Telephone sales skills

However, honing your telephone skills to handle calls professionally gives you a significant advantage over your competitors – you can use this to create more business opportunities and build better relationships. Many people mistakenly believe that buyers don't like receiving phone calls. They just don't like bad calls.

Below are some proven techniques you can use to leverage your phone to your advantage when calling potential customers and building relationships.

COLD CALLING

Be direct, concise, and state the purpose of your call clearly. “I am Nguyen Van A from ABC Company, and I am calling to inquire whether our company can help you improve your work efficiency with one of our automation solutions.”

Emphasize the benefits. In the presentation above, the focus is on significantly increased work efficiency. This gives the buyer a reason to listen.

Avoid using too many adjectives. The more adjectives you use, the more obscure and confusing your speech becomes, sounding like a multi-level marketing pitch. Compare the above presentation with the following: “I am Nguyen Van A, a senior project development associate from ABC Company – a company with innovative strategies and an XYZ award-winning company. I am calling to inquire whether we can help you improve your work efficiency with one of our most advanced and meticulously designed automation solutions.” Do you see the difference?

Ask if the buyer has time to talk before starting a conversation. Customers will appreciate you more when you respect their time. Furthermore, your sales efforts are ineffective if the buyer's attention is elsewhere. Offer to call back at a later time – when they can fully concentrate on the call. But remember, you must call back!

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

To deliver bad news, a phone call is far better than an email. Again, get straight to the point: “I’m calling to inform you that your order will be delayed by one week.” Explain the reason for this delay and offer solutions. By calling, you can gauge the customer’s reaction and handle the situation accordingly.

Phone calls also beat email in attracting customer referrals. Occasionally, ask customers if they know anyone who might be interested in your products or services. Over the phone, customers are more likely to respond to your request, and importantly, there's no DELETE button to dismiss the offer. And incidentally, phone calls are also a very effective way to build relationships – something you should do regularly, just like asking customers for referrals.

Phone calls are a far more useful tool than emails in reviving seemingly lost opportunities. You could send 1.000 emails to a customer who's no longer a potential client and still receive only silence. Email offers are easily ignored. But just one short phone call after a period of time – assuming you can offer something of value – will give you the best chance to rekindle that relationship.

SUMMARY

Here are some key points you should keep in mind:

Don't mumble. What do you think of an email that, when read aloud, sounds like: "I am bla bla... from blo blo..."? You won't make a sale that way, my friend.

Don't beat around the bush. In business, when you get straight to the point, you'll never get lost.

Don't delve too deeply into personal matters. Always let the client lead the conversation when discussing personal topics. Some people may want to talk a lot about themselves, but many others don't.

Ask questions. Buyers don't want to endure a monologue from a salesperson solely focused on promoting their product, so involve them in the conversation. For effective telemarketing, you can ask customers: “What are the main performance challenges you face?” “What solutions have you tried?” and “Why did they fail?”

IT'S YOUR TURN TO ACT

Proactively asking questions is key to understanding why the phone is more effective than email in sales. Email is a speech, but the phone is a conversation. Sales are built on relationships, and relationships are nurtured by human interaction, not by dry textbook instructions. That's not enough for buyers to understand your product, service, and value. They need to understand you.

The tips mentioned above are indeed helpful, but they only scratch the surface; you still have much more to learn and explore if you want to succeed. Continuing with the question, what are some effective telemarketing tips in your opinion? And which techniques do you particularly dislike?