Are you in sales? Then you just need to master the cold calling technique. How to sell over the phone correctly? There are many different ways to do this. But there are some very useful tips, which you simply need to adopt. What are they? Read below.

Pay attention to the voice

Are you wondering how to properly sell a product over the phone? The first thing any good salesperson needs to know is the fact that your voice plays a decisive role in whether you sell a product or not. If you act confident and believe in the quality of what you are selling, the buyer will be interested. If you get confused, shy and mumble, they won’t talk to you for a long time. So before dialing a phone number, clear your throat, take a sip of water and build up your confidence. You need to speak in a calm, measured voice of a person who is not used to receiving refusals. You must maintain the initially set speech rate throughout the conversation. Don't jump up or down in tone. You need to keep the golden mean. Keep calm. Nothing bad will happen to you even if you fail. You still have many options for how you can arrange your life. Therefore, do not despair and do not stress yourself out. Take every phone call as an opportunity to gain experience. He is never superfluous.

Conversation script

Don't have much sales experience? Then you should write yourself a script for your actions. For example, how to sell a ticket over the phone? If you've never sold tickets before, you'll get confused, confused, and end up talking nonsense. To prevent this from happening, you should approach the issue of sales more wisely. You need to write down point by point what should be said and when. You don’t need to write down all the phrases, you just need to plan what to say and after what. Let's look at it with an example. How to sell tickets over the phone correctly?

• Greet your interlocutor.
• Take an interest in who you are talking to. If this person is a secretary, then immediately ask to be connected to the head of the department or the director.
• Introduce yourself again and quickly tell them why you are calling.
• Find out about the needs potential client.
• Offer your services or the services of your company.
• Handle objections.
• Arrange for a personal meeting or to sign a contract.
• Say goodbye.

Remember that a plan is not something indestructible. These are your recorded actions that should lead you to the desired result. You may break your own written laws from time to time. But remember that you shouldn’t go beyond the limits too often and jump over several points. Just keep in mind that you can adjust your plan as you go.

Say no to templates

If you don’t know how to properly sell a service over the phone and are looking for a magic pill, then you will soon be disappointed. There is no universal way to sell something to someone. Despite the fact that there are many different scenarios, you need to understand that each person is individual and you need to look for your own approach to each person. If you succeed, consider yourself lucky. You need to treat every phone call as a unique experience. Don't divide clients into types. They are all initially different. Try to immediately penetrate into the subtle mental structure of the person and understand what is important for a person in this life, and what the person considers to be of secondary importance. Proper telephone selling is a huge conversation between the seller, who does not insist on a purchase, but makes the client believe that a service or product is vitally necessary for a person. It is in this case that the buyer will not only buy the products offered to him from you, but will also invite his friends to your campaign, who will also make purchases.

How to sell a product over the phone? Do not use template phrases under any circumstances. If a person hears that you are talking on a brief, he can hang up without explanation. To prevent this from happening, translate dry phrases into living language. This way they will sound not only more convincing, but also more natural.

Greetings

Selling over the phone is a common occurrence in the modern world. Anyone can master this art. Where to start the call? With greetings. Be sincere and friendly. Say hello to the person you are talking to and introduce yourself. Ask the person speaking to you to also say their name. This way you can easily determine who you are talking to. Since every employee large company Always adds position after name. After the first acquaintance, if you have found the right person, you should seize the initiative. Do not remain silent under any circumstances, otherwise the person on the other end of the phone will understand that you are worried and will try to conduct the dialogue in a way that is convenient for her. If you really want to understand the question of how to sell a product over the phone, then you should not release the initiative. Don't give the person the opportunity to talk when you don't need to. You will give the person time to speak, but it will come later.

Conversation with the decision maker

There is no point in wasting your time talking with secretaries and junior employees of the company. If you want to understand how to sell a product over the phone and do it well, you should immediately get a conversation with the decision maker. Don't be afraid to talk to bosses and managers. A few minutes of conversation with them will be much more productive than a half-hour discussion with the secretary. Why explain to a person the essence of your supply proposal if the person is not personally interested in improving the development of the enterprise. And the director always wants to cut costs and expand the scale of production. Therefore, you can talk to him about a topic that interests you and him.

How to overcome the secretary's barrier? Very simple. Before calling, you need to find out the names of the director and his deputy. After calling the company and getting to the secretary, you should introduce yourself and then ask to be connected to the director. It is advisable to name the person making the decision by name and patronymic. In this case, the secretary may not ask you questions about why you are calling and what exactly you want to offer. You will tell the director all these nuances. So don’t be lazy to do your prep work before the call.

Permission to talk

If the person you are talking to has a call recording, then you should start the conversation with an introductory phrase, which will be a kind of permission for the person to listen to your advertisement. It is advisable to always say such an introductory phrase, because you will not know for sure whether your opponent’s call is worth recording or not. How to sell over the phone? Before getting to the point of your call, ask if the person is comfortable talking. Perhaps the director will be at a meeting or planning meeting, and you and your call do not fit into the person’s plans. A question like this will show your politeness and will also be a permission to talk. If the person subsequently screams: “You want to advertise something to me again, I’ll sue you!”, you don’t have to be afraid of such a phrase. The person personally confirmed his desire to continue communicating with you. This little trick will help you avoid major problems with the law.

Points of contact

Do you want to win over your client from the first phrase? Then you will need to prepare for the conversation. How to sell over the phone? First look at the history of the creation of the company you are calling. Write down all the information that you consider important, and then monitor the site. After that, you can safely call the director with your proposal. What will your dialogue look like?

Good afternoon, Anatoly Sergeevich. Ivan Fedorovich from transport company. Are you involved in production and collection? household appliances for 10 years now, right?

Yes, that's right.

You already have an established system for selling your goods to various cities, but you have been working with your couriers for so long that you do not know the price situation on the market. I can offer you the best conditions.

At this stage, you must interest the client and show him that you are aware not only of what the company does, but you are also aware of how the company is doing. Phrases like these have a powerful effect on people. They become interested in an offer that automatically seems profitable to them.

A little about the company

Once you've intrigued your listener, keeping their attention will be easy. But remember that the magic will last no more than two minutes. During this time, you need to have time to make a small but succinct presentation of your company. Tell us how long your company has been on the market, what it does, who it serves, and what successes it is proud of. To understand how to sell over the phone, you need to be a psychologist. A person always trusts those companies that can provide links to recommendations for their candidacy. Moreover, it is unlikely that anyone will check such information. But it’s still not worth lying. If you said that you cooperate with Gazprom, then you must have received an order from this company at least once.

When making a presentation, draw the client's attention to strengths companies. Talk about the benefits, but talk about more than just them. If you talk for two minutes about how good you are, no one will believe you. You shouldn’t defame yourself either, but list your awards and Thanksgiving letters Can. And also if your company has something else to be proud of, you can voice such facts.

Let the client talk

Once you have talked about your company, give the client an opportunity to talk about their company. Each person loves his brainchild and he likes to talk about what he does. Want to learn how to sell over the phone? Learn to listen and hear people. When a person talks about the fact that he already has suppliers, then you can subtly hint that he does not ideal companies. Let the potential client tell you about the problems he has with the current company he works with. If there are many of these problems, then you will automatically find something to offer. But if a person is happy with everything, it will be difficult for you to find disadvantages in the company. Therefore, try to pay great attention to what the person talking to you emphasizes. If a person talks a lot about money, then you should subsequently offer the person a small price for your services. If it is important for the person that everything is done on time, you will need to mention that you do everything on time, and in case of any delay you will compensate the person for damages. Of course, all information must be true. If you can take responsibility for ensuring that your promises are not empty, then make them. And if you cannot do this, then you should not start cooperation with a lie.

Getting to know the client's preferences

By listening carefully to the person at the stage when he told you about himself and his needs, you could learn a lot of necessary information. At the next stage, you should clarify whether you understood the client correctly. Therefore, ask the person questions such as: I understand that your office has Internet, but the price for the services of your provider is very high, do you agree with this? Always ask open questions so that the client can confirm your words. How to sell over the phone? An example dialogue could be like this:

Alexey Borisovich, you have a large company, it is very difficult to manage all the employees. But still, you want to be aware of the affairs of each department?

Then you just need to connect video surveillance in each department so that you can be aware of whether your employees are doing a good job.

Do you think people's work will improve if they know they are being watched?

Certainly. This fact can be confirmed by many heads of companies that have already become our clients.

The seller must always help the client realize one simple truth: it will be difficult for him to live without your services or without your products. You do not offer a person a product, you sell him the confidence that by purchasing your product, his company will develop and grow.

Personal offer

All people love it when people look for an individual approach to them. Are you looking for a way to sell over the phone? Examples of phrases that will help you do this would be:

• For companies that deal freight transportation, we have a special promotion that will help you save on washing your vehicle.
• If you connect to the Internet from our company before the end of the week, you will receive equipment for the entire office completely free of charge.
• There is a special offer in your area today; if you order sales training for your employees, we can, as a bonus, work out secret persuasion techniques that will help your people not only sell better, but also easily gain the trust of any client.

Such offers look very tempting. If you successfully do them at the moment when the client is deciding on your offer, then you won’t even have to work through objections. The manager will be bought by your attention and care, and the business person will be afraid of missing out on the opportunity to get something for free. After all, if he doesn’t decide to accept your offer now, he won’t receive bonuses later.

Working out an objection

When you have told everything you could, your task is to keep the client’s attention and not let him break down. A person may begin to think that she does not want to make any unnecessary body movements in order to receive insignificant benefits. How to sell over the phone correctly? You need to work through the objection. A person can think long and hard about whether he needs your services or not. As a result, the leader will draw some conclusion. And if this conclusion is a refusal, then the person will give you some unnatural reason that cannot be considered practical. An example of telephone sales with objection handling would be as follows:

I like your suggestion, but unfortunately I don't have time to change shipping companies right now.

What are you afraid of? Our couriers are professionals in their field. They can easily replace your current people and will be able to do their work much more efficiently.

Yes, but it takes a lot of time to document the contract with your company.

Our lawyer will come to you tomorrow morning and conclude an agreement in less than half an hour.

You need to work through objections until the client understands that you can solve any problem. And if you can convince your manager of this, consider that you have already sold your product.

No phrase: I'll think about it

Do you want to have no sales? This is the outcome of the conversation that no one who engages in cold calling expects. How to sell over the phone correctly? You need to learn to practice the phrase: “I’ll think about it.” Under no circumstances should you end the conversation on this note. If a person likes a proposal, he will openly tell you about it. If a person is not satisfied with something, then she will tell you: I’ll think about it. Therefore, when your interlocutor announces that he needs time, say that he does not have it. Drive a person into strict boundaries and do not allow them to change the rules of your game. If you want a person to somehow make a decision, make her an offer that it will be impossible to refuse. Then the person will have no choice and will have to agree.

“I’ll think about it” is a phrase that says that your proposal did not suit the person. If you hear words like this over and over again, it means you need to work on yourself and your way of conducting telephone conversations. People rarely refuse calls outright. But they can often say: “I’ll think about it.” Don't give people this opportunity. If a person utters such a phrase, perceive it as another objection and try to work through it.

Parting

You understand how to sell over the phone correctly. How should you end the conversation? You need to wish your interlocutor all the best, say thank you for his time, and also tell him that the person will not regret making a positive decision. Say that you know that your cooperation will be fruitful and will last a long time. There is no need to show great joy, otherwise the client may think that he is your last chance. The tone of the conversation should remain the same from the beginning to the end of the conversation.

Try to be friendly and cheerful. Even if a person refuses you, this does not mean that you should ruin his mood or say nasty things. It is not the person’s fault that he does not need your services or products. Therefore, try to be friendly with all your clients. Don't divide them into good and bad. You also cannot use all the services and offers that you see advertised every day. Recognize a person’s right to the fact that he, too, has the opportunity to choose and make a choice not in your favor. There is no need to be upset. You can find a person who will like and need your product or services. You'll just need to spend some time on it. Therefore, never lose optimism and do not get offended by potential clients.

As practice shows, most entrepreneurs do not know how to communicate correctly with clients and because of this they miss up to 90% of possible benefits. Now we will look at how to properly sell your products or services over the phone.

Every product or service has a price and its value. If the value of a product or service in the eyes of the consumer is lower than the price, then there will be no sale. The technique of all telephone sales is based on increasing the value of a product or service through a competent presentation. If you immediately tell the cost over the phone, you will not be able to increase the value, because the potential client will lose interest and desire to listen to you and say thank you, I’ll think about it, as a result, there will be no opportunity to talk about the advantages and there will be no sale.

How to sell over the phone correctly: The likelihood of a transaction increases if you make a good impression on the interlocutor and maximize the value of the product or service. To do this, you need to adhere to the following sequence in communication:

1. Creating a first impression; 2. Identifying needs; 3. Presentations of goods or services; 4. Personal meeting (not always); 5. Discussion of price; 6. Processing of objections.

Important: Under no circumstances say the price at the very beginning of the conversation, act strictly according to the described template, otherwise you will not be able to increase the value of the service or product, because the person will lose interest in communication and the chances of a deal will fall.

For example, to the question: “How much does this product cost,” you can answer: “Let me clarify some points...” and you begin to identify needs to make good presentation later.

If the price question is asked again- in this case it all depends on the situation, there are 2 options:

a) Name a minimum price, sometimes this is better than annoying your potential client.

b) Go to the next stage of the sequence described above, i.e. if the repeated question was at the stage identifying needs, then you can move on to the stage, in our case to the presentation. For example, if you are asked again about the price, it is better to say the following: “Let me briefly describe what is included in this product and then I will tell you the cost.”

Stage 1. creating a first impression

The first impression is formed 3-15 seconds after the start of communication and is stored in memory unchanged. You will not have another chance to change your first impression. If your potential client senses something wrong in your voice, then the likelihood of a successful conversation and sale drops significantly. It is important to try to start the first 15 seconds with a positive attitude.

It is optimal to start a conversation in the following sequence: 1. Name of the organization, 2. Position or department of the company 3. First and last name 4. Greeting. For example: “Volgadon Company, purchasing department, Andrey Ivanov, good afternoon.” or “Tekhinnostroy, manager Stanislav Voronin, hello.” When you say the company name, you increase the level of reliability.

Company name at the beginning of the conversation gives a feeling of security, stability and implies that the organization consists of more than one person. And the job title and name increases trust and a sense of security, as does other specific information, and also simplifies the process of communication with you. The person who says their position and name at the beginning of the conversation seems more reliable and responsible.

We say the greeting at the end, because if you say it at the beginning, you will put the person in an awkward position, because it is customary to respond to a greeting with a greeting and they will either interrupt you by answering at the beginning, or restrain themselves from saying it at the end of your phrase. There is no need to strain yourself, so say a greeting at the end.

Stage 2. Need identification

At this stage, we understand what exactly a person needs in order to:

1. Provide the most suitable product or service;

2. Collect information that will be required at the presentation stage in order to first of all talk about the advantages of goods or services that are especially important to the client and only then the rest. Thus, we focus on the main thing and do not miss the most important advantages for a potential client, which means the likelihood of a transaction increases.

3. Obtain information to make it easier to argue the benefits of goods or services, adding value at the objection handling stage.

Often the stage of identifying the need is missed, as a result potential clients are not offered what they need and the deal does not happen.

Let's imagine what will happen if a potential buyer calls an online laptop store:

Buyer: “Hello, I’m looking for a laptop for work.”

Buyer: “What is its cost?”

Manager: “So-and-so”

Buyer: “Thank you, I’ll think about it and hang up”

What happened? The manager hurried and most likely suggested the model that the buyer did not like. It is quite possible that the client had a number of requirements for screen size, battery life, price, brand. Without clarifying these requirements, you can offer a model that is categorically unsuitable, for example, the buyer’s Acer laptop is broken, and if you offer him exactly this brand, then trust in you will immediately drop, as will the likelihood of a telephone sale.

It was necessary to first identify the needs, find out who will use it, whether they plan to work on business trips, what programs will be used, whether there are preferences for screen size and other data. Only after understanding the needs can you move on to the next step, otherwise there is a high probability of failure.

Most popular questions:

Describe in more detail what you wanted?

Do you have any additional requests?

In what time frame would you like to receive the product or result?

What budget would you like to meet?

Try to find out everything as much as possible necessary information, the more you know, the more suitable product or service you can offer, the easier it will be to argue your position and handle objections. As a result, phone and face-to-face sales will increase.

Stage 3. Presentation of goods or services

The presentation of a product or service is perhaps the most important part of the conversation, because by describing the benefits, you add value. If you skip this step, sales over the phone or during a meeting may drop several times.

At this stage, it is important to say the following to the potential client:

a.) Mirror all important needs that you have identified. For example, you have identified that a visitor needs a laptop for business trips with a 12-inch screen and a good battery, so we start this stage by mirroring the needs: “Great, I can offer you this model, it has a small 12-inch screen that will make it easy to use on a trip, and the battery lasts up to 9 hours of continuous operation,...”

In general, in a conversation you need to talk through all the benefits related to the identified needs so that the potential client understands that the proposed product or service suits his requirements.

b.) Next, list the main advantages of the product or service. Once you've communicated that a product or service meets a prospect's needs, it's time to communicate the top benefits that you consider most important. For example, talk about the guarantee, describe the advantages over analogues, report positive experience, if any, etc.

Only after you have shared information about the benefits and increased the value of the product or service can you offer to meet or start talking about price.

If your opponent interrupts you and asks you again how much it costs, then act according to the situation, the following options are possible:

a) Say the minimum cost so as not to irritate the person;

b) Go to the next stage - offer to meet, since many goods or services can only be sold during meetings, when there is a high level of trust. More details about the meetings are described below.

Stage 4 Offer to meet - come to the client or invite them to visit

By meeting we mean that you come to the client or he comes to you. A meeting allows you to better present a product or service, especially when it’s hard to imagine appearance, check functionality, there are doubts about reliability.

Ideally, it is advisable to communicate the cost not over the phone, and during personal communication, because at this moment trust in a person is much higher than over the phone, and therefore the value of the product or service increases. Personal communication significantly increases the chances of completing a transaction, so it is advisable not to disclose the cost of expensive goods or services over the phone, as there is a high probability of refusal. It is better to avoid the question and try to arrange a meeting - to come to the client or invite him to your place, because during personal communication your chances of selling goods or services are much higher than over the phone.

If a person is asked to state the price before a meeting, then it is better to avoid the question, but if you are asked about the price again, then in many cases you should not irritate the person and tell it. Although if you are selling expensive goods or services, then you can avoid answering the first 1-2 questions about price and offer to meet.

When it makes no sense to come to the client. Let's consider all cases:

If your time is worth more than what you will spend on traveling to the client to present the product, then it is better to invite him to your place for personal communication or, as a last resort, tell him the cost over the phone.

If you can present the product much better in your store or office than on the road, then it is better to invite them to your place. For example: when selling a car, there is no point in going to a client or when selling a gym membership, because the value of a meeting when a person can see the product or service in person is higher.

When there is no point in even inviting

Many products can be sold over the phone without prior meetings. Typically, these are products that are understandable to the buyer or inexpensive; they are easily purchased without preliminary meetings, because the client simply does not see the point in wasting his time on additional discussion.

Such goods that are sold without additional meetings include everything that is sold in online stores. Therefore, if you have an online store, you don’t have to read the text about meetings below.

There are 2 types of meetings: when you come to a potential client or someone comes to you, let’s look at each case in more detail.

1. If you come to the client yourself

It is much easier to agree to come to a client than to invite him to come to your place, so if you have the opportunity, try to always come on your own, otherwise the likelihood is significantly reduced, since a large number of your potential customers will not be able to come to you, and therefore no sales there will be less. Be sure to provide for the possibility of simple payment, since the more difficult it is to make a payment, the less likely the transaction is. Ideally, accept payment directly at the meeting so that the client does not have to go anywhere.

Of course, the profit from sales should be higher than the cost of your time spent traveling to a client, for example, if you earn 100 rubles from a product or service, then there is probably little point in traveling across the city to meet. If your time is more valuable, then it is better to invite the client to your place. But if your goods or services are expensive, it is better to go to clients, because it is tens of times easier to agree to come than to invite them to your place, which means the volume of orders will be greater.

To increase the likelihood of a meeting, you need the potential client to be interested in meeting with you, otherwise they will not want to meet with you, even if you come yourself. The following things create the strongest interest: price, discount amount, free bonuses. Therefore, in order to have a high chance of a meeting, do not name the exact cost, but say that you can name it only at the meeting, you just need a compelling justification for why you cannot tell the price, discounts or bonuses or other data over the phone.

To schedule a meeting, you need a strong justification for the potential client why it is needed. For example:

If you are repairing equipment, then you can say that the cost depends on the degree of complexity of the breakdown, which can only be determined during a personal inspection or special diagnostics.

If you are engaged in finishing the premises, then you can say that the price depends on the volume and complexity of the work, which can only be determined after a personal inspection.

Let them know you can offer a discount, free bonus, or something else. But all conditions for discounts and bonuses can only be discussed during a personal meeting, since these issues are not discussed over the phone.

Etc. The more complex the service, the easier it is to come up with arguments for the meeting. And the more attractive your arguments, the greater the likelihood of a meeting. If they don’t want to meet with you, then clients don’t see the point and the reason for this is most likely the lack of a compelling justification for why it is needed.

Example. A person calls and asks: “How much does it cost to make a website?” In this case, everything is standard: a) We introduce ourselves; b) We identify needs: what site is needed, why, etc.; c) We describe how we can make such a site + main advantages; d) We say: “The cost of website development depends on the level of design, which cannot be assessed over the phone, so I can come to you at a convenient time and clearly show what types of design cost how much, this will help you immediately understand what and for what money you you can get it eventually."

In your niche, also come up with a reasoning why you need to meet to discuss the cost. The purpose of the meeting is to increase the value of the product or service, and therefore the likelihood of a transaction.

Often you may be asked over the phone for approximate prices, in which case you can tell only the minimum cost, arguing that the exact price can only be given at a meeting for such and such reasons. Although in many cases, you don’t even have to mention the minimum price, especially if it is not very different from the final price or you have compelling arguments for calculating on the spot.

If there is a price in your niche below which you will not work, then you can say so over the phone, this minimum amount in order to cut off low-paying clients and not go to unprofitable meetings.

2. If you invite a client to your place

When you invite someone to your place, the likelihood of a meeting drops several times, since it is much more difficult for a potential client to come than if you do it. Therefore, this option is suitable only in cases where your time is more expensive than the path to a possible client, and also when it is much better to present a service or product by inviting someone to your place. For example, if you are selling a car, then you need to invite people to your car showroom, otherwise you won’t be able to make a good presentation of the car.

The point of an invitation is the same as a meeting - to increase trust and communicate value at a time when the value of the product or service is maximum. Inviting someone to your place is much more difficult than coming yourself, because a potential client needs to spend time and effort to get to you. Therefore, a possible client needs to be rewarded for coming to you, that is, given some kind of bonus for the time and effort spent.

Types of bonuses: Free services, gifts, promotions, a piece of kindness

1. Free services. Your free services should be useful; the chances that a client will come depend on their usefulness coefficient. For example, “Free diagnostics”, “free test drive”, “free lesson”, etc. Essentially, you spend a little time on free services, but significantly increase the likelihood of a meeting, and therefore a transaction. Example: “I invite you to our store (office) so that you can clearly see and see the quality of our products. When you visit our store, we will conduct a free diagnosis for you, all you need to do is come. When would it be more convenient for you to arrive?”

2. Gifts They work the same way as free services - they increase the client’s desire to come to you. For example, you can give each visitor who arrives after a phone call a branded flash drive, mug, candy, cookies, spinner, flashlight, etc. Type “corporate gifts” in a search engine and you will find many ideas. The gift must be valuable or original (unusual); a banal pen is unlikely to impress a potential client.

Naturally, the average receipt must cover the cost of the gift itself, so the more expensive your goods or services are, the more attention you need to pay to gifts and bonuses.

Just don’t say what exactly you will give, let it be a surprise, it’s better to say: “A gift from our company awaits you at the meeting.” If you are asked what kind of gift, then answer like this: “It’s a surprise, so I can tell you what we will give you only at the meeting.” This phrase will intrigue many people and the potential client will want to at least come and pick up the gift. This is exactly what we are trying to achieve, so we don’t say what exactly we will give. If you say that you will give it as a gift, then the chances of a meeting drop sharply, because the potential client may not be interested in this item or may have it, so don’t say that you will give it as a gift.

But just be sure to say on the phone that a gift is waiting for you at the meeting, otherwise you will not increase the incentive to come to you. Give a gift at the very end of the meeting to maintain interest in communication throughout the meeting. There is no need to give pens and notepads, because they are not of great value and such a surprise can only cause disappointment due to the discrepancy between a person’s expectations and reality. A pen and a notepad do not qualify as a gift, because their value is very low. Even a small box of chocolates or cookies will be better than a pen and notepad. Pens and notepads can only be given as a gift with something valuable. in general, give something that justifies the word “gift”.

As you understand, the more expensive the equipment, the more expensive it is advisable to make gifts. As for the payback, everything is simple - if you sell equipment the cost is from 50,000 rubles. and you earn 10,000 rubles from it, then by giving flash drives to everyone, you will not lose anything, but only win, because the number of meetings, and therefore transactions, will be much higher. In many cases, it is even better to increase the price of a product or service, but leave the gifts.

If you wanted to be remembered whenever this item is used, gifts should be corporate, i.e. with a logo and contact information. But this is the next stage. To begin with, you can attract customers with simple gifts, like sweets and cookies.

4. A little bit of kindness, for example, “tea and coffee with buns.” In some areas, especially when your potential clients have a humanitarian mindset, i.e. sociable people (extroverts), an offer to drink tea with buns will work even more effectively than free services, as tests have shown in landing page conversion on the site. This is especially true now, when there is not enough kindness and warmth in the world.

For example, the conversion rate of a landing page for vocal training became higher when, instead of signing up for a free lesson, they offered to sign up to have tea with a teacher.

Moreover, you can offer to drink tea along with the promotion in order to enhance its effect and increase the chances that the client will come to you.

Be sure to talk about the gifts and bonuses that are waiting for the client if he arrives by phone, otherwise you will not increase the client’s desire for a meeting and they may lose their meaning.

Time limit

The desire for any purchase fades over time, i.e. the more time passes from the moment the client contacted, the less interest in your services or products, as a rule. In addition, over time, the telephone conversation is forgotten, and therefore your company and the advantages that you spoke about.

Therefore, additional stimulating factors are needed that would make you want to come to you as quickly as possible, while the potential client is still warm and has not lost interest. You can create such a desire if you limit our bonuses, discounts and promotions by time. For example, say: “The discount promotion for the second product is valid only for 3 days” or “we perform free diagnostics only within 3 days from the date of your request.”

Important: Apply a time limit to all bonuses and discounts, so you can increase the number of clients several times, and you do not lose anything, but only win, because the likelihood and speed of a meeting without concessions on your part increases.

Limiting your offer by time is a very powerful incentive that increases the chances of the client coming to you and meeting with you faster. But remember that a time limit on the ability to order the main product or service is not always clearly perceived, because it may be associated with you as an unreliable supplier or small company, which has few products or capabilities. Therefore, it is better to apply a time limit only to promotions, bonuses, discounts, in this case it will give a positive response.

How much to limit the time of promotions, discounts

The time limit for discounts and promotions should be such as to provide adequate time for the client to come to you. For example, possible clients gym You can give 3 days, because they live nearby. And if you are doing an examination of goods and your clients may be far away, in another part of the city you can give the promotions a validity period of a week, because it is more difficult for them to come due to the territorial remoteness. And if your potential clients are in other cities or even regions, then a period of 1 month may be normal in this case.

Also, the duration of actions is influenced by the speed of decision-making; the more people participate in decision-making, the more time should be given, for example, if you work with organizations, then the validity period of actions can be increased by 2-3 times, since the processes of approval of decisions in an organization can occur much more slowly.

Remember that interest fades over time, so the validity period of promotions and discounts does not need to be given with a large margin - a maximum of double the margin from the real time when a person will be able to come to you.

Maintaining interest

It often happens that life circumstances change and a potential client is unable to come to you, even when you have already agreed on a meeting. The reason for changing plans can be any: Vacation, illness, unforeseen situation, etc.

And the more time passes, the more your agreements are forgotten and the value of the product or service drops. Therefore, let's figure out what to do if the client does not come to you. There are 2 cases possible:

1. You agreed on a time, but the person did not arrive. Call after about 1-3 days and ask why it didn’t work out. Perhaps there was a respectful reason and you can extend the promotion period. Otherwise, the potential client will think that the promotion has already ended and will completely lose interest in coming to you.

2. The time for discounts and promotions is over Be sure to call 1-3 days after the end of the promotion and ask why the person did not come to you. Depending on the reason, you might be able to extend the duration of the promotion and maintain interest.

A telephone call, in addition to maintaining interest in the product, also motivates, because the person will feel uncomfortable in front of you that he promised and did not fulfill, so his desire to meet increases, so that his soul becomes easier.

Important: Always call when the client does not arrive on the appointed day or during the period of promotions and discounts. By calling you will stir up interest and you will be able to extend the promotion on an individual basis if you see fit. In many cases, repeat calls will help increase your sales.

5. Stage. Cost discussion

If we name the cost right away, then in most cases we will not have the opportunity to identify needs and increase the value of the product or service through presentation, since the potential client will immediately lose interest in communication and say: “Thanks, I’ll think about it,” which means the likelihood orders drop significantly.

Never immediately answer the question: “How much does it cost?” at a price. Try to identify needs first so you have the opportunity to handle further objections. Then describe your benefits, what is included in the service or product to add value, and only then provide a price or arrange a meeting.

The exception is when you are interrupted and asked again about the price. In this case, act according to the situation - either move on to the next stage of communication or name the cost. The main thing is not to irritate the person.

How to name the cost

Ideally, do not name the cost over the phone, but arrange a meeting or invite the client to your place to tell the cost at the moment when the level of trust in you is highest, and therefore the likelihood of a transaction. An exception is if you have an online store of goods for which additional appointments are not required when ordering.

And there are also situations when a potential client still asks for approximate prices. In this case, it all depends on the situation, your field of activity and communication skills, but if you understand that the person is not ready to meet with you or order a product until you provide at least an estimated cost, then it is worth mentioning it. Below we will look at 2 cases of how to correctly name the cost:

1. Telephone communication.

1. 1. If the price of goods depends on the configuration, quantity or quality and you need to tell the cost over the phone, you don’t need to give the exact price. Tell me the minimum cost of a service or product package with the preposition “from”, for example: “from 900 rubles”.

Let's say you do computer repairs at home and you get a call with the question: “How much do your services cost?” After you have identified the needs and explained the advantages, say: “The cost of repairs is from 450 rubles (your minimum price), the visit is free and on the spot the master will be able to tell you the exact cost, since it depends on many factors that can be determined in diagnostic time." As a result, we do not shock you with high prices over the phone and we have the opportunity to come to a possible customer, which means increasing trust and the chances that the client will agree to cooperate.

1.2 The price of the product is fixed, the quality and equipment are unchanged. When you sell a single product with a fixed price, then the preposition “from” is inappropriate, because it causes distrust in your words, for example, in an online store of goods.

2. Personal communication. Directly at the meeting, you can tell the exact cost of the product or service, without going away from the details, because during personal communication the degree of trust is already maximum.

It is also better to discuss all the most difficult moments and pitfalls at a meeting, rather than over the phone, because during personal communication, trust in you is higher.

6. Stage. Objection processing

After we have announced the cost, you must understand how satisfied you are with the proposal so that you have the opportunity to process objections.

So ask: “How satisfied are you with our offer?” And then listen to what your opponent answers.

If a person is not satisfied with the price, then you can:

Offer a cheaper option if you have one;

Tell us why your offer is better than cheaper options;

Say what the cost is made up of;

If a person is not satisfied with a product or service, then you can:

Clarify what exactly and offer an alternative;

Justify why this product or service does not have such features;

And other methods of argumentation.

If you follow the conversation methodology described above, you can expect a significant increase in sales over the phone and in meetings.

“Only appointments are sold by phone!” - this is what the classics of telephone sales say, but this postulate is already outdated. Now almost any product can be sold over the phone. By the way, a meeting can also be scheduled by telephone, but it should be scheduled when common interests have already been found, that is, the main thing has already been established - warm contact with the client.

The telephone becomes the main weapon in a sales manager's arsenal. The topic of telephone work is so broad that it is difficult to cover it even in a three-day training. This is why I conduct telephone sales training on a two-week basis. distance learning. Here you can not only learn how to sell, but also develop sales skills. In the meantime, I’ll tell you a few of the most important secrets so that telephone sales don’t seem so scary to you.

Basic secrets of telephone sales:

• 1. Conversation script. He must be! According to a conversation script, it is difficult to speak naturally so that they believe you, but without it it is even more difficult - you have nothing to rely on. It's like a cheat sheet for an exam - you rarely use it, but it increases your confidence. You can read more about telephone sales scripts
• 2. Confidence. There are managers who can read Shakespeare over the phone and still sell. They are simply absolutely confident in themselves, in their product and in the fact that their product is needed. But if this confidence is not inherent in nature, then it can be developed. Firstly, it comes with experience, and secondly, you need to very clearly understand what benefit your product will bring to the client. If you call a client and share your faith with the confidence of a Jehovah's Witness, it is difficult not to believe you. So, to make telephone sales you must be 100% confident in yourself and your product!
• 3. The client speaks.“The most important secret in the work of a telephone sales manager is to express all the advantages of the product as quickly as possible, talk about what a cool company I have, etc..” 90% of managers think so, and therefore there is a myth that it is difficult to sell anything over the phone, and most clients, in response to the words “we want to offer,” hang up. That's why The main secret of telephone sales is to give the client the opportunity to talk about what is important to him. You need to evaluate the quality of a conversation by how much the manager spoke and how much the client spoke. If it's 50/50, it's a good conversation. If there is more of a manager, the sale is in jeopardy. If you have more clients, it’s almost a sale. Conclusion: for a telephone sale to take place, you need to make sure that the conversation is interesting not only to the manager, but also to the client.
• 4. No templates. You probably think I'm contradicting myself? A script is needed in step 1, but no templates in step 4? If I say that a script is needed, this means: the script should be compiled only by you, it should be close to you. How to understand what templates are? Find a bunch of conversation scripts on the Internet and they will be hackneyed templates that many are already allergic to. Here is a list of the most typical patterns:
  - “Who does your purchasing?”
  — “Our company is a leader”
  — “I want to offer mutually beneficial cooperation”
  - “I would like to suggest...”
  - “Who is responsible for...?”
  - "I am a company representative"
  etc. These phrases definitely won’t help with telephone sales. I show how to create atypical individual scripts with real examples in the article “Cold calling scripts”.
• 5. Client themes. Many people believe that the client is a very busy person and cannot be distracted by YOUR call. It is so indeed. Therefore, you need to make the call not only yours, but also his. And how to do this? There is only one common topic among all clients, and only on this topic are clients willing to spend time. What do you think? Any person is ready to talk about himself, his interests, his successes, his problems. Therefore, communication should only be on topics that are relevant to clients. For this you need to know not only your product, but also the client’s business, know how your product will help the client solve problems and improve their work.
• 6. Make appointments wisely. Many managers are given the task of “making an appointment” by management and they make the biggest mistake. They make an appointment when the topics of interaction are still unclear and the client’s interest has not been aroused. In order to easily set up a meeting and be gladly received, you need to interest the client with large strokes during a telephone conversation, and say about the details that it would be more convenient to talk about them for a long time at a meeting.
• 7. Presentation. Scenarios may be standard or may differ from all clients. But the first phrase must be honed and verified. The idea about the company, about oneself, about merits, about the product is absolutely not interesting to the client. And if you waste time talking about something that the person on the other end of the line is not yet interested in, you lose those precious seconds during which he decides to send you or not. Therefore, the presentation must be clear, verified, and explain why you are calling the client. For example, my ideal formula for starting a telephone sale is:
  - Good afternoon. Proshka, Sellers company. Sales development. I’ll explain why I think this presentation is optimal: - “Good afternoon”, since “hello” is hackneyed, and “Good afternoon” can easily be pronounced cheerfully and with a smile, because Good afternoon :) - Proshka (our character does not have a full name, he is Proshka. You need to say his full name, not abbreviated in any way - Alexander, but not Sasha) - only the full name, not “my name” (why waste time?), without a surname (it is not needed yet and is unlikely Will the client remember it right away? - The Sellers company is not a company, not an LLC, but a company. It’s more fun with a company, you can without a company name, but I prefer it this way. - Sales development is the brief essence of what your company does. Now I can ask a lot of questions, the person understands what is at stake, although you can force him to ask this question, but I like it better this way. You have to make your presentation, practice it thousands of times, so that it sounds simple and cheerful! And half the battle is already done - this is the secret of telephone sales of successful managers.

I hope that after reading this article, telephone sales will not seem so difficult and distant to you, because the most difficult secret in the work of a manager active sales- overcome yourself and make the first call. Get started right now!

Selling something “invisible”, something intangible, is much more difficult than selling an ordinary product - for example, clothing or building materials. It is no coincidence that service marketing is identified as a separate area and given a special role. Today we’ll talk about the features of the sphere of intangible production and how to sell services.

What is a service

A service refers to any activities, benefits or goods that are produced in the process of their provision and in most cases are intangible - that is, the buyer does not take possession of any tangible assets. However, some services are directly tied to goods in their material form. So, when buying a plane ticket, we are purchasing precisely a service - moving from point A to point B.

Selling Features

Without exception, all services have General characteristics things to consider when talking about how to sell services.

Intangibility

The most logical point. Services are intangible—that is, they cannot be touched, seen, or tasted. When we come to the hairdresser, we cannot “try on” a new haircut in advance. What does this mean from a supplier's point of view? To increase sales, you need to make services more tangible and highlight the key benefits that the client will receive. For example, for a hairdresser this could be a portfolio with photos best works, which confirms his skill.

Inseparability from the source

Another feature is that the service is always closely related to a person or equipment. So, when buying a ticket to a concert, we expect to see our favorite musicians. If for some reason one of the group members has to be replaced, the service will no longer be the same. This directly implies the need to properly organize the process of providing services: learn to work with a large number of clients at the same time or speed up the service process.

Inconsistency of quality

When talking about how to properly sell services, it is important to remember that the quality of services is constantly changing depending on the location, time of delivery and hundreds of other factors. The same waiter can serve you perfectly one day, but on another day he may drop your dish or be rude (for example, because feeling unwell). What does this mean? When starting a business in the service sector, it is always necessary to allocate a sufficient budget to attract and train really good specialists. In addition, it is necessary to establish feedback with customers to promptly handle any complaints and improve employee performance.

Impossibility of storage

Why is this important for a business owner? The fact is that in almost all sectors of the service industry, demand fluctuates: tours to seaside resorts are mainly booked in the summer, and taxis around the city are booked at the height of the working day. How to sell services in this case? There are several marketing strategies that help stabilize demand and plan expenses more effectively:

1. Differentiation of prices by time. To shift part of the demand from the peak period to the lull period, many companies use discounts - for example, cinemas sell tickets at low prices for the evening sessions.
2. Creating an alternative for those waiting during peak demand hours. A good option— a separate cocktail bar for those waiting for a table in the restaurant.
3. Introduction of a pre-order system.

Other options are also practiced. Some companies, during periods of maximum demand, attract temporary employees or part-time workers.

Marketing of services: general scheme

It is quite difficult to describe point by point how to effectively sell services, because everything depends on the characteristics of a particular company and the niche in which it operates. It is impossible to offer a universal recipe for a large airline and a small hairdresser in a residential area of ​​Moscow. However, a certain algorithm common to all service sector enterprises still exists.

Step #1: Market Research

The first stage is a thorough, comprehensive study of the market in which you plan to operate. The analysis is carried out in two directions:

• competitors;
• potential clients.

Collecting information about competitors is carried out in order to understand what exactly they offer, what attracts customers, how they interact with them, and what prices they set. It is important to know who the key market players are and who operate in the same region with the same target audience, as you. This can significantly affect marketing strategy companies.

Desk and field methods are used for analysis. Sources of desk data include industry journals and directories, databases, and published ratings.

However, most often it is impossible to obtain the necessary information on a specific territory, since most publications work on a national or regional level. Then go straight to field research:

• calling competitors under the guise of a potential client;
• request and study of commercial proposals, advertising products;
• analysis of advertising activities.

It is also necessary to obtain as much information as possible about the clients of other companies. The main tools are questionnaires, polls (on the Internet and on the streets), interviews. To develop a unique offer, it is important to find out what exactly they like/dislike about the companies they are currently applying to.

Step No. 2: development of pricing policy and additional services

First of all, it is necessary to correctly calculate the cost of services sold. Knowing this indicator, you will be guided by how many clients you need to attract to break even, and what markup to set in order to earn money. How to do it?

The cost of a service includes the sum of all expenses incurred by the contractor in the course of its provision. The costs are divided into 2 large groups:

1. Permanent. These include renting premises, paying utility bills, management expenses, depreciation of equipment (computers, office equipment).
2. Variables. Salaries of employees, purchase of materials, etc.

Basically, when calculating expenses, they are based on the time required to provide a certain service (for example, how many hours of the total time did the programmer spend on completing the order).

The next important aspect of telephone conversations is the ability to concisely and clearly inform the client the purpose of your call and quickly interest him in cooperation.

Alas, quite often, immediately after the presentation, sellers start a hackneyed and tired song: “We want to offer you...” and then a tedious listing of the characteristics of the product or service.

Of course, the first desire that arises in the client is to refuse and hang up as quickly as possible. This is understandable. None of us likes it when people want something from him very much. Moreover, if this desire comes from a stranger whom he has never even seen. And even more so when in order to satisfy this desire you need to pay a nth amount of hard-earned money. Remember your school physics course?

The action force is equal to the reaction force. © Newton's Third Law

So it is here. The more you persuade the client, the more he resists, even if your offer is actually incredibly profitable for him and can reduce costs and/or increase profits by one hundred and forty-eight percent.

How to be?

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Therefore, it is extremely important to interest your interlocutor with your very first phrase, so that he wants to listen to you further, to consider your detailed Commercial offer or meet (depending on the purpose for which you are calling).

And in order to gain the client’s attention and interest, you should remember a few simple things:

Firstly, give up this “garbage” phrase “We want to offer you...”. This is the same as the “favorite” and rather annoying question of sales consultants: “What can I tell you?” The answer immediately suggests itself: “I don’t need anything.” After all, such a “frontal” remark puts your interlocutor “against the wall” and forces him to make a decision “here and now” when he is not yet ready.

The formulation “We would like to find out the possibility of cooperation...” sounds much “softer” and more effective. Agree, talking about possibilities does not oblige you to anything yet, and therefore causes much less tension.

For example:

- We know that your pharmacy is located near the maternity hospital. And we just sell products that are in demand in such places, for example, pacifiers, bottles, baby powder, etc. We are not working with you yet, so we decided to clarify how interested you would be in working with us.

Secondly, don’t tell the client anything – NOTHING! – about the characteristics of your goods or services. Most people are simply not able to immediately perceive by ear so many details and details that are new to them. Remember that it is you, not your customer, who interacts with your product/service every day. And what is familiar and obvious to you may be incomprehensible and tiresome to the client. At the same time, it is much easier for your interlocutor to refuse than to make efforts to comprehend the flow of (unsolicited!) information that has fallen upon him.

Instead, be prepared to immediately - in the first sentence following the introduction - name the MAIN benefit of cooperation with you.

- The sage says that there is only one rule in the world: a tiny question on which our luck depends. The more often this question is asked, the stronger we will become. Do you understand what this question is, Mr. Green? What does this give me? © From the film “Revolver”

Think about what is the main “headache” of your potential client that you can eliminate if he purchases your product or uses your services? What is the maximum benefit he can get if he agrees to cooperate? Increasing sales, saving money, reducing staff turnover, reducing risks, expanding business, eliminating equipment failures, increasing productivity, putting things in order, reducing costs?

One million quarter-inch drills were sold not because people wanted quarter-inch drills, but because they wanted quarter-inch holes. © T. Levitt

Look at the situation not through the eyes of a seller who has a super-duper product/service, but through the eyes of your client. What will he get in the end?

Moreover, here, as nowhere else, it is not the quantity of arguments that is extremely important, but their quality. Save buyer time and thinking! Speak to the point and only about the main thing. Remember, you only have 30 seconds to impress and hook your interlocutor. Use them effectively!

For example, when I first talk to my prospects on the phone, I don't tell them that I can develop a workflow for sales staff or conduct sales training. But I always say in the first sentence that I can help them increase sales. Almost all companies want this. And this stated benefit is quite enough for the client to continue listening to me, start asking clarifying questions and ultimately agree to a personal meeting.

By the way, if the purpose of your call is to arrange a meeting, try not to reveal the essence of your proposal in all details over the phone, keep the intrigue (remember the “bitten candy” effect). After all, if you tell everything over the phone, the client simply will not be interested in meeting with you.

Or here's another example. Several years ago, a colleague and I were developing an outsourcing contact center service for sale. In this script there was this phrase:

- We can help you increase the number of daily contacts with clients several times, without “inflating” the staff of your company.

In addition, as a “yummy” when collaborating with your company, you can offer the client the provision of some exclusive information about the market or the opportunity to receive privileges from your business partners:

- We have a certain influence in this market, and cooperation with us can help you gain additional income. For example, we have competent suppliers who provide our company with certain benefits, and if we characterize you as our partner, you will also enjoy these benefits.

At this point I interrupt the story and leave you room for imagination :-). Read the continuation of the topic in the following articles.

You can also purchase and significantly increase the efficiency of outgoing calls in your company in the first month of using this tool.