How to sell over the phone

  1. Define your purpose: What do you lot desire to reach?
  2. Prepare questions: What practice you need to ask?
  3. Ready answers: Summarize answers to likely questions.
  4. Practice: Use a voice recorder to hear how y'all come across.
  5. Visualize: Put up a movie of your caller or some other person. Imagine you are talking to a person rather than a disembodied voice.

If you're not comfortable on the phone, sales probably isn't the career for you lot. Learning how to capture and keep someone'southward attention without physically being in their presence is a skill all salespeople demand. It's also a skill that demands constant practice and improvement.

This guide covers everything from pre-call grooming to sales script tips. More of a visual learner? Scroll down, or click here, to see a detailed infographic from The Gap Partnership.

Free Resource: 10 Sales Call Templates for Outreach

Telephone Sales Tips

Make Sure Y'all're Comfortable on the Telephone

There are a few basic characteristics anybody needs in a telephone-axial career similar sales. Don't have the characteristics outlined below? Either practise until y'all practise or look for some other gig.

  1. Enthusiasm: Be eager to discuss your client'southward background, pain points, and goals. Your prospect can sense when yous sound bored or uninterested and will exist less willing to open up upward. And then, ramp upwards your enthusiasm until you're both excited to discover a solution for their apply instance.
  2. Patience: Exist ready to listen. Don't rush your prospect through the conversation, because you never know when a tangent might lead to valuable insights that will aid you close. Be house in guiding the conversation, but permit enough fourth dimension for the prospect to share openly.
  3. Passion: If y'all don't love what yous're talking nearly, how can you expect anyone else to? Passion is critical to selling. Of course, very few of u.s. are "passionate" near selling software, cars, or service packages, and so we accept to discover an angle that does make united states excited. If your software helps users get promoted or frees up time they can spend with their families that's something to get passionate about. Tell yourself a story that motivates and inspires you, and you'll have the same effect on others.
  4. Confidence: Be comfy sharing your views. Anybody -- including prospects -- wants honesty. If you lot think a prospect might non be a good fit for your production/service, tell them. If you don't have a feature your prospect wants, be honest nigh it and propose solutions or product roadmaps that prove you're proactively thinking about means forward. Your confidence sets the tone of the call, so be administrative and proactive.
  5. Sense of Humor: Don't take yourself or your sales call too seriously. Have a lilliputian fun and help your prospect relax. You lot might try a trusty joke ("Want to hear a joke almost a piece of paper? Never mind... information technology'southward tearable.") or cocky-deprecating humor, only interruption the ice and it'll be much easier when you press for next steps.

Be Prepared

Never dial the phone without preparing. Whether y'all're taking your showtime call or your 400th, at that place are a few things you should exercise earlier every meeting:

  1. Ascertain your purpose: Inquire yourself what you want to achieve during this call and how you'll go at that place.
  2. Prepare questions in advance: What questions do you need to ask to attain your goal?
  3. Brainstorm answers: What are likely responses your prospect will have to your questions? By thinking these through ahead of time, you'll anticipate push back and tangential questions and be more than --prepared to respond them.
  4. Do: Whether pitching a new product or giving the aforementioned spiel you've orated a hundred times, bank check in every few months to see how you're doing. Record yourself giving a do presentation and conduct your own call review to tune upwardly your demo.
  5. Visualize: Put up a motion-picture show of your caller -- or another person -- and pretend you're talking to them while they're on the phone. Sound creepy? Maybe. Does it assistance yous speak to the disembodied voice at the end of the line like they're a real person? Absolutely.
  6. Dress the part: Would you be confident if the caller saw you lot? If not, that'll projection over the phone. Clothes in a manner that makes you experience great and your caller volition pick up on it.

Achieve a Relaxed Voice

You lot can sense when someone's smiling on the phone, right? It's not just your imagination. Talking with a grin creates a higher frequency in your mouth which changes the tone of your voice and reassures the listener.

To practice this technique, record a sentence in your own non-smile way. Then record the same words again with a grinning and notice the departure.

Also, you tin can achieve a relaxed and persuasive tone by putting your vox's well-nigh powerful tools to work. Hither's how:

  1. Pace: Speak also slowly and your listener might get bored or frustrated. Speak too fast and they may mishear. An expert caller will mirror the stride of the person they're speaking with. And remember: It takes 10-xxx seconds to suit to a new phonation, then give your listener time to adapt to yous before diving into the most important role of your presentation.
  2. Book: A drawn-out, loftier-pitched voice says, "I don't believe what I'm hearing," while a depression-and-dull pitch says, "I want to exist left solitary." Aim for an emphatic, high-pitched volume telling your listener you're enthusiastic. And, of course, avoid sounding loud and precipitous, because that says you lot're angry and not open to give-and-take.
  3. Tone: Don't apologize for "interrupting" with your telephone call. This sounds similar you've done something wrong -- which y'all oasis't. Instead, act every bit if this call is doing your listener a favor.
  4. Clarity: Be clear and concise in what y'all stress in your presentation. Consider the significant of a sentence and how of import the stress of each word can be. Have these examples:
  • Blah: "What would you like us to do about it?"
  • Defensive: "What would yous like me to do virtually it?"
  • Curious: "What would you like me to do virtually information technology?"

Convince Your Listener

They cardinal to running professional calls is beingness aware of how your physical cues are impacting your prospect and the energy of your meeting. Here are a few things to be aware of:

  1. Body language: It'southward natural to employ your hands as you talk, and that'southward a good affair. The more you gesture, the more than vocal range you employ. And when you lot increment your song range, your calls sound natural and conversational. Merely 7% of a message is transferred using words. 38% is transferred by the way those words are spoken and 55% is transferred past body language. Headsets are a corking way to free up your easily and let them do the talking during your call.
  2. Non-verbal communication: Non-exact sounds, including laughter, sighs, and gasps, are all means to influence and encourage your listener. Besides, pausing on and stressing certain words can affect your listener'southward reception equally we mentioned to a higher place.
  3. Good posture: Aye, really. Your body's posture is important to how y'all sound on the phone. To reach the most accurate sound, position the receiver mouthpiece an inch away from your mouth. And remember, your lungs can't fill properly when you're slumped in a chair, which negatively affects your tone and volume. So, sit up direct, and brand your mom proud.
  4. Never put them on agree: Information technology'southward impolite to put your prospect -- or anyone -- on concur without warning or explanation. It as well breaks your rhythm and interrupts the connection y'all've congenital with your prospect. If something urgent does come upward and you have to interrupt your call, never place someone on hold for more than twenty-30 seconds without offering to reschedule the meeting.

Use Your Call Script Successfully

Call scripts are there for a reason. Exercise with them, but keep a few other things in mind before you jump on a call:

  1. Quit clichés: Mutual sales phrases like "game-changer," "par for the course," and "win-win" are contrived and will turn your caller off. Speak with conversational, everyday language you'd use with a colleague or even a friend, and attempt to make your prospect forget they're on a sales call.
  2. Edit: If you lot're given a script, edit it to suit your natural vocabulary and fashion of talking.
  3. Don't read information technology verbatim: Many salespeople have scripts, simply don't read from them straight. Use it as a guide, and you'll sound much more than natural.
  4. Accept a contingency plan: If a prospect is busy or you're reaching out for the kickoff fourth dimension, be prepared for them to endeavour fleeing the phone as chop-chop as possible. When this happens, break from your script and pull out your contingency program. For example, if a prospect says, "I'thou really in the eye of something right at present," endeavor responding, "That's totally fair. Would you lot mind if I accept xxx seconds just to tell you why I called? If it doesn't brand sense, you tin can hang up. Does that sound OK?" You lot're more likely to catch your prospect off guard and keep them on the phone.

Be a Good Listener

Easier said than done. Many salespeople railroad their prospects with too many questions, giving them piffling or no time to respond.

Others enquire too few questions and simply throw out solutions without actually understanding their prospect's unique use instance. Here are a few tips for existence a practiced listener who really "gets" your prospect:

  1. Don't interrupt: When contiguous, nosotros give non-verbal cues like shifting slightly, opening our mouths, and nodding to let the other person know we accept something to add. Over the phone, those non-verbal cues aren't available. Simply that doesn't hateful you should interrupt. Concur your thoughts until there'southward a natural break in the conversation to avert sounding impatient or rude.
  2. Evidence you're listening: Effort reflective listening by adding an occasional "yep," "hmm," and "I run into" as yous heed. Make certain these phrases don't overpower the speaker. Instead, pepper them into the conversation to allow your prospect know you lot're on the aforementioned page.
  3. Avoid background noise: Testify your caller they have your full attention by avoiding background sounds like typing, rustling, or radio/telly. If y'all work on a busy sales flooring, book a briefing room so you and your prospect aren't distracted by background activity.

Have Great Timing

The best time to acquit outreach is on Thursdays between 8:00 am and 10:00 am and once again betwixt iv:00 pm and five:00 pm. The worse fourth dimension to call someone is on Tuesdays between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.

You can too use timing to get a leg up on your competitors. Know they're calling prospects between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm? Try phoning prospects outside this timeframe to stand out, and perchance accomplish loftier-level prospects who unremarkably have a gatekeeper screening their calls.

Stay Positive

Don't overwhelm prospects with your intense enthusiasm. Starting a sales calls with an eager "Hey! How are you [prospect proper name]!?" might come up off as a pushy and inauthentic.

Maintain a genuine tone and mirror your prospect's demeanor. A less salesy manner to proceed things low-cal is by sprinkling positive linguistic communication into your call. Here are a few examples of cheerful language:

  • "Brilliant"
  • "Certainly"
  • "You're welcome"
  • "Fantastic"
  • "It's my pleasance"
  • "Of course"
  • "Immediately"
  • "It's no trouble"
  • "I will detect out for yous"
  • "Admittedly"
  • "Rest bodacious"
  • "Wonderful"
  • "Please"
  • "Thank y'all"
  • "That's smashing"

And don't forget to establish rapport. The best manner to start off on a positive notation is to be polite, honest, and personalized with your prospect. Use their name, give them your full attention, and take ownership of follow up and side by side steps.

Shut with Style

All of this is worth cipher unless you close the call well. Be clear, offer a review of what you lot've discussed, and always give thanks your prospect for their fourth dimension.

  1. Give verbal signs the phone call is ending: A mutual manner to do this is by giving a summary of the discussion and offer next steps.
  2. Brand sure you lot've covered it all: Ask your prospect, "Is there anything we didn't cover that I can speak to before we cease the phone call?"
  3. Always be thanking: Never end a call without thanking your prospect for their time and attention. They didn't take to take your call, so acknowledging their busy schedule is always appreciated.

Successful phone calls are an art. Master these techniques and see more than deals move forward and your peers and managers take notice.

Want more? Learn near how to go over your fear of cold-calling next.

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Originally published Dec 4, 2017 9:25:00 PM, updated June xi 2021