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More Tips On How To Turn Callers Into Paying Clients
It’s true what they say about first impressions. Because they
have called YOU, they already know something about you and what
you’re offering. The fact that the prospect has bothered to pick
up the phone to call you and find out more is a huge sign that
they’re interested in buying. The downside is that you may not
be the only company they’re calling.
So what do you need to do in this phone conversation to help
things progress easily to the next step? The secret is to gauge
what the caller really wants, and then give it to them. But you
can’t do that unless you first get them to open up and tell you
what they really want. The most important thing to do in the
first few seconds is establish rapport with the enquirer, and
then….
…Get permission to ask questions. When you build trust and ask
the right questions, your prospects will give you all the
information you need to solve their problems, give them what
they really want and ultimately win their business. At the same
time, some callers may be reluctant to open up on the telephone
and discuss their real needs.
If callers are reluctant to give you information it’s either
because they don’t trust you, or because you aren’t asking the
right questions. You can earn their trust by demonstrating in
your attitude and manner that your primary aim is to help them
make an informed decision. You can’t fake this. Customers are
smart and they can sense who’s genuinely interested and trying
to help, and who’s just after a quick sale.
Ask about the prospect’s needs, find out how they plan to use
the product or service that they’re enquiring about, and what
results they hope to achieve through using it. It doesn’t matter
whether you’re selling coaching, financial services or training,
there are key questions that you can formulate to find out what
they want to achieve, what they want to avoid, and how they plan
to use the product or service that you can supply.
Spend twice as much time listening than talking. Many years ago,
I conducted some research into top sales performers. One of my
findings was that the most successful sales performers spent 70%
of their time asking questions and listening to the answers, and
only 30% of the time talking about the solution they could
offer. Aim for a similar ratio in your conversations with
prospects. This means preparing lists of questions to use in
your calls.
That said, it’s not the Spanish Inquisition! If the caller feels
you are mindlessly working through list of questions without
fully paying attention to them or that the questions are for
your benefit rather than theirs, you’ll lose rapport and
credibility. It’s a paradox that when you set aside your own
needs to focus fully on what the customer really wants - even at
the risk that you may not be able to provide it for them - you
create an environment of trust that can ultimately lead to more
sales than if you were focused on your own goals throughout the
call.
What’s the next step? Depending on what you are selling, the
next step might be to book a treatment, book a trial session,
arrange a face-to-face meeting, send information, or you might
even take an order there and then. As the seller, it’s your
responsibility to make clear what the next step is, but involve
the prospect in determining what they are comfortable with.
Here’s a gentle way to suggest the next step without pushing:
towards the end of the conversation say, ‘At this point, what
we’ll normally do is (state the next step). Does that sound like
a good next step for you, or do you still have questions?’. This
is a useful way to surface unanswered questions and concerns
whilst maintaining an atmosphere of trust.
The ideas in this article will give you a starting point, but
what will really get results is being genuinely interested in
helping callers make informed buying decisions that are right
for them. When you take incoming phone enquiries with this
mindset you’ll be able to have meaningful sales conversations
without scaring prospective customers away!
Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter
for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary
therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients
calling you instead of you calling them, then sign up for her
free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com
December 1st, 2008