We often hear telephone associates wondering aloud why they have to make a sales offer every time they speak to a caller. They say, “I can tell who is going to buy and who isn’t.” Unfortunately, the research that we have done just doesn’t back that statement. If you observe telephone calls on a regular basis, you will hear very friendly callers saying, “No,” to sales offers and many less friendly, somewhat distant callers saying, “Yes.” The truth is that you just can’t tell who is going to say, “Yes,” until you make the offer.
More than that, however, every caller deserves (yes, I said “deserves”) a sales offer from a telephone associate. Here are a few reasons to make a sales offer on every all.
1) Customers want to know about the products you offer:
Most company research proves this point. While it is true that they don’t want products to be pushed on them arbitrarily, they do want to know if there are other products that can help them, their work or their lifestyles. Making a product recommendation and trying to close the sale, done correctly, won’t seem like pushing a product to most customers. If they don’t have one of your catalogues, the telephone associate is usually the only option. This is an excellent opportunity to fill a customer need and increase general sales revenue. And remember, if we didn’t make the offer, and they needed the product, they’re going to buy it somewhere else. Unfortunately the other store will get all the credit.
2) You have one chance to make that call the best it can be:
The caller called you and they are interested in how you can help them. That is the job of the telephone service or sales professional. This is the one opportunity in which they called you. You did not call them, interrupting them right in the middle of dinner. Making that call the very best it can be means surpassing the caller’s expectations. Making an appropriate sales offer will accomplish this and remind callers just how much we want to help them. This builds excellent customer loyalty, even if they say, “No,” to our sales offer.
3) There is no time like the present:
We are all buyers. As buyers, we know that we procrastinate, even when there is a product that is available and affordable, and it fits our needs perfectly. By making a sales offer and encouraging the caller to buy, we break through their hesitancy and help callers do what they already know they want to do.
4) You have great products to sell:
We speak to very few telephone associates that tell us their products aren’t very good. Some will complain about long delays in the systems, or problems with shipping. Few, though, if any speak about bad products. With that in mind, it is important that we share the good news about these products as often as we can. Being proud of what you sell makes a big difference in how you speak about your products. You likely have some excellent products, truly superior to everything else that is out there. Focus on these products first, until you build some selling confidence, and then broaden your recommendations to include other products.
On the telephone, selling success is less about skill and a lot more about frequency of attempts. The numbers don’t lie. Mix in some pride and enthusiasm, and you will have a winning combination.