Telephone Sales

Learn how to be successful at telephone sales!

Telephone sales are the bane of many a salesperson's existence. Getting past the voicemail trap can seem next to impossible, but there are techniques that can increase your chances of making contact with the decision makers. While many techniques have been developed over the years to get past the frontliner and into the office of the people with the buying power, most of them cannot contend with the voicemail barrier.

These days fewer frontline staff are employed and decision makers are now found at lower levels of management. Many of these employees make use of voicemail to screen unwanted salespeople. So how can you get over this wall and make contact? Telephone sales are not easy but they can be achieved. It's all about your approach and selling style.

Think about it for a moment? Why would you buy a product? Any product? In general people opt for a product or service because it provides pain relief. In other words, products that solve problems are attractive. Before you even make the call you need to have a list of 1) pains that your product solves and 2) visions that can be achieved by your product. Telephone sales are more effective if you go straight to the heart of the matter.

Telephone sales are more likely to be effective if you call outside of normal business hours. So for example calling at 6am or 8:30pm may result in your call being answered. This really works well and is not considered rude based on the long hours worked by many management executives. If the person is usually unavailable there is s good chance that they work odd or long hours.

Aid the success of your telephone sales by finding out the extension of a Director or VP in a company. This may not always be easy as you will not usually be given this information under any circumstances. Sometimes you can sidestep this screening process by calling another random extension.

As the person on the other end to put you through to the person you want to contact. Some salespeople even make it sound as though they are really frustrated and have been put through to the wrong extension and ask for the 'right one'. Telephone sales are tough so be prepared to do whatever it takes!

If you can't get this right and need to leave a message now is your best chance to sell your product or service. It may be the only one you have so make it count! Telling a brief story can distract potential clients from the fact that you are in fact cold calling, just long enough to get your point across. Don't leave a message if you think that other methods are likely to work better with this particular company. Telephone sales can be tricky but be creative and it may just pay off. Good luck!