Over the years, I have had the privilege of selling my father’s house to a friend. I have also been the buyer of my own house. I make it easy for sellers to reach me when they call. This makes them feel more comfortable and ready to accept the best offer. These are some mistakes and tips to avoid. Do your homework. When I get a call, the first thing I do is ask the property owner whether I can view the property. If they answer yes, I immediately drop everything and head over. Why? Because I have seen the property before and know how it looks, what it can do and what it cannot.
Selling products over the telephone is an important part of any business. However, there are some things you need to know in order to do it correctly. It’s not easy to sell products over the phone. This article will highlight the most common mistakes that people make when selling over the telephone and how to avoid them.
Selling by phone is a great way of building a client base and expanding your sales without the hassle of traveling to meet them in person. It is not an easy task and not everyone has the ability to sell.
Avoiding rookie mistakes in phone sales
In this post, we’ll discuss some tips and tricks for selling over the telephone. Below are five phone sales strategies, as well as a bonus tip you can use on your next sales call.
- To find signs of interest, use Discovery Questions
- To get to the truth, you must be able to deal with objections.
- Keep Command of the Call
- Pay attention to the prospect.
- Honesty when presenting all pertinent data
TIP FOR BONUS PHONE SALES: Discuss the prospect’s financial situation as soon as you can.
Let me ask you a question. Do you feel excited when you receive a cold calling? How do you feel if you have to call your phone, cable, internet or telephone company?
Salespeople have a poor reputation due to lack of coaching. We now prefer to communicate through alternative channels. Most sales reps prefer to communicate with potential customers via live chats or SMS, rather than having to talk face-to-face with them.
I will be the first to admit that I have made some terrible cold calls. I have also made a lot of bad demonstrations, discovery calls and negotiating strategies. Good news is that you won’t have repeat my mistakes.
These are five phone selling strategies that will help you to sell over the telephone while avoiding common pitfalls.
- To find signs of interest, use Discovery Questions
Although sales managers and coaches may give a list with appropriate questions for representatives to ask, they are not able to listen. While experience may be helpful in identifying the right questions to ask, it is not enough. The sooner we identify the pain signals associated with exploration inquiries, the better.
Think about the destination you want when creating your list of exploration questions.
What does this question mean for your value proposition? As you teach your “Discovery Call 101”, class, align your questions with the potential responses of prospects to reveal the ultimate value proposition associated with that question.
- This is how it should look:
- Answer or Surface Level Pain Statement>Pain Statement>Value Proposition>Customer story (if possible).
- This tip will help sales reps understand why they are asking this question and what to do next.
- To get to the truth, you must be able to deal with objections.
What is an objection? As Jeb Blount explains in his book “SalesEQ,” there are some common objections or “Buyer scripts” that can be raised. Then there is anything the prospect might say while talking on the phone.
I am one of those people who believes that almost everything a prospect says about me is an objection.
- How much do your services cost?
- What is the time it takes to set it up?
- Is there a free trial?
Sorry, I don’t have the time right now to speak to you. They all raise objections! These are some of the things you should be aware
Salespeople who are most successful recognize that they don’t try to overcome objections but rather seek to find the truth.
When you look at objections from this perspective, everything changes?
To respond to buyer scripts like “I need talk with my spouse/other decision-makers,” “Call me later,” and “I need think about it,” scripted objection handling methods can be used.
Sometimes, other objections are more difficult to spot during a sales call because we want to find the root cause.
An argument such as “How long will it take to implement your solution?” is a good example. Are we able to understand the reason why prospect asks this question, or are we guessing? Use question reversal techniques to stay in control and grasp these types of questions.