Cold calling is still important, it is one of the essential factors that will help in lead generation for any brand.
But sadly multiple brands believe that cold calls don’t work for the simple reason that prospects either ignore them or tell them they’re busy or ‘’82% of B2B top guns feel that most sales representatives today are unprepared. ‘’
But have you ever stopped to wonder why this happens?
Sales phone calls are dreaded because these days sales reps start to sound like they want to just make a sale, where is the matter of helping your prospects get their needs?
Imagine what would happen when you receive a call and the person on the line tells you that they can resolve your issue or help find your need?
Interesting Read : Phone support vs. live chat and email
Wouldn’t you want to continue the conversation?
This is exactly what is expected by your prospects from you, you need to stop sounding like a sales pitch over the call, and trust us it’s not that hard.
We understand how sales phone calls take place which is why we want you to do better than what you are doing currently.
We have done the research of curating the top sales phone call selling techniques that will convert your every sales phone call into an opportunity to convert your leads.
What have we covered in this article?:
Let’s get started.
You can make a sale only when you understand your client’s pain points.
Be empathetic towards your clients. It’s not just about making a sale, you’re helping them to find their ideal needs.
Instead of using phrases such as:
Use this:
When you pick up the call to contact your clients, be humane. Don’t trigger it as a point if selling, understand first what they need, what they require. Only then you can understand their true issues, will you be able to suggest and solve them better.
With empathy, you can easily step into your client’s shoes to understand what they are actually seeking and where you can place your solution to help them better.
As Lynn Hunsaker, CEO of MarketingOperationsPartners.com and of ClearActionCX.com uses her wise words via her quora platform to describe the importance of empathy in customer service and innovation:
‘’I see the role of empathy as essential to ongoing successful innovation — by seeing things the way customers see them, you’re certainly more likely to be on the right track to solving things they’re grappling with, rather than introducing internal pet projects or unvalued product/service tweaks.’’
Everyone is bored listening to the standardized sales pitch.
It’s time for you to step out of your zone and create a friendly and more humane pitch.
The reason why you need to personalize your scripts is because you’re not just selling a solution, you’re answering needs. You are catering to thousands of clients who have issues and each of those issues is different.
For instance, If you write a sales pitch about why a client should buy your furniture, will you be saying that same script for a client who is interested in buying a house?
In simpler terms, it is a huge mismatch.
Yes, you need to have a sales pitch, but don’t use it as a dialogue sheet, use it in a way where it can guide you towards the right flow of making a sale.
Let’s understand this with an example (Source: Hubspot):
Salesperson: “Hello, [Prospect name]. My name is Michael Halper and I help hiring managers like you reduce the time it takes to interview, hire, and onboard new talent in 50% less time than the industry average. How many new hires do you have planned for the year?”
Prospect: “Well, my department has the budget for seven new hires in 2019.”
Salesperson: “What’s your biggest pain point in the hiring process right now?”
Prospect: “I’ve got a million other things going on, and finding qualified candidates has been a challenge. We need to get these positions filled, but I’m having a hard time making it a priority with everything else on my plate.”
Salesperson: “I hear that a lot. I’d love to set up a 10-minute call to learn more about your goals this year and share how Recruiters International might be able to help. What about this Thursday?”
Prospect: “Um, sure. I think I’ve got an 11:00 open.”
A study conducted by lead heroes claimed 25% of all contacts will listen to a sales pro’s pitch which means if you’re going to read your pitch like a robot, don’t be surprised hearing a no from your clients.
Your clients will shut the phone the minute your first sentence starts with a sale.
It is significant for you to understand that bonding with your clients will help you to sell your solutions much more easily.
With a good rapport, you win their trust and they speak to you openly about the issues they are facing, which in turn helps you to place your solutions and sell them better.
For instance, try avoiding the following lines:
Instead, switch to these:
As a salesperson, the way to win your sales numbers is to listen to what your clients have to say without any interruption.
The more you hear them speak, the more you learn about them and the better you’re able to sell to them.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Sales Rep: Hello, am I speaking with Thomas?
Thomas: Yes, how can I help you?
Sales Rep: Hello Thomas, this is Sam. I hear that you’re looking to increase leads, our live chat services can help you increase better.
Thomas: I am already using a live chat tool so I don’t need your solution.
Sales Rep: I understand Thomas, but why don’t you try it out, we have an offer on it?
Thomas: No thank you.
Were you able to identify the error?
Sam was so busy selling his solution that he failed to understand what Thomas actually needed. If he would have heard what Thomas was going through with his live chat tool, then Sam would have sold his solution much easier by filling in the gaps.
Listening to your clients will help you to create a good impression as it will showcase how much you value their needs and are willing to help them out. Hubspot rightly justifies this, ‘’what do buyers want from sales pros? 69% say, “Listen to my needs.”
If you’re contacting a client for the first time, always remember that the way your tone communicates with them matters.
For instance:
You’re having a bad day and at the moment you are in a very bad mood. You pick up the phone to contact your prospects. In order to hide your anger, you speak in a very loud tone. When you continue to communicate, the client has already sensed that something has happened to you.
The next step the client would do is to just cut the phone. The reason?
Why should they hear someone who is selling to them in a tone which sounds very cold?
Interesting Read : Phone call tips to convince the client to buy
Remember you are selling a solution to a person who has needs.
Your tone will determine whether your client should even continue the call or not.
Your tone could also make it evident to your clients about the difference between you wanting to help them or you treating this call as a normal sales phone routine.
Let’s understand this with examples:
Recommendation: When you’re doing phone selling, stand up. It gives you energy and passion to assert and explain yourself better.
It is better if you straighten your body language before you contact your client, as it reflects the way you speak with them.
This point is best explained with the examples listed below:
Recommendation: Stand up, put a nice picture around you and eat well. Keep yourself hydrated. It really affects your body language.
You have just a few seconds to convince your client to retain a conversation with you for the next minute. Don’t eliminate such an opportunity by missing out on a few basic pointers.
Your clients today still prefer human conversations.
To prove this point, MarcWayshak, a sales strategist, mentions in his online video:
‘’In today’s world of selling, salespeople are distracted with things like social media, email and all the other technologies of the day. The phone is still the best prospecting tool out there’’.
As mentioned earlier, if you’re going to sound like a robot when you read your pitches, you will give out the impression that you lack empathy and are merely contacting them to just sell your solution.
Eliminate this issue by having a more conversational tone when interacting with your client.
Let the below examples explain to you the difference:
Robot: Hi, How may I help you?
Client: I am looking to understand the callback software you have.
Robot: Okay, please choose the below questions to be answered.
Human: Hello, Ms. Paul, how may I help you today?
Client: Hi, I am looking to understand your callback software.
Human: That sounds great, before we get into the details why don’t you tell me the reason why you need our software so that we can help you better?
Client: Oh yes, I am looking for lead generation purposes mostly.
Human: Ah lead generation is a tough one but our software can ease it all out for you.
Client: Great.
Human: Okay then, let’s get started.
The difference between the two is obvious. We are growing digital, but at the end of the day, when a client wants to make a decision, they will always take the advice of a human.
You mean can you add humour to your sales calls?
It’s alright to make your communication with your client less serious. A pinch of humour could strengthen your bond better and would help them to be more free and open with you.
As Vengreso mentions in its blog :
‘’When performed well, using humor in sales can break the ice, provide comedic relief, and serve as a launching pad for further sales conversations.’’
But sometimes humour doesn’t work like you’ve planned. Think of it this way, how many times have you laughed when the sales rep on the other side of the call cracks a joke to you?
Caution: Be careful when using humor. It could go down bad.
If you put your clients on hold in between the conversation, you will lose the flow you worked so hard to retain.
On the other hand, your clients would lose out the impact you’ve created during the conversation.
If you have to put them on hold, make sure it is no more than 20 or 30 seconds.
If in case you the hold time has to be extended more, then apologize to your client and request them that you will call them within a certain time frame.
Doing this creates an impression of how much you value and respect their time.
Picture this before you think of putting your client on hold:
Whenever you call the customer care, how do you feel when they make you hear that waiting caller tune or even when you have a small issue, remember the time you’ve waited just to solve it when actually it should have just taken less than a minute.
Your clients are speaking to you for the first time and in order to develop their trust towards your solution, let them through your existing client’s success stories.
When you know that another person is benefiting from a solution, you will instantly want to try it out and learn more about it. This applies to your clients as well.
Interesting Read : Innovative ways to collect your lead’s phone numbers in the GDPR economy
The best example to explain here is online reviews:
When we are looking to buy a new product or to make a switch in one, we would always check the review page to know its ratings and what the other customers have to say on it.
The reason you do this is because it becomes easier for you to analyze and choose the right and effective product for you.
When you apply this same to your clients as well, they are under the impression that someone else has trusted you and you have exceeded their expectations. This triggers them to at least consider your solution.
No client will like to hear more about your solution when they don’t see any benefit for them.
And that is exactly why when you have to listen to your clients closely without interrupting or stopping them.
For instance during your conversation as a sales rep say things such as:
In order to understand assist your clients needs better, ask the following questions:
According to Baylor University, The most effective time to cold-call is from 10 am–2 pm. Least effective? After 5 pm. There are many other surveys which also state that Monday and Friday are the least preferred time to make calls.
To make it easy, try conducting research to understand what are the times you can increase conversion rates better.
You can also ask your peers to help you out since they have more experience in your field.
They will be able to share their experiences and also give you insights on how you can do the same.
Only the determined can master the technique of phone sales.
In order to develop such progress, you will need to be open to growth and convert all your negative feedback into a positive one.
Think of it in this way, the people who are successful today didn’t reach such heights immediately. It was their failure in every step that helped them to tackle it and grow further.
Follow the two pointers during your next sales process:
‘’82% of buyers accept meetings when salespeople reach out to them.’’
You are now that buyer thanks to the sales phone call selling techniques you’ve just learned above.
What you need to understand here is that your prospects have a need and they will go to anyone who promises them that they will achieve it, it’s time for you to outsell your peers and be that sales rep whom your prospects can depend upon.
So tell us, what did you think of this article? Did you find it helpful? Which sales call phone selling technique will you get started with first?
We would love to hear your opinion on this topic as well, to reach out to us, just tweet.
, September 29, 2020, Team LimeCall
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