74. How can you overcome telephone reluctance?
Overcome telephone call reluctance. Use the telephone as a tool to become more cost effective.
The average cost of a personal visit by a sales rep has more than doubled in the past ten years. Time management, carefully prepared sales presentations and making firm appointments for new account calls now have a new meaning.
Working without a schedule, making unprepared calls, spending too much time on marginal or unprofitable accounts, taking too many small orders and not making good use of the telephone are just a few of the old habits that do not work any more.
Efficiency is the ability to do the greatest amount of work with the least possible amount of effort, in the shortest period of time. Always be thinking of an easier way to get things done. It is not being lazy, it is being smart.
It is estimated that the average sales person spends only about one to two hours of their working time each day actually selling the prospect or customer. One of the largest percentages of time is wasted by calling on customers who are not available at the particular time when the sales person calls.
Use the telephone to call customers and prospects for definite appointments. A few minutes on the phone in the afternoon confirming tomorrow's appointments can be the most productive time spent.
The best way to overcome telephone call reluctance is to have all the calls grouped together and make them all at once. That way if someone turns you down for an appointment, is rude to you, or doesn't give you the business this week, you can move right on to the next call before you have a chance to think about it.
Prospecting by phone differs in the objective you have when you are calling on someone in person. You are not trying to sell your company, products, prices, service, quality or anything, for that matter. The only thing you are trying to sell is an appointment and the only purpose is to get some information.
"Hello, this is Jane Smith with (your company) and we are doing some research on how we might better serve the healthcare industry. Would you be kind enough to schedule a 15 minute appointment for me to ask you a few questions"?
Their possible response: We don't need any more suppliers - we have a contract with.....
"The purpose of my visit is not to try to sell you anything, but simply to ask you some questions, what day do you set aside for appointments? Would 2 o'clock work?
Their possible response might be: I am really pretty busy... I don't have time."
"I will not need more than 15 minutes. Would morning or afternoon work out better for you?"
Comments:
I partially agree with this report in the fact that you can cover a larger area in less time by using the telephone to secure appointments. If I make 30 telephone calls, I may get 2 appointments. But if I make 15 door to door calls in the medium to smaller market area, I usually will get the chance to meet with 6 decision makers enabling me to gather the information I need for a proposal to deliver the next day.
Gregg Nixon
I agree with a majority of what you have said outside of one line, "move right on to the next call before you have a chance to think about it."
I disagree that this is a good idea because if you are selling over the phone albeit appointments or an actual product, if you get shot down and continue to fire through calls with the same strategy, you are missing a key element of selling; learning from your mistakes.
Don't just jump onto the next call yet; ask yourself why they turned you down? Was it legitimate or a smoke screen? Did I ask/say the wrong thing? Was I speaking with the right person in the first place? How can I change the outcome next time.
If you can answer these questions, then move onto the next call and you will be exceedingly more efficient in your daily trials and tribulations.
"The definition of craziness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
Joseph Irimescu
In my opinion the sales process has many avenues: phone, email, fax, print ( mail ) and in person. All have their own merit in a sales process, and all are ways of “touching” your prospect by different means and on a continual basis. The phone aspect needs to be planned, prepared and organized – focused on just getting the appointment. Without a clear plan, phone conversations can be easily diverted. The beauty of the phone portion of your campaign is that rejection is not such a bitter pill – someone says no just click it away and move on to the next possibility.
Danielle Antonacci
Telephone reluctance is hard to handle, the cold call is the drawback of the sales profession. It’s is the fear of rejection that intimidates us. You just have to deal with it and move on!
Morgan Frazier
I do not think cold calling on the phone is worthwhile. I do think the phone can be used extensively with clients you have met face to face for setting appointments and maintaining accounts.
An “in person” cold call allows you to get your business card in the customer’s hand and get their card. They will remember you on the next call even if you were rejected the first time. I could never be a telemarketer.
Crocker Smith
"Working without a schedule, making unprepared calls, spending too much time on marginal or unprofitable accounts, taking too many small orders and not making good use of the telephone are just a few of the old habits that do not work any more."