Your company’s phone number isn’t advertised all over your website for design purposes. You know that.
While it’s 2021 and there are way less, uh, antiquated ways to offer and buy things (such as contact forms and email marketing), phone calls are still a great lead generation and conversion tactic. After all, you know your hard-earned marketing is paying off when inbound leads trickle in.
Since we’re talking inbound leads: contrary to cold calling, they’ll be calling you first, not the other way around. So, how could that possibly go wrong if they’re the ones who got in touch?
Well…
- Calls may go unanswered and never returned.
- There are often lengthy delays in response (spoiler alert: people hate that).
- The engagement is so poor, people regret calling in the first place.
As a digital marketing and inbound lead generation firm, we see it more often than you’d imagine. But we also know the most effective phone sales tips to ensure you’re maximizing conversations with your future clients.
We’ll share them with you, right now.
Answer the Phone
This one may sound a bit silly for some of you, but there’s phone etiquette when it comes to answering business calls.
The way you talk to potential clients could be a dealmaker or a deal-breaker. At the same time, you want to sound professional, you want to make them feel at ease.
Here are a few express tips on how to answer the phone like a pro, every time:
- Wait to answer the phone on the second or third ring.
- Greet the caller with a warm “Hi” or “Hello”, followed by your name and the company’s name. We would change “Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam” to something like “Hello, this is Pam from Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company”.
- Smile before picking up the phone. Having a smile on your face makes your tone sound happier!
- If the caller needs to talk to someone other than you, ask for his or her name before transferring the call.
- If you said you would return a call ASAP (or within X hours) keep your promise. Otherwise, you could break the caller’s trust.
Can’t Answer Right Now? Make Sure Your Voicemail Does
Of course, it’s always better if you or a representative answer the phone. But, in some cases, that’s impossible.
If there’s no way you can answer at a given moment, your voicemail greeting should be as helpful as possible. Not only should it mention calling again later or leaving a message, but it should also be clear about why you couldn’t answer in the first place (for example, calling during closed hours).
If a caller leaves a message in the morning, be sure to respond before 12:00 pm. If you get a message in the afternoon, call back before closing. This way, your leads won’t feel like their call got buried and will be less likely to call somewhere else for business.
Follow-Through
Did the caller need to place a consultation call and select a time slot? Get a quote? Learn more about your services?
Whatever the reason for the call is, make sure to provide everything that was committed to, quickly. Preferably before 12:00 pm if the call happened in the morning, and before closing if the call happened in the afternoon. Keep that in mind.
Follow-Up
Did the caller get all the information they needed? Do they need something else?
It’s important that you offer a courtesy touch base to verify that the caller doesn’t have any lingering questions. The follow-up reinforces trust and shows that you care about doing great business with them.
Lastly, Treat Callers with Care and Enthusiasm
No one likes to have their call answered by a disgruntled representative. It makes people feel like they’re bothering someone. You’ve been through something similar, right?
You’re talking to potential future clients, so they should be treated as such. Welcome them, listen to them, and be kind. Even through the phone, being gentle makes a world of difference.
Time to Breeze Through Your Next Phone Call
Leads aren’t customers, however warm they might be. You worked hard for these sales opportunities, and a good sales call could take you to conversion land.
Not sure if your team is doing a great job of answering sales calls? If you’d like to know how well or badly your phone sales are performing, check out our full article on how to increase your ROI with call tracking.
Or you can let Big Rig Media do it for you! 😉