Today I’ve been helping some sales people learn how to pick up the phone and call new customers. Sounds pretty easy really but as soon I mentioned they were going to be phoning people who weren’t expecting their call, they froze. You could visibly see the fear in their eyes.
It’s all in the head.
We know why this happens because we continually take calls from people trying to sell us something and most of us don’t like it. It’s only natural to want to be liked by people and to be welcomed. No one likes being snubbed at a party or ignored at a gathering and we’ve learnt from day 1 not to be a nuisance or annoy people. It doesn’t get the right reaction.
Obvious really, so how do we get over this thinking when picking up the phone?
One way is to get it clear in our heads what calling new customers is all about. And more importantly, why are we doing it. So here are the five critical beliefs that people who phone new customers must have in their heads.
Your customer needs what you have
Your customers do need whatever it is you or your company are selling. OK, if you’re selling off the Yellow Pages, then you might find some resistance, actually quite a lot. If they don’t buy from you then they will buy from someone else and that’s not good because you have the product or service right here for them. Technology and data capturing these days has moved on a lot since the early days of grabbing the Yellow Pages and phoning everyone from page 1. At least you owe it to yourself to phone customers who do have a need.
You would buy from you
Do you like your product or service? If you were in the market for it, would you buy it from you? This is so important for your mindset. You need a belief that your product has plenty of value and is the best on the market. If you don’t believe this, you won’t give the right vibes on the call.
Your service oozes value
Your service offers value for money. Now value is different to cost they are not the same thing. It’s like nutrients and calories, they’re just different but often confused. Value for money is a combination of benefits over cost, so if you don’t see value in what you are selling, pump up the benefits. Convince yourself first.
You’re good at this
You’ve just got to believe that you’re good at this, you are clever, easy to get on with, reliable, trustworthy, you ooze integrity and transparency and you have the customer’s best interests at heart. You must believe in this – you’re good at using the phone and selling.
Laser your focus on what you’re selling on the phone
Laser your focus on exactly what it is you’re selling to the customer over the phone and what’s the call to action. Do you want them to call into your retail branch to talk further, do you want to go and see them, do you want them to buy something there and then. Be crystal clear what it is you’re pushing on the phone and when you get talking, get to the point and get it done. The belief here is to know that there is a structure to use, no tricks, just structure and skills. Trust in your script and structure to get you results, not lady luck.
It’s all in the head but as always it’s easier said than done. But let’s get done what’s said and bring in more new customers to top up our sales funnel.
And talking about beliefs, when I write again, hopefully England have secured their passage to the next round of the world cup. We can all believe can’t we?
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