In this current time, sales calls are going to be far more prevalent and important in business, so here are a few tips from the Entrepreneur about how to pleasantly surprise prospects on a sales call.
The first tip listed was to do your research ahead of time. It’s really important to make sure that the customer knows they are not merely a number, and that you care about them. In order to do this, find a genuine connection you have with them. ” But beyond sharing all information, there are a few extra lengths a salesperson can take to establish a connection with the prospect and leave them pleasantly surprised” (the Entrepreneur).
Another tip is to show that you are human – not merely just a machine following a script. By reciting the same script over and over, it makes the words lose their meaning. “Behaviors you wouldn’t normally consider positives in public speaking — like saying, “um” or hesitating before you speak — can actually help the phone call feel more real, and like you haven’t said the exact sales script over one hundred times in the past few weeks” (The Entrepreneur).
The final tip is to share stories since it gives you the chance to break out of the mundane rehearsal, leading to genuine, human conversations. “The cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner famously said that we are 22 times more likely to remember facts when presented in stories” (The Entrepreneur). By telling a story, your customer is more likely to remember your product and you also have the ability to show your company in a unique way.
All in all, it’s important to show the customer that you care by doing research on them in advance, showing that you are human, and telling stories. By following these tips, it will help make sales calls less robotic and more organic feeling both to your customer and to yourself.
BoweryJE22
The bit about stories is particularly good; humans are geared towards storytelling. We love doing it and we love hearing it. It’s a lot easier for us to connect with a person than a pitch, and stories are innately human, much more so than a data point on a graph.
Great tips! I have been a Crimson Caller at the College since the beginning of freshman year and I have definitely used some of these techniques. Though a script is provided, I often don’t even look at the script in an aim to make the call more conversational. And storytelling is a great way to do that. It can be a lot of fun sometimes hearing the stories of alumni and having the opportunity to share some of my experiences with them.