Telephone prospecting is one of the most powerful tools of direct selling and one of the most used channels for prospecting.
Unlike email selling or social selling, you have direct access to your prospect’s feedback. This is a huge advantage, as you can influence their decision.
However, telephone prospecting remains an art and, as in any other discipline, there are rules to follow to get the best results. Let’s proceed step by step…
This article is part of our complete archive: a guide – how to prospect well in 2022.
Preparing for telephone prospecting
You may have already noticed that preparation is omnipresent in all areas of sales. As I explain in this article: Preparation is the key to success!
Preparing a telephone prospecting campaign involves both content and form.
You have an advantage over your potential client. You have time to develop a prospecting strategy and write a guide for the telephone interview (also known as a script), while they only have a few seconds to think and respond to you.
If you’ve ever played this game, it’s your turn!
How do you prepare your notes for sales interviews?
To start, you need a database or at least a file of qualified prospects. If you don’t have one, you will find a number of service providers on the Internet that offer this type of service? In particular, Sales Intelligence solutions that allow you to access a qualified and segmented database with a minimum of commercial data to create a good hook! That’s what Sales Intelligence is all about.
=> Learn how to qualify your leads on the phone!
- This will allow you to quickly prove to your prospects that you are not blindly looking for leads, but that you have done your homework! You can use this to your advantage by asking more relevant questions and engaging the decision maker.Now write a phone interview guide (a phone script with conversation scenarios):
- Effective advice with a real promise of value.
- List your main arguments and memorize them.
- Anticipate all possible objections (you will complete this list during the interview). Give a convincing answer to each objection in order to convince your prospect to grant you an appointment. Over time, you will refine your response to objections and master your sales message.
And the more you learn about cold calling, the more effective it will be.
I suggest you write the whole scenario, including the different possible scenarios.
- Your sales pitch/introductory text, your questions ….
- Possible answers (case 1 / case 2 / case 3…).
- Your specific answers based on the cases
Be as thorough as possible at first and get into the professional category at that point.
Once you have a serious phone script in hand, you need to work on the format…
How to improve your presentation skills for better telephone prospecting?
When it comes to telephone prospecting, amateurism is evident from the very first seconds and inevitably leads to failure.
There are many reasons for this:
- Monotonous recitation.
- Lack of conviction.
- Stammering voice.
- Poor cadence, etc.
Eloquence and clarity of speech are therefore elements that should not be neglected. It is therefore important to prepare your conference call.
8 rules about voice and language for more effective work
- Express yourself and speak at a normal pace, pausing in the text to catch your breath.
- Relax and smile during the interview. You’ve probably heard the phrase: a smile is heard and puts the interviewer in a good mood.
- Keep your sentences short and concise and use the present tense (the moment of action).
- Put your potential client at the center of the conversation: use “you”.
- Use classic, understandable words (no colloquial or technical terms).
- Use affirmative, positive and pictorial expressions that allow the prospect to imagine and project themselves.
- Use positive words and expressions: usefulness, gain, advantages, benefits, growth, development, efficiency, reliability, security, etc.
- Avoid using negative words and expressions at all costs: Problems, difficulties, costs, risks, losses, fears, dangers, etc. ….
Now that you have prepared the content and format of your telemarketing campaign, let’s see how you can take it a step further.
How can you be convincing when speaking to potential clients on the phone?
The best advice I can give you on this is to practice it over and over again ……
Ask someone you know to simulate a potential client and role-play to improve your persuasive powers on the phone. Then get to work!
Start your telephone prospecting with a trial and error. You’ll learn faster if you’ve had a few failures and have a good progression curve.
Follow-up and management of lead generation activities.
I invite you to create a file to manage your phone contacts that will allow you to track:
. Call characteristics (date/time/caller).
. Communication reports (commercial proposals made / contextual elements / interests noted / objections raised / possible reasons for refusal).
A rigorous management of the different telephone visits is a key factor of success.
You will be able to analyze your results (conversion rate, etc.), implement corrective actions to improve your prospecting program and prepare your future success thanks to the knowledge of your prospects and the personalization of your offer.
A potential customer who refuses product X could be interested in product Y, depending on his background, needs and motivations. Do you understand this?
You now have all the necessary elements to prepare and manage your telephone prospecting campaign effectively. However, there are still a few obstacles that force you to give up.
#1 How to overcome the secretary’s barrier?
The “secretary’s roadblock” is one of the most intimidating steps in telephone prospecting, as the task has become increasingly complex over the years.
Its objective is to convince the caller to speak to the right person, the decision maker. Just as with a personal contact, the first 20 seconds are decisive for 80% of the success.
Let me supplement the above excerpt from the telephone interview guide with some suggestions.
Greet the caller and introduce yourself as quickly as possible, e.g., “Hello (Ms., Sir), may I ask for Company XX {first name} + {last name}?” Be firm and determined in your tone.”
Using the decision maker’s first and last name shows that you know them personally. Your tone shows that you have a very important message to get across. If you are convincing on the phone, this advice can open many doors. If not, the decision-maker’s secretary or personal assistant may ask you why you are calling. It is normal and logical that they get paid for the demonstration 😉
There are three elements that are important to your response.
- Your ability to put yourself in the caller’s shoes and value your role.
- Give the sense that your call is legitimate, intentional and personally expected by your superior.
- End with a question, again in a firm tone, that invites the expected action (Can you put me in touch with him/her? Thanks).
Those who have practiced calling know that there is no 100% success …… What counts is the conversion rate (current and future). So don’t panic, and if despite these tips, you can’t get through the door for one reason or another, ask ……
to ask the question: “Do you have his agenda in front of you?
When is the best time to call him back? When should I call him back?
I’ll give you another tip that has helped me get many contracts: Find out the office hours of the secretary and try to call before or after the office closes. Decision makers often arrive earlier and later than their secretaries and other assistants. It’s simple, but effective in many cases 😉
N#2 How do I make an appointment by phone?
You’re halfway there, but now you need to convince the decision-maker with a solid phone presentation!
To be effective, you must not fall into the trap of dismantling your entire pitch. You need to focus on the sales meeting that will allow you to conduct a classic sales interview, go through the discovery phase, personalize the offer and close the sale.
Unless it’s a mass sale of a low value-added product or service, you should simply arouse your prospect’s curiosity so that they welcome you to learn more.
Sample phone script:
Verifying the identity of the potential client
Rationale for the call: Your sales pitch should be clear, precise, concise and promise a benefit (business opportunity). If you answer this question, you are on the right track: what is the customer’s interest in agreeing to see you?
Try to reach a conclusion: The goal is to catch your prospect off guard without giving him time to ask too many questions. You can use the false alternative technique to give the prospect the illusion of a choice.
Sample sale: “Is Tuesday at 10 a.m. convenient for you? Or would you prefer Thursday afternoon?”
Now you have all the cards in hand to take action and increase your sales effectiveness when cold calling. Now it’s up to you.
For more information, check out our articles on other prospecting channels:
Démarchage commercial avec LinkedIn
- Discover physical prospecting/field prospecting
- Set up a prospecting by e-mail
- Call back a customer to acquire new ones!
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