The MOST Important Part Of Your Sales Call

What would you consider to be the most important parts of the sales call, when calling a prospect?

Well, one of my consultants was with a company recently and was listening in to their sales reps’ calls to set up appointments.

He told me that they weren’t being successful in getting past the first 15-20 seconds of the call, so I asked to take a look at their scripts.

You guessed it.

It was all about them and their products.

Even though this company sells some of the best products in their industry, the prospects were being turned off by a product push.

This form of ‘interruption marketing’ isn’t as successful as it used to be because many prospects now say ‘we’ll call you if we need your products’, or they don’t have time or inclination to be ‘sold to’.

If the first 20 seconds of your call is all about your products and services, maybe it’s time for a rethink. Why is that? Why do we consider the opening part of the call to be the most important?

Think: What state or frame of mind is my prospect in when I call?

Think: What might they have been doing the moment before they took my call?

Think: What do they need to hear in the first 15 to 20 seconds that will at least make them listen to me for a further 15-20 seconds?

Whatever your answers, I doubt whether they included anything about being pushed towards a product or service they aren’t using at present.

What can you do, then, to lengthen this first call?

Of course, you grab their attention and interest by talking, not about you, but about them or something that can help them.

That first 15-20 seconds is golden time because it can make or break the next few minutes of the call.

You need to make it personal and specific to your market, but it should sound something like this:

“Hi, this is Bill Smith with Acme Widgets. Reason I’m calling is we recently helped a company in the (customer’s) industry increase their sales by 10% while reducing their marketing spend by the same amount. I wanted to see if we might be able to do the same for you.”

Now you’re talking about them. You’re talking about results. You’re asking if those kind of results would interest your prospect

When you talk about results, that is what the buyer would really be interested in.

It makes them curious and allows you to go into more detail as they are intrigued with what this might be about.

Of course, you need to be honest and truthful. Don’t lie about figures just to get an appointment.

You’re setting expectations that can’t be met if you do, and that will only cause more problems in the long run.

Did you notice that you didn’t mention your products or services in that first part of the conversation? It’s not relevant or necessary.

What you need to do is build their interest to know more.

You may have heard about the ‘AIDA’ principle before. That acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

Many business development managers go straight to their product pitch early on in the call because they are frightened of refusal or they think the product will sell itself. It won’t.

In any type of marketing, it’s important to get the prospect’s attention straight away. Without doing so, you risk the prospect saying they aren’t interested.

As the acronym states, you can’t build interest until you have grabbed attention. If they reply early with ‘I’m not interested’, it’s because you haven’t attracted attention first.

Think about when you go to the cinema. What comes on before the main feature? That’s right, trailers for upcoming attractions.

Filmmakers do that to grab your attention and build your interest for what’s to come. Treat your call like a ‘teaser’ or ‘trailer’ for what’s to come.

Just as you wouldn’t start off on a journey without knowing your end destination, think about what the end destination of your call needs to be. You’ll then realise that the opening of the call is the most important part.

So, talk about results and solutions, not products.

That may help you find a listening ear on your call and progress further than just 15 or 20 seconds.

Would you like to learn more? Here are some more Cold Calling Tips that will help you. Our monthly Telesales Training Course can help you too. Both will be able to provide you with lots of ideas and phrases to use to open your sales calls with impact.

If you’re ever looking for some Sales Training then please check out our Sales Training Courses.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training