12 smart life hacks for Sales calls

If you work in sales, you probably also regularly make acquisition and sales calls. Especially prospecting remains a challenge for many sales professionals. It requires the necessary self-confidence, perseverance and most of all making a lot of miles. To make it a little easier, we have gathered 12 different tips for you to increase the success ratio of your calls and efforts.

By ‘packaging’ the product and describing it as a solution instead of just a product or service, the chance of conversion also increases. Ultimately, you perform better by solving problems than by selling products. Use hard data to demonstrate how successful your product has been. Tell a compelling story about how you have helped customers with similar challenges. Above all, remember to prioritize what your customer cares about rather than the many options you offer.

Make sure you are constantly, preferably every day, proactively in contact with new potential customers. This will keep your pipeline filled and make it easier for you. You don’t have to do this just by calling. Use a mix of email, social media, and direct contact for the best result. No response? Don’t give up too soon but hang in there and keep trying. A guideline might be to contact someone about three times a week, let it rest for two to three weeks and then try again. And keep trying at intervals if necessary.

Why would you want to keep reinventing the wheel? Online you can find many models to create a good running customer-focused script for your calls. Use them. It will save you time and energy and you can be sure that you can present yourself in a confident and professional manner now you speak to your desired prospect. Especially as a junior in the business, it can give you a lot of peace of mind. And know this: all the great sales gurus do it, maybe not consciously and on paper, but certainly in their heads because they know from the many conversations they have had exactly what to say and when.

Research shows that it can take as many as eight to 12 attempts to get a decision maker on the phone. By leaving an effective voice-mail message, you’ll be called back more often than you think. There are script examples online for this as well. In this, especially remember to actually ask the prospect to call you back. No, not everyone will do that, but if they do, that’s pure profit for you. Tip: If the voice mail system offers you the chance to listen to your message, do so. That will give you a chance to hear not only what you said, but how your tone is (accounting for at least 70% of your communication).

Never start your sales calls with a comment about the bad weather, traffic, or crowds. Always start with a positive comment or anecdote. Think about nice weather, fun weekend plans, or a favorite sports team winning a game. A positive start puts most sales calls on the right track.

Assigning a positive label or attribute (such as being a smart or nice person) to people subconsciously entices them to live by the label. In a fundraising study, researchers told average donors that they were, in fact, among the highest donors. What happened next? Those donors went on to donate an above-average amount. In fact, we tend to live by positive labels attributed to us by people we interact with. For example, you might say, “You are one of our best customers” or “You are a pleasure to do business with.” After receiving the compliment, the customer will want to be one of your best customers or try even harder to be a pleasure to do business with. But beware, guard against overkill and prevent people from thinking you are inauthentic or manipulative.

Too many options can easily confuse buyers, making it harder for them to select, rationalize and make a purchase decision. Unless you’re a data analytics engineer, information overload rarely provides an advantage. When you describe your product or service, limit the number of options and features the prospect should focus on. Of course, you mention the very things that are decisive to that prospect. That way, they’ll come to a decision faster and be more confident that they’re not missing anything.

People hate to be emotionally forced into a purchase. Therefore, give customers enough space, freedom and power to make purchase decisions they will not regret. You can achieve this, for example, by closely involving customers in developing the solutions they need. Demo sessions can be very valuable here. Here you hear where the bottlenecks are and you can immediately anticipate them.

Timing is important. Depending on the industry and the specific prospect you’re approaching, the right timing exists for making calls, giving presentations, sending emails, scheduling meetings, and trying to close. With business intelligence software, social media, and other digital tools, it is becoming increasingly possible to determine and take advantage of the ideal time. According to a study conducted by CallHippo, the optimal time for a cold call, by the way, is between 4 and 5 p.m. on Wednesday or Thursday. While you may not be able to cram all your cold calling into two hours a week, it is smart to at least take advantage of those times.

Plan and prepare for every call. Use business intelligence tools, company databases and search engines to build a profile of a company. Research their social media accounts to discover pain points and other opportunities. Know as much as you can about a prospect (and their competitors) to make them feel like they are important, that you have done your homework and that you care about their success.