This is a Guest Post from Peter O’Donoghue of  Sales DNA.

If you are using the telephone to book meetings and you are not as successful as you would like to be, then ask yourself:  Is it the other person’s fault? Or yours?

Quite frankly, when I first start working with some of my clients, I wouldn’t give them a meeting either. The first 30 seconds of a call are vital. The colder the contact, the more important it is to demonstrate value early on and to capture the other person’s attention.

Weak lines such as “I would like to come in and get to know your business better” just won’t cut it. Personally, I also hate the old standard “I was wondering if we could get together for a chat.” If someone rings me up and demonstrates they understand my business, can help me solve a problem, help increase turnover or profitability and can articulate that succinctly then I will always agree to a meeting to find out more. If someone wants to come in for a chat, then they can take a run and jump. They might have time to spare for a chat but I don’t!

One of the key concepts I train people to use is the ability to add value to your meeting so the other person wants to meet you. Think of it like this: If you were to take the words you use to open a call and ask for a meeting, and posted them on eBay, how much would you be able to sell it for?

If you could design your meeting and then describe it in such a way that you would be happy to sell it, then your ability to make new business meetings will shoot through the roof.

The key element here is designing your meeting to add value because it’s not about the words you use. It’s about the item you are describing. What value do you add in a meeting?

If you were selling to a professional person that was charging out their time at £250 per hour and you wanted an hour of their time, how would you demonstrate that it would be well worth their trade off in time?

If you would like some ideas as to how I help train organizations develop so much value in a meeting, read the next blog post available here on this site. I will share some of the best secrets in doing this…

Peter O’Donoghue is the Director of Sales DNA who help Business To Business Sales Professionals increase sales profitability with Sales Training and Telesales Training.  Sales DNA work with clients in Europe and Worldwide through their Online Sales Training.  Visit his blog at  www.salesdnaltd.com/blog.