9 How to Improve your Telephone Sales Technique
Alan Stewart on Aug 05 2007
Here’s a list of ways to please your customers on the phone:
- Answer the phone on the third ring
- Smile before you pick up the phone
- Welcome every call with a positive attitude
- Use the first 2 rings as a chance to get into a positive frame of mind
- Answer the telephone professionally with: Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, Company or Department Name, this is, your name. eg. “Good Morning, The Marketer’s Podcast, this is Alan Stewart.”Notice that I didn’t conclude the greeting with “Alan Stewart speaking”. By ending the greeting with your name, rather than “speaking” it increases the likelihood that the caller will tell you their name – which in turn increases the possibility of a sale.
- Listen attentively with your whole mind on the caller
- Have some paper handy to write down notes about what the caller is telling you
- Thank the customer for calling
- Ask for permission to ask (questions)
- Use P.M.T.: Probe, Make them do the talking, and Tell them what they want to see, hear, feel and understand
- Give out small pieces of information at a time
- Confirm the details of any meeting or order with the client
- Always hang up last
- Write a quick note about what you want from the call
- Put a slight pause between your first and second names. You are used to saying your name but the client isn’t used to hearing it
- When speaking with someone for the first time say: “We haven’t met yet.” as opposed to “You don’t know me.”
- Instead of asking, “Are you in the middle of something?” or “Are you busy?” (Everybody’s going to be busy) ask instead “Are you in the middle of something urgent?”
- Use words like: “With your permission”, “I appreciate your time” and “Follow-up”
- Use a postcard to confirm the appointment – avoid ringing, people often opt out
- Record your phone calls so that you can later work out what you would like to change.
I like this series, especially page 10. I think the magic of a call is a) genuinly believing that you can help the person on the other end of the phone and b) finding out enough information about them (or their company) to prove to them that you really can… It’s difficult and many of the tips here are helpful after that initial opening sentence, but it’s that opening sentence that determines whether or not they might trust you. I’d caution however, on the PMT approach since people can tell if you are just saying what they want to hear vs. saying what is true. Often, I respect the people who admit when they cannot do something for you and tell you what you want to hear. Remember the “Horse Whisperer”? Stepping back a bit is sometimes the best thing you can do.