How do you engage and qualify prospects on the phone?

1 Prepare before you call

Before you pick up the phone, make sure you have done your homework on the prospect. Research their company, industry, role, and goals. Find out what challenges they are facing, what solutions they are looking for, and what value proposition you can offer them. Use this information to craft a personalized and relevant opening statement that shows you understand their situation and can help them.

2 Connect and build rapport

The first few seconds of your call are critical to establish a connection and build rapport with the prospect. Use a friendly and confident tone, introduce yourself and your company, and state the purpose of your call. Avoid sounding scripted or robotic, and try to use the prospect's name and other details you learned from your research. Express genuine interest and curiosity in their needs and challenges, and listen actively to their responses. Use positive feedback, empathy, and humor to create rapport and trust.

3 Qualify and uncover pain points

Once you have established a connection and rapport, you need to qualify the prospect and uncover their pain points . Qualifying means finding out if the prospect has the budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT) to buy your product or service. Uncovering pain points means finding out what problems they are experiencing, how they are affecting their goals, and how they are measuring their success. Use open-ended questions that start with who, what, where, when, why, and how to elicit detailed and insightful answers. Avoid asking yes or no questions, leading questions, or multiple questions at once.

4 Present your solution and value proposition

After you have qualified the prospect and uncovered their pain points, you need to present your solution and value proposition. Your solution is how your product or service can solve their problems, and your value proposition is how your solution can provide them with benefits and advantages over other options. Use clear and concise language, focus on the benefits rather than the features, and tailor your message to the prospect's specific needs and goals. Use stories, examples, and testimonials to illustrate your points and demonstrate credibility.

5 Handle objections and close for the next step

The final step of your call is to handle any objections and close for the next step. Objections are not necessarily rejections, but rather requests for more information or clarification. They can also be opportunities to address any concerns or doubts the prospect may have. Use the LAER method to handle objections: listen, acknowledge, explore, and respond. Listen to the objection without interrupting, acknowledge it without agreeing or disagreeing, explore the underlying reason or motivation behind it, and respond with a solution or a counter-objection. Once you have handled the objection, close for the next step, which could be a follow-up call, a meeting, a demo, a trial, or a proposal. Confirm the date, time, and agenda of the next step, and thank the prospect for their time and interest.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?