This is a guess post by Paul Archer

Be careful of speaker phones or hands-free mobile phones as they might be giving your customer the wrong message.

This afternoon I was sitting in Starbucks enjoying a double espresso and the guy on the next table was using his mobile phone with his speaker enabled. I appreciate that mobile phones are supposed to give us all radiation poisoning if we press them to our ear, but the information he was giving his customer was terribly public. He didn’t seem to mind bless him, but I bet the customers did, if they knew.

Worse than that are conference facilities built into many landline phones. It might be more convenient for you to use this feature when contacting customers but again the same negative message is being given to your customer. Who else might be listening comes to mind. Besides speaker phones sound like you’re in a public lavatory.

A final phone tip for you. If you find yourself working from home and need to make prospecting or client based calls and the background noise just doesn’t work for you. Children making a noise, dogs barking and such…then download a sound file from the internet which mirrors a busy office noise and play it on your computer.

I use one and although my customers probably don’t mind where I am, the comforting office sound made me feel more relaxed and I perform better on the phone as a result. Try it – it works.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer.

On holiday in France last year we spent many an evening in the local cafes sucking up the atmosphere enjoying everything that is France. Next to us on one evening was a charming British couple and, as you do, we got chatting. The chap talked about life back at home and mentioned excitedly about coaching his local mini rugby team.

Now that’s exactly what I do on a Sunday morning so I began to tell him, with equal enthusiasm, all about my coaching. I told him all about it, never stopped, talked over him and dominated the conversation.

That’s not empathy and rapport building…I blew it.

They didn’t stay in the café very long making their excuses and disappeared into the night. Afterwards I realized what I’d done and knew that if I’d listened to him and allowed him to talk openly about his hobby…we would have got on better. Instead I just got talking about the same subject.

It’s easy to do this when the other person mentions something that you can say a lot about as well. Sometimes we all fall into this trap. I know, I did.

This is useful in sales, coaching and any communication situation where you need rapport and a trust before you can do your job.

Do people a favour and just let them talk.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

Because you only have a few precious seconds to make a connection and establish interest, you’d better have a good opening prepared in advance.

Besides being very busy, your prospects probably get a lot of sales calls every week, and many of them from your direct competition. So why would they want to talk to you? What can you do to separate yourself from all the other calls they get?

The answer is that you have to establish a real connection with your prospect and stop sounding like all the other sales reps who call them.

Here is what your competition usually sounds like (I hope you’re not doing this!):

“Oh, hi Mr. __________, this is _______ _______ with the MLT Group.

__________, we are an industry supply manufacturer and we help companies streamline their production process. We work with many companies in your field and save them between 10 to 15% on the cost of their storage and delivery process. What I’d like to do is ask you some questions to see how our process may save you that kind of money as well. Where are you currently getting your…”

Do you see how this opening makes no connection with the prospect? Do you see how it just starts pitching at the prospect and doesn’t acknowledge that the prospect might be busy, or not interested? Do you see how there is no rapport built here and how it’s a one sided conversation?

How do you feel when someone barges in on your day and starts in with a pitch like this? You’re probably thinking what most prospects are thinking: “How do I get this sales rep off the phone?!”

Now let’s look at the right way to open your call. Your goal in the first few seconds is to make a connection and get them to interact. You have to acknowledge that they may be busy or that you respect their time and you need to establish some rapport and separate yourself from all the other sales reps calling them.

Try this:

“Hi, ________ this is _______ _______ with (your company), how’s your Tuesday going? Great. Listen, _______, I know you probably get a ton of calls so I’ll make this brief.

Let me ask you, if I could show you a better way of tracking and shipping (or) and save you money doing it, would it be worth spending five minutes with me next week to show you how?”

Or,

“What is the one thing you could change that would have a dramatic impact on your productivity and that would save your company money?”

Or,

“If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about how you currently do (their business), what would it be?”

Can you see how this quick questioning approach is more effective than what you may currently be using now? Eighty percent of your competition still barge in on their prospects and open their calls up with a long explanation about what they do and what they offer, and pitch their products and services without checking in with their prospects or establishing any kind of connection. No wonder most people brush them off the phone!

You can separate yourself from this group instantly, starting today, by using the opening technique above. Once again, adapt it to fit your product or service, and then practice it until it’s natural and easy for you to use. As you do, you’ll begin to notice yourself struggling less, making more connections with interested and qualified buyers, and you’ll have more confidence and feel better about yourself.  Just like the top 20% do!

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting http://www.MrInsideSales.com

This is a Guest Post by Mark Hunter.

I’m not talking about the dial tone. I’m talking about the tone of voice your prospect is using. More specifically, I’m talking about what to do when you hear a change in their tone of voice.  We communicate with our voice, but it goes way beyond just the words we say and the volume with which we speak.  The real telling signs in telephone sales are in the tone of the voice, particularly pitch.

Listen carefully to the next person with whom you talk, and you’ll detect slight variations in the tone. What you are listening for is when the tone or pitch goes up and when it goes down. When this happens – when there has been a change – the person to whom you are listening is reaching a conclusion of some type.  Typically, a customer’s tone/pitch will go up slightly when they become excited or enthused, and it will go down when they’re resigned or view something negatively. Often, this change of tone is also accompanied by a change in the speed with which they speak. An increase in the words per minute signals excitement and a slow down signals calmness.

The trick with all of this is to know how to use it to your advantage. A customer’s change in tone, pitch or rate of speech is not as important as how you respond to it.  When a customer’s pitch/tone goes up, you should immediately ask them a question that gets them to build on what is making them excited. Then, immediately follow with a question to close the sale.  If, on the other hand, the customer’s pitch goes down, you should ask them a question that pertains to the biggest need they’ve expressed to date. If they have not expressed any need to you thus far, then ask them a question that would draw out what you believe is the biggest need or pain they’re facing.   Follow that question with another question that gets them to build even more on what they just told you. The key is to draw out as much as possible the need they’re facing. In doing so, you’ll be in a better position to close the sale.

Another key way you can use the tone/pitch is to help validate what the other person has just told you.  It’s very easy for a person to say something that is not the truth from a vocabulary standpoint. However, it is incredibly difficult to mask their tone/pitch.  Again, this can be a clear sign when someone is talking to you as to whether or not what they’re telling you is factual or merely something to help end the call.

This is the reason I tell anyone who is spending any degree of time on the phone to use a headset that covers both ears. Using an ordinary phone will not give you the listening advantage you need to discern the slight differences in a person’s voice. These slight differences are exactly what can help you dramatically distinguish what the customer is really saying. Ultimately, you will be better equipped to close more sales.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” helps individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales, and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. He is a consultative selling expert, specializing in custom-tailored sales programs. You can read his blog at http://thesaleshunter.com/blog.

It may seem far-fetched to have posture and phone sales training go together, but they do complement each other very well. Putting those two terms together gives you another term: higher sales.

Bringing back to mind your telephone sales training, you get a vivid picture of steps you had to practice to hone your phone sales skills, your cute trainer and his phone sales tips, of how you touched base on topics in phone sales courses, and other things basic to selling over the phone. I’m guessing though that the clearest picture among those mentioned is your cute trainer and his phone sales tips, which includes smiling and being in proper posture as you take calls, and his execution of those tips thereafter.

Proper posture or smiling when speaking over the phone may seem trivial, phone sales tips you may do without. But practicing them can make all the difference when selling over the phone. Important calls are better handled when standing up. Should you opt to sit down, make sure that you maintain a good posture; seating ergonomics will surely benefit you in the long run.

Practicing proper posture or standing up when making an important call makes your voice stronger, clearer, and firmer, hence making your statements more believable and sincere. That in turn will have your clients take you seriously; communication with them will then be easier.

Here is another tip to add to what you have learned from your phone sales training: Free yourself of visual distractions when selling over the phone. Nonwork-related websites open on your computer and your mobile phone buzzing with personal messages may pose as distractions. Speaking to someone over the phone may require more focus than speaking to someone who is right in front of you. It may take more effort to give your complete and undivided attention. Clearing your computer and desk with unnecessary things will help you focus on the conversation with your client.

Aside from clearing your desk of unnecessary objects is to place in it necessary tools; that is, you have a notepad or MS Word ready for you take down notes with. Jot down the name of your client, of his company, and other information. It is advisable that you don’t rely on your memory too much; those notes may just be the handiest thing you have.

With your sales prospecting techniques and phone sales training, the phone sales tips you learned, the phone sales skills you developed, and the phone sales courses discussed to you, you are sure to perform better and gain more when selling over the phone.



This is a Guest Post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr Inside Sales!

In sales, the ability to truly listen is what separates the Top 20% of producers from the bottom 80%. Now when I say “listen,” I mean much more than just hearing what a prospect is saying. Many sales reps hear their prospects, but because they are unprepared to handle various objections or questions, they are usually too busy thinking up what they are going to say next to truly hear what their prospects are saying. And that’s where the top 20% excel.

The most important thing you can do to begin making more sales is to start listening to your prospects. Once you do, you’ll know exactly what to say – and what not to say – to get the sale. Here are three things you can begin doing today to become a better listener:

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Here’s the first of a two-part guest post from regular Telesales Magic contributor Paul Archer of Archer Training. This time round Paul discusses how important it is to listen to your prospects and clients when selling them on the phone (or face to face, even).

Your Own Volume Control – Listening on the telephone in fact listening in general, has to be one of he hardest things to do continuously.  Yes we can all listen for five minute bursts but to do it all day every day, just has to be hard graft.

So next time you feel your listening ability has taken an early bath imagine your very own personal volume control. Now your volume control has 3 levels – 1, 2 and 3.

Most of the time it’s on level 1 which is selfish listening and there’s nothing wrong with this. Only the other day I was on a business trip to a strange airport and I was operating on level 1 listening.  I was looking out for signs and noises that would help me on my journey.  I wasn’t interested in anyone else just myself and my next steps. But in selling or dealing with people on the phone, we mustn’t focus on just ourselves.  We need to get into their shoes and that’s level 2 on your volume control.

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