Selling Over The Phone Isn’t Dead, But You Need To Know What You’re Doing

We’re not talking about annoying telemarketing calls here. Cold calling to get in touch with potential customers may sound scary, but it could be extremely effective in an age where others are reluctant to hit the phones. You just need to know what you’re doing.

Many people dread making cold calls because they may feel awkward calling complete strangers up to sell them a product or service. But once you get over the fear of doing this, phone calls can help get your company’s name out there and even if a potential customer isn’t interested immediately, they may come back to you later down the track.

The caveat is that you need to know what you’re doing when you’re on the phone with a prospective customer otherwise there’s no point in calling in the first place. Over at Entrepreneur, sales strategist and business author Marc Wayshak talked about the mistakes that people can make when they’re calling up potential customers, including relying on a script and sounding overly enthusiastic. He also talked about the peril of focusing too much on the product:

“Most salespeople forget this crucial fact: Prospects don’t care about you, and they don’t even care about what you have to offer them. They only care about themselves. When you’re on the phone with a prospect, never launch into an explanation of why your product or service is great. If you do, your prospect will tune you out immediately. Instead, use that first call to focus exclusively on discovering your prospect’s biggest challenges.”

You can read more about common mistakes sales people make over the phone over at Entrepreneur.