They’re Interested! Now What?

You need to have a thick skin in order to make cold calls all day. You hope that everyone will be interested in your services, but that is not likely to be the case when you’re dialing someone out of the blue. Your attempts at bringing in new customers will get you numerous responses like “Let me call you back” or the ever popular “Email me some more information.” The research you did for lead qualification will only get you so far. It is how you handle your phone calls that will get you the coveted “that’s interesting, tell me more” response. So how do you get there? How exactly do you get another industry professional to go into business with your company? In reality, it could take a few calls to get them to say yes. So realistically, all you need to do is have confidence and patience. Use all the B2B telemarketing services you have at your disposal and it is easy to figure out what to do next.

Expectations

There are many salespeople, especially those who are new to the game, who get their hopes up much too high at the beginning of a campaign. Of course, everyone wants record breaking numbers, but the positive results you see with cold calls are generally on the lower side. A big issue that people run into is not following up when they get a negative first impression. As a rule, you should ALWAYS call someone back when you have a follow up scheduled. It does not matter if they yawned through your whole sales pitch, or if they already mentioned working with one of your competitors. Sure, the lead might not pan out in the end. On the other hand, you could have just caught them on a bad day the first time around. People get more sleep on some days and contracts with your competition expire. Even if they aren’t interested right away that does not mean they will never have a need for your services. If you neglect to keep in touch you probably won’t be an appealing option to them in the future either. So, don’t let a potential sale slip through your fingers because it might not go anywhere. Pick up the phone and call them back so there is no doubt about where you stand.

Reminders

Every good telemarketer knows to take notes during sales calls. They help you stay organized and give you reminders about a client’s interests. Consider using your notes to help with scheduling as well. After your initial conversation, give the other person an exact time and date for a follow up call and keep it in your notes. It will be a reminder for you that another company is waiting on you. Your second interaction often goes much smoother because the customer can be more prepared with questions and concerns than they were the first time around. You should also consider sending email reminders. Reaching out immediately after your first meeting as well as right before the second shows a customer that they are important to you and that you know how to keep in touch. Keep the email short and sweet with the time and date of the follow up and a quick mention of something you spoke about that is specific to them. They could have mentioned a sports team or a concert they just saw. Bringing it up again shows that you listened to everything that had to say and that you enjoyed the conversation. People always respond better when they feel like they are heard and respected.

Hold Their Interest

Giving a large portion of information up front has the potential to draw someone in and get them curious about your products. You will want to give them as many details as possible right away but consider saving something for later. During your follow up call, you want to do more than just review what you already said. If it feels right, keep information like upcoming specials or features to yourself until you speak with the customer the second time around. It will keep the conversation fresh and give you a whole new topic to discuss. It could also be a huge selling point if you have any customers who are on the fence. Think about it. You have a person who is interested in your services, but not quite sold. They then spend the time in between phone calls thinking about whether they want to go into business with you. Finally, when they speak with you again, they hear about a great promotion you are running. Now they are off the fence and happily joining you on the other side. Keeping your taking points new and interesting is an excellent way to reel customers in, especially when you have multiple conversations planned. After all, you wouldn’t want to have the same exchange over and over again, why would anyone else?

Follow up calls are essential to the entire lead nurturing process. Most sales are not made during the first interaction but are instead held off until much later. Make sure you go into every call with realistic expectations about where it could lead. Being optimistic is great, just make sure you are aware that not everything is going to end in your favor. Give yourself a huge advantage by keeping detailed notes. This will allow you to keep accurate appointments and remind you about the customers likes and dislikes. Lastly, give yourself something new to talk about each time you call the customer back. You’ll avoid stale talking points and make sure the person on the other end of the call looks forward to speaking with you instead of dreading it. You buyers are just like you. They need to make smart business decisions to ensure their own success. Use your follow up calls to show why you are exactly what they need.