This is something that I learned in my early years in selling from the consumer industry and it has be a powerful asset to my success in sales and management of inside groups.
Listen to the “tone” and “tonal” qualities of your prospect and listen carefully.
With the lack of visual contact in a telephone sales call the information you get from the prospect or client is significantly reduced. In normal communication we get 55% of our information from our eyes – yes 55% of communication is visual.
Feelings and other information are transmitted in your voice and it’s almost impossible to be incongruent. Try say “You’re a bad dog.” in and angry tone with a smile on your face. It simply doesn’t work well.
Thus when you talk to prospects and clients on the phone, if you listen to the tonal qualities of the voice, you will hear a lot more than you have ever heard before. You can, especially with practice, learn to read quit a bit of information just buy paying attention to the other person’s voice.
This allows you to hear the gestures of disbelieve or upset that you would normally get from facial and body clues in a face-to-face meeting. It gives you lots of extra information and power for your selling effort.
This is not a big tip but it will produce a huge result if you use it.
Here’s just a little personal example of this technique in action.
When I was in consumer telemarketing at the very beginning of my sales career I was taught to listen very carefully when the husband or wife answer the phone. If the person answered in a very friendly manor I would use their first name — if they didn’t I would increase the respect I showed them by being more formal and saying Mr. or Mrs.
This little adjustment made all the difference in the world to the success rate of the calls. This is only the very simplest application of this powerful technique.
Very interesting article, I shall try it out and see how it goes.
Also I find that a simple question of asking if they have a minute to talk helps build the relationship.
Just a note that there is a typo in the fifth paragraph, fourth line (quit?)
You are a 100% right here. The tone in our voice and also the infliction we place on words give meaning to what is said.
Word of caution. This understanding is not a quick fix and is only perfected with experience. Also be on the watch for trap doors that get us when we presume our reality is the same as theirs.
Thanks for sharing…I completely agree with the tip mentioned here as I have been implementing it and got the desired results..
Tonality is something a lot of people miss, especially when the is no face to face contact. I think this is a great tip and everyone should make the effort to understand. Another important aspect is to listen to the words people use also, combined with the tone you will be amazed how much more success you will gain.
Great tip!!
Thanks
I do a lot of work over the phone and find that this is true. You can tell if people are ready to engage or are just hoping the call was over by the vocal tone.Picking up on the vocal tone in oder to decide to address them formally or not is good too.
Thanks Flyn