thirty foot long heavy equipment monsters bashing head on at full throttle brought us and the entire crowd to its feet cheering and laughing.  Yes, laughing.  The crowd was caught up in a combination of awe and maniacal glee.  Holy crap!  It was great.  Even better than expected.  Combines are big, powerful, heavy machines that are made for harvesting grain in peaceful open fields, not for combat.   They have no natural enemies so their shells are thin and defenses weak.  The damage was immediate and extensive.  Tires shredded, parts flew off, entire axles were removed, all in a matter of seconds. 

After the initial carnage, it began to settle into a war of attrition.  According to the rules--yes, there are rules--there are two ways to be eliminated.  Either your machine is completely disabled or you are pushed out of the ring.  Clouds of diesel smoke filled the air as the survivors played out their strategies.  Once the smaller and weaker were thinned from the herd, it began to resemble sumo wrestling as the big boys settled into imposing their massive wills upon each other.  Sometimes a twosome would gang up to shove another out of the ring, then turn on each other with metal crunching ferocity.  As this stand-off phase proceeded, radiators burst and engines died smoky deaths.  A real treat for the senses, the grins never left our faces.  Amazing sights, sounds and especially smells--while standing a mere few dozen feet away from this pure mayhem.   By the end it took forklifts to drag off the carcasses.

The winning combine, initially purchased at a price upward of a hundred thousand dollars, was awarded $600.00 and bragging rights for the year.  Certainly not doing it for the money, the winner was asked to give the crowd his thoughts on his experience in the derby. He pronounced it “A great alternative motorsport.”

We have to agree.

David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com

About the Author

David & Veronica are experiencing the collision of baby boomer with empty nester. They have decided to grab life by the horns, sell the nest and become GypsyNesters.

Read more at www.GypsyNester.com