Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog

Don't ask for permission on that first call

  

  

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The initial key to a successful call is a great call opening. Without it, your prospect mentally checks out, and you invariably get the response "would you call me back later?" Much of the time, you'll never successfully reach the prospect again. We all know that opening a cold call with "How are you today" is disastrous. Nearly as bad is asking permission as part of your opener. These openers usually begin with "Is this a good time to talk?" or "Is this a bad time to talk." Both are weak. I'll tell you why, and how to fix it.

Right before your call, you should be in the mental mindset that you're a consultant, and a peer of your prospect. This is particularly critical if you're calling a higher-level exec. His or her peers would never begin a call by asking permission. They'd simply begin with stating who they were and what they wanted. If you begin by asking permission, you carry the yoke of appearing to not have anything important to say. And that's why the prospect often tells you to call back, with no real intention of taking your call again. Fact is, everyone's busy, and it's never a good time for a sales call from a telesales rep that isn't confident enough in the reason for his or her call. Let's rethink this and build some confidence!

What is the one thing you absolutely have to find out after your call is finished? You've got to know whether the prospect needs your product or service. Let's say you sell oscilloscopes for the medical profession. Try a real "closing" question for your opening, such as "Hi John, this is Beth Stephens from ABC Medical, and we specialize in oscilloscopes for the medical profession.  John, will you be buying oscilloscopes within the next 12 months?"  If it's "yes", you're off to the races. Questions here start with what do you need and when do you need it. If the answer to your initial question was "no," there are lots of other ways to go, from "who else there might have an initiative to buy oscilloscopes?" to "what occurrence might change your need for oscilloscopes?" Either way, you've gotten valuable information immediately, and your prospect never had the opportunity to tell you to call back. And yes, this is what we teach in our telesales training courses, and in our classes we'll give you lots of ways to go on the "no" too. Best practices for inside sales calls include disqualifying quickly as well as qualifying quickly. I've always said that a great disqualification call is just about as good as a great call to a qualified prospect. Too many reps spend too much time calling people over and over again that wouldn't take their first calls. Doing it this way, you can get valuable information first time, every time. Remember: Greater rapport is gained by respecting the prospect's time and getting right to the point than by obfuscating the issue and trying to be overly polite and deferential in your introduction.