4 Simple Steps to Successful Telephone Sales

Do you think that to close a sale you always have to have personal contact with the prospective buyer? Do you hate telephone sales because you think that the intimacy that you develop in a meeting or a meal should be there from the beginning?

Learn a secret. The reason buyers ultimately choose you is not because of your elegant dress, or your intelligence, or because they liked you. And the salesperson they meet after you will be just as well dressed and likable.

Buyers only choose you when they have solved all the issues required to make a decision. Issues that are not obvious and have nothing to do with the problem or need itself, but have to do with the decision that they are ready to make a change, choosing the solution you are proposing to them and that there is no alternative.

So, to save time and money, pick up the phone. You can use it as a very effective and inexpensive tool in prospecting or even making sales, always helping them start thinking about how and why they will eventually buy.

When prospecting by phone, you can follow 4 simple steps

Confirm that you are speaking to the person responsible for making the decision or a person who can help you, and provide your name and the organization you represent.
Find out something about them that will help you later. The secret is to have 4-6 questions ready that you can ask them in order to activate communication. Try to write down questions that most people will respond to.

Allow them to identify a point where you can help them: Now, based on the answers you get, it’s time to discover the situation that created the problem or need, and demonstrate how you can help.

Ensure the next step: There is one activity that all buyers do regardless of the solution you propose to them. And that is analyzing all the factors involved in making and implementing the decision. So, this step doesn’t necessarily mean that they will buy right away, but it does mean that you have come to an agreement on something and you can move on to further discussion in an appointment or even closing the sale.

Most of the time, as a professional salesperson, you won’t be able to get past the first step. This is logical and expected. The goal is to achieve a number of calls where you have completed all 4 steps. Set a comfortable daily goal, a goal that you feel you can achieve, and just do it.

You don’t need your likable personality or your stylish clothes to succeed. You can do it if you want, of course. Alternatively, to save time and money, you can start the process by phone and if necessary, make the visit and close the sale.

Source: by Nikos Pavlopoulos