Ways to Succeed in Telephone Marketing

Running a successful internet business requires the entrepreneur to wear many hats. We spend lots of dollars promoting the online business. We are constantly tweaking and shaping our web page so that it is even more sharper and more inviting. We do this to increase the hits on the landing page. All this is “another day at the office,” for us, yet many internet marketers tend to drop the ball when it comes to actually TALKING to the prospect. This is a shame, considering all the time and money invested, getting them to visit your website, only to lose them due to poor telephone skills.

The online business world is just that: THE WORLD. Because our customers or prospects can be hundreds or thousands of miles away from us, it is essential that the internet marketer effectively communicates with them on a one to one basis. We may be moving quickly into a highly automated world, but people still prefer talking to a live person as opposed to a computerized system. If you think I’m mistaken, recall back to the last time you called your bank or a computer support system, and had to go through all those phone key punchings, trying to get some help.

Telephone sales is really very simple. You don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not. In fact, pretending to be a different personality will sink your boat every time. People can tell when someone is being real and honest or if they are playing some kind of game. Don’t worry if you don’t have that “great phone voice.” Being real is going to increase your credibility. Sounding too smooth will put your prospect on their guard.

The secret is to relax, smile, and just talk to them. It IS important to know what you want to say, and have a focus to your conversation, however, keeping it in a conversational mode will increase the affinity between your prospect and you. Remember, people do business with people they like and trust.

Here are some very simple tips to keep in mind and in place, when calling a prospect who has visited your webpage.

1: Always address them by their first name. If your information lists a John Smith, and a man answers the phone, ASSUME IT’S JOHN and say “Hello John, this is (Your First and Last Name). How are you, today?” He’s either going to say, he’s doing fine or he’s going to say he isn’t John, and either he will get John on the phone or offer to take a message. The point here is that you are immediately setting the pace and also the tone of the phone conversation.

2: After the initial greeting, tell your prospect why you are calling. Be succinct and friendly about it. Confirm with them that they visited your website by relaying back to them the approximate time they visited. This gives you credibility, as well as that first commitment that they did visit.

3: Immediately after getting that commitment, ask them if this is a good time for them to spend a few minutes to talk with you. If it is, say “Great!” and go into your presentation. If it isn’t, then quickly ask them when would be a good time. Even better, give them a choice of two times that you will be free and ask them which one fits their schedule better. The truth is, people can’t lie about two things at the same time. If they are truly interested in talking with you, they will give you a time. If not, they will more than likely tell you they don’t want the call back.

4: Make sure you tell them that you are not going to stalk them with endless number of phone calls. This will do two things. It first reaffirms the fact that your time is also valuable and secondly, it will put them at ease because they probably already have had to deal with the obnoxious sales person who keeps calling back again and again. By letting them know that you won’t be pestering them, you are also demonstrating your professionalism.

5: Always SMILE as you talk to them, and USE their name several times during the phone conversation. People know when you’re smiling. It may sound strange, but people really do, and a smile is always something that’s inviting. Furthermore, the most sweetest word, in a person’s mind is their name. Don’t ever forget that.

6: If you call and get an answering machine, leave a quick message, identifying yourself. Tell them you’re calling them because they visited your website a couple of days ago, and you wanted to touch base with them to see how you can be of service and help. Leave your phone number and name and tell them they can call you anytime. Also tell them that you won’t be pestering them with more phone calls, so if they are interested, please get back to you. As a side note: When you leave your phone number, speak a bit slower and enunciate clearly. Always, take a breath after leaving your number and then REPEAT your number one more time.

7: Finally, always end the phone conversation on an upbeat note. Always thank your prospect for their time, and if there is going to be a follow up call, confirm that before ending the conversation. A good rule of thumb is never be the first to hang up. Wait till you hear them click off, before you do the same. No one likes to be hung up on, even if they know the conversation is ended.

I hope these seven tips have been of some help in strengthening your telephone presentations. Keep it simple and natural, and you will see more results.

See you at the top!