Four Fatal Flaws to Avoid on the Phone
There’s a lot of information from so-called sales gurus telling you what you should do to ensure success in cold calling and telemarketing. The simplest way to avoid poor performance is to establish what you shouldn’t do and what will present the greatest barriers to success. TIP: It has nothing to do with your breathing, forcing yourself to smile or standing up. If you’re concerned about this stuff, then are you really enabling yourself to note what the other person says, ask intelligent questions based on their responses and consult any relevant information, such as CRM, during your conversation with them? Simply leaning forward in your chair should work well. After all, isn’t that what we usually do when we want to listen closely to someone?
Here, I’ve highlighted four fatal flaws to avoid if you don’t want to hamper your efforts to get good results by phone:
1. No names / wrong names.
These could be names of people, companies, divisions, departments, even product or service areas. Either know them, get them, or get off the phone. Names matter, more than almost anything else. No doubt you’ve heard of name dropping where the name of someone important or well known is mentioned in conversation. Names carry weight. Some companies operate a no name policy. It’s up to you to ask people in your network for a named person in the organisation you’re calling, research the name of someone in the organisation or, in a worst-case scenario, take a chance on getting a name from an extension number (if the switchboard number ends in 3000, try dialing 3002 or 3010 for example).
No names or wrong names can create a poor first impression of you and your company and negatively influence the way you’re treated by people at the organisation you’re calling.
2. “Are You Interested?”
Ari Galper of Unlock The Game fame talks about establishing whether the people we speak to are “open” to doing something as opposed to asking them if they are “interested” in something. Simply put, the people you speak to on the phone for the first time aren’t able to accurately gauge their interest in a product or service they’ve never used, heard of or seen, are they? They are however, able to establish whether they’d be open to discussing a particular topic with you.
The difference here is about where the focus lies: “Interested” is all about you, your product, your service, none of which the other person is familiar or comfortable with, and therefore is more likely to create resistance. “Open” is all about them and their mindset, subjects with which they are more comfortable and better acquainted.
3. Lack of Purpose
If you struggle to say why you’re calling, it’s over. This needs to be communicated concisely and with authority. Here’s an example: “As a local businessman I wanted to know if Mr Smith plans to attend XXX event later this month. I don’t suppose he’s there at the moment, is he?”
Any fudging of purpose or sounding wishy-washy is likely to be detected and you’ll be treated unfavourably. Be clear, specific and business-like.
4. Statements Suck
Statements are often the answers you’ll be expected to give in response to the other person’s questions. Questions qualify, and the person asking them does control the conversation. If someone asks you a question, ask them for the reason behind the question. Why is asking that question important to them? If they cannot give you a plausible reason or simply say “I was just curious” then it’s either a smokescreen or a ploy to get free information from you that they’ll then take to their current supplier (your competitor) to ensure they get more service or product for less money, leaving you out in the cold, your competitor out of pocket and your marketplace diluted.
Try this instead:
PROSPECT: “How much do you charge?”
YOU “It depends for which service/product, quantity and delivery option. For some people the lowest bid is the decisive factor, irrespective of any other consideration. That’s not the case here, is it Mr Prospect?”
If any of these issues are a concern for you or people in your organisation when using the phone for business, call +44 208 133 0702 or email shaun@phoneforbusiness.com
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Dear Shaun,
I agree with what you have said, although in my opinion and experience, cold calling is a thing of the past and no longer effective. I do on the other hand agree that if you have a name and number of a contact who is the end user of your product/services then call them and build a relationship by all means. Asking them 2 vital questions will assist in this process, they are 1. What is it you need? 2. When will you know when you have it?
Being a camelion sales person is the only way to get to know your customer/client and their specific requirements. Once you lose sight of what it is they are looking for and how they want it delivered will lose the client and make all the hard work a complete waste of time.
Shelley
PS Thank you to @loudmouthman for the link.
Hello Shelley,
Thank you for your comments, they are appreciated.
In larger organisations it’s not always clear who would be the end user of certain products or services. Also, the end user isn’t necessarily the person that decides whether they’ll use what you offer.
Talking about products and services on the phone, with their attendant features and benefits, is the ultimate waste of time. The subject of any conversation has to focus on business issues that your product or service excels at addressing; issues that the organisation you’re calling is likely to experience.
The fundamental issue is trust: Almost no-one will tell you all their concerns on a first call, they know nothing about you, your products or services. Why should they even care? What they do know about are the priority issues they’re having difficulty resolving, what’s not going as planned, and the worries they and their colleagues have.
The purpose is to establish whether:
1 The issues are critical enough to warrant action now,
2 They have the will and the authority to take action.
If we’re not clear on these points, everyone is wasting their time.
As mentioned, if you’re cold calling, it often pays to do some research of the companies you’re calling to achieve some credibility in the first place.
Hope this helps. Thanks again, Shelley!
Shaun