Improving your abilities on the phone is critical to achieving optimal business performance. The reality is that there are some simple techniques you can use to boost your phone performance immediately!
We have prepared a 3-part series dedicated to this topic, designed to help YOU become a peak performer! Here’s an overview of the series:
- Part 1: The top three things to do BEFORE EVERY CALL to improve the outcome of every call!
- Part 2: The six key steps to SET THE PROPER TONE during every call to achieve your sales goals!
- Part 3: The top things you must do AFTER EVERY CALL to increase your success rate!
This week: Part 1 “Before the Call – Get Organized!”
What are the top three things you should always do before each call to greatly improve results?
(Hint: one of them has been used by the most successful business people and athletes around the world, and YOU can easily use it to boost your own success as well!…)
1. Be Prepared.
- Clear your desk of all distractions, leaving only relevant information.
- If you have never spoken to the person you’re calling, have notes about what you are going to discuss in front of you. For example, if you are cold calling, developing a clear, concise script/conversation model is key. Also, prepare some relevant questions to ask which will move the call results to the next level.
- Always be ready to take, organize and keep good notes for every call. Showing you remember specifically what you discussed the last time you spoke, shows them that you care—and that you are a professional.
- If you have spoken to the person before, review detailed notes of your last conversation before your call. This is paramount. Knowing where you left off the last time you spoke is the first step in building rapport. But, recalling everything from memory is nearly impossible, so be sure you record detailed notes from every call which you can refer to in your follow up conversations.
2. Set clear objectives.
- How will you measure if this call is successful? Know what you are trying to accomplish from every call.
- Have a reason to call—you should always have something specific that you are calling about.
- Examples: Determine prospect’s needs; schedule a conference call; set a meeting; discuss a proposal; provide value-added information; provide thought leadership to further engage your contact; verify mailing address; verify information was received; gain feedback about last discussion; answer questions/objections; learn about future direction of business; close the business.
- Add value at every call. Do not call to “just say hello” – this is nothing more than a nuisance to the prospect/client. Be sure you have a specific objective for the call that adds value and moves the process forward each time.
3. Use Visualization Techniques.
- There have been countless studies about the effectiveness of visualizing the positive outcome of an event BEFORE the event has taken place—and how doing so will increase your likelihood of actually achieving a positive result. This applies to sports, business, health—and telephone calls! Many of the most successful people in this world have learned to employ this technique regularly to improve their likelihood of success.
- Here’s how you can play this little “mind game” before your next important phone call:
- First, get comfortable with the message you want to deliver
- Completely clear your mind before picking up the phone
- Then, intensely think about how excited the person will be once they realize how much they’ll benefit from what you’re calling about
- Visualize how happy they will be after talking with you—really feel it!
- Finally, pick up the phone and call them!
- This is powerful—and it truly works! What you think about right before your call affects your voice tone and projection, your attitude and confidence, and your personal power! Without making a conscious effort to do this kind of positive thinking, many people end up doing just the opposite—thinking, “I’ve got to just get through this next call.” Try visualizing a great call and see what happens!
Remind yourself of these three things before every call to get organized, improve your sales game, and the results of every call. And remember… Practice makes perfect.
Be sure to USE and practice these steps over and over until they become rote. In our next article, we’ll share six steps you should follow on every call to set the proper tone and achieve your sales goals!
So stay tuned…and practice, practice, practice!!
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