Don’t we all these days. After all, we are all sales people whether we want to admit it or not. Whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, looking for another job, or trying to advance in your current company, we are all in sales.
I know “sales” is an ugly word. The stereotype is that guy or gal who is obnoxious and bothers you all the time. You have no need for their services and they are persistent. They must have your contact info in their database and ping it to remind them to call you weekly, monthly, or every few months. Like clockwork, you get a voice mail from them.
But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are a few tips to help you gain rapport and be successful with your prospecting.
- Be prepared. Don’t try to wing it. Even if you’re a seasoned sales professional, think about your goal. It’s not necessarily to get a sale at this early stage. You most likely just want to get an appointment with the prospect. Or at least you want to canvass them to see if they have a need for your product or service. No use in wasting time on people who need widgets when you’re selling buggy whips, so to speak.
- Write your script and practice it. Record your voice and listen to how you sound on the phone. You can even call yourself and leave yourself a voice mail to see how you sound. Make it sound natural. Don’t ever appear to be reading your script. Your script should be written as you normally speak.
- If you get your prospect on the phone, don’t ever ask them “how are you today”. They were probably fine until you called and interrupted their busy day. Get to the point and introduce yourself and the company you’re with. Then give a sound bite of what you do, what your company does, or some information about the product you’re selling. You should position yourself as the expert in the field.
- Don’t write a “me-too” script. That is, don’t sound like your competitors. Really take a view of what you do better than all the rest. Don’t just position yourself as a another widget manufacturer. What does your product do better. How does it solve a problem that your prospect has? Point out the relevant benefits.
Start with these tips and see how your phone scripts will improve. We’ll have more tips on our next blog post.
