Sales Tips

Today I would like to share with you two important telephone selling presentation techniques that will make a huge difference in your success if you use them consistently.

Secret #1: Use a reasonable volume when speaking on the telephone.

The telephone transmits the emotion in the voice perfectly, but often doesn’t transmit the data near as effectively. The truth is that it is quite often hard to hear clearly what people are saying on the phone. This may be due to poor line quality or more frequently background noise around the listener.

You don’t want your prospect to miss what you say or lose track of the conversation because they missed something. This is critically important on the phone due to the lack of control you have over the situation — if they lose interest they can quite easily make an excuse and leave.

When you speak into the phone use a volume equal to what you might use at a crowded dinner table. This way you will ensure that people will be able to hear you clearly. You don’t have to yell, but for most people you should up your volume a bit above your normal speaking volume.

Remember, that volume projects confidence, authority, and interest to the other person. Getting in the habit of using a good volume will help you in many different telephone situations.

Secret #2: The use of the “pause”

If you ever listened to Paul Harvey national radio stories “the rest of the story,” articles you know that Paul was the master of the pause.

Most salespeople don’t pay much attention to pauses but they can make a huge difference in what people hear and understand. If you don’t believe how important this is just listen to the pros tell jokes — it’s all about timing. You can use the pause for a number of things.

Pausing gives emphasis to what you just said. If you pause after something you can use that to let it sink in. You can use the pause and lack there of to re emphasize the good part over the bad.

Pauses are also great tools for insuring understanding as the pause let’s what was said register and helps the listener get it.

Finally, you can use pauses to manufacture interest as Paul Harvey did so often in his broadcasts. This is definitely a technique worth your attention.

Summary

Two small points but very powerful when it comes to selling on the telephone. If you listen to others on the phone, TV, or the radio and look for their application of volume and the use of the pause you will find a whole world of possibilities for improving your image on the phone.

From Flyn

If you are in inside sales management or know someone who is please see or send them to see the EVENTS page on this site (upper right corner of blog window) for a fantastic FREE web seminar I’m hosting on Friday on how to drive top results out of inside sales groups.