These are simple, not necessarily easy, sales call reminders and training.
First, let me give a shout out to Leona Willener who is here in Colorado Springs and posted on LinkedIn this morning about Time Zones and B2B salespeople. (Leona’s post is right here)This was what got my creative juices flowing today and made me think… sometimes, we have to review just the real basics!
Yes, I know it’s crazy today with texting, and social media messengers, emails, and so many methods of communication. I’m still a huge fan of the phone call. True. Like actually picking up the phone and calling, you know, “reaching out to touch someone.” (Maybe you’re not old enough for that … it was an old AT&T slogan or commercial)
I personally think the phone call and the phone message are sometimes becoming a “lost art” including in sales. Because people want to continually be new and innovative and find new ways to reach their customer base. But, sometimes, the old ways come back into style. Just like clothing styles.
So here are a few things to remember when you pick up the phone.
- Before you have started the call. Be prepared. Care enough to do your research. About the person, about the situation that they are in, and even physically where they are at. You have to plan to be courteous and knowledgeable.
- When you pick up the phone… dial with intention! What the heck does that even mean? It means be prepared that the person on the other end WILL answer and when they do, be prepared to present your product, set the appointment – in short, begin with the desired end result in mind.
- SMILE! This is so important… because a smile will come through in the tone of your voice.
After these things then make sure and follow through and execute your communication. The biggest thing that you can do is simply do what you say you will. Follow through with what you and your prospect or customer discuss on the phone. No follow through and execution will surely mean no sale, or if the sale wasn’t the goal or outcome, it certainly will send the clear message that if you don’t care enough, the customer won’t care enough to have you communicate with them again.
All of that is great, but, what if I don’t get them on the phone even though I intend to. Then … here it comes – leave a message. But not a crappy, “hey I was calling to check up if…” not that kind of message. People are so inundated with phone calls and messages yours has to be special and unique. If you come out of the gate and say who you are and where you’re from… *DELETE* You have to change it up.
I was mentioning this thought to my wife, and she said, yeah, it’s like the grocery store… they move stuff around all the time because then you start to look different places, they have different point of sale material, so you impulse buy… YOU HAVE TO CHANGE IT UP! So here is a simple recipe for a voicemail.
- Be over the top enthusiastic! And when you start – ONLY state your first name.
- State the content and what you want them to do!
- Leave your name again (Optionally leave your business)
- Leave your phone number – TWICE, and let them know you accept text!
There you have it! Kind of a two for one training today! Thank you very much for reading, watching, or listening to this episode of THE FRONT!
[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5994522/height/360/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”360″ width=”450″ placement=”bottom” theme=”standard”]