What’s the most effective way to connect with potential customers over the phone? How can you turn a “no” into a “yes” during telephone prospecting?
Sales expert Jeb Blount shares proven strategies for successful telephone prospecting in his book Fanatical Prospecting. His four-step approach helps salespeople hook prospects’ attention, build credibility, and make compelling requests that lead to conversions.
Keep reading to discover the exact steps for mastering telephone prospecting and learn how to handle rejections like a pro.
Telephone Prospecting
Blount notes that, while prospecting in person allows you to spend time face-to-face with your prospects, prospecting via the telephone allows you to speak to prospects with unparalleled efficiency. For this reason, telephone prospecting is arguably the salesperson’s most powerful approach. To do so effectively, Blount recommends implementing a four-step process that’s similar to his in-person approach, but with a few small tweaks tailored toward phone conversations: Hook your prospect, state your name and intention, give your prospect your reason for calling, and make your request.
Step #1: Hook Your Prospect
Once your prospect answers the phone, it’s important to hook their interest by using their first name. According to Blount, most people are hard-wired to respond upon hearing their name—it naturally draws their attention, meaning they’ll be less likely to immediately hang up the phone.
Step #2: State Your Name and Intention
Blount writes that, immediately after calling your prospect by their first name, it’s essential to state your name and give your purpose for calling. Just like during in-person prospecting, providing your name and purpose is an act of transparency that builds credibility with prospects, making them more likely to hear you out.
Step #3: Give Your Prospect Your Reason For Calling
According to Blount, after stating your purpose, it’s time for the most important part of the call—giving your prospect a reason why you’re calling. For instance, if you were selling memberships to a lawn-mowing service in the summer, your phone call might look something like this: “Hi Julie, this is Jeb from Turf Experts lawn-mowing company. I’m calling to see if you might be interested in our service because summer’s approaching and many working people don’t have the time to mow their lawn every week.”
Blount relates that, because humans naturally desire reasons that rationalize their actions, the simple act of providing a “because” statement will significantly increase the likelihood of converting your prospect into a sale.
Step #4: Make Your Request
Finally, once you’ve stated your reason, it’s time to make your request as straightforwardly as possible. Just like when you’re prospecting in person, stating your request clearly and concisely offers you the best chance that your prospect will agree to it.
| Jordan Belfort’s Alternative Approach to Telephone Prospecting Although Blount’s preferred approach to telephone prospecting has much in common with other approaches, some salespeople recommend a slightly different approach. In The Way of the Wolf, for example, Jordan Belfort proposes a three-step method for telephone prospecting: First, introduce yourself, your product, and your company. Unlike Blount, however, Belfort recommends asking for permission to ask further qualifying questions about your prospect. Next, ask investigative questions to determine whether your product might be a good fit for the prospect. For example, you could ask about their experience with other similar products and any difficulties their company is facing. Finally, clearly explain how your product could benefit your prospect and highlight how easy the buying process is to assuage any anxieties the prospect might feel. Thus, while there are commonalities, Belfort’s approach is subtly different from Blount’s—it specifically includes time for asking further questions about your prospect, for example, and streamlines Blount’s third and fourth step into one unified task. |
Turning Rejections Into Conversions
While Blount’s process can maximize your effectiveness at telephone prospecting, he acknowledges that frequent rejections will be inevitable. But, he contends that you can still turn some of these rejections into sales by adopting the following three-step process: regain control of the conversation with a simple statement, subvert prospects’ expectations by agreeing with them, and reiterate your request.
Step #1: Regain Control of the Conversation
Blount points out that, when faced with rejection, your natural fight-or-flight response kicks in, causing you to want to exit the situation. Consequently, he recommends that you issue a quick grounding statement to gain control over your emotions. For example, if your prospect said, “I don’t think we need your product right now,” you might respond, “Many of my other customers mention that at first too.” This statement gives you time to regain composure and take back control of the conversation.
(Shortform note: In addition to issuing a grounding statement, it also makes sense to listen carefully to what your prospect is saying since that can reveal important information about why your prospect is initially hesitant. After all, as Neil Rackham points out in SPIN Selling, different types of objections require different responses. For example, a prospect who objects to your product’s price should be treated differently than one who objects to its effectiveness.)
Step #2: Subvert Prospects’ Expectations
Next, you should subvert your prospects’ expectations so they don’t believe you’re like all the other salespeople who try to persuade them to change their minds. To do so, Blount advises that you make a small concession and agree with them to show your understanding. For instance, after telling your prospect that many other customers initially feel that they don’t need your product, you could add, “And those customers are right—their companies were fine before I came around. However, my product might be able to improve your company, even if it’s fine without it.” Such a response shows that you understand where your prospect is coming from, rather than immediately arguing with them.
(Shortform note: In Exactly What to Say, Phil M. Jones writes that after you’ve subverted your prospect’s expectations, you should attempt to remove the barrier that they’ve identified that makes them unable to purchase. Because this removes your prospects’ stated reason for refusing to buy from you, they’ll now feel obligated to accept your offer. For example, if your prospect objects to the price of your product, you might counter with, “If I were to drop the price by 10%, would you consider purchasing?”)
Step #3: Reiterate Your Request
Blount writes that, at this point, all that’s left is to reiterate your initial request to see whether your prospect might reconsider. For instance, you might follow up your previous statement conceding that they don’t technically need your product by asking, “So, what do you say we meet next Wednesday at 11 a.m. to see if my product could be a good fit for you?” That said, Blount maintains that if your prospect still rejects this second request, it’s time to move on—after all, you won’t be able to convert every prospect to a sale.
(Shortform note: Blount’s suggestion that you should move on after a second failed request has much in common with low-pressure selling, a sales approach that emphasizes letting the prospect decide to buy rather than pressuring them into a sale. However, whereas low-pressure selling agrees with Blount that salespeople shouldn’t continue pestering uninterested prospects, it disagrees with his claim about making a request in the first place—according to low-pressure selling, after you’ve named your product’s benefits, you should let the prospect initiate the decision to buy.)
Exercise: Develop a Script for Phone Prospecting
Blount argues that phone prospecting should involve four steps: Hook your prospect, state your name and intention, give your prospect a reason for calling, and make your request. In this exercise, develop a script for telephone prospecting that incorporates these four steps.
- How could you craft a concise introduction that hooks your prospect by using their first name and also states your name and intention?
- After you’ve introduced yourself, how might you formulate your reason for calling your prospect? For example, are you merely interested in meeting to learn more about their company, or are you hoping to discuss your product in depth?
- Finally, how could you phrase your request to be clear and concise?
- Are there any aspects of Blount’s approach to telephone prospecting that resonate less with you? If so, how might you improve on them to write a more compelling script?
