Phone Etiquette When Making Sales Appointments

One of our biggest assets when making sales appointments is the telephone. However, we need to use proper telephone etiquette because this is often times the first contact that a prospect has with our company. We have a great opportunity to shine in the eyes of our prospect, so we need to show that we are above our competition. This also points out that we are care very much about our prospect. You’ll see what I mean in a minute.

Years ago I got some great ideas on phone etiquette from a training company that Johnson Wax Professional brought in to work with our distributors. They were called the Stanley Brothers from Texas, Bill and Jack, and they had great suggestions that I still use to this day.

When making phone calls to prospects expecting to obtain a sales appointment, we need to practice several important things. First, we should stand up when making these phone calls. If we remain sitting, we compress our diaphragms, which changes the tone of our voice. When we stand, we come across in a more commanding manner with a more powerful voice. Try this for yourselves. Call a friend and be sitting at your desk at the beginning of the call. Ask your friend to tell you when they notice something different in your voice. (Tell them that you are trying an experiment.) After a sentence or two - stand up! Your friend will tell you that something just changed. When you ask them to describe the change, they’ll tell you that your voice just got much better, more commanding.

If you get lucky enough to actually get to speak with your prospect LIVE, rather than being put into his or her voice mail system, you must be prepared with what you want to say. There are some calls that I make that I feel are very important and I really want, or need, to obtain an appointment. With these calls, I usually write a very short list of bullet points to refer to during the call, especially when I get nervous. On really important sales phone calls, I always get nervous! There have been times in the past when nerves have caused me to forget the reason that I was calling! These bullet points help bring me back to business.

At the beginning of the call, I always give my name and my company name. The problems that many people have are that our names and company names are words that we say many, many times a day. In the excitement of the minute, we tend to rush these words together when speaking and it’s often difficult for our prospect to understand what we just said. It can be very difficult for people to place a long pause between their first name and their last name. (It actually took me three months to practice this to the point where I can speak my name very slowly when talking to someone.) This is very important when speaking to someone who does not know who I am and did not expect my call.

Here is another thought. If you have a very difficult last name to pronounce, (one with many consonants, for example) you might be better off just using your first name and then your company name, such as, “This is Jerry, with ABC Company.”

Out of common courtesy, we must get in the habit of asking the prospect if they have time to speak with us. My method of doing that with strangers is to ask, “Do you have a minute, or is someone with you?” With people I already know, like my clients, I’ll ask, “Do you have a minute, or are you in the middle of something?” If you get in the habit of asking a question similar to this, you will actually receive compliments from people you are calling for the very first time. This helps to set yourself above your competition as being someone who cares more about other people than they do about themselves.

Next time, we’ll follow this section up with some suggestions for using proper etiquette when leaving voice mail messages.

Visit my website at www.mccannmotivations.com or email me at john@mccannmotivations.com. You can also call my toll free number at 866-603-1578.