CHAPTER 9
Using New Technology in Phone Sales
PHONE SALES CHALLENGE – Zachary, a relative newcomer to college textbook sales, has a problem: “In working with the professors I have as customers, I often find that their class schedules make them difficult to reach by phone. Not to mention those committee decisions, where all the professors are either teaching, working with students, or off campus. It’s impossible to get them all together! I need a way to have quick exchanges with them between classes and to present to the whole committee at once. How can I do that with just a phone?”
All salespeople use the phone on a regular basis, regardless of what they are selling. Those of you who are doing inside sales are used to “meeting” your customers this way all the time. But very few sales-people, whether phone-selling veterans or those just recently moved inside, fully utilize the wide range of telecommunications and online technology available to them for managing their customer contacts. Zachary sounds like he needs a crash course in making the most of his communication choices. Let’s eavesdrop on some of his other sales communications first, though, to see what needs to be supported or changed.
ZACHARY: You indicated that there are others involved in your textbook decisions. Will you please send me their names and contact information, so I can call them about our book and software options?
CUSTOMER: Well, I’m rather busy today with a class deadline and everybody is at different campuses …
ZACHARY: That’s okay. How about if I call you back later in the week and get the information from you then?
CUSTOMER: Okay, whatever you want to do.
In the above scenario, Zachary failed to get the names from the customer while they were still on the phone. Instead of losing valuable time and momentum, he should have asked for access to an administrative person or a departmental directory for that information. Then, once he had the contact information he needed, he could have set up a conference call or webinar in order to speak with all the decision makers at the same time. How many times does a sale fall apart due to the amount of time required to “sell” each person individually?
Out of frustration, Zachary decides that he’ll try texting the professor to move the decision along. This is what he sent:
ZACHARY (texting): aamof, if u r ready to make a decision today, we can probly get u some extra desk copies. aap, Zachary
CUSTOMER (texted reply): Zachary, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. We can’t be pushed into making an immediate decision on campus today, though, so don’t worry about it.
It’s pretty apparent what is happening here, and this is why we discourage texting customers. Zachary’s use of excessive acronyms and shortcuts, combined with his lack of attention to proper grammar and punctuation, and his pushy approach, did not serve the situation well. However, if the customer prefers that form of communication, there are times when it is appropriate to contact him or her using that tool. In this instance, clearly the customer didn’t appreciate Zachary’s method of communication and sent an articulate and yet negative reply that pointed up his lack of professionalism. Texting a customer is not the same as texting a friend to meet for a drink.
Zachary finally decided to schedule a webinar so that he could speak with a number of the decision makers at once and use visuals in his presentation. Let’s see how his plan worked out.
Zachary went ahead and scheduled the webinar for a few of the decision makers. This is what happened:
ZACHARY (showing pages from one of his company’s textbooks): So as you can see from the charts and tables in the Student’s Edition, this book is equipped to provide your students with the most up-to-date information available. And as you can see in this next slide…
CUSTOMER 1 (interrupting): How much more time is this going to take? I have a class to teach.
CUSTOMER 2: Yeah, now that you mention it, can you just send us the URL and let us look at the slides? That’ll be much quicker. I really don’t have time for all this.
CUSTOMER 3: I had a couple of questions, but I’m thinking that I need to run, too. Please be sure to email me attachments with the pages from the book that you showed us and I’ll see if what I need to know is in them before we make a decision. I can always call you back later.
Webinars can be useful tools, but Zachary has neglected to keep in mind that presentations with visual elements do not necessarily lend themselves to interactivity. He forgot that selling to several people at a time requires a higher level of planning and activity to keep the participants engaged than selling to one person on the phone. When customers are bored, they come up with excuses to leave your call, real or not. Whether Zachary was violating time constraints that were set up in advance or had just lost the interest of his customers, he was no longer engaged in a sales conversation with them. Anyone want to bet on whether that last professor will call Zachary later to ask a question? And how easy do you think it’s going to be for him to set up a webinar with this group in the future?
The Pros and Cons of New Technology
Perhaps five years ago you could have gotten away with avoiding new technology in doing business, but today that has become increasingly difficult. Of course there are still both salespeople and customers, who avoid using the newer forms of communication. However, the vast majority of both salespeople and customers are embracing the accessibility of information and people that multifunction phones, PDAs, email, videoconferencing and webcams, and online chats offer. But before you set up a chat or webinar with a customer and begin tweeting with everyone in your contact list, be sure to take some time to develop strategies for using today’s tools appropriately.
Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of the different forms of communication now available to the telephone salesperson.
MOBILE PHONE CALLS
In some of the upgraded models, your mobile phone can allow you some of the freedom of a laptop. If you are a total mobile phone communicator, consider the elements that follow.
Pros: Mobile phones are portable; they can be used as a call manager; they hold numbers as well as messages; they offer Internet access; they can be used as a camera; they allow conference calling; they can be used to send and receive emails and to access the Web immediately; and they allow contact with customers outside standard daily business channels.
Cons: Signal quality varies and leaves many “holes” in conversations, including frustrating “dead air” upon answering; calls beeping in can be a distraction to both the salesperson and the customer.
MOBILE PHONE TEXTING OR OTHER INSTANT MESSAGING
With so many devices for instant electronic exchanges, text messaging, or “texting,” has become a quick way to touch base with someone from a PDA (a BlackBerry or iPhone device for example), or you can send (and receive) instant messages via your computer email system. Texting can serve you well in the right circumstances, but it can hamper your relationship with the customer in others. Keep in mind that texting is considered informal and best used with internal contacts rather than external customers.
Pros: Texting and instant messaging devices offer a quick way to convey and receive information when urgency is important; they encourage interaction from customers who avoid phone calls; they make it easier to send ideas quickly onto a customer’s mobile device for a rapid response.
Cons: These devices make it easier to create errors in spelling, grammar, and capitalization, which can be seen as a lack of professionalism; impersonalized broadcasts are resented as spam; many customers will respond only to urgent text messages from either family members or their employees.
WEBINARS
Webinars are the telecommunication version of the sales presentation to a roomful of people—without you at the front of the room.
Pros: Webinars enable you to give a slide and phone presentation to several decision makers at once; customers watching the presentation on the Internet can be directed to websites or award notices about the company’s product or service, which is especially helpful when pictures, complex diagrams, or schematics are used to add to the effectiveness of the presentation; instant feedback can be elicited on any given slide and the presentation can be adjusted accordingly in real time.
Cons: The “dizz-out” factor is pretty high for the same reason as in live slide presentations: The attention of your attendees can drift because of overkill in the number of slides. Slide presentations are poor substitutes for emailed information that can be read at a customer’s convenience (or not!) or for good (face-to-face or phone) presentations by capable speakers. Phone webinars do not allow the salesperson to determine when customers have left the call.
CONFERENCE CALLS
Multiply your sales calls times ten, add some creative management of the participation of those on the call, and you have the potential for a quick decision—but strategy is crucial.
Pros: Conference calls are a great method for using the phone to compound sales efforts and prevent repetition; when handled effectively they can significantly shorten the selling cycle by engaging all decision makers at once; crafted skillfully, with appropriate preparation and follow-up, they can be a one-shot-solution when it comes to closing business over the phone.
Cons: Finding convenient times for all to phone-meet can be a challenge; the salesperson has to work harder at keeping the meeting on track and keeping everyone engaged; sometimes a pack mentality can set in, causing customers to influence each other in the wrong direction.
All you former face-to-face salespeople and anyone who resists picking up the phone for customer selling for any reason, pay special attention here.
Pros: Email allows the salesperson to send out information whenever it is convenient and allows customers to pick up messages when it is convenient for them; more information can be included in an email than in a text message, which is especially important when communicating numerical or complex data; it can allow the salesperson to open a conversation with a customer in a different time zone or a customer who avoids the phone.
Cons: It is very easy to delete an email if the return address is unknown or the subject line is uninteresting; the email can be viewed as spam to an unknowing customer (or to the mail server he or she is using) and ignored accordingly; rarely will business ever be concluded via email, so it should be used to set up a phone conversation or schedule other follow-ups, rather than as an end in itself.
VIDEOCONFERENCING OR WEB CONFERENCING
Some companies have their own videoconferencing setups, while others rent such facilities for important multisite meetings. Both are becoming more popular as travel costs are being reined in and as customer bases become more international.
Pros: Videoconferencing or web conferencing lets the salesperson see customers’ faces and read body language during the call. Also, video- and web conferencing can be a good basis for follow-up phone business, and perhaps even a close soon after.
Cons: Technology glitches can include a delay in voice and lip movement, shadow-movement, no sound, no picture, or loss of both in the middle of the video meeting. Few people who have experience with video- or web conferencing are lucky enough to avoid suffering through one or many of those glitches, despite the fact that the technology is improving all the time.
ONLINE CHAT
Many of you have probably used online chats for tech support when you have contacted customer service. Now, think of the potential of real-time chats for sales support.
Pros: Chats can be a good way to deal with customers who are far away or who have a specific informational need; messages can be two way, as with instant messaging; new product chats can be set up for multiple customers in real time.
Cons: If the conversation is set up in a chat room, everything both the salesperson and the customer says can be seen by all, which can become chaotic; lag time between the time it takes to key in a question or response and its appearance on the screen can be awkward; if everyone is chatting at the same time, they can seem unresponsive by not answering each message right away. You’ll want to concentrate your sales call either by engaging a customer more one-on-one, or with a like-minded group setting, as in a conference call. Also, similar to texting, many people abbreviate during chats, and the lack of professionalism doesn’t usually lend itself to sales.
Guidelines for the Strategic Use of New Technology
This is the point in the chapter where we have to discuss customers’ willingness to engage in one channel of communication or another. And in the same way, it’s time to take a hard look at your own preferences. Some businesspeople prefer telephone conversations, while others prefer communications by email, texting, or chats. Their preferences can be driven by any number of reasons, from the need to organize their thoughts by touching keys and looking at ideas as they appear on a screen, to a general aversion to speaking with strangers.
Some clients enjoy seeing supporting documents or drawings to accompany what you, the salesperson, are saying on the phone. They simply process better with visual as well as audio input. Other clients feel more comfortable when they are able to bounce ideas off a group or think out loud by listening and exchanging with colleagues. Pay attention to your own comfort zone as well as your clients’. Use the phone because it works. Support your phone sales with other methods; follow up with electronic or hard copy contracts, agreements, terms of sale, samples, or demos.
Given the varied preferences of your customers, it’s important that you not fall into a pattern of making sales contacts using only your own personally preferred style of communication. Many sales situations today have multiple elements and communication media involved, including the phone (both single call and conference calls), email, video exchanges, and web presentations using the phone at the same time. By fully utilizing the strategic advantages of each medium, you can improve your close rate dramatically.
MOBILE PHONE BOUNDARIES
More and more customers are leaving their mobile phone numbers on outgoing voice mail as well as on their business cards. When it comes to mobile phones, there is definitely a right and a wrong way to approach them. Just because customers leave their mobile number on voice mail does not mean that you necessarily have permission to call. Most of your customers are leaving their mobile number on voice mail so that their customers and coworkers can get in touch with them. That is not an invitation for the rest of us to call those closely held numbers.
On their voice mail messages, customers don’t say, “Here is my mobile number, but if you are selling, don’t call.” Keep in mind that most people who depend on their mobile phones answer them wherever and whenever—often at inappropriate times—and this is not necessarily in your best interest. You want to be able to speak with your customer when you have their undivided attention and interest.
For general guidelines, it is okay to call customers on their mobile phone only if:
You have a relationship with the customer and you haven’t reached him or her after at least three tries on the work line.
You have left multiple messages (at least five over a period of time) and the customer has not returned your call.
Your customer has invited you to call his or her mobile phone and has made it clear that this is the preferred method of getting in touch.
However, if you have determined that it is strategically appropriate to call a customer’s mobile phone, remember that you will be interrupting something that he or she is doing—whether it’s attending a meeting, cheering at their child’s ball game, leaving the doctor’s office, etc.—and that he or she will most certainly not be anticipating your call. You are inserting yourself into the customer’s work or personal life, and for this reason, unless you have a well-prepared opening line, you are more than likely going to be shut down by that customer.
For more detailed guidance, here are a couple of specific situations:
If you have a prior relationship with the customer, when you reach them say, “Sophie, you know I don’t like to call you on your cell phone, but I really need to talk with you about the order. Do you have just a moment?” Be sure to wait for the customer’s answer on this or you will have lost the good impression you may have made. If you ask first, the customer will likely either have a conversation with you then and there or will schedule one with you.
With such respectful treatment, she may even apologize for not having returned your previous calls.
If you have no prior relationship with the customer, then you might open your call with, “Hello Mr. Jones, this is (your name). I know you’ve been very busy, and I needed to get in touch with you about your advertising this year.” After your opener, don’t ask your customer if he has time to talk. See how it goes. Mr. Jones may choose to speak with you, or reschedule, or just reject your call outright. Keep in mind that before using his mobile phone number you must have made a number of good-faith efforts to reach him through his work line. He will be aware of this, too, since you have already left multiple voice mail messages.
Finally, resist the urge to leave messages on customers’ mobile phones unless you have a good relationship with them. Otherwise, you’re at risk of alienating them by sounding like a potential stalker. It’s generally best to take a conservative approach toward the use of mobile phones, because the likelihood of success is far greater on a landline than it is on wireless service.
PHONE TEXTING
Although texting is a huge social networking phenomenon, the protocols for its use in business are not yet solid. The upside of this is that you can lay some of the groundwork for texting as a business communication option. One of the downsides is the care required to keep business texting and social texting styles separate.
Here are some guidelines:
Keep your text messages short. You are often texting while on the run, and your customer is likely to be reading them under the same circumstances. Text messages are not emails. They must be short and simple, yet able to get across possibly complex ideas. You can elaborate in a later phone call, but urgency may require an instant message—a very brief message. You may want to practice composing messages of 160 characters or fewer.
Avoid letting customers interpret what you are saying. Ambiguity may be seductive and mysterious in social texting, but there is no place for imprecise language in business selling. You might want to try out some of your communications on others to be sure they aren’t likely to be misinterpreted. If nothing else, read a text message aloud to yourself before sending it.
Skip the emoticons. Cute textual portraits of your moods or facial expressions—like smiley faces—are for friends and dates, not business associates.
Be careful of the use of italics or fancy fonts. Sometimes services are not compatible, so the formatting you so carefully placed in a text message might not even show up. If you can’t get your point across without specialized visual effects, then texting might not be the best medium to be using.
Establish the relationship and reason for the texting strategy before you ever text a customer. If the customer doesn’t remember who you are, anything you say will look like spam. You and your customer will need to agree on the use of text messages, and the best way to do this is to tie it to a specific communication need—for both you and the customer. You know, ask: “Shall I send you a text message when I get the figures you asked for, or would you prefer that I leave a message on your office phone?”
FAXING
In the spirit of remaining green, we caution you about the overuse of faxes. The advantages of fax communications, however, are that you may have better control over the appearance of your logo, your formatting, and your typeface. In addition, many people can send and receive faxes from their computers, so you can get signed contracts back in real time with your sales call. Here are some guidelines to follow when you consider faxing:
Consider a fax instead of an email attachment when a customer’s company firewall or antivirus security system might kick out an attachment. Faxes aren’t subjected to the same screening.
Faxes that are being used for prospecting should have detailed delivery information on them—including name, department, and subject—so that they aren’t trashed at the fax receiving area.
Faxes that are properly addressed will sometimes be hand-delivered to your hard-to-reach customer by an obliging colleague—instead of languishing at the fax station.
EMAILING
An email cannot replace a sales presentation as your primary selling tool, but since most businesspeople use email, you can use it effectively as both a contact and a follow-up strategy.
Here are some basic guidelines for using email:
Style: Remember that an email is a written communication, and as such you should observe the conventions of memos and letters that would be sent out in your name. You can tell a lot about a person’s education level, professionalism, attention to detail, organization, intelligence, and motivation in an email, and guess what—so can your customer! Sarcasm, exaggeration, and attempts at “dry” humor can be all too easily misinterpreted. And if there is something to misinterpret, the email can be printed out, saved, and shared. Customers will tend to remember your poor communication when a print record is available.
Grammar, punctuation, etc.: A particularly glaring demonstration of your professionalism (or lack of it) is your precision with grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and language usage. An email is still business communication and should not be confused with casual, social instant messaging that includes abbreviations and the stylized lack of rules that go with it. If you have any difficulties with Standard English written communication (and I’m sure you know if you do), then consider purchasing a business communication handbook or taking a short course to polish your skills in this area. Many are available online.
Use of “you” rather than “I” or “we”: Also, remember to use “you” more than “I” or “we.” In written communication, we tend to state what we want, rather than show the customer what he or she can have with our product or service.
Attachments: When sending attachments, be sure to number and title them. In this way, customers will know what and how many attachments they should have received, in case one gets lost. In addition, don’t forget to include the attachments when you send the email. Keep in mind, however, that the security level setting on your customer’s network might delete your attachments—which is another good reason to mention them in your cover note.
With the 100 or so emails your customers receive daily, they are likely to expect a certain number of solicitations. Because of this, all subject lines are scrutinized and screened.
Here are some guidelines for creating a good subject line:
Referral: Use a referral person’s name in the subject line. Let’s say that Frank Franklin has given you a lead to contact Margaret Subbhash. If you send Margaret a direct email about your product or service, she most likely will not open it. If, however, your subject line is, “Frank Franklin,” someone she knows, she will be more likely to read your email.
Follow-up: Be simple and direct. A subject line that reads “Following Up” is short and to the point.
Inbound request from customer: Again, simplicity and directness are best. “Your request for proposal” or “Your request for (your) services.”
Cold call: You don’t want your cold calls to sound too salesy from the beginning. Don’t put “Save Money,” or “Reduce Wasted Time,” or “Don’t miss out” in your subject line. These are overdone and sound cheesy (what’s in your spam folder?). Instead, address a specific or differentiating need or benefit of your product in the subject line: “CPAs Get Certification.”
The greeting in your email is important as well. Here are some guidelines:
Options: There are many quality greetings that you can use, including: “Good morning” (regardless of time of day), or “Hello,” or “Greetings.” “Thank you for …” is always welcome as well.
Purpose: A good greeting is a terrific way to gently warm up your customer.
Length: Keep the greeting short and polite.
The body of an email is where you get your message across. Here are some guidelines:
Hook: A hook in the case of a referral might be: “Frank Franklin suggested that I contact you about your interest in organic pet food for your store.” If it is not a referral, you might use: “In visiting your store recently I noticed that you do not carry any lines of organic pet food.” Or, “You may be aware that with consumers’ increased interest in natural products, organic pet food …”
Paragraph following the hook: In the paragraph after the hook you might want to set an appointment. For example, “You’re probably aware of the emphasis on better nutrition for pets and the increased margins these products can bring you. When is the best time to briefly discuss your pet foods?”
For a cold call first contact, use the following approach: Salutation, greeting, then follow with a strong need or benefit, “Pet Owners are spending 35 percent more on organic pet foods today than ten years ago. This means there are ways to add to your margin with new product offerings that maximize sales. Email me back with your interest in a few free samples, so you can share these with your customers.”
Always close cold call emails with “Thank you for the courtesy of your reply.” Just this added courtesy line will often elicit a response from customers.
For a follow-up on a prior contact, use this approach: Salutation, greeting (in this case the greeting would be a “thank you”), and then, “Thank you for sharing with me your store’s pet food growth plan. In your market area it appears you have a sizable demand for organic pet food products. As promised, we will be sending you a carton of samples for your consideration. When is the best time next week to follow up with you on this?”
For a warm call with an existing customer, try this approach: Salutation, then, “Thank you for carrying our products in your stores. Your customers probably appreciate the product quality and the availability of organic foods.
“You may want to take advantage of our spring supersale. For every two pallets of product purchased, you will receive one pallet at half price. I will be calling you in the next two days to check with you for an order.
“Again, thank you for your continued business and we look forward to serving your needs as you increase margins.”
A signature line brings your email to a close. Here are some guidelines:
Set up a default signature line: This should include your name, title, company, phone number, email address, and website URL. You can also include a sales line, “Visit our website for 100% organic pet foods.”
A differentiation line might be effective as well: A differentiator—“Register for our weekly sales tips newsletter,” or “Earn an additional case with every purchase”—is one of your competitive advantages. This type of addition must be legal and okayed by your company.
Less is more: Your words are not all golden, and your customer’s attention span is very short. Make sure your message is as succinct as you can make it.
Finally, never send a first draft—always edit. Can’t say this often enough.
VIDEOCONFERENCING
Videoconferencing can certainly enhance communication, but as noted earlier there are many pitfalls for you to be on the alert for. Here are some guidelines for using videoconferencing in your business:
Test, test, test: If at all possible, draft a technician at the other end of the videoconference to run through about five minutes of exchanges. Pay attention to volume, mike location, and “ghost movement” issues. Particularly note delay time. The more aware you are of the limitations of the situation, the better you can guide the others for the best experience. For example, you might suggest that pairs or threes cluster around microphones throughout the room, or if they are using a centered table mike, ask speakers to move to the mike area when they wish to speak.
Clothing: As with any group presentation where you are the focus, be careful what you wear. Wear nothing too casual or too “busy.” Sometimes the picture is a bit distorted and a complex pattern in clothing would be very distracting.
Mobile phones: Ask everyone to turn off their mobile phones.
Guideline sheets: It can be helpful to send out a brief video-conference guideline sheet to remind people that they are in camera view and mike range nearly all the time. An embarrassing mannerism might not be visible in a phone conference call, but could be projected to your company’s entire French customer group on video!
Slides: Slides can be difficult to see even when the audience is in the room, but a projected slide sent by a videocam is hazy at best. Better to find a way to have Web access for participants to see slides on their own laptops. You can control the conference presentation somewhat by better positioning the slides presented—order, rate of display, etc.
WEBINARS AND CONFERENCE CALLS
Webinars and conference calls are grouped together because they have many of the same challenges. First, however, let’s briefly look at the unique opportunity with webinars. Webinars have in many instances replaced the sales presentation made in person to a roomful of people. Remember, though, webinars are still presentations—although you are not in the room with your audience, and so you will need to engage listeners—and for that reason you will need to follow some rules to make them successful.
This is not the place for a discussion of the effective construction of slides to which you will direct participants while you share a conference call with the attendees. As a general rule, though, slides should be a backbone, not a script on the screen. Use visuals and diagrams to illustrate processes or any type of flow instead of a numbered list of steps. Use art to emphasize the points being made in the bullets. Finally, keep the number of slides to a minimum; make sure they are interesting, preferably exciting; limit yourself to offers of proof, testing data, testimonials, awards, and similar elements that have visual impact.
Now, since your webinar and/or teleconference can allow your customers to drift off into their own enterprises and not pay attention, here are the ways to keep everyone involved. You must E-N-G-A-G-E. Here are some guidelines:
E—EXCITE participants with your enthusiasm and motivating style. This is a presentation, not a regular call, so listeners will draw their level of involvement from you. Put energy into your tone, your pronunciation, and your inflection. Vary the pace at which you speak, however, or you can become monotonous—you know, like those commercials where the guy yells at you to buy products. Also, if you stand up and walk around while you are on the call, you will come across stronger in your presentation. Remember to smile—you’ll sound better—and use humor occasionally.
N— NURTURE participation by good planning. Send out an agenda with pertinent items to be discussed. Use your advance research to ensure that you have chosen just the right products or benefits or solutions for this group. You want to hit hot buttons often, not just do a feature fling and hope something sticks. In addition, talk with some of the participants in advance and ask them to share stories or statistics that would interest the others. Prepare yourself with a list of all participants so that you can keep track of who is speaking and who may be holding back for some reason.
G— GUIDE the meeting. This is a meeting, you see, a meeting that you have called, so it is up to you to keep it going and on track. Whether you have twelve decision makers from one company on one deal or a hundred participants from a hundred different companies to announce a new product, you can still keep everyone involved with good questioning techniques. Don’t be afraid to shift gears to a new slide or topic if interest is waning. Check-ins are good for this, and you can use names: “Martin, how does this approach fit in with the system your team is looking at?”
Now, this part is a bit tricky. You may get “dead air” after you question Martin, because he may be managing his eBay account while you are making critical points. If this happens, never embarrass the participant by calling him out. Instead, say, “You know, Martin, this might be a good time to get a reaction from everyone. Do you mind if I open the question to everyone?” Martin is off the hook, but likely paying attention now—as are the others who might be called on.
A— ADVANCE the sale. You knew we were going to say that, didn’t you? Build relationships during the webinar or conference call. You have customers on the phone, so by using questioning and check-ins you should be building not only rapport but buy-in. And the good thing is that a group dynamic can help you start the momentum toward the close. You’ve been to auctions, haven’t you? That’s what occurs with auction bidding. Several positive responses to check-ins can help to influence others when they hear agreement in voices other than yours.
G— GAIN commitments and keep track of them. Make notes of the elements of your presentation that have gotten positive reactions from the participants. Also note who hasn’t spoken too much or at all. (Your agenda should have a list of all who are watching the presentation, both for your benefit and for those who are there.) Be sure to pull those people into the conversation so that you aren’t blindsided by an off-the-wall question or concern. It’s better to draw them in than to wait for a zinger. Plus, the affirmation provided by the attention you pay in asking for their opinion or input can strengthen the support for your close.
E— END on a positive note. Be certain to watch the time and begin to close five minutes before sign-off. You might be finalizing a contract in the call, which would be an ideal close opportunity, or you may just be gaining the foothold you need to get to the next step. Either way, you want to make sure that all questions from customers have been answered and that you are the final speaker.
You will end with a summary of the high points, your final motivating point, and a “thank you” for participants by name (if it’s a small group). If the group is large or you don’t know them all, thank them as a group, then say, “Best wishes in your business today” (or something similar). Today, very few people wish someone well without a specific reason. You might stand out for sending an affirmation their way.
The Payoff
There are so many ways to approach customers these days, but you have to remember what your goal is with every contact—to advance the sale. Some customers will prefer a conference call to an individual call, especially where there are multiple decision makers. You will be able to text some customers for the final details of a negotiation or a confirmation of a price break. Stay on the alert, though, for occasions where you begin to fall into one type of communication technology/medium for all contacts. The phone should be the beginning, the middle, and the end. The others should be support steps along the way.
Now it’s time to check in on Zachary:
ZACHARY: You indicated that there are others involved in the textbook decisions. Can I quickly get their names, and then we can work on setting up a convenient webinar with the team?
CUSTOMER: Sure. There’s Yancy Johnson, Sarah Quinn, and Ronaldo Rodriguez.
ZACHARY: Great. I’ll get in touch with them right away and see about setting up an Outlook Calendar invitation. Will that be okay with you?
CUSTOMER: Yes. That’ll be fine. I look forward to the conference call and learning more about the options.
Zachary has learned, apparently, that customers will help you do your job if you make it easy for them. He’s also learned to use new technology to create greater efficiency where a group decision is needed.
ZACHARY (texting): Hello. You asked me to send you the final contract amount for the department, which is $14,567. Would you like us to send over the agreement this afternoon for approval? Thank you. Zachary
CUSTOMER (texting): Sounds good. Yes, go ahead and send the contract over and we’ll start the paperwork with the dean.
Much better! He’s using texting to finalize a deal and he doesn’t come across as a high schooler texting friends during lunch.