Sales Training
The first step in learning how to effectively sell over the phone starts with general Sales Training.
You should not take learning the Basics of Selling lightly. The basics you will discover here will form the foundation of an in-depth understanding of the selling process.
The topics covered here are common to selling any product or service with an emphasis on selling over the phone. If you are new to sales, the basic concepts explored will help you learn valuable insights into selling in any environment.
If you consider yourself a seasoned professional, you may find new ideas. I encourage everyone to comment and add to the discussion of anything covered.
Each heading and description listed below will link you to the page that discusses each topic in detail.
Sales Training | The Basics of Selling
- Communication Skills
- Preparation Skills
- Prospecting Skills
- Organization Skills
- Persuasion Skills
Human life is all about communication. You learn to listen and relate to people from an early age. We often take for granted the things we already know.
Understand yourself, your product, and your market. Information is plentiful if you know where to look. If you prepare to win you will win.
If you are going to be successful in selling, understanding everything you can about buyers is essential. Where to find prospects for your product or service can be time-consuming and fruitless if you don’t know what you’re doing.
A basic skill that everyone needs to master is the ability to start off being organized and staying that way. Simple strategies to achieve efficiency will get you organized.
Understanding the language of persuasion is your ace-in-the-hole of successful selling. If you can’t persuade a prospect into becoming a client, you will starve.
Each section above is filled with information and examples of the skills you need to become an effective Sales Professional. Each skill is broken into modules to enable you to progress at any pace you set for yourself.
Telesales-pro.com is primarily concerned with B2B Telesales. Selling over the Phone to business is a highly specialized activity and depends on many Sales Techniques specific to Telesales.
Whether you are looking for Sales Jobs or Sales Leads, TeleSales-Pro exists to provide you with valuable Sales Tips and Resources.
If you are trying to build your Sales Skills, improving your Telephone Sales Skills will give you a great foundation in Sales. After all, as salespeople, we all want to be Selling more.
Learning to Sell over the Phone will help you understand the Sales Process and will enable you to improve your overall Sales Negotiation Skills.
If you have any comments, feel free to comment about anything you read on telesales-pro.com. If you want to contact me you can email me: jim@telesales-pro.com
I understand that the first 15-20 seconds on any cold call are the most crucial to break the ice. I’m in debt settlement and since it is a very sensitive matter to the customer, being that many don’t like talking about their financial hardships over the phone, what is the best way to catch their attention and keep them on the phone?
@Javier
Debt Settlement could mean various purposes for your call. It would be helpful to know exactly what your goal is for the call. Maybe you can tell me a little more.
If you are trying to collect a delinquent debt, I wouldn’t call it a cold call. You already have a relationship with the customer. It may be the first time you talk to the client, and if you are an agency representing the creditor, it is still the same dynamic and will color your communication.
I just sent you an email. I will reiterate my previous request.
I run a small tax settlement company. I am a tax attorney. The most important part of my busienss today is sale. My partner is a sales person. He spends his day on the phone.
Our customers contact us. We do not call them first. They usually call in response to a generic media commercial which says: if you owe 10K or more to the IRS, we can help etc…
So, we do not solicit and they need our services. When they call us, they have no doubt that we can do the job. So, trusting in our services is not an issue. They all have their questions answered satisfactory. The problem is, of course, to get them to pay, before the services are provided. We allow payment plans or full pays. I need help closing deals. There is a lot of competition today for the same business. I would like to learn how to approach these types of sales and close, close, close. Or, at the very least, become aware of what a good closure is!!
Can you help?
Svetlana,
I think you’ve probably answered your own question.
“I would like to learn how to approach these types of sales and close, close, close.”
I have to assume that the prospects are calling in after watching the commercial on TV.
Is that correct?
Is there any indication in the actual commercial that the transaction will cost them a fee?
In any instance where you have prospective customers calling you in response to an advertisement, it’s not unreasonable to expect they are your exact target market – in your case – taxpayers that owe the IRS $10,000 or more.
However, you are making a few more assumptions than that!
You said: “When they call us, they have no doubt that we can do the job.”
Do they actually tell you this? I think not.
You cannot automatically assume it either, you will need to offer proof of some sort.
In any event, you’ll have to close on that fact.
Example:
Sales Person: Mr Green, I am so glad you called in today because it’s the first step in resolving your financial problems, and I would like YOU to know that WE have helped thousands of people JUST LIKE YOU. We have been solving peoples Tax problems for many years.
I hope you feel confident we can do the same for you?
At this point Svetlana, you need to get a YES! You can’t move on before you do. Are you doing this?
When you say: “So, trusting in our services is not an issue” and “They all have their questions answered satisfactory” I have to ask you again, How do you know this? Do these people tell you or do you close on each detail of their questions.
To help you understand more about how to close these type of sales, you really need to have a high level of empathy for the people who call in.
Question: Are they all asking – how much is this going to cost me? When in the call are they doing that?
Also, it is essential to control the call, sometimes a salesperson will let the caller direct the conversation. Big Mistake.
Are you using a written script for these phone ins?
Jim