CHAPTER
The Effective Use of the Phone in Sales
Zig
In 1982, the publishing company McGraw-Hill did an extensive study of 605 companies in America. They discovered it cost $178 to make an average sales call. That included airfare, transportation through automobile, meals, motel, things of that nature, salary for the salesperson. That’s a lot of money. It took an average of 5.2 calls to make a sale. So the quality of the prospect is obviously extremely important.
I have a good friend who is an extraordinarily successful salesperson. To demonstrate the importance of having the prospect qualified, he does group selling. He puts on a demonstration in front of a group of people generally with the owner or the manager present. If the owner or manager is present, over a lifetime in his career of sales, he’s closed an average of 45 percent every time. If the decision maker is not present, his closing ratio is 8 percent.
In a nutshell, he’s five times as likely to sell if the decision maker is there. Is it important to qualify your prospects? You draw your conclusions. For me, that’s very, very clear. I hope it is for you.
Bryan, I know I wouldn’t get any argument out of you at all that quality prospects, qualified prospects, if you will, are the key to success in selling.
Bryan
For certain, Zig. If it’s costing $178 for that call, it’s vital that you sell right to the right person. Too often, though, it’s not just the young salespeople going out there and calling on the wrong person. Sometimes the experienced reps get excited about a new product or a modified product, and they get so excited that they go out there and give their entire presentation to the wrong person.
We really do have to make sure that we’re presenting to the right prospect. The question then is, what is a qualified prospect?
Phil
I really appreciate that figure that Zig threw out: we can close five times more if they’re qualified than if they’re nonqualified. So, for me, I’d love to see if they have a need for our product. That would be number one.
Number two would be, are they financially able to meet that need? Number three, do they really have a burning desire to meet that need, or is it a need that’s just lying there? Those are three criteria that I would put together to say this is a qualified prospect.
Bryan
There we’re assuming, of course, that this is the person within the organization that is authorized to make that decision. With those three criteria that you’ve established, that would be the right prospect then.
Janet
You have to ask, “Are you the person who is in charge of making this decision? Once you decide that you like my product, will you be the one to actually purchase it?” If he says no, you’re in front of the wrong audience. Find the right person to talk to.
We can ask the customer very politely if he is responsible in that area. If not, who is? Or even call on the phone and say, “Who’s in charge of operations that would be purchasing this type of equipment?”
Phil
In our company, we have a whole series of questions that we ask to determine whether or not we have a qualified prospect. We go down through that series so that our salespeople don’t go out and spend that prospect’s time, or our time, making a presentation when there is no opportunity of involving them in our product. I think you made a good point there, Janet. We can find out if they’re the decision maker by simply asking and finding out.
Zig
Since I’m part of the process you were talking about, Phil, I’m obviously very interested in it. When I’m group prospecting during some of my presentations, I will always ask the audience, “How many of you are decision makers in your company?” When the hands go up, I say, “Here’s what our offer is. If you have an interest in it, and you are a decision maker, give us your card and write the word video on it.”
That does a couple of things. It indicates their interest, but then we can see their card, and we find out very quickly if they are the decision maker or not.
Phil
It’s a whole lot easier to talk to those that really are the decision makers and are interested in building their company than it is to those who are not.
Janet, a minute ago you talked about finding out who the decision maker is. What do we do when we find out we find out we don’t have a person who’s in the decision-making position? How do we get to the next step? What’s your experience been in that area?
Once I ask, then I usually proceed to take that person with me to introduce me to the next person who’s going to be the decision maker.
It brought up a point to me. Many times I’ve presented in front of a person who was delegated the responsibility of searching out the proper product or vendor. Once they made the decision to go with me, I would say, “Who else is going to see this presentation? Who else do I really have to talk to?” which meant I had to go before a board of directors, a board of trustees, a hospital board, because there was still one final sale to make. This was going to be to a group of people, and I wanted to make sure the person who was sold he went with me to make that next presentation. Especially in large companies that are spending lots of money, I knew that I had probably more than one decision maker that I would have to sell.
Bryan
It’s also important to differentiate between the decision maker and the influencers. Oftentimes we will step over that influencer to go to the decision maker. We leave, and we’re outsold by someone internal because we didn’t treat the influencer right.
When I was selling small systems with IBM—word-processing equipment—often the decision maker would delegate. The influencer would be using it, so he or she would study it, gain all the information. You would make an initial presentation through that person.
Sometimes you would take it to the decision maker together. Sometimes you weren’t allowed to. Often we did not take advantage of using that influence, and that’s difficult.
I also learned early the hard way, through losing money, that you never let anyone else sell for you. Don’t say, “I can train this person enough on my equipment and give him or her the feature benefits so that that person can go sell the decision maker.” It can’t be done. Don’t let anyone sell for you. Go with that person. Put your arm around him, pat him on the head, go in there together, and get it done.
Zig
I think what you’re saying is extraordinarily important, Bryan, because there is a vast difference in understanding something well enough to buy it versus understanding something well enough to sell it, and that’s exactly what you’re saying. If all salespeople understood that, they would take the same approach. Man, I don’t want anybody else selling for me.
I was just thinking of the Pilgrims. You remember when Myles Standish sent John Alden to talk to the pretty girl? You know what happened as a result of that: “Speak for yourself, John,” and the rest of it is history. Nobody else is going to represent your interests as well as you can.
Phil
Fortunately for all of us, qualifying is a skill. In other words, we can learn it. So let’s take a few moments and brainstorm qualifying. Let’s see if we can come up with a series of steps that would help us to be able to qualify prospects. What would be some of the first things we would think about, some of the first questions we would ask?
Jill
You go back to your first definition of a qualified prospect. One of the conditions is, do they have a need? The first thing I have to find out is, do you have a need for my product, or can I create a need for my product?
Janet
Sometimes it’s what do they have now that I’m going to either replace or bring to them that is new? So I want to make sure that I know what they have at the present. That shows my knowledge and interest in their company.
Phil
Perhaps even, Janet, what do they like about what they have now? What features do they like about the product that they already have?
The point there is never to sell down what they already have. Many times the salesperson is so excited about that new product that he will tend to talk down what someone has bought previously. When you say that, you’re saying to the person, “Well, you didn’t have enough sense. Why on earth did you buy that?” That’s the underlying statement.
Instead you’re going to build up to your purchaser what he’s previously bought. That’s his intelligence. He made that decision, and I’m going to make him feel important about making that decision, but I have something that could be better for him.
Bryan
That point was brought out very well with the IBM Corporation for many years. I don’t know if it still goes on there or not, but for the fourteen years I was with IBM, two times a year I signed an agreement stating that I would never disparage the competition.
If I wanted to lose my job, that was the fastest way to do it. You could misquote occasionally. You could miss appointments occasionally. But if you disparaged or talked down the competition, that was the fastest way to lose your job, because that’s not the way to compete.
If we’re going out and there are some competitors, we have to have enough knowledge to find out if in fact the prospect has Brand 102.
If I have that competitive knowledge, then perhaps I know about how this person uses the product. I have a head start, rather than going out there completely blind, not knowing anything, and then having to ask those replacement-selling questions: What do you have? What do you like about it? If you could wave your magic wand, what would you replace? Those are the criteria that I’m trying to draw out so that I can qualify not only the prospect, but also the product.
Zig
You’re dealing with one of the oldest psychological principles known, and that is the best way to sell a prospect a new product is to make them happy with the old product. That gives them confidence that they have the ability to make good decisions. If you question their judgment and ability to make a good decision earlier, then you entertain doubt in their mind on this one. If you say, “You really were taken,” then in essence they’re going to say, “Yes, that fellow got to me, but you are not.” So IBM has a marvelous policy there. Smart.
Janet
Also don’t assume that your customer knows all about the product he’s picking out. In the communications industry, I found that many times someone had been delegated that responsibility, and they were really seeking knowledge from me. My competition would just assume that this particular person knew all about communication systems when in fact he knew absolutely nothing. He was looking for a salesperson to help him, to educate him, and not just automatically assume that he had all this knowledge. So as we’re qualifying, we’re very careful about using slang words that are used in your industry, not in theirs.
Phil
One other point that we skipped over when we were talking about defining the need is to understand the environment that our customer is operating in, to understand the type of business they’re in, to understand how long they’ve been in business and exactly what they do. When we ask questions, we try to find out what the background of the company is, and that helps us to zero in on the need.
Bryan
That nails down the need. From that need, you have to have an awareness. Once you have the awareness, it’s a little easier to present something to the prospect. Just as importantly, you have to gather all the criteria, all the information.
The prospect, whether he’s qualified or not, needs to have an awareness. If he’s sitting there waiting for you to come in his office, he does not know he has a need, so by asking the questions, getting those criteria, you’re becoming aware, but you really have to show the awareness to the prospect.
Here’s a question I used to ask. It’s very blunt: “If you could design this phone system, what would you have it do that would be ideal? If you had the ideal product, what would it do?” I can tell you right away, they’ll list ten or fifteen things. “I’d like for it to do this and this,” and immediately, I know exactly how I’m going to sell my product, because he’s told me exactly what he would like if he could have an ideal system in his office.
Phil
Zig, you say that if you ask the right question, the prospect will tell you how to sell him. When you ask that question, you find out what that need is, you know exactly what points to make in your sales presentation, and the prospect will sell himself.
Zig
Yes, I think also, Phil, we need to clearly understand that prospecting and qualifying are important, but sometimes we need to be very careful in our judgment.
I recall that when my youngest daughter graduated from high school, one of our commitments to her was to get her a new car. We went down to get the new car, and I want to stress a couple of things.
I was working that day, so I was dressed approximately as I am at this moment. Now my daughter had not been to bed the night before. She’d been getting dressed. Listen, this was her first new car. You’re talking about dress fit to kill. As we’d say down home, she had on her Sunday-go-to-meeting best. I drive a nice car.
We pulled up in front of the dealership. A young salesman greeted us as we walked in, and though we gave indications of being reasonably affluent, he offered charity. “Can I help you?” I don’t believe in playing games, especially when I’m in a hurry, so I said, “My daughter just graduated from high school, and we’re looking for her a new car.”
He looked right at me and said, “If you see anything you like, let me know,” and I promise you, he turned around and walked away. Now I don’t know what constitutes a good automobile prospect, but here I am a daddy with his daughter who just graduated from high school. He’s promised her a car, publicly announces he’s going to buy it, possibly or probably has the money to do it. I don’t know how much more qualification you have to have before you merit a sales presentation.
We went to the next dealership, and the response and reception were almost exactly the same except even worse. That salesman had BO. We went to the third dealership—almost as bad, and I’m not just after automobile salespeople. If you notice, I started the whole series talking about an extraordinary professional automobile salesman.
We went to the fourth dealership and got lucky, because my daughter had dated the salesman. We had an in with that dealership. We were able to buy the car, and it didn’t take us but a few minutes to do it. I thought to myself how unfortunate it is that we have to have a connection in order to make a purchase.
In case you think I’m just trying to entertain you, let me nail it down with what the Sales and Marketing Executives Club found. They found that the number-one reason for failure among salespeople was the fact that they prejudged the prospect as to whether they were going to buy or not.
Don’t misunderstand what I just said. First of all, you do qualify them. Then you put them on trial, and if they are qualified, you find them guilty of being a purchaser. Don’t decide that even though they’re qualified, they’re not going to buy. Once you have them as a qualified prospect, give them your absolute best shot.
Jill
There is nothing more aggravating than that. I had that same situation with a time-share, and the man prejudged that I wasn’t going to buy. Yet we both had to sit through an hour of him talking. By every indication he thought, “She’s not going to buy, she’s not going to buy.” So I started thinking, “I’m not going to buy, I’m not going to buy.” By prejudging that, you do a real disservice to the consumer.
I think about how many times I’ve had customers or sales presentations, and I thought, “Boy, this one’s a winner. I know he’s going to buy,” and he doesn’t buy. And there’s the one over here that I spent little time on and, I thought, had no chance in the world. That’s the one that bought from me. I thought, “There I go.” I was assuming this one would, this one wouldn’t. Many times we’re surprised by salespeople, because that’s exactly what happens to us.
Phil
Going back to a point that we touched on earlier: who is the decision maker, and then who in addition to yourself will be involved in making this decision?
In our training program, many times when we go into an office, we talk maybe to one, two, or three decision makers. Invariably we find that if we’re only able to talk to one of them, then our chances of involving them in our product are much slimmer. If we can get all three or four of them together, we have the opportunity to close that sale.
Janet
I’ve seen many a salesperson go in and beg for the presentation, or get the presentation and say, “If all of you are busy, I’ll see you today, and I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll see you the next day and the next day.” He’s willing to make presentations separately to all four, which I think is a lot of time, when if he’d ask when is the best time that he can get them together, his chance of closing is much higher.
Many times, we feel that we don’t want to ask them for their time. They’re very busy, but the management team admires that: here’s somebody that doesn’t want to waste everyone’s time four times. We’re going to do it one time, and that’s the appointment that I will get.
Zig
To hitchhike on what you said a moment ago, if the salesperson goes and makes those four presentations, the message they communicate is that my time is not important. Yours is the only one that is, and the first thing you know, that company will have no interest in dealing with that salesperson. They will treat them very shabbily and will abuse that person.
The one who gets all four of the people together, they will respect that individual more, and people don’t buy from people they don’t respect. They just don’t.
Janet
Zig’s been talking a lot about going door-to-door, and I think that’s fabulous, but now we rarely have the time to actually go door-to-door in making our presentations, so we use the next best thing, which is the telephone. I’d like to open it up to see how each of you use the telephone in qualifying people. It’s an important tool we use, and I find that most people do not know how to use it.
Phil
I believe the primary problem is that a lot of salespeople, for whatever reason, are afraid of the telephone. I don’t quite understand why. I enjoy operating on a telephone as much as I do face-to-face. Why do you think salespeople are afraid to reach out and use that tool to help them set appointments?
Zig
I might not know all the reasons why they’re afraid of it, but to emphasize what you’re saying, we did a little study, and as nearly as we can figure, there have been 100 million salespeople who have used the telephone. They have made billions of telephone calls, and our latest study reveals that never in history has a single salesperson lost their life while trying to get an appointment via the telephone.
So of all the things we do, that easily rates as the safest one of them all. Now, Janet, why are they afraid to use that telephone?
Janet
Many times salespeople will say, “I don’t want to make that presentation on the phone. I have to see them eye-to-eye.” I’m saying you don’t have to make the presentation on the phone. I want you to get the appointment. The use of the phone is basically to get the appointment, not give them all the information, because if you do, most likely you won’t get the appointment.
Basically the phone is to get appointments, to get in to see people, and that’s how it needs to be used rather than for selling.
Jill
So you’re saying we need to know what we’re selling at each stage of the selling process.
Janet
Right. You plan your calls. The best and most effective people on the phone are the people who plan calls. What am I going to say? Who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to ask for? I’m going to make it short and brief and get on to the next one.
How long would it take you to make twenty-five cold calls door-to-door versus twenty-five phone calls?
Phil
Since I used to make calls door-to-door, my goal was to talk to twenty people a day, and banging on twenty doors a day. It takes a whole lot less time to get on that telephone and set those appointments, Janet.
I encourage any salesperson to use that tool. The best way to begin to use it, in my opinion, is to reach out and pick it up. That’s a very simple solution, very common sense, but as Zig has taught us so many times, logic won’t change an emotion, but action will. The action of reaching out, picking it up, and beginning to use it begins to take away that fear.
Bryan
We need to have goals when we start doing that. If, in fact, we’re going to spend two hours this morning prospecting, two hours qualifying, two hours setting up appointments, let’s have those goals outlined for us, because in the first thirty minutes we need to know where we stand. Am I above my goal, below my goal? Get me some direction as I’m on that phone calling and trying to generate appointments.
If we have a direction, it’s a little easier. We understand why we’re doing it. Too often we don’t. That’s one thing that restricts us as salespeople from using that phone.
Zig
To combine what the two of you are saying, in all of the years I made telephone appointments, and in all of the years I knocked on doors, I never reached the point where I enjoyed knocking on that first door or making that first telephone call.
My solution—and the only reason I believe I survived—was the fact that I made an appointment with myself that at precisely the same time every day, I would either be knocking on that door or making that first phone call, regardless of what else took place. As Phil said, you make the telephone call by picking it up, and you start dialing.
A funny thing. After about the third call, I started having fun with it, but if I had not made the first one, I would not have been having fun by the third one.
Janet
Rejection is hard on the phone, but I’d rather have rejection on the phone than in person any day.
Bryan
We have to separate rejection from refusal. They may not be buying you over the phone or in person, but that really is refusing to listen to you, to see you. They’re not personally rejecting you.
Too often, we don’t understand that, and we think, “Poor, poor, pitiful me.” There’s only a handful of people that know you well enough to reject you personally, and those are your closest associates, friends, family. The rest of the people are saying, “No, I don’t choose to listen to you.” That’s a business refusal, not a personal rejection.
Zig
One of the most important assignments, and sometimes one of the toughest, is getting to the decision maker through the guardian of the gate. Sometimes that’s an administrative assistant, sometimes it’s a secretary. Phil, how do you go about doing that?
One of the first things we have to think about is how we look at that administrative assistant or secretary. Are they a block, or are they an assistant to me? So the first point is, how am I going to treat that individual?
I say treat them kindly. Find out what their name is and what they do. Treat them in a way that they know that they’re an asset to us, and they’re going to help us get to that busy decision maker.
Bryan
They’re oftentimes the influencer within that account. They will influence the decision maker, sometimes before you get there. If you set an appointment through this person, if you follow Phil’s directions and you’ve made them feel important, and you understand that they’re a person, not a “screener” or a “gatekeeper,” then perhaps they can tell the decision maker, “Hey, you’re going to look forward to this call. This person has his or her act together. The presentation will be good. You need to talk to these people.”
Phil
Janet, you’ve made a point in earlier discussions about how you note the secretary’s name down, and I believe the next time you call, you’re certain that you ask for that person by name.
You bet. In my old book, next to my customer’s name, I always have the name of the secretary who will answer the phone. As soon as they pick up the phone, I’ll say, “Hi, Lucy. This is Janet with Strawberry.”
I do not hesitate. Rather than saying, “May I speak with Mr. Jones?” I immediately give my name and my company. I know the question I’m going to get: “Who’s calling? What is this in reference to?” If you sound like you’re very familiar with them, you have a better chance of getting through.
Phil
You made another point, which I’d like to elaborate on. When you say, “Hi, Lucy. This is Janet with Strawberry. May I speak to—” instead of “Mister,” say, “May I speak to Ed? Is he in, please?” I always use the first name and ask the question, “Is he in, please?” The implication is a personal relationship with that individual, which I do want to develop as I’m sharing with him about our product or our service.
Janet
Sometimes it would help us not to ask a lot of questions on the phone when we’re trying to get to that person. We’ll call and say, “What do they do, and what are they in charge of?” It’s obvious that we haven’t done our homework, and that we’re going to be selling something. Consequently, we’re not going to get through. So be careful about the number of questions you ask of the person who picks up that phone.
Phil
So point number one is, do your homework. Another point is, control the conversation. In other words, we have to get them to help us to get to the appropriate individual.
Zig
When you go about asking for getting on through, Janet, specifically what words do you say to the secretary you’ve called?
Janet
If I know the person’s name, I simply say, “Lucy, this is Janet Sue with Strawberry Communications. I’d like to speak with Ed.” That’s exactly how I say it. Very short, very concise.
Zig
What if she says, “What is this about?” or “What’s the purpose of the call?” In other words, even though she recognizes the name, she’s not quite ready to let you through. Suppose she says, “He’s busy now” or “What’s the call specifically about?” What would you say?
I would tell her, “I’m going to speak with Mr. Jones or with Ed regarding a seminar that’s coming to his city next week or in a month.”
Bryan
Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that when we’re talking with the influencer, we need to sell the influencer. When we talk to the decision maker, we have what they call a general benefits statement or a direct benefits statement, such as “This involves Ed saving 15 percent on his whatever cost. This involves increasing his productivity by 12 percent. This involves a training course that would help his salespeople be better organized.” That way the influencer cannot make decisions on salespeople usually.
If you’re talking to the vice president of sales, that’s his or her department. The influencer doesn’t make that decision. If, in fact, you give that statement and mentally say to the influencer, “This has to go to his or level. You better put them through,” the general benefit statement and the definite benefit statement would definitely help.
Phil
Another point is that in any selling situation, there will be objections raised. We have to have already planned for those objections and decided what we’re going to say, and be able to respond over the phone.
Most times they’ll say, “He’s on the phone,” or “She’s on the phone. She’s busy. She’s in a meeting.” Those are the three top answers we get. I simply say, “What is the best time for me to call back to reach them?” Ask the question so they can say, “At the end of the day, at noon, in an hour, two hours,” and then make that call again at that time.
The good thing about that is that if they say between 1:00 and 3:00, and you make it back, Lucy feels some responsibility in getting you through, because her word’s on the line. She’s told you he’s going to be there between 1:00 and 3:00. There’s a sense of responsibility to let you on through.
Phil
If I’m having difficulty getting through to an individual, and we’re playing telephone tag back and forth, I use the question “What time does he come into the office in the morning?” because usually the first half hour to forty-five minutes in the morning is not that hectic. If I know what time that individual’s coming in, I’ll plan my call early in the morning, when I can catch him.
Janet
I found that decision makers usually answer their own phones very early in the morning. If I call them by 7:00 or 7:30, there’s no one else there to answer the phone, and many times they’ll answer themselves. I have the decision maker on the phone before the day even begins. I used to make most of my calls between 7:00 and 8:00.
What are some specific skills that any of you might use in using the phone, Jill? You use the phone all day long. What do you do?
Jill
I think one of the first things that you need to do is show enthusiasm to your customers. You see, face-to-face you’d be there, you’d be smiling, you’d be happy, you’d be enthusiastic about your product.
You can do that over the phone with your voice. Put a smile in your voice, have your personality shine through the phone. Let them know a little bit about you. I think your voice can create a lot of the enthusiasm that you lose when you don’t have that face-to-face contact.
Bryan
I’ve seen different sales reps even have mirrors in the office, so they can see how they look to that customer, although the customer obviously can’t see them. It helps cement the fact that you’re talking to a person rather than a prospect.
A lot of folks stand up at their desks to speak. Now I’ve tried that occasionally, and it’s getting more comfortable for me, and I think it’s more comfortable for my voice. Sometimes you get like that. You get kind of monotone. You stand up and have a little bit more enthusiasm, or at least a little bit more inflection and modulation to your voice, which is important.
And although you need to have a watch or a clock, a stopwatch, in front of you, you also need to have a basic outline if you do not use a totally planned presentation, because if you’re not careful, you will end up wandering and spending a lot of time and wasting time and money in the process. I believe that’s extremely significant.
I too like to stand up when I’m using the telephone if it’s a business call. If I’m chatting and visiting, I rear back, I sit down, I might put my leg up on the table or the desk. But one thing I always do in a phone call is this: if I’m going to be more than three minutes, I ask, “Have I caught you at a good time?” or “Would it better if I tried again in a few minutes at a more convenient time?”
If they give me the assurance that they have a couple of minutes, then I go ahead, but if they say, “No, this really is a bad time,” you cannot sell the appointment if they have something else on their mind at that moment.
Janet
Do you know how many times I’ve had salespeople on the phone say that to me, and I’ll say, “No, this isn’t a good time,” and they continue with their spiel? I said, “No, this isn’t—” I say that three times before they get the message because they weren’t listening to me when I said no. They just continued, and of course it’s real hard for me to get back into it with them at a later date. I think if they listen to me, I would have probably told them, “Call me back at a better time.”
Phil
I like what Zig just said. Several years ago when I was using the telephone extensively to make appointments, I would ask that same basic question: “Do you have a few moments we can talk?” They’d say, “Well, I don’t, but go ahead and tell me what you’re calling about.”
I refused to tell them what I was calling about, because I didn’t have enough time to give my presentation, and they’d make a snap judgment, a snap decision. I would come back and say, “I really don’t have enough time to give you a full presentation. It wouldn’t be fair to you or to me. When is a good time for me to call you back?”
Zig
Say, “This is too important for you to make a decision based on inaccurate or incomplete information for you. I’d be pleased to get back to you,” and then you set the appointment for the proper time.
Bryan
That’s part of the qualification process. You have to qualify if it’s the right time to make the presentation. If you go to somebody’s office, it’s the same way. You’re standing out in the lobby, and they come and want you to give the presentation. But that is not the time to give a presentation. That is not the qualified prospect at that time.
The same is true over the phone, and you can tell. Someone will be putting the phone down and shuffling through papers—all this noise in the background. It’s not the right time. They’re not honing in on you at all.
Janet
They tell us that the first three to five seconds set the entire stage, mood, and atmosphere of your relationship with someone on the phone. So I say to myself, “I have three seconds to make that impression.” Three seconds is real quick, so we want to remember that as we’re dealing with people on the phone.
Phil
I’d like to bring us back to a few seconds prior to that call. I read several years ago in a book about a gentleman. On every call that he was making, as he began to walk in the door, he would reach out, put his hand on the doorknob, and stop. He would visualize in his mind a successful sales presentation.
In his mind he would visualize the prospect signing the order, and then he’d open the door and walk in. I’m suggesting that as I reach for that phone, I stop. I visualize success. I expect success. I expect the appointment, and I pick up the phone and make the call.
Zig
Along those same lines, I think it’s important to understand that we do get paid on every single call we make, regardless of what happens. We all have an average. Some of them are higher than others, but every time we dial that number, whether anyone answers it or not or whether the line is busy or whether we do or don’t get through or whether we do or don’t get the appointment, we definitely are paid for that call. We have a certain amount that we’re paid for it. We need to figure that out and put three silver dollars or fifteen silver dollars right in front of us. Whatever the amount is, use real money. Look at it, and when you pick up the telephone, think “Boy, look what I’m going to get when I pick that telephone up.” I guarantee that helps to inspire.
A second step you could take is put the most moving testimonial letter you have, from people who benefited enormously from your goods or services, right in front of you. You pick up the telephone and say, “Boy, maybe this is the one who will have even more benefits than this one.”
Phil
I’m happy to hear you make that point, because Jim Savage in our own company has talked with some of his telephone people about doing that, and I have seen some of those testimonial letters in their offices. When you read that letter, it really inspires you to go ahead and handle each one of those calls.
Jill
Another specific how-to is this: If you work out of your office at home, we tend to say, “I’m at home, nobody can see me. I’ll wear jeans and be comfortable.” Just like you have a posture for a casual call, and you have a posture for a business call, you need to be dressed for business. Whether you ever step out of your house or not, if you’re working out of your home and calling, you need to be dressed for business, because you hear the difference in your voice.
Janet
I will attest to that, because I took a group of people who came to work every day in T-shirts and jeans, and I asked them, “Is the power of dress important on the phone?” Their comment was, “No, nobody sees me.”
I asked them to dress in business attire for two weeks and come to work. I cannot tell you the difference in the appointments they got, the way they projected themselves on the phone, their personalities, their professionalism, the way people viewed them, even in the office. But the image they had was, “I’m just talking on the phone, I don’t need to do that.” I support the idea that dress is important even over the phone.
Here’s a question I ask myself when I hang up. I say, “Did that person at least like me after he got through talking me?” If I can get a yes, or I feel they did, I feel I had a successful call.
Zig
In other words, you’re selling successfully on every call when you at least accomplish that objective, and that really prepares you to be more effective on the next call that you make. That’s a very neat idea.
We could get carried away and spend a couple of hours on this subject, but understand that we are attempting to keep a promise that we made to you when you invested in what we’re now doing. We said, “We won’t make a promise without a plan. We won’t tell you what you ought to do unless we share with you how to do it.”
I hope you agree with me that these few minutes we’ve had together on this concept of qualifying and using the telephone is something you can use to further your career in selling. When you’re selling right to the right people, it sure is fun.