How to reach your goal in a Sales Conference Call EVERY TIME?

A Sales Conference Call is harder than any other meeting. Only your Knowledge and Listening skills counts! Here is a reminder of what to do to show your best and rock your goal!

Conducting a Sales Conference Call is a major skill for a salesperson to master. You can’t rely on face-to-face meeting techniques like using positive body language, enticing visuals, and an attractive environment to make your pitch. It is an entirely different set of tactics that you have to employ to stay connected and focused on conversions when you’re attending a virtual meeting. The only things you have to work with are your voice, optimism, and choice of words. You’ve got to lay out your sales call strategy and be comfortable with leading the agenda.

Rehearsing To Be Natural

To make a great impression with your customer/s means engaging in extensive preparation and rehearsing some key parts of the call “script” to make it your own. You only have one chance to make a positive impact upfront, and you have to make it count. Practicing means you won’t get tongue tied and sound lost. However, you don’t want to sound like a parrot repeating words without any truth to them, or you’ll put your client to sleep. Rather, you want to truly understand what you are planning to say with the right intention. Sounding natural takes a lot of practice.

Plotting Success

What is the purpose of the audio conference call? What are the key messages you want to convey? Be sure to write these down, so they are visible to you during the call. You can think about possible questions that the customer/s might ask and how you will answer them. If you set an agenda, you are plotting the steps to stay in control of the call. Let your prospect/s know what you wish to accomplish with the call and get their buy-in right at the start. Maintain your connection with them by using the clients’ name a few times during the call. As a conference call may involve several people, it will also help you in showing that you consider every one of them and not only the ultimate decision-maker. Don’t overuse it though! You don’t want to sound like that unctuous salesperson we all met once.

Keep It Positive

Making that outbound call can create anxiety which can be alleviated by starting off with a great virtual entrance. You must begin the call by introducing yourself. People often forget this vital step. Start from a positive place – good weather, sports results, positive personal anecdote. Avoid using any negative references about being overloaded with work or upset with the rainy day. You don’t ever want to start on a low note. Your super confidence must shine through the receiver, and they must be able to hear the “smile” in your voice. Leave your soft-spoken sound at home and bring your big, bold voice to the call. Vary both your tone and pace of speaking. Also, annunciate and speak slower, we can’t read your lips.

Do You Know What You’re Talking About?

Along with conveying confidence, you must also exude intelligence and product knowledge. Your customer/s will only purchase a product if they think you know what you are doing. Never let your hesitation rear its ugly head. The client/s must believe in what you are saying, and that can only come from sounding like a human, not a robotic, teleprompter reader. They might as well just speak to Siri. You could have delivered your ‘script’ 100 times that day, but you still have to find it fresh with every call.

The Sound of Silence

But it’s not all about the sound of your voice. You need to make time for active listening. Let them know you are listening to what they have to say with a few ‘yes, I see’ and ‘uh-huh’ prompts. These are known as ‘verbal nods’ and makes people feel ‘heard’ in your company which creates a positive rapport. And don’t forget you’re not in an interrogation, give the conversation some breathing room. But you don’t want to add the fillers like ‘um,’ ‘er’ or ‘ahh.’ Those little words reveal that you don’t know what you are talking about or you’ve lost concentration during the Sales Conference Call.

Bad Mouth Boomerang

Another vital point is that you can never bad mouth your direct competitors on a Sales Conference Call, or on any Sales meeting, ever. Transference kicks in whereby whatever negative things you say about your opposition gets attributed to you by the customer/s on the other side of the call. You end up looking like the incompetent company. Steer the conversation in another direction if your competition comes up. If you are not able to avoid a discussion about the competition, use it as an opportunity to focus on your offer, and how it favourably compares. Highlight how your product or service matches your customer’s pain points perfectly.

Standing Tall

Stand up. This is to ensure you aren’t slouching and losing energy. Get up and get moving so that your passion for the product can move through your body and out through your mouth. Standing also helps you to speak with conviction. Invest in a wireless headset, so you are free to use your hands and move around the space. Make sure your desk is clear with only your materials that will assist with the sales call in front of you. You can even keep a mirror in the area so you can keep checking that a real smile is on your lips and has spread all the way to your eyes.

Don’t Finish Other People’s…

Never interrupt or finish your customer’s sentences. Stay well away from dominating the conversation and forcing your opinion on the client without giving them a chance to express their thoughts. Just keep asking questions so that they reveal their pain points, wishes, and concerns. You can then offer useful solutions to their issues.

Talk Back

At the end of the call, summarize what the customer/s shared with you and the products you presented. When you can repeat back words and phrases that the prospect used throughout the call, they will know that you have listened to them. Decide together what the next phase of the relationship will look like –never assume you have their buy-in.

Self Success Analytics

Finally, record every Sales Conference Call so you can listen to where you excelled and where you need to improve. Note: If you do record a call you are required to notify your customer/s that they are being recorded before you start the call and request their permission to go ahead. Ask your colleagues for tips and tricks that are working for them. Try different approaches to see what tactics work the best for you, or in your industry.

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