In a digital world, with all the innovative methods available to reach potential customers, the telephone is still an effective way of introducing a product or service to your audience.
It is important to have a diverse marketing blend, each member of your potential audience makes buying decisions differently, therefore you need to implement a range of ways in which to reach them.
Personally, I have always enjoyed connecting via telephone, however actually talking to the person you want to is always the biggest challenge. So as with all marketing methods, you need to ensure that you make these calls as effective as possible when the chance to connect arises.
Despite all the scripts you might find for the perfect call, there is no such thing. It is an age-old adage that people buy from people, so if you can build trust between yourself and your potential customer, this trust will be passed onto to your product or service. However, there are elements of the call that are vital to get right.
These elements have always been the same, so refreshing them in your mind and ensuring that you do not gloss over their importance will give you the best chance of success.
For me the most important part of the call is an effective opening.
It is said that you have an eight second window in order to gain and keep someone’s attention, therefore your opening better be good. You need to be appealing, relevant and get to the point all in eight seconds.
The tone of your voice is as important as the words that you say. You can greatly affect the call from the very start and build rapport with your voice as well as what you are saying.
Everybody is happier when talking rather than listening, therefore asking open questions is a great technique to both put people at ease and identify whether your product or service might be of interest, and intently listening will maximise the opportunity.
Know your product or service, questions go both ways, a knowledge and confidence in what you are selling will build that confidence with your audience.
The ability to answer questions without hesitation will really increase your chances of a successful call.
Finally, and fittingly the close. Often you will have grabbed somebody’s attention with a great opening, then you have asked some effective questions, listened and identified an opportunity to either sell your product or book your appointment/meeting. You have confidently answered all questions thrown your way, now you need to close strong.
There are many closing techniques, so you need to find what works for you, keeping things simple has always worked best for me, so either the alternative close ‘Would Wednesday or Friday work better for you’? Or assumptively asking for their business/time ‘Fantastic, do you want to go ahead’? Or ‘Great, do you have your diary to hand, when is best for a meeting’?
If you inject your own style and personality into the call and remember the importance of these elements, telesales will be an essential part of your marketing mix.