Prospecting is the first step in a sales process of identifying potential customers.
The goal of prospecting is to develop a database of likely customers and systematically communicate with them in the hope of converting them to customers.
How do you effectively connect and communicate with your customers while trying to make a sale?
Ensuring that your customers have a positive interaction with you, helps to increase sales and recurring business but knowing how to provide excellent customer service can be challenging.
Sales Representatives that are primarily interacting with customers over the phone have their own unique challenges, since they are unable to see facial expressions or read body language.
However, the good news is that there are a few things that anyone can apply to their customer service experience that will help to enhance it, whether it’s in person or over the phone.
- Research
Prior to your phone conversion, research as much as possible about the customer. That way, you will not waste time and present your products or services better in a way that will impress them.
‘If you can immediately let the customer know your offer, you will have a better chance of getting their attention’
- Personalize the experience
Be sure to mention the customer by name and introduce yourself right from the start. You want to make the conversation a pleasant experience. One way to do that is to remember small details about the customer. The next thing that you can do is to offer a bit of personal information about yourself, as that helps to “humanize” your interaction is a great way to connect with the customer.
- Your sale is not the final sale
Yes, the goal is to convince the customer to realize why they need a product or service and then make a sale. But there’s more than that. The goal should be to have returning customers or in other words recurring revenue.
- Your Offer – Call to Action
The best way to encourage a customer to make a decision or to take action is to give them a call to action. This may mean presenting something as exclusive, or a special deal. You may want to phrase your wording with, “This deal ends soon”, or, “We have limited sign-up available”, or something similar to create a sense of urgency.
‘If you get off the phone with the customer there is a good chance they will never follow through’
- Be Transparent
This means being honest with the customer. Highlight the pros and cons of what you are offering, so that you don’t appear biased, and speak plainly.
You are trying to inspire confidence and trust with your phone conversation and don’t want to seem vague or uninformed about what you are offering.
‘A phone conversation is not the time to use fancy technical terms’
- Be Intuitive
Be aware of boundaries and if the customer seems to be feeling uncomfortable adjust your behavior and the conversion.
Remember, you want this to be a pleasant interaction for the customer, and if at any point they seem to out of their comfort zone change your tactic or the conversion topic.
- Be Polite
Always be courteous and friendly, even when dealing with angry, or hostile customers.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post 😀
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