Ten Keys To Sales Success In A Down Economy

By Mark Anthony

A well planned script is one of the telemarketer’s most powerful tools. Enthusiasm combined with a strong presentation will motivate a prospect to buy. However, as the customer becomes more savvy and competition mounts top telemarketers must find ways to stand apart from the pack. To create a presentation that motivates, you must go beyond clearly conveying the benefits of owning your product. Psychological selling elevates taking a qualified contact to new standards in professional telemarketing skills.

The telemarketers must focus on studying the clients needs and how they can satisfy the individual customer. To minimize call resistance the prospect must be allowed to buy what they want and get the benefits which fulfill the values they perceive are necessary. By incorporating 10 powerful Psychology of Selling tools into your sales presentation you will strengthen your customer relationships and shorten the sales process.

1.   Interview the prospect to learn their needs. An interactive dialogue is a more complicated and skilled presentation then simply reading a one sided “pitch” but the results are significantly more profitable. All high ticket items and any manager interested in improving their close rate must involve the prospect beyond simple yes or no answers.

2.   Proper questions reveal what the client really wants and why they want it. To gain closing ammunition the telemarketers want to know how the prospect knows they have satisfied their needs and what must happen for the client to realize  they have it. As questioning skills develop the salesperson will learn to understand  the prospect as a person and individual.

3.   Understand key motivation for owning your product. Every purchase comes down to people needing to satisfy the emotions of greed, ego, fear, love, or self development. People buy emotion! Top producers challenge old habits such as selling common facts and benefits. Top producers sell to satisfy emotion.

When ego, fear or one of the other key emotions are sold the prospect is rapidly moved to the close. There is a strong psychological need to satisfy and protect those emotions. People spend their money to get the pleasures of satisfying those needs. It is a priority to protect themselves from the pain of having a void in those emotional areas.

4.   Logic pales to emotion. The initial reason a prospect considers buying is for the emotional satisfaction your product offers. The owning of features is only a tool that helps fulfill a greater psychological need. The motivating force that propels people to buy is the need to attain intangible values and the specific psychological needs owning your product satisfies. Remember: people will use logic to justify their purchases but they buy for emotional reasons. Trigger emotions by carefully planning your questions. Concentrate on tapping into the emotions that are touched by owning your product.

5.   Get Them Talking! A simple statement such as; “Can I ask you a few brief questions to save time and see if I can satisfy your needs” will get the prospect into the right frame of mind to answer all of your probing questions. That brief statement offers two benefits, saving time and satisfying the prospects needs.  Secondly, you tear down defensive walls when you allude to the fact that your product may not be appropriate. Lastly, it is a powerful question because the prospect feels they are in control even though you are the one guiding them.

6.   Are they ready to buy? As you support your case with facts and benefits you want to test if the prospect is ready to be closed. You can minimize fatal closing objections if you test the prospects buying readiness with a trial close. The average person hates to make a decision. They often can’t decide on which movie to see Saturday night. Getting the prospect to commit to a major purchase is even more difficult. On the other hand they will add their two cents when it's not their decision. Human nature encourages people to want to share their opinions and thoughts. People feel important when they are asked their opinion and they feel good giving it.

By specifically asking the prospect your closing question with the words “in your opinion” preceding it you turn a decision making formal close into a comfortable trial close. The trial response tells you how ready the person is to making a buying decision. If you get a highly favorable answer to your trial close you can ask a formal closing question. If you receive a cold or mildly warm response you still need to do some desire development.

7.   Create a buying mood with the word yes. By getting your prospect to say yes six times during the presentation you greatly increase the odds of getting a favorable response to your closing statement. Six yeses get the person into an agreeable state of mind. They become comfortable saying yes to you. The prospect ‘s yes responses breakthrough negative defenses. Most importantly the prospect is now psychologically in the right mind set to allow themselves to say yes to a purchase decision. How many simple questions that can elicit a yes response can you structure into your presentation?

8.   Enthusiasm and smiles. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiastic about your product, you will be more successful. This is crucial in telemarketing. Your voice is your greatest asset in conveying the attributes of your product or service. If you are excited, your prospect will sense that there is something good here.  It is your enthusiasm that brings a script to life. Smiling is one of the most natural ways to bring your enthusiasm to the surface.  When we simile, we are friendlier, more energetic and enthusiastic. Even when you don’t feel like smiling, do it. Your mind will automatically be triggered into a happier state of being.

9.   Script and pad. Even the simplest of presentations should be written out. A script allows you to select the most appropriate wording to move your prospect through the sales process and to use that wording on each and every call. Even more important, having a script in front of you allows you to put your energy into listening to the prospect rather than thinking about what to say next. When you uncover an important need, problem or interest of the prospect’s, jot it down. Writing it down assures that you will remember the point, work it into your presentation and leaves your mind clear to listen for more vital information.

10.  Going beyond words: To establish trust and likability the telemarketer must speak in a manner that makes the prospect comfortable. People like and trust those folks that are similar to themselves. By carefully monitoring your words, speech patterns and voice tones you can create an environment that quickly establishes positive rapport.

People have different definitions for the same words. For instance, one prospect may say they want to buy a mutual fund with a great track record and the representative says they have a fund with an excellent track record. Unfortunately by the prospects definition great may be better than excellent, therefore resulting in some uneasiness. The prospect may feel that there are different connotations to the word “excellent” compared to “great” which results in the two parties being on slightly  different wave lengths. The simplest solution is to carefully listen to the words your prospect uses and adopt them into your conversation on a case by case basis. You will be viewed as someone who understands the prospect’s viewpoints and that “speaks their language.”

Speech patterns are equally important. Are you a “fast talking Yankee” or a slow talking “robot”? The only right answer is to be in synch with your prospects. If they speak slowly and you speak rapidly you may be viewed as a “smooth talking hustler.” On the other hand the slow talking telemarketer may make the fast talking prospect very uncomfortable. The prospect may become impatient and feel the telemarketer is not being responsive. As you verbally dance with your prospect you must gracefully follow their pace.

Tone of voice often communicates more than the words selected. Do you convey excitement with words such as terrific, fantastic and great? Does concern come through in your message as you ask about goals, objectives and challenges facing your prospect? Does your voice resonate with confidence as you make recommendations, state facts, benefits and ask for the order?

In telemarketing your voice becomes your body language. Similar to the way we select our words and pace of speech is the use of voice tone. We must speak in a manner that our customer can relate to. Does your voice tone over power or comfort the soft spoken prospect? Are you portrayed as confident and competent in the eyes of the prospect who uses a commanding tone?

As you develop the psychological rapport building technique of modeling the prospects words, speech pattern and voice tone you begin to melt the icy reception that greets many telemarketers.

When you develop the habit of building your clients trust by appealing to their emotional needs and values you create a loyal customer base. By structuring your presentation and speech to the individual prospect you are better suited to guide your customer to the appropriate decision.

Your staffs telemarketing success can be further leveraged as each member of your team takes stock of their daily communication habits and evaluates each of their strengths and weaknesses. When a quality script is combined with sincerely meeting the needs of the prospect you are an organization that communicates genuine value.  The reward is a motivated sales team, happy customers and a profitable bottom line.

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