When phoning an eCommerce company in order to try and make a sale, it is important to secure the interest of the person on the other end of the line within the first few seconds of the conversation.
Here are three questions that your sales staff can ask to capture the attention of retailers.
1. Confirmation of Customer’s Name
When eTailers answer calls, they usually say something along the lines of, ‘Hello, John Doe speaking’.
After hearing this, a salesman often makes the mistake of immediately introducing himself and giving the name of the company that he works for.
However, a recent article in Entrepreneur warns that this is a good way of losing potential customers. Instead, you should try repeating the name of the person on the other end of the line.
The minute the retailer hears you say, ‘Mr. Doe?’, his ears will prick up. He will get the impression that the call is aimed specifically at him as opposed to being a generic sales call.
2. Purpose of Call as a Question
It is the norm to state your reason for calling at the start of the conversation. However if a salesperson directly tells somebody that he or she is trying to sell a product, it can create a barrier to success.
Sales expert Tom Hopkins recommends stating the purpose of the call in the form of a question in order to get around this.
Instead of saying, ‘I am ringing to offer you a new piece of technology that will be helpful for your business, a salesperson could say, ‘Would you like to know more about a new piece of technology that could help your business?’
3. ‘What Do You Need?’
Perhaps most importantly of all, salespeople should ask questions aimed at working out the needs of the eTailers that they are pitching to.
A study cited in Forbes indicates that only 6% of b2b salespeople actually do this.
This step needs to be carried out before you can start to offer solutions.