Rocket Fuel - Sales calls and opening statements
Last week, we were looking at telesales and telemarketing and preparation for these calls, and I gave you a couple of things to think about before making a call. This week, I'm going to talk about making the actual call itself.
Last week, we were looking at telesales and telemarketing and preparation for these calls, and I gave you a couple of things to think about before making a call.
This week, I'm going to talk about making the actual call itself.
One of the things I mentioned last week was having the name of the person you want to talk to. This is vitally important when you're on the call, because if you have got a name for somebody that helps you get around the dreaded gatekeeper.
Phoning up and saying "I'd like to talk to the person that deals with..." is a red rag to a bull. They know it's a sales call, and that's when the shutters come down. So, make sure you have the name of the person you want to speak to.
Your opening statement
This needs to be something that hooks and gains interest. In other words, what's the benefit of that person talking to you? It's the difference between me phoning someone and saying "hi, I'm Julie from the Sales Ace, I want to talk to you about sales training and how I can help you", versus "Hi, Julie from the Sales Ace. I provide sales training guaranteed to increase your revenue. The reason for the call is to see where I can help you."
Two very different statements there, so have a think about your opening statements and how you're saying them.
Don't forget to use open questions during your conversation!
If you're using closed questions during this call, all you're going to get is a lot of yes and no. It will be a really difficult call, and it won't flow comfortably.
But if you use lots of lovely open questions and actually listen to the answers, the conversation can get going and you can actually build that relationship and gain more interest and information.
So there's a couple of little tips for you. If you'd like to find out more about effective telesales, I run a telesales training workshop, and you can find more information here.
See you next week!
