Part 1 - The Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make On The Telephone

You are in the middle of something important, the telephone rings, you have to drop what you’re doing, only to find that it’s a salesperson. This is one of those types that wedge their foot in the door and won’t give you a chance to push it back out. Some of you will be reluctantly patient with them and perhaps most will have little or no tolerance for being flogged. Here’s the problem we all face. We receive over 3000 marketing message per day. That may seem hard to believe until you start paying attention to the flood of information you get in emails, voicemail and phone calls, on the radio and television, magazines, newspapers, electronic billboards, the malls and supermarkets, or our Internet ISP. The list goes on and on. There is so much noise you can hardly hear yourself think anymore.

So you get this telephone call from a salesperson and they let ‘err rip because they were taught by some big shot in the sales & marketing department never to ask a prospect or client if they have a few minutes to talk. Their sales philosophy and their training preaches that you’re giving the prospect or customer a way out, an easy way to say no, if you ask for a few minutes of their time.

My challenge to you is this; start asking for permission to be invited into the conversation. Give yourself a week to work with this approach. What you’re doing is extending courtesy and respect to your prospects and clients. You’re giving them a choice instead of playing power games. We all want to be treated in kind. I have shared this idea with many hundreds of salespeople over the past eighteen years and they have experienced outstanding results. Here is an example of the introduction. Hi, this is Steve Kloyda with Telemasters. I know you weren’t expecting my call. Is this a convenient time to talk?

If you consistently use this approach with every telephone call, you will be invited into more conversations. This is an important tool to help build a loyal client base and separate yourself from your competition.