Selling over the phone and cold calling, in particular, has become increasingly difficult nowadays. As unsolicited sales calls are at an all time high, potential customers are more sceptical now than they were even 5 years ago. This makes selling over the phone quite challenging with it’s a cold call or a warm lead, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. There is some feeling when it comes to sales that you either have it or you don’t, but in many cases, this is simply not true. Selling is something you can learn and improve over time and with experience, and knowing a few tricks and tips gives you a much better chance of success.
Introduce yourself confidently
Whether or not the prospective client knows you, it’s important and also professional to start strong with a confident introduction of who you are, your company and the reason for your call. Ultimately, this rule should be applied to any professional phone conversation.
If you have spoken to the person before, don’t assume that they’ll remember you straight off the bat, doing so can come off as a little self-entitled and possibly even cocky. If the customer has to ask you where you’re calling from, you may already be playing catch up. If you are making a cold call, you may mention the value that your service offers in your introduction and how you can help the prospective customers.
Offer times when organising a face-to-face meeting
People will always respond to decisiveness in this situation and you want to make it as easy for the prospective customer as possible. For many businesses, the goal may be to set up a meeting and discuss the terms, giving you a greater chance of converting the sale. In these cases, you’ll want to suggest specific times, rather than asking when the potential client is free or when suits them. You might say, “Are you free to come in a 10 am on Tuesday? If not, we can schedule a sit down for Thursday at 2 pm.”
This can also subtly convey that you are busy and have a lot of work and/or meetings to attend, which works in your favour.
Set realistic expectations
One of the biggest ways to give your company a bad reputation is to over promise with regards to what you are able to deliver. It’s always a good idea to be optimistic and positive both in the way you approach your work and when discussing future plans with a client, but knowingly misrepresenting the quality of your service is not a recipe for long-term success. By all means, putting a positive spin on your offering is highly recommended, but you should always try to be realistic and ensure that the customer’s expectations are reasonable and realistic. Recognise that one of the best ways to please a customer is to exceed the expectations they have, but set them too low and you risk not converting the sale at all.
Following up
The manner in which you follow up with your leads can be what gets the sale over the line when it’s all said and down. If you haven’t set up a meeting, potential customers will rarely agree to go ahead based on a single phone conversation, so following up in the right way is an absolute must. There is a fine line between being overly pushy and having the person forget about your discussion altogether. Obviously gauging their interest is a skill in itself, but as a general rule, an upbeat email or phone call a few days to a week after your initial conversation can give you an idea of where you stand.
Ensuring that you are available when the customer does call back is also hugely important. This can be the difference between closing or losing the client. A call answering service can help you ensure that you don’t miss an incoming call, allowing you to call back as soon as you can without upsetting the client. Speak to Call Service today for more info.
