I have been involved in telesales training for years, but as you might notice, my website is still very new. So what in training is important enough to become my first topic of discussion?
Aptly I thought it should be Opening Lines. Everyone claims they understand the importance of opening lines!
“Hello Mr. Big, how are you today?”, ”Do you have a couple of minutes?” and “is this Mr John Franklin Edward Nathan?” all have a very slim chance of success.
If you think about it carefully, the idea is to create a great first impression and convey the biggest benefit of the product or service in the first 20 seconds (your opening statement). If the person has realised that there is something in it for him, he will make time to listen to you. If you need to verify someone’s identity for compliance purposes, you can do it slightly further into the call. If anyone calls me Mr Eugene Bernard Cilliers, I immediately know it is a sales call form a database which lists middle names too, or it is the Receiver of Revenue.
Some people can get away with using people’s first names immediately, but my advice would be to start with a respectful “Hi Mr Smith, my name is Eugene, and I am calling on behalf of Company A Mobile. I have been tasked with finding savings for clients on their phone bills. By looking at your calls, I can often help to customise your next contract and save you more than 20% on your calls, is that something that would be of interest to you?” If it is not Mr Smith you are speaking to, I am sure he would say so, and if he really is busy in a meeting (and he is interested) he will tell you to call him later wouldn’t he? His next comment will probably be that he is not a Company A mobile client, so how would that work? Now he has obviously opened the door for you to sell your product.
Remember, if you are struggling to close deals, or get past a certain stage in the sales process, it is often your opening that is weak, not your close.
Pick up the phone and just try it.
Eugene
P.S. If you email us details of your script, sales pitch or product, we will gladly try and supply you with more alternatives to make your telesales more interesting, just go to the Contact Us page and complete the form.