How do you start a sales call? 7 things to remember.

A colleague of mine, an expert in marketing, recently received a sales call. Nothing new there, we all get them every day. But this one irked him somewhat. Given that he has a good understanding of sales and marketing, he’s pretty sympathetic to callers, but still felt a bit disgruntled by the call. Because of around 10 seconds, and one sentence. 

And that’s the thing about telemarketing, telesales, lead generation, whatever you like to call it. The bottom line is, you have mere seconds to get attention, build rapport and say what you need to. It doesn’t sound easy does it? But the truth is, sales is simple, or can be. You have to keep it simple.

So how do you start a sales call so that you get good results?

1. Don’t sound like a stereotypical salesperson, so avoid anything remotely salesly. Gushing, talking too much, asking how someone is (caveat – if they ask you, it’s OK to respond in kind), do not use terms like “mate” or anything too informal.
2. Don’t ask for people “who can make decisions” – a little offensive if the person who’s answered isn’t a typical decision maker, because let’s face it, everyone makes decisions.
3. Do your research first, so you have some names to ask for, which means you don’t fall into the trap at number 2!
4. Be honest. Don’t faff about trying to “get past the gatekeeper” with all kinds of fluff; these people are not idiots, and trying to fool people just makes everyone’s job harder. Gatekeepers are super good at their jobs, very knowledgeable, and deserve our respect. And if you get through on a lie, you get through to someone who’s already potentially a bit annoyed. Since your goal is to build some trust and rapport, you’re now more than a bit up against it.
5. Be nice. Yeah. Just be nice. You know, if someone is nice, you really want to help them. You go out of your way to help people who are nice.  This is how simple sales can really be. Just be super nice, be the real you.
6. Ask if it’s convenient; respect other people’s time. Good manners say a lot about a person.
7. Keep your intro short and sweet – leave out all but the most important and salient points in the very first sentence, and then ask questions. Because it’s what they need that matters, and that’s what you need to find out about. 

I recently called a Senior Procurement Manager in a very large organisation for one of my clients, it turns out the mobile number I had called was his personal number, and he was off sick. Ouch, could have turned into a bit of a click burr. But no, I was nice, I was real and kind. I apologised, and explained how he can register his number with the Telephone Preference Service, so he won’t get any more marketing calls. Wow, he was grateful, we ended up talking about life, the universe and everything, because he was really lovely and he saw that I was too. Two human beings, just being nice – this is how simple sales is. The net result? He promised to pass my email on to the buyers for the service I was calling about, told me when the frameworks were going to be reviewed, and said to follow up with him in two weeks time, when he’d give me an update. How nice is that?

If we can help you with your sales and lead generation activities, please get in touch on 0121 347 6601.