Phone sales skills: your first contact with the Prospect

Phone sales skills with the prospect: Once you get past the Secretarial Screen and begin talking to the prospect or Decision Maker ("DM"), you enter into the "Call up. Fix up. Hang up" phase.

This IS the time to briefly introduce yourself and ask for an appointment to meet. It is NOT the time to get into prolonged explanations, or to try to make the sale over the phone.

At this stage, you have one crucial objective to accomplish: to persuade that prospect to invest time in meeting face-to-face with you. Time is money to effective Decision Makers, and they are not inclined to waste it either in long phone calls or in unproductive meetings.

When you speak with the prospect, be friendly but get to the point. Don't chat about the weather or how their day is going.

Nor is it the time to talk in detail of what your product is, nor of your background. All that will come later.

DO ask,"Is this a good time to talk?" DO NOT ask, "Is this a bad time.".

When you get the prospect on the phone, do not ask, "Is this a bad time to talk?" Why not? Think how easy it would be to say yes to that question.

Instead, expect good news, and use your phone sales skills to phrase the question with a positive expectation: if you sense the person on the other end of the call is distracted or harried, ask with a positive spin: "Is this a good time to talk?" Again, it is easier to reply yes.

But if the prospect says, "Actually, no, it's not a good time," then you are well positioned to ask, "I understand. When will be a better time to talk?"

Phone sales skills key mantra: "Call up. Fix up. Hang up."

Sales professionals think of this first phone contact as the "Call up, fix up, hang up" phase. The point is to make the call, arrange a meeting, then get off the line without getting bogged down.

Obviously, you don't want to seem brusque during the conversation, but you also don't want to get into a long conversation at this point. For busy Decision Makers, phone calls are, by nature, interruptions, so the shorter, the more business-oriented, and the more to-the-point the interruption is, the better  

HOT BUTTONS for capturing the prospect's attention

Another reason for being succinct now.

-- you CAN LOSE the chance to meet with the DM if you talk too much, but the reality is ...

How to handle it if the prospect pushes you to tell your whole sales story in this first phone conversation

Phone sales skills: The first 30 seconds

Once the prospect picks up the phone, you have two crucial tasks to accomplish in about 30 seconds, or perhaps even less . . . that is, before the prospect's interest flags, or before another in-coming call takes priority. In these opening seconds, you need to,

1. Introduce yourself and your company, (if you operate under a company name), and,

2. Present concise reasons for your phone call, as well as for why the Decision Maker should invest time in meeting with you.

That may seem a lot to do in 30 seconds, but adapt this model script to your situation:

"Mr. Robinson, this is Tom Gibbons of Productivity Services. I'm calling because I believe we can increase your firm's profitability by reducing office overhead -- perhaps by as much as 20% in the first year. I'd like to meet with you for about a half hour to explore the possibilities. Would later this week be convenient, or would early next week be better for you?"

Phone sales skills tip: how and when to back off.

What if, in the course of that initial phone conversation with the prospect, you begin to develop doubts on whether this is the right person or even the right organization for you to be investing time in meeting with?    How to back off if you recognize that this is not a viable prospect

Phone sales skills: CAPTURING THE PROSPECT'S ATTENTION EARLY ON IN THIS FIRST PHONE CALL

HOW TO AVOID TELLING YOUR WHOLE SALES STORY OVER THE PHONE

WRAPPING UP THE INITIAL PHONE CONTACT