Telephone Sales

Telephone sales, telemarketing, cold calls – whatever way you may call it, the professional method using the phone in sales is neither a technique nor a gimmick but it is a process involving a machine and a person’s voice modulation. Though some feel that it is an effective mode of sales, others are of the opinion that there are quite a few handicaps in the process. However these handicaps can be overcome if certain steps are taken to offset them.

A telephone sales caller, often called a tele-caller cannot view his or her prospect physically to assess the body language but has to depend solely on the voice in order to guess the other side’s interactions. So, two things are most significant in any telephone sales – what is said and how it is said. There are several tele-marketing schools in most metropolitan cities where they impart the necessary training to would-be tele-marketers.

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What Can a Telesales Agent Do To Make Telephone Sales More Effective

A thorough planning is required by the caller, usually known as Pre-Call Planning, before a call is made to the prospect. This planning should include what to ask for, why it is asked for and what benefit is offered if the response is positive. For example, if a tele-caller selling fuel additive that have proven performance record asks a prospect about the engine performance of his or her Buick, a pliable response is more or less assured. In most cases, immediate order may follow. On the other hand, the same caller, when selling car insurance policies asks the same prospect if he or she is willing to change the insurer, the response is likely to go sour. So, the pre-call planning is necessary for a satisfactory dialogue.

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A telesales worst problem relates to hang ups as soon as the prospect gets the clue that the call is coming from a tele-marketer and so the following points may come of help.

Getting hold of the name of the prospect (usually available at the database) and using this as the opening dialogue often discourages the practice of immediate hang ups like the effective opening sentence, “Hi, is this Bill Rogers?” or “I am talking to Ms. Weber? As soon as the prospect hears his or her name being mentioned, he or she comes one step inner from straight away rejection. The second sentence in the form of trade enquiry may follow safely after the initial ice-breaking is over.

Timing is yet another factor that determines the usefulness of telephone sales. Getting the prospect at a wrong moment may mar the sales pitch literally ‘nipped at the bud”. Yet it is sensitive to ask a prospect about the best time he or she could afford to spend for a tele-caller. However, “Did I get you at a good time” serves as a good second sentence after the ice is broken.

Accent is another important thing in telephone sales. Many companies doing tele marketing believe that it is important to talk in the same accent as the person receiving the call. So they call up the US in an American accent, while the calls to the UK are made in an English accent. Accent training is thus important if the calls are made from places such as India, which is often the case.