Cold Calls: Telesales Technology

Many who decide to work as a sales manager are faced with the need to make cold calls. However, not everyone understands what it is and do not know the rules by which they should be implemented. Against the backdrop of the tremendous importance of such an activity, the inability to make sales by phone can drop the authority of an employee in the eyes of management.

Essence

Understanding what cold sales calls are is not difficult. Their technique involves calling potential customers who are still unfamiliar with the company. The goal is to interest a person and encourage them to contact the organization to purchase a product or service, as well as expand their customer base.

Some people think that cold calling techniques are quite simple. However, this is not at all true. To succeed in this area of ​​activity, you should study a huge number of nuances and pitfalls. That is why managers who own this technique are in demand among employers.

There are three characteristics that an employee must have in order for cold calls to be sufficiently high: a sufficient level of self-control, full knowledge of the information on the goods and services offered, and knowledge about the tastes and preferences of potential customers.

Shortage of professionals

Specialists who understand how to make cold calls are in great demand. However, their number in the labor market is very small. The reason lies primarily in psychological factors.

Many people cannot overcome themselves and call a stranger. They are afraid that a potential client will simply reject them and refuse to talk, because no one likes when a stranger calls him and tries to sell something. That is why cold calls can be a very serious test of strength for a specialist.

However, the manager should not be afraid to hear no. All objections can be predicted in advance, so if you behave correctly, you can try to prevent them. It is important to conduct a conversation not with cliche phrases, but develop your own answers in accordance with the situation. It is also necessary to learn to determine the intonation of the voice and respond to it adequately.

rules

There are a number of rules that must be followed by managers making cold calls. Sales technique over the phone means following these principles:

1. Do not immediately try to sell a product or service during the first call. It is even useful to focus on the fact that the goal of the manager is not bargaining. It is much more important at this moment to collect information about a potential client and achieve its location.
2. It is important to ask the right questions. This will create an impression of both the specialist and the company he represents. Competent dialogue increases the chances of interest to a potential client. That is why you should carefully prepare for the conversation. If the manager has information about the company and is guided in the situation on the market, he will create an impression of himself as a competent specialist. The purpose of the first call is to collect as much useful information as possible about the potential client’s problems, so that in the next conversation he can offer him an effective solution to such difficulties.
3. It is important to try to arrange a personal meeting. If the manager manages to do this, the chance to transfer a potential client to the status of a permanent one will significantly increase.

First difficulties

Anyone who decides to use cold calling techniques will have to face a huge amount of difficulties. Most of them appear at the very beginning of the conversation.

The first problem is that in most large companies all calls are first received by the secretary. He very quickly recognizes standard phone sales patterns. Many secretaries have learned to correctly interrupt calls even before the manager has time to convey any information.

The next difficulty is that customers usually do not want to communicate during a cold call. In this case, the manager should cause some interest from the opponent. However, this is difficult to do, because the potential client rarely wants to talk. Many cold calls last no more than 60 seconds. The manager should not be deceived if he was asked to send offer and even called an email address. This is unlikely to mean anything. The fact is that most of the proposals of unfamiliar firms, without reading, are deleted.

Reasons for dislike of cold calls

The phenomenon of cold calling technology is that they are unloved by both sides of the process. Managers are afraid to use such technologies and try their best to avoid them. Clients listen to a lot of cold calls from specialists. And often those who sell are not even able to really make an offer. However, those managers who are really interested in what cold calls are in sales, how to make them correctly, are able to overcome all the difficulties of this complex technique. To do this, you should study the technologies by which such negotiations are conducted. It is important to gradually get rid of the need to follow the script.

How to increase the chance of success

Cold call technology can be very effective if you follow certain rules. It’s worth starting a conversation with a question that will help you quickly find out if the company receiving the call can be attributed to the target audience. The reason should not be the desire to sell, to impose a product or service. In this case, the conversation is unlikely to last long enough. The manager’s offer of a free trial service or seminar is much more effective. However, he should not be afraid of failure. They are inevitable. Only by going through them can one succeed.

Call script

Any business event will be much more effective if you prepare for it beforehand. In this regard, wide scope for creativity among managers who make cold calls. Telephone sales mean that the interlocutors do not see each other. And this means that you can put around a variety of cheat sheets, patterns and tips.

To overcome fear and make speech more confident, a pre-compiled conversation scenario will help. It must necessarily contain the following blocks:

• The greeting should be in the form of “Good morning!” Or “Good afternoon!”.
• Presentation: you need to give your name and the name of the company that the manager represents.
• The purpose of the “acquaintance” block is to find out the name and position of the person who is conducting the issue of interest.
• Presentation: briefly outlines the scope of the organization.
• The proposal is to indicate the purpose of the call. This may be an invitation to a seminar, a story about discounts and promotions.
• A question that helps to conduct a test on the company's affiliation with the target audience.
• The final. An ideal option would be to make an appointment.

It should be understood that it is not always possible to add a cold call to this scheme. This example is approximate, it can vary depending on how the dialogue unfolds.

Steven shiffman

There are a huge number of authors who study cold call techniques in their works. Schiffman Stephen is one of the most famous. In his books there is not only a description of the techniques, but also practical advice on their application.The author is a fan of the study of telephone sales. He carefully lays out the whole mechanics of calls and gives a huge amount of recommendations. One of the principles that Steven Schiffman advises is that cold calls should not be annoying and constantly repeating. The books provide specific advice on how to respond to customer objections.

Objection Handling

An important stage in the sales process, including by telephone, is the processing of objections. Managers who have not studied the methods of working with them are most often lost during a conversation, begin to stutter, and behave insecurely. Here are a few examples that can help the merchant respond to the most common objections of potential customers.

In the case when the manager hears a call phrase with a request to send the proposal by e-mail, he should understand that this is only an excuse. It is best to say that the assortment of the company is huge and try to persuade the client to meet in person for the purpose of presentation. In response to the phrase “I am not interested in this”, we can say that there is not a single person who is interested in something that he does not know.

Curious is the use of the boomerang method. It means that objections should be returned to the client. In the event that he claims that he does not have time to talk, the following can be answered: the manager seeks to save his time and offers a specific product or service for this very purpose. It is best to prepare possible objections and answers to them in advance, write them on a piece of paper. It is important not only to learn them, but also to keep a list on hand just in case. If a new objection is detected during a call, it should be recorded. Subsequently, it will be possible to come up with the most successful answer.

Probability theory

Every manager should understand that there are no perfect sales techniques. Regardless of what methods the specialist uses, failures cannot be avoided. However, there is one principle that is important to know if cold calls are used. Conventionally, it can be called the theory of probability. The first call is unlikely to lead to a deal. However, the more the manager makes contacts with customers, the higher the chance to conclude transactions. That is why you should regularly make calls in large numbers.

Customer knowledge

An important condition for successful telephone sales is customer knowledge. That is why the manager must first collect the maximum information about him.

First of all, the Internet can help in collecting data. A huge amount of useful information is contained on the company's website, as well as various official resources. At the first stage, you need to find out the need for the product and services of this particular company. It will be useful to know the name of the leader. This will impress and increase the chance to achieve a positive effect.

Keeping in touch

After you manage to establish contact with a potential customer by phone, it is important to maintain it later. Do not let them forget about the offers of the company. There are several ways to regularly remind yourself by sending the following items:

• newsletters that should be interesting to the client and related to the nature of his occupation;
• invitations to events, seminars and exhibitions;
• greeting cards and small gifts for the holidays.

All this helps to maintain a positive impression of the company.

Recommendations

It is impossible to achieve significant results without training and gaining experience by making a huge number of calls. However, following a number of recommendations will help improve and accelerate the result. Summarize them in conclusion of the article:

1. The script of the conversation should be drawn up in advance. It should be carefully thought out.
2. During the conversation you need to be calm and confident. The manager must be able to overcome the excitement.Trembling in the voice will not bring a positive effect.
3. Do not get involved in conflicts.
4. In the event that the client declares that he does not have time to talk, it is best for the manager to clarify when it is most convenient to call back and politely say goodbye.
5. If a categorical refusal is received in response to a proposal, you must apologize and say goodbye.
6. It is important to mention promotions and discounts, offer sample products.
7. You should carefully, without interrupting, listen to the client. Any objections can be expressed only after he finishes speaking.

You can succeed in cold sales. But this is quite complicated and will require some effort from the manager.