How To Disarm a Prospect on a Sales Phone Call
Mark Young
New biz lifer I Sales Trainer I Content writer I Cold Caller I Proposition developer
It’s all very well picking up the phone and trying to get hold of prospects but what are you going to do when you get hold of them?
Assuming you’ve taken the time to put together a good campaign with a reason to speak to the client, then you’ll at least be ready to have a conversation with them but how will you get their attention?
Cold Calling has a pretty terrible reputation in the UK because so much of the calls that are made are a load of old crap. They’re:
- Salesy
- Demanding
- Ill-educated
- Badly targeted
- Badly delivered
In business, however, it shouldn’t be like this. The culture at Retriever is to turn every call into a useful and enjoyable experience for the recipient. Sound idealistic? Well, it can’t happen every single time, but you can make sure you don’t just sound like all the rest and drift into the pulp of average calls that are simply motivated by a ‘yes’.
This isn’t about selling – it’s about relationships.
It’s about being honest and refreshing. They know you’re making a sales call so let’s cut the bullshit and lose all the ‘How are you today?’ baloney and get down to brass tacks.
Don’t be afraid to state the obvious – something like:
‘Look, I know you get too many calls and I don’t want to become a pain in the backside, so I’ll level with you and tell you why I’m calling’
…will always get a better response than the smarmy salesy approach that so many people still seem to think is fine.
We are dealing with humans remember!
Give them a normal conversation. Don’t make them guess what you want as it’s only going to frustrate them. Tell it like it is and I bet you they open up a damned site more than if you don’t.
I met a consultant yesterday who reminded me that in the UK selling has a stupidly bad rep yet it’s at the centre of every business.
No sales – no business.
Keep it natural, straight and engage with the person, then they’ll talk to you and maybe, just maybe, even tell you the truth.
What are your tips on disarming prospects on a sales call? Share your thoughts below.
Read my Huffington Post article ‘How to defuse initial negativity on new business calls.’
Head of Innovation @ daa
8 年Couldn't agree more Mark!
Staffline Director
8 年Another exceptional written article by retriever.
Optimisfit, Family Man, Servant Leader, Hope Dealer, Committed to Helping People Live Better with Easy-To-Use Solutions.
8 年We teach productive selling techniques. One of which teaches to research your prospect prior to the call to gather information and possibly a common ground. For example in your research you might discover that your prospect likes to ski. You can then ask about their latest ski adventure or something like that. It is most certainly about developing relationships with people, not just making the sale.
Sorry but why would you start with a negative? I hate it when people say "I know you get too many calls" because it makes an assumption. It's like someone putting "I know you get a lot of mail" on the envelop of a mail shot. But I agree it is about building a relationship - or taking a person closer to the point where they will buy. I recently had an office cleaning company call and they started with "On a scale of 1-5 how would you rate the cleaning in your office". It got me away from thinking about the cold sales call and thinking about how clean I did think the office was. I thought it was a great approach.
Head of Sales at WILD THINGS GIFTS LTD
8 年Excellent article