How to sell over the phone? Useful tips. Basics of telephone sales
Instruction
Before starting the conversation, determine the purpose of the conversation and make a preliminary plan. Thoroughly study the offered product in order to be ready to answer questions or objections that the interlocutor may have. Prepare answers to likely questions in advance. Tune in not to boil and not get excited when answering, avoid the phrases “Well, how can you not understand!”, “You are completely wrong!”, “It is impossible to talk to you calmly”, etc.
In order to set up a conversation in a confidential way, keep a smile in your voice and be extremely polite. Your positive communication will be transferred to the client.
Avoid common phrases that cause psychological stress ("You are being harassed by the company...", "We decided to call you because..."). It is better to name yourself and the company you represent right after the greeting.
Find out if the client can now give you time, or if it would be more convenient for him to call you back. Such delicacy will surely please your interlocutor.
Call the person "on the other end of the line" by their first name. The more often you do this, the sooner he will begin to trust you. Such is human psychology.
Show the interlocutor that you are ready to listen to him. Give approximately 80% of the time of the conversation to the client. Don't interrupt him, let him speak. If he is aggressive, try to calm him down with a soft voice. If it doesn't work, apologize and say you'll call back later.
Ask your interlocutor the questions necessary to maintain control over the conversation, do not be afraid to be persistent.
Regardless of how the client reacted to the conversation, be sure to end the conversation with a positive attitude.
Record the result of the conversation, this will help you to "work on the mistakes" and improve the quality and efficiency of the next conversation.
Don't follow a pattern. Try different ways to start a conversation, offer a service or product, etc. Experiment with anything you think will make your sales more effective.
Related videos
Useful advice
If your colleague's phone sales are doing well, don't hesitate to learn from his methods or tricks.
Study psychology. This will definitely help you in mastering the art of talking on the phone.
In order to successfully offer and sell services on telephone, it is necessary not only to know the text by heart, but also to masterfully be able to direct the conversation with the client in the right direction. If you follow a few rules for communicating with clients, most negative interlocutors will easily become fans of your company.
You will need
- An individual negotiating strategy, a pleasant voice, a pre-prepared text of your message.
Instruction
Make more time for practice. After all, only practice will help you gain maximum confidence in your gift of persuasion. It will provide an opportunity to overcome the fear of an unknown consumer. The first and foremost rule is practice.
In order to learn how to correctly offer any services or engage in selling by, you need to pick up individual option conducting a conversation with a client, that is, finding your own communication technique. Best of all, if it is completely individual. Today, in order to achieve success in any field, you need not act according to someone else's patterns, but develop your own strategy. All people are individual and perceive the world around them differently.
Practice your communication skills as well. A pleasant, slightly low voice is more sympathetic than a high and shrill one. You must clearly and clearly convey information to the ears of the client. Try to completely eliminate the “parasite words” that most managers like to use from communication. Remember that it is undesirable to interrupt the client, even if you already know what he wants to ask. Answer the questions in the affirmative and confidently. Do not forget that it is more pleasant to agree with the positive than to argue. For beginners, compose your dialogue in advance and write it down on paper or a computer. Make yourself a cheat sheet. In no case, when with a client, it is not recommended to use a completely memorized text. Best to follow
There is no faster way to start selling than to set up a telephone sales department. That is why this type of sales has become widespread all over the world. More often than others, telephone sales are used to make appointments with decision makers and in sales financial services: insurance, lending, investment.
Types of telephone sales
telephone sales can be divided into several varieties based on who is the initiator of the contact and the degree of readiness of the client to purchase.
Inbound telephone sales
Inbound telephone sales is a type of sales when the customer himself called the seller, thereby showing interest in the product being sold. Inbound sales are considered relatively easy. Despite this, the seller is required good knowledge product, etc. the caller often calls several companies in search of the most advantageous offer for himself. That is why a specialist who receives incoming calls needs to know competitors very well and be able to offer a product.
Outgoing telephone sales
Outbound telephone sales is a type of telephone sales when a salesperson calls the customer and tries to get the customer interested in the product. Work in outbound telephone sales is characterized by a rather low conversion, often in order to make one sale, you need to make a hundred calls. The main value in outgoing sales is the basis for calling. The base is a resource, from a good base even not the most competent employee can make a result. management in telephone sales solves two problems: and . These tasks are constantly on. any base ends quickly. The base can be hot and cold, which is why calls are often referred to as cold or hot and warm.
What are cold calls
Cold calls (cold work) are calls to a client who previously did not show any interest in the product. essentially go blind. By making a call, you are trying to interest a person in your product. In most cases, you immediately get a refusal to communicate, but some part will be interested in your offer.
Where does the base of cold clients come from?
For b2b sales, the main source of the database is the 2GIS directory, as well as various company catalog sites. Generally legal entities do not hide their phones, exposing them for show, so there are no problems with a cold base. Things are much more difficult with, federal laws significantly restrict the dissemination of personal data of residents of our country. At the moment, only data collected by yourself can be legally used for sales. In this case, the person must consent to the processing of their data. For these purposes, there are special sites that collect the base by swindling phones from the population, then such a base is resold. In addition, the data of city phones of most cities in the country are publicly available. In general, an up-to-date base for sales individuals not easy to find.
Specifics of cold telephone sales
In cold calls, and is crucial. If the seller knows how to interest people, then he can get a very good result. In this case, a typical contact establishment: “Good afternoon, company XXXX, offers a product for a promotion ...” will not work. A more cunning speech module is needed, the client should not immediately understand that he will now be offered something. Therefore, it is important to come up with the so-called. For example: “good afternoon, we are conducting a survey on the quality of ..... services” or “good afternoon, you have exercised your right to a free ......”. The goal is to break through the barrier of reluctance to talk to a stranger on the phone, and then make a profitable offer.
What are hot calls
Hot or warm calls are calling customers who, explicitly or implicitly, have previously shown interest in your product. Hot calls are much easier to make than cold calls. Customers usually do not go into refusal and are not rude to sellers. Although if you call constantly, then you can "torment" such a base.
Where does the base of warm clients come from?
The base of warm clients is taken first of all after work on the cold base. Some people are interested, but refuse to immediately make a purchase, referring to the fact that they need to think. Also, the base of warm customers includes customers who called the company themselves, but for some reason did not make a purchase. There are also sites that collect so-called leads. a person who reacted to any marketing communication. For example, a site might have online calculator CASCO, when filling out the form, you must specify a phone number. Such a contact will be considered a lead. Leads are collected and then sold to interested parties.
Specificity of warm sales
In warm sales, the most important is. The client usually already knows everything and the seller just needs to. For this, many tricks are used, which you can learn in the articles on. It is worth noting that experienced sellers are always put on such a base, since there are not many contacts and you need to squeeze the maximum out of them. Beginners, as a rule, do not have perseverance and will, they are often afraid of the client, so it is better to teach them on a cold base.
Base for telephone sales
In any sales, the client resource is of particular importance. Stores pay high rents for traffic spots, websites pay for each click through and invest in SEO and SMM, large manufacturers spend millions on media advertising. In telephone sales, there is only one client resource - the telephone base. The same telephone base in capable hands gives a completely different result. Let's look at the basic rules for working with a telephone base:
- Compliance with the processing cycle. Any base should be able to rest for a certain time, usually at least a month. At this moment, no activity is performed on it;
- Saving processing history. You need to know who, when and with what result called the client. This will greatly simplify the work;
- Exclude non-working numbers from the database. Every phone number has a life span. Some stop using phones, such numbers need to be removed from the database. Salespeople shouldn't waste time calling non-working numbers, and you shouldn't get the false impression that you have a base;
- Turn a cold base into a warm one. It is important when working in the cold to be able to build further work on warm contacts. The difficulty is that the sellers are not interested in disclosing their warm contacts, while the environment of the sellers. This creates the risk that the employee will not transfer warm contacts upon dismissal. This can be avoided by forcing employees to .
Telephone Sales Technique
Telephone sales are significantly different from direct sales when contact with the client takes place live. In general, the sales technique and the sale itself are built in the same way. The main difference lies in the impossibility. Instead, in telephone sales there is the art of intonation and voice control. In my opinion, mastering the art of tonality is much easier. In general, to learn all the necessary techniques, I recommend reading the articles:, and how.
Access to the decision maker
Separately, I would like to touch on such an important stage of telephone sales as. The fact is that often by phone you just need to find the person who makes the decision to purchase and send him a commercial offer. The conclusion of the transaction is already carried out personally. If in sales to individuals it is not so difficult to determine who makes the decision, it is enough to simply ask - who in your family deals with the issue ... ..? In the corporate segment, everything is much more complicated. The fact is that the decision maker protects the “shield” in the form of a secretary. Moreover, often in large companies the decision is made by several people and you need to find someone who will lobby your interests within the company. In short, each company has its own laws and regulations and you need to study them before you carry out the sale itself.
phone sales scripts
Sales is a contradictory thing, on the one hand, the seller must be able to improvise, on the other hand, you need to work according to clear scripts. The fact is that a well-written script guarantees the success of telephone sales in general. But the fate of a particular transaction is always unique and it will not work to sell to a difficult client using a script.
I have a lot , on our site you can even . Therefore, I will not analyze in detail the stage of writing the script. I can only say that regardless of the business, there must be scripts and that they need to be maintained in working order. This means - constantly update depending on changes: the market, product and telephone base. There should be different scripts for hot and cold bases, not to mention incoming and outgoing calls.
Work in telephone sales
In the end, I would like to tell you a little about the specifics of working in telephone sales. In my opinion, the departments of telephone sales are the most incendiary and cohesive. All employees sit in the same room and do not interfere with each other, do not cross each other's way. In such sales, it is much easier to form a cohesive team than, for example, among sales representatives who are on their own. There are many organization options. Telephone salespeople are often referred to as operators, telemarketers, and call center operators. The downside of telesales is the lower wages compared to direct sales. Also, in my opinion, a sedentary way of working is also not a plus.
Many who decide to work as a sales manager are faced with the need to make cold calls. However, not everyone understands what it is, and do not know the rules by which they should be carried out. Against the backdrop of the great importance of such activities, the inability to make sales by phone can drop the employee's credibility in the eyes of management.
essence
It is not difficult to understand what cold calls are in sales. Their technique involves calling potential customers who are not yet familiar with the company. The goal is to interest a person and encourage them to contact the organization to purchase a product or service, as well as to expand the customer base.
Some people think that cold calling techniques are quite simple. However, this is not at all the case. To succeed in this area of activity, you should study a huge number of nuances and pitfalls. That is why managers who own this technique are in demand among employers.
There are three characteristics that an employee must have in order for the effectiveness of cold calls to be sufficiently high: a sufficient level of self-control, full knowledge of the information about the goods and services offered, knowledge of the tastes and preferences of potential customers.
Shortage of professionals
Specialists who understand how to make cold calls are in high demand. However, their number in the labor market is very small. The reason lies primarily in psychological factors.
Many people cannot overcome themselves and call a stranger. They are afraid that a potential client will simply reject them and refuse to talk, because no one likes it when a stranger calls him and at the same time tries to sell something. That is why for a specialist, cold calls can be a very serious test of strength.
However, the manager should not be afraid to hear “no”. All objections can be predicted in advance, so with the right behavior you can try to prevent them. At the same time, it is important to conduct a conversation not in stereotyped phrases, but to develop your own answers in accordance with the situation. It is also necessary to learn how to determine the intonation of the voice and respond to it adequately.
rules
There are a number of rules that must be followed by managers making cold calls. The technique of selling by phone implies following the following principles:
- Do not immediately try to sell a product or service during the first call. It is even useful to emphasize that the goal of the manager is not bargaining. It is much more important at this moment to collect information about a potential client and achieve his location.
- It's important to ask the right questions. This will create an impression of both the specialist and the company he represents. Competent dialogue increases the chances to interest a potential client. That is why you should prepare very carefully for the conversation. If the manager has information about the company and is oriented in the market situation, he will create an impression of himself as a competent specialist. The purpose of the first call is to collect the maximum useful information about the potential client's problems in order to offer him an effective solution to such difficulties during the next conversation.
- It is important to try to arrange a personal meeting. If the manager manages to do this, the chance of converting a potential client to permanent status will increase significantly.
First difficulties
Anyone who decides to use cold calling techniques will have to face a huge number of difficulties. Most of them appear at the very beginning of the conversation.
The first problem is that in most large companies all calls go to the secretary first. He recognizes standard telephone sales patterns very quickly. Many secretaries have learned to competently interrupt calls even before the manager has time to convey any information.
The next difficulty is that customers during a cold call usually do not want to communicate. In this case, the manager must arouse some interest in the opponent. However, this is difficult to do because the potential client rarely wants to talk. Many cold calls last no more than 60 seconds. The manager should not flatter himself if he was asked to send a commercial offer and even gave an email address. It still hardly means anything. The fact is that most of the offers of unfamiliar firms are deleted without reading.
Reasons for not liking cold calls
The phenomenon of cold calling is that they are disliked by both sides of the process. Managers are afraid to use such technologies and try their best to avoid them. Clients listen to a lot of cold calls from specialists. And often those who sell are not even able to properly make an offer. However, those managers who are really interested in what cold calls are in sales, how to make them correctly, are able to overcome all the difficulties of this complex technique. For this, it is necessary to study the technologies on which such negotiations are conducted. It is important to gradually get rid of the need to follow the script.
How to increase the chance of success
Cold calling technology can be very effective if you follow a few rules. It’s worth starting a conversation with a question that will help you quickly find out whether the company receiving the call can be attributed to target audience. The reason should not be the desire to sell, impose a product or service. In this case, the conversation is unlikely to last long enough. Much more effective is the manager's offer of a free trial service or seminar. At the same time, he should not be afraid of failures. They are inevitable. Only by passing through them, you can achieve success.
call script
Any business event will be much more effective if you prepare for it in advance. In this regard, there is a wide scope for creativity for managers who make cold calls. Selling by phone means that the interlocutors do not see each other. And this means that you can lay out a variety of cheat sheets, diagrams and tips around.
A pre-written conversation script will help to overcome fear and make speech more confident. He is in without fail should contain the following blocks:
- The greeting should be in the form "Good morning!" or "Good afternoon!".
- Representation: you need to give your name and the name of the company that the manager represents.
- The purpose of the "acquaintance" block is to find out the name and position of the person who is in charge of the issue of interest.
- Presentation: briefly indicates the scope of the organization.
- The suggestion is to indicate the purpose of the call. It can be an invitation to a seminar, a story about discounts and promotions.
- A question that helps to test whether the company belongs to the target audience.
- The final. An appointment would be ideal.
It should be understood that it is not always possible to fit a cold call into this scheme. This example is approximate, it can be modified depending on how the dialogue unfolds.
Stephen Schiffman
There are a huge number of authors who study the techniques of cold calling in their writings. Shiffman Stephen is one of the most famous. In his books there is not only a description of the methods, but also practical advice on their application. The author is a fan of studying phone sales. He carefully lays out all the mechanics of calls and gives a huge number of recommendations. One of the principles that Stephen Schiffman advises to adhere to is that cold calls should not be annoying and repetitive. The books give specific advice on how to respond to customer objections.
Objection handling
An important stage in the sales process, including by phone, is the handling of objections. Managers who have not studied the methods of working with them most often get lost during a conversation, begin to stutter, and behave insecurely. Here are a few examples that can help a merchant respond to the most common objections of potential customers.
In the event that a manager hears a phrase on duty with a request to send an offer by e-mail, he must understand that this is just an excuse. It is best to state at the same time that the company's assortment is huge and try to persuade the client to a personal meeting for the purpose of presentation. In response to the phrase "I'm not interested in this," we can say that there is not a single person who is interested in what he does not know.
Curious is the use of the boomerang method. It means that objections should be returned to the client. In the event that he declares that he does not have time to talk, you can answer the following: the manager seeks to save his time and, for this purpose, offers a certain product or service. It is best to prepare possible objections and answers to them in advance, write them down on a piece of paper. It is important not only to learn them, but also to keep a list at hand just in case. If a new objection comes up during the call, it is worth writing it down. Subsequently, it will be possible to come up with the most successful answer.
Probability theory
Every manager must understand that there are no perfect sales techniques. Regardless of what techniques the specialist uses, it will not be possible to avoid failures. However, there is one principle that is important to know if cold calling is being used. Conventionally, it can be called the theory of probability. The first call is unlikely to lead to a deal. However, the more the manager makes contacts with clients, the higher the chance to make deals. That is why you should regularly make calls in large numbers.
Customer Knowledge
Important conditions successful sales on the phone is customer knowledge. That is why the manager must first collect as much information about him as possible.
First of all, the Internet can help in collecting data. A huge amount of useful information is contained on the company's website, as well as various official resources. At the first stage, you should find out the need for the product and service of this particular company. It would be helpful to know the leader's name. This will impress and increase the chance of a positive effect.
Maintaining contact
Once you've established contact with a potential client over the phone, it's important to keep them going. You can't let them forget about the firm's offerings. There are several ways to regularly remind yourself by sending the following items:
- news booklets that should be of interest to the client and related to his occupation;
- invitations to events, seminars and exhibitions;
- greeting cards and small gifts for the holidays.
All this helps to maintain a positive impression of the company.
Without training and gaining experience by making a huge number of calls, it is impossible to achieve significant results. However, following a number of recommendations will help improve and speed up the result. Let's summarize them at the end of the article:
- The script of the conversation should be drawn up in advance. It should be carefully considered.
- During the conversation, you need to be calm and confident. The manager must be able to overcome the excitement. Trembling in the voice will not bring a positive effect.
- Do not get involved in conflicts.
- In the event that the client states that he does not have time to talk, it is best for the manager to clarify when it is most convenient to call back and say goodbye politely.
- If a categorical refusal is received in response to an offer, you must apologize and say goodbye.
- It is important to mention promotions and discounts, to offer product samples.
- You should carefully, without interrupting, listen to the client. Any objections can be made only after he has finished speaking.
It is possible to succeed in cold sales. But this is quite difficult and will require some effort from the manager.
The telephone is a tool, and whether the manager builds an effective dialogue with a potential client or not depends on the ability to use it. No one likes when they call him and impose something that he does not need at all.
However, cold calling is not a waste of time. They can and should be made effective by hiring the right managers who will not turn the whole process into a banal phone call. In this article, we will look at what cold calls are and the rules for their implementation.
What is cold calling in sales
All calls can be divided into two broad categories: cold and warm. Warm calls are contact with a client who already has an idea about your company. For example, he previously purchased a product, or was simply interested in services. The purpose of warm calls is to remind you of yourself in order to restore cooperation. Warm calls imply that the operator already knows who his buyer is, as well as how he can be interested. What then are cold calls?
Another thing is cold calling. Here the operator knows almost nothing about the client. Communication goes according to a script written in advance. The operator calls the database of potential customers and offers the company's product. As a rule, cold sales have low efficiency, however, sometimes they are the only way to get through to the head of the enterprise.
According to statistics, only 1 client out of 100 "falls" on the operator's hook and performs the action he needs, for example, purchases a product.
In what cases are used
The B2B industry is not complete without cold calls. So, this sales technique has just begun to gain momentum. What is it for?
- for a constant influx of new customers into the company;
- to announce that it has entered the market new company or service;
- in order to update the client base;
- to select the most promising potential customers.
Video - how to write sales scripts for B2B:
IN Russian practice Cold calls are most often used in areas such as advertising, manufacturing, wholesale, and everything related to real estate.
Advantages and disadvantages
Although seemingly ineffective, this method of telemarketing has several advantages. Let's consider the main ones.
- Such telemarketing much more efficient than distributing flyers and other printed materials. Moreover, it is through a telephone conversation that you can ask for a personal meeting with a responsible person.
- Client automatically set up for business when communicating on the phone, and this also helps to sell a product or service.
- Telemarketing is effective way to do research. So, even if the operator failed to persuade the client to buy a product or service, then his interlocutor probably answered some questions, on the basis of which a more accurate map of the target audience can be made.
- The effectiveness of cold calls directly depends on the manager who implements them. So, you can increase it by hiring the right competent specialists.
Video - examples of cold calls for a manager:
Options for organizing sales in the form of calling customers in the database
In order to organize cold calls, you can either involve the managers of your organization, or outsource this process, for example, to the Call Center. Both options have both pros and cons.
Own managers
How good are your managers? They know everything about their product. So, you will not need to give them information about what you are going to sell over the phone. Also the organization of calling the base own staff- this is cost minimization, because you do not need to pay a third-party organization. In addition, there are the following nuances when organizing telemarketing by your employees:
- Human factor. When making about a third of cold calls, the operator is faced with negativity: people on the other end of the phone are rude and just hang up at the most inopportune moment. If you do not want your employees to be negatively affected by nervous secretaries and negligent directors for the next few weeks, then it is better to outsource cold calls.
- You'll have to on your own write a conversation script, according to which the call will be made.
- Ordinary managers most likely not familiar with active sales techniques and therefore the effectiveness of cold calling performed by ordinary employees will be somewhat less than if you entrust it to professionals.
Cold calling through regular employees is effective when the customer base is small and you are in the mood for a good return on telemarketing.
Agreement with a third-party CALL center
Outsourcing a task has several obvious advantages, chief among which is efficiency in making calls. Call-center operators have developed a sales technique for themselves and it is easier for them than for company managers to reach out to the decision maker. The services of a third-party company should be used if the client base for calling is very large and the process will take a long period of time.
You should not assume that since Call-center employees do not have an idea about the promoted product, they will not be able to complete the sale. In fact, in cold calls, it is enough to know the technique of conducting them, and not information about the product being promoted.
The disadvantage of this method of conducting cold calling can be called monetary costs, since the services of outsourcing companies are quite expensive.
Cold calling as a telephone sales technique
Cold calling in marketing is a whole science that has several sections. So, one of them is the conversation pattern. If you call the company, you will most often get to the secretary or operator. But how do you get to the contact person you need?
Universal Conversation Scheme
Almost every cold conversation consists of several stages. So, when you call the company, you get to the secretary. As a rule, more than half of cold calls end here, because a competent secretary will never let a “salesperson” approach a manager. If the manager successfully bypasses this stage, then he faces the following tasks:
- Get to know the decision maker and try to establish contact.
- Understand what the potential customer needs. Talk about the company's product or service. Respond to all objections.
- Set up a meeting with the goal of closing it with a sale.
LPR - what is it in sales
The decision maker (decision maker) is the person in the company who can approve or, on the contrary, make adjustments to the project. Do not assume that this person must necessarily be a director. So, sometimes such a person is a deputy director, commercial director, head of the sales department, or simply general manager. It all depends on how the hierarchy is built in the company.
It is not easy to find an approach to such persons, however, with a competent conversation, the operator has the opportunity to bring the decision maker to a cooperation agreement, or at least to the fact that he agrees to accept the manager in the office.
Video - how to arouse customer curiosity in the first seconds of a cold call:
In order to calculate the decision maker in the company, you must be a "scout". From your questions to the secretary or trusted person depends on whether you understand who to contact in order to approve the purchase of your product.
The operator must be resourceful and bold in order to clarify who makes the decisions. This can be done, for example, through the accounting department or the purchasing department. Do not be afraid to ask the last name and first name responsible person, this will only increase loyalty to you.
An operator who is trying to convey the importance of purchasing a product must also be a marketer in order for his unique selling proposition to be truly “unique”, and not copied from competitors.
You should be prepared to explain the benefits to a potential buyer, and, knowing his pains, convey the benefits of acquiring the company's product.
If these conditions are met, the decision maker will make contact on his own, without waiting for the final part of the manager's speech.
In order to reach the decision maker, you need skills such as ingenuity, creativity, a fresh look at things, a high level of communication.
How to bypass the secretary when cold calling
There are many scenarios for bypassing the secretarial barrier. Thus, the task of the sales manager is to determine which approach will be more effective in communicating with a particular secretary. What can be done so that the secretary connects with the decision maker?
Enchant
In order to bypass the secretary, you can use flattery. A couple of compliments should be thrown in his direction regarding his professionalism in his work. In most cases, this immediately increases the secretary's loyalty to the operator, and he will be ready to connect him with the decision maker.
Recruit
You can pretend that the director/sales manager/deputy boss himself asked you to call him back. In a dry and persistent tone, you need to introduce yourself to the secretary and say that the decision maker is waiting for a call from him. This trick often works.
Video - 11 tricks for passing a secretary with a cold call:
However, it will not work to “recruit” a secretary who is no longer young and experienced. As a rule, at large enterprises, the director is “protected” by a woman of Balzac age, who immediately sees through the recruitment attempt. If the operator feels that this method will not help here, then the only option left is to be polite and courteous and ask the secretary for help.
cheat
Not everyone can cheat, however, this technique also works. For example, you can call the secretary and say that such and such a company is preparing a business letter for the purchasing manager, but cannot find his last name, first name and patronymic, as well as contact details in order to transfer the business letter. The secretary can not only suggest the name of the right person, but also give an e-mail or even a phone number.
Show resistance
Not everyone can apply pressure, but power techniques work great. The main component of such a technique is the "staging" of the secretary in his place. So, after he refuses to connect you with the decision maker, you should ask who exactly is involved in the decisions, and also clarify that this information will be reported to the company's management. The secretary will return to his post and it will be possible to continue the usual live communication.
You can find out contacts not only from the secretary, but also from other employees of the company. As a rule, they have less contact with "salesmen" and it is for this reason that it is much easier to find an approach to them.
Using scripts
A script is a pre-planned sequence of actions that is executed as the call progresses. A scenario can be called a script, where the choice of this or that action depends on the action of the “opponent” (DM or secretary).
Scripts help to conduct a conversation as fruitfully as possible: for example, practice has shown that working with scripts increases the likelihood of a sale up to 30%.
Scripts come in two types: rigid and flexible. Hard scripts suggest that there are not so many options for the development of events. Rigid scripts are used when the promoted product has many advantages and it will be difficult for a potential client to refuse the operator. For example, you simply offer a huge discount, or some other benefit that your competitors do not have.
Flexible scripts will be used when the promoted product is “complex”. In order to sell it, creative and creative managers are required. There are many options for the development of events, and that is why flexible scripts are multivariate.
Work with objections
The decision maker will resist in every possible way to make a positive decision. So, scripts help answer all his objections. For example, a decision maker may say that the company is having a difficult time and in cash she doesn’t have it right now, or simply and clearly answer “I’ll think about it,” which is equivalent to “I refuse you.”
Consider the most popular scripts to convince the client that his objection is worthless compared to the merits of the product.
- Yes, but along with that …
Convince the client that along with the disadvantage that he identified, the product has many advantages. For example, if a potential customer says that he has heard a lot of bad reviews, convince him that there are ten times more positive reviews about the product.
- That's why….
A potential client wants to think and offers to contact you a little later? It is worth answering such a decision maker that this is why you want to meet with him. The decision maker says that the product is expensive? That's why you offer him a trial version or a huge discount.
- Make the client remember past bad experiences.
For example, he also claims that your services will cost him a decent amount of money. Ask him if he has ever acquired cheap goods and then go for the expensive one anyway. Surely he will confirm your guess and it will be even easier to close the decision maker for sale.
conclusions
So, cold calls are a time-consuming, but quite effective way not only to attract new customers, but also to clear the customer base of unnecessary counterparties, and also just to make a small reminder that your company will always be happy to provide them with services or sell goods.
Cold calls can be made both independently in the organization, and this process can be outsourced. Both methods have both advantages and disadvantages. Cold calls are only gaining momentum and their popularity as a sales method is growing every day.
Video - cold calling tips:
Marketing research regarding the most effective channel sales have been going on for decades. Back in the late 70s of the 20th century, marketers concluded that selling any product without intermediaries is much more profitable and efficient, since it does not require additional costs. The telephone (as one of the most dynamically developing means of communication) became the instrument of such a sale.
Telephone sales. Key Features
Telephone sales (or telemarketing) directly link the seller and the buyer. However, such a process has a lot of features, since the interlocutors do not contact in person, but through the phone, which leaves a special imprint on communication. The call is easily interrupted, so in the process of such a transaction, the ability to interest the interlocutor plays a key role. As a result of numerous studies, it was concluded that telephone sales will be effective if you manage to establish a relationship with the client within the first 45 seconds of the conversation.
Cold calling technique
This is calling strangers in order to sell their product or service. It is also one of the most effective ways sales, but at the same time the most difficult, since the personality of the seller, his charisma, verbal skills play a decisive role.
Successful sale
What is needed in order to sell your product to the maximum number of people in the course?
1. Selecting the target audience. This is the main stage of preparation for the upcoming call. If you sell, then choose to call people of pre-retirement and retirement age. When selling a business idea, it is logical to call potential investors, etc.
2. The identity of the seller. As already noted, telephone sales are especially dependent on how quickly the seller can interest a potential buyer. As far as he is eloquent, he is familiar with the fact that the product is extremely necessary for the buyer. An important nuance is a smile during the conversation. Despite the fact that the buyer does not see her, the intonation in her voice conveys the mood and is able to win over the interlocutor.
3. Purpose. Telephone sales are often ineffective only because the seller does not initially set a specific goal. And it, as a rule, is the appointment of a meeting.
Phone sales scenario
If this is your first time dealing with telephone sales, then the simplest scenario of such a conversation will be useful:
1. Greet the interlocutor, introduce yourself.
2. Represent the company on behalf of which the sale is being made.
3. Indicate the purpose of the call and briefly state the benefits of the proposed product / service.
4. Make an appointment to discuss the details of the deal.
Such a universal scenario is usually enough for an effective sale.
Call centers
If it is large and you do not have personnel with knowledge of sales technology, then this task can be entrusted to special firms (call centers) involved in telemarketing. They have a staff of experienced employees who are trained by business coaches and psychologists. It is enough just to inform about the characteristics of your product / service and agree on the desired form of the report from the company.