Selling & Building Business Relationships Over the Phone
Introduction
No matter what business you run, it is highly likely that you will use the telephone to communicate with customers, suppliers, and other business individuals.
Even in the age of the email, telephone communication is still one of the most essential and powerful tools available to sell and to further your business relationships.
“telephone communication is still one of the most powerful tools”
In fact, the rise of the internet means that more small companies from all around the world do business with each other; face-to-face meetings are difficult in these situations, meaning that phone calls are more important.
This guide is aimed at the process of telephone selling, but many of the areas covered are also significant elements of building and developing existing business relationships.
Objectives
There are many reasons you could need to make a phone call as part of the selling process:
- To find a relevant contact – To find a contact with the appropriate authority to make a decision
- To arrange a meeting – To arrange a time for a face-to-face or telephone meeting with the contact, in which you can further the selling process
- To close a sale – To try and complete the sale
“decide on your objectives”
Before you make a phone call, you need to decide on your objectives, and how achievable they are in relation to your product and client:
If you are selling complicated, expensive machinery to an engineering firm, there is little point trying to close a sale before they have seen the product or exact specifications. So try to arrange a meeting in which you can show the product.
If, on the other hand, you are selling a known, inexpensive product to a company based abroad, there is not much point in the cost and difficulty of arranging an overseas face-to-face meeting.
Deciding your Objectives
Try using a difficulty scale of 1-5 to guide you during calls; rate each of the following areas on your notes before you make a call, and keep a note of the call objectives:
Relevance – The more relevant the product is to the business, the easier it is likely to be to have a chance to sell.
1 – The Company has a known need for this product.
5 – The Company has little need for this product.
Size – The bigger/more expensive and individual your product is, the more likely it is that a meeting or demonstration will be needed before any purchases/sales are made.
1 – Your product is small, known, and inexpensive.
5 – Your product is big, customised and expensive.
Contacting/gatekeeper – How difficult do you think it will be to reach the person who has authority to make decisions? In a small company you may be able to speak to the Managing Director straight away, but in a large organisation it may take a lot of effort to get past the gatekeeper to a relevant contact number. (More on gatekeepers later)
1 – Straight through to person in authority.
5 – No visible way to directly reach person in authority.
Selling to a client with low numbers will be (in most cases) easier and less complicated than those with higher numbers. There is no perfect way of judging a call, but by having an idea of the difficulty involved, you can make a decision on which objectives are more appropriate.
“preparing will allow you to react quicker”
Prepare
It is crucial when making a sales call that you are prepared. Research the company you are contacting, know what they do, and have any relevant information to hand. Keep a notepad or call-card with you, so you can note down important information.
Spending a little time preparing will allow you to react quicker, and will help you make the most of every call.
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