So you want to learn how to make effective sales calls and I’m guessing that you battle with yourself every time you need to make one. This is especially true if you are new to the company, or you are calling out on behalf of a client company. So the trick is to realize that you potentially have an issue and if you don’t deal with it head on, it is unlikely you will be successful at achieving your goal.
Getting past the gate-keeper is tricky, and if by some miracle (or ineptitude on the gate-keeper’s part) you do get past the gate-keeper, or you got lucky and the decision-maker answers the phone directly, you may start to stutter and stammer and will the call to end before you got to deliver the punch line. Frustration and loss of confidence will soon ensue.
The quickest and best way to tackle this is to ensure that you completely understand the unique selling points (USPs) of what you are selling AND, here’s the clincher, fully believe in them. You cannot believably sell a product or a service if you do not believe in it yourself. Do you not believe in the value? Think the service or product is over-priced?
Sounds obvious doesn’t it? You may be surprised perhaps, at how new recruits can be trained on the theory of sales and cold-calling and then be let loose on ‘hot’ leads, without fully comprehending and internalizing the company core values and USPs. Their confidence soon ebbs and they become grateful when the call drops and they can move on to the next lead. If their target is 100 calls per day, they’ll easily hit it. Actually, they’ll not only hit the call volume, but will ‘burn’ the list if you’re not careful.
If the target is conversion, on the other hand, which makes more sense, they’ll probably fail miserably. So be clear on the target, do not let the sales team loose on a ‘hot’ list before they are well trained, indeed, train them first and let them try calls on a ‘not-so-hot’ list. Listen to their conversation and help them to understand how they can improve the content and lose their bad habits.
It’s worth investing in cold-call sales training to get the return on your Profit & Loss sheet – conversion rates increase whilst costs stay the same, i.e., bottom line – more profits. The return on the cost of training your team will be rapid, as the conversion rates will improve immediately. Our business training workshop delivers this training on your premises, building confidence and better telephone personalities in your sales team.
Train your sales team. Don’t let them ‘burn’ hot leads.
By investing in your team, your profit will increase.
