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on this issue NEW!
In
the last 6 months our office has been plagued by cold callers
whose first question is ‘How are you?' My usual reaction is
to ask who is speaking, which is met by feigned surprise that
I have never heard of their organisation and an immediate
launch into a sales-spiel. I switch off. So, if you want my
attention
Don't
ask me how I am!
Instead,
say why you want to talk to me in one sentence, and ask for
permission to discuss it further.
Making
cold calls is a tough job. I know, I've done it myself and
its how I started this business. I take a lot of cold calls
simply to hear what people are being taught, and how well
they are applying basic sales
techniques.
If
your organisation does cold calling make sure, right now,
that ‘How are you?' is NOT in any script or call structure
used by your team. If you are using trainers who advocate
the use of such a question, change trainers now.
Enough
negativity; here are some positive ideas:
Value
Proposition
Be
able to give a good, credible headline value proposition early
on. For example
- We help reduce costs of
in-house printing by 25%
- Our tools typically offer
increased productivity in call centres of 12%
Work
on this – value propositions are not easy to create. Simply
saying you cut costs or improve productivity doesn't cut it!
Useful
questions
Last
year we ran a telephone survey. We cold called a number of
L&D professionals and asked if they would take part in
a survey that had only one question. Most found it hard to
refuse. We asked how they measured the ROI on their training.
The
reaction was ‘what a good question' and we had some valuable
discussions.
What
is the really useful question in your sector?
A
simple request
Make
a simple request that your potential client will find it easy
to agree to. I regularly receive calls from an e-learning
company encouraging me to review a programme. The caller is
excellent, making the call simple, clear and easy for me to
progress.
How
you can make it really easy for your potential client to respond
to you?
Be
Polite
Failing
any other tactic, politeness works wonders. I received a call
today from a print company that wanted the opportunity to
quote for our business. He was polite, clear and he didn't
ask ‘how are you'! In one sense it was nothing special, in
another, it was such a welcome relief from the usual rude
familiarity. I can't use his services, but I will certainly
recommend his company.
You can learn more about cold-calling
and telephone sales on our sales
training programmes.
Management
Voice Index
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