Have you taken the time to think about your telephone presentations slowly?
Year by year, as people continue to communicate by text on the smartphones, it becomes more challenging to communicate by phone. Challenging but not impossible. Taking the time to tweak our presentations keeps us on our toes and continuously helps us to become more successful selling on the phone.
Possibly the hardest thing to do these days is reach a decision maker by phone. People do not listen to voice mails, do not pick up if they do not know your numbers and generally make a snap decision wherever they want to speak with you.
What happens when you do reach them, though? Are you making the most of your opportunity? Have you created an opening that makes people want to listen to you and become active participants in the conversation? All too often when I look at prepared scripts, I notice sentences that might look well in a direct mail piece but will either get you shot down quickly or simply will not engage your prospect customer.
Here's two clichéd examples: openings that tout money savings or a saving of time and effort. It may very well be the case, but everyone says their product either:
- Saves you money
- Saves you time
- Makes your efforts more efficient thereby also giving you savings from 1 and 2 as well.
Seriously, everyone says it. But because everyone does it, there's a major downside. Doing this actually makes it easier for a decision maker to tune you out – because you're not different from anyone else who calls – and they'll try to get off the phone as quickly as possible. Not what you are looking for, I'll bet.
Let's think about a better way, even a simpler way.
Why not just introduce yourself and your company name, make a quick one sentence statement about what your product is, and then ask some questions. Use a combination of open and closed ended questions.Take this opportunity to learn more about your potential customers. This makes it easier to learn more in order to tailor the rest of your presentation to your decision maker's needs.
In fact, one of the things you might find is that this decision maker is not a potential customer. Is not better to find that out up front? Is not it better to learn who you should be talking to or know that currently your products / services are not a good match for a particular organization?
Sit down and review your opening. Make it natural sounding. Avoid tired and hackneyed phrases. Take the time, instead, to become genuinely interested in your prospect. You'll be far happier with the results.