9 Sales Call Tips

Being great over the phone is one of the most important aspects of being a great salesperson. Though the customer is ultimately in control over whether a sale will take place or not, a skilled salesperson has the ability to effectively persuade almost anyone on a sales call. Below are nine sales call tips that you can begin utilizing immediately so you can make more closes and make more revenue.

1. Speak To The Person Who Makes The Decisions

You can’t make a sale if you’re not speaking to the correct person. It’s that simple. It has to be a person that directly correlates to the product you’re selling. Always be kind and quickly acknowledge that you’re aware of pain points, so the person is less likely to hang up.

Here are some questions to ask to make sure you’ve got the right person on the line:

-“Is this the owner speaking?”

-“Is there a decision-maker I can speak with?”

Fortunately, there’s usually just one decision-maker, which makes your role easier and more simple. But always be certain that you don’t have a gatekeeper on the line.

2. Determine Pain Points

After you’ve determined that you’re speaking with the correct person, it’s time to gently get that person to acknowledge his or her pain points. Do this by probing for valuable information such as the person’s background and past experience. Make sure that your questions get the person to eventually provide the answer you’re each for, which is probably, “I don’t have the ability to do that” or “I’ve never been able to do that.” Once you hear a sentence like these two, you’ll realize that you’ve determined the pain points. Pain points are only real when the prospect actually admits that they exist. He or she will then realize that a change needs to take place to eliminate the pain.

3. Offer The Prospect Great Value

Now that the pain point has been brought up, it’s time for you to get your prospect to comprehend that the problem can be taken care of. Just because a prospect realizes the pain doesn’t mean that the person is willing to make a change. This is why you need to step in and offer, not just a solution, but a solution that has value. Do this by educating the prospect concerning why he or she will benefit form your product or service. Storytelling often works here. Tell a story about another prospect or a friend of yours who benefitted tremendously once your product or service was in his or her life.

Best cold call tips for sales

4. Get The Prospect To Act Fast

Not only should your prospect understand the importance of your product or service, he or she must also understand that they need to make a change FAST! Explain to the person why their business is suffering every day as a result of not utilizing what you have to offer. Be detailed and illustrative as best you can so a picture is painted in the prospect’s mind. The more specific you are, the more likely it is that the prospect will determine that a change needs to be made. Use as many data points and numbers as you can. Be sure to mention the prospect’s competitors and how you’re concerned they will gain an edge in the marketplace if your prospect doesn’t act fast.

Here are some questions you should consider asking your prospects at this stage of the phone call.

-How is your business doing as of today?

-Are you satisfied with how things are going?

-Can this service help you gain more revenue?

-Just how much revenue do you think you could gain from this?

-Do you think that extra revenue will be going to other business in your industry until you have a solution?

The goal of these questions is to make the prospect have an open mind about the gravity of the situations, so that he or she will consider doing business with you.

5. Tell The Prospect About You And Your Company

You’ve got to earn the right to tell your prospect about what your company does. You should only tell them such once the person expresses willingness to make a change to take care of the pain points. Then, and only then, can you focus on yourself. A lot of salespeople make the mistake of doing this step too fast. But you have to be patient or it usually doesn’t work. The prospect must be interested in you before you have any right to talk about yourself.

Next, you can continue to work your magic by explaining what your product or service can offer the prospect. Be simple and don’t go too far off script. Try to eliminate minutia and focus on the big picture. Then, ask the prospect what he or she thinks about what you’ve said. Stress that you’d prefer an honest answer. It’s likely, at the point, that the prospect hasn’t fully bought in to what you have to offer. Don’t panic and remain cool, calm, and collected. Correlate your sales pitch to the prospect’s company. Continue to paint a picture that offers tremendous value to the prospect.

6. Emphasize You Have A Valuable Opportunity

You now must summarize the problem yet again so your prospect comprehends 1) why they need to act fast and 2) that you’re here to help them out. Stress the core benefits that are closely related to the prospect’s business. Be to-the-point and, perhaps, tell another quick story. Again, you’ve got to be as specific as humanly possible so the prospect doesn’t need to think too hard or ask time-wasting questions about your story. You have now gone full circle and it’s time for you to attempt to cash in.

7. Try To Close Your Sale

If you’ve effectively given a story, it’s now time to get the prospect to put their money where their mouth (hopefully) is and make the sale. Say something like, “I can partner with you in a few different ways. Let’s quickly go over them.” Then, guide the prospect through each option. Make them feel comfortable by providing a small price point, and then show them the mid-level and high-level pricing. Recommend what you think is best for the prospect based on his or her needs. Most people choose the mid-level option and it’s fine to nudge your prospect to go with this option.

8. Use Your Rebuttals Effectively

This is the stage of the call where you’re going to often get bombarded with objection after objection. So, be as prepared as you can to calmly respond to each objection by offering effective rebuttals. This is where great salespeople thrive—the stakes are now high and it’s do or die. All of the worries and concerns of the prospect will be unveiled in this stage. Treat everything brought up with the utmost respect and show that you care for the prospect. Reassure the person that his or her objection is really not that big of a deal at all and your past customers were able to easily move past it.

9. Either Close Or Schedule A Follow-Up

Try to close one final time after the objections have been addressed. You’re now either going to make a sale or, sadly, not make a sale. If you can’t close, that’s perfectly all right. Just schedule a follow-up call. Giving the prospect a few days to consider will often work in your favor due to you having time to come up with new strategies to get the prospect to say yes. Encourage the prospect to research your product or service in advance of the follow-up call. Be transparent and tell your prospect that, the next time you two talk, you would like him or her to reach a final decision. Don’t despair if you didn’t make the sale, because you followed a highly effective process.

In Summary

Utilize this sales call process every day. You will have ups and down, like all salespeople do, but you will have improved what you were doing, and as a result, you’ll likely experience a revenue increase over time.