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Make cold calling a breeze

Telemarketing is not an easy job. It involves contacting people who may be engaged in activities that don’t involve receiving phone calls from complete strangers. Not only that but the stranger in question — you — is trying to complete a sale without making the prospective customer angry.

There are a few things you can do that will help you perform telemarketing without annoying people.

In a perfect world, the conversation you have with the prospect would follow exactly the script you have in front of you. This is of course not the case, and you will certainly encounter resistance to the product offered.

When the customer baulks at your offer, do not counter by asking why. That one word is guaranteed to put the prospect on the defensive because they will feel as if they are experiencing a personal attack.

By questioning their decision, you come off as though you feel superior to them and that their concerns are silly. Once the customer you call feels insulted, the rest of the call is likely to be pointless.

Another bad habit that is easy to fall into is to get excited on the phone. Leave the loud, abrasive sales pitch to television and radio advertisements. You will come off as phony if you use this approach.

Sometimes the excitement comes from a sense of desperation. Not only do you become pushy if you are in need of a sale, the prospect may also develop the perception that the product itself is of poor quality since you haven’t been able to sell much of it.

Be aware that you have no idea what kind of mood the person on the other end of the call is in, so an excitable tone of voice may get on people’s nerves. Don’t act like a teenager; act like a professional.

The call script helps you to focus on what to say, but feel free to take a break from it if necessary. Stop for a moment and listen to what the prospect is saying to you. There is a chance that they will reveal something about themselves that will make the sale easier or they may even talk themselves into buying.

By allowing them to communicate without talking all over them, you also make them feel as though what they have to say is important, and they are. Closing a sale is the reason why you called.

There is no way to guarantee how a telemarketing call will go. By following these suggestions, however, you can help ensure that you won’t annoy someone along the way. Just take a deep breath and be yourself, and things will work out for the better. - Singapore Straits Times/Asia News Network

Article by Mark Thomas Walters, who specialises in articles on business management, finance and employment. Article extracted from Star Classifieds.

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