8 mins read
Outbound calls can be a crucial part of your sales strategy, so it’s important to make the most of every single one. As salespeople, we know that customers aren’t always receptive to outbound sales calls.
However, there are ways to ease the customer’s reservations and turn a cold call into a productive conversation!
To some sales professionals, outbound calling can be a daunting prospect. No matter what stage of your career you are in, you can always improve your techniques to make outbound calls as painless as possible.
This article will explore some top tips for winning customers during an outbound call, and show how to convert as many calls as possible into sales and profit for your company.
Confidence is key
How can you expect customers to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself? Confidence is important for any business communication. Salespeople who remain confident even in the face of rejection or questioning are much more likely to convert that customer.
If you can confidently talk about your product or service, consumers will be much more likely to trust you and have the same confidence in your brand. If you ever need help in bringing out the sentiment, a script can help you get across all the important points—but be prepared to go off-script if the customer asks questions or engages with you.
When you’re making outbound cold calls, often the customer will never have heard of you. People are generally suspicious of unexpected calls and find them a nuisance in their busy lives. However, a confident sales team can encourage individuals on the other end of the line to open up and are much more likely to keep their attention.
Be more human
Alongside confidence, the tone of your conversation is important to engage a customer over the phone. Consumers are tired of robotic-sounding salespeople, who make it clear that they are required to make a certain number of calls and don’t really want to engage. This strategy simply will not work in your outbound calls.
We know that customers want to feel valued. Speaking to them on a more human level is a great way to engage them and have your call stand out as not just ‘another sales call’.
Hold a more natural conversation and answer questions in a genuine manner, rather than strictly sticking to a script. This makes clients more likely to purchase from your business and therefore helps you turn a profit.
A free-flowing conversation ensures you get a good idea of what that customer is looking for, and you can gain more insights into their business. This information can then be saved securely in your hosted phone system for your sales team to revisit with the customer on a follow-up call. You end up potentially selling even more products or services!
Listen to customers and gain more insights
If you’ve had a natural conversation with a customer, they will have revealed information about their business needs. They would’ve even mentioned something about their personal life. If you can take these details into account, you’ll understand how to gel well with the clients and cater to their inert needs.
Acefone’s hosted phone systems come equipped with an online portal, which all your team members can access at any time, on any device. This portal gives staff the opportunity to save detailed notes on customer accounts. Therefore, insights into client preferences can be stored securely here for the whole team to use on the next call.
Furthermore, if you listen to consumer issues before telling them how your product or service can help solve all their problems, customers are less likely to feel like they are listening to a ‘hard-sell’. Hard selling puts most people off, as it does not take a customer-centric approach and gives a poor impression of your business.
When making an outbound call, sales teams should always add value to the customer. So hard-selling should be avoided, and rather, you need to encourage your team to listen and engage with customers.
Make sure you are prepared for calls
With the current COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are working from home. This could mean that your workspaces now have more distractions than usual—from children to pets! When you’re making calls to prospective customers, it is imperative that you stay free from distractions and won’t be disturbed.
Disturbances can make a salesperson come across as unprofessional. While people will be more lenient during the pandemic, there is only so much patience a customer will have—particularly with an unexpected call.
To ensure a distraction-free call, make sure your workspace is clean and free of clutter. This means you will be much less likely to have your attention taken away from the call. It is also important to ensure that no one will interrupt you, so tell family members that you are not to be disturbed, so you can simply focus on the customer.
With a hosted phone system, sales teams can operate from anywhere in the world, simply with an Internet connection. They can use any device they want to and can benefit from call flipping. Meaning you can take a call on a laptop and seamlessly move it to your mobile device, keeping up with the demands of a busy sales person’s life.
This also helps you move away from distractions easily and the customer will never know, even if a flat battery or faulty laptop equipment almost ended the call!
Build a rapport
A great way to have a productive sales call is to build a rapport with a customer. Use their name often and try to find something you can connect with them over. This may mean doing a little research pre-call to find out something about their company or looking at their LinkedIn profile to see some of their recent posts or interests.
With social media, it is much easier to find common ground, even with a stranger. This personal approach will be appreciated by the customer.
Chances are, you don’t want to sell to this client just once. Having a rapport with the customer will mean that they will find you more likeable, and more relatable than a robotic salesperson.
Consumers are more likely to buy from someone they like, so building a rapport with the customer from the first call is an important way to create a lasting relationship and potentially increase future sales. Быстрое оформление кредита
Conclusion
Outbound contact center solutions can be a great way to make a customer’s life easier, by proactively bringing solutions to their problems to them. You essentially cut out their need to trawl the internet for services.
Although these calls can be viewed negatively by customers, if you approach it correctly and are prepared for these objections, you can transform this negative experience into something productive and useful to clients.
If you’d like to find out how a cloud hosted phone system can help you be more successful in your outbound calls, call our team today on 1888-859-0450 or drop an email at [email protected].
