Telephone sales. Stages of sales. Establishing contact. Identification of needs

Yes, the photo is not glossy, but here the sales department is exactly the same as it is in reality.

Extensive telephone sales guide for b2b, part 1 of 4. In this part: background, getting to know an expert, general information about telephone sales.

Before I started the Videolom project, I worked in the sales department as a sales manager. The department itself was called UTP (Telephone Sales Department), and the division was called CBP (Credit by phone), and formally it was supposed to handle incoming calls, but in fact most of the calls were outgoing, like the TLM (Telemarketing) divisions, but speech not about that.

There, during work, I met many people from different perspectives (like managers like me and managers). Among them, I met a lot of masters of their craft. These were people who can raise sales of any, even the most inept group, and people who can sell anything and to anyone.

I gathered the experience of all these people, my experience, information from other sources, expert opinion. All this gave me the opportunity to write an extensive telephone sales guide. The article is divided into four parts:

1. Background, acquaintance with an expert, basic concepts, stages of sales, establishing contact, identifying needs;
2. Presentation of the product, work with objections, completion of the transaction;
3. How to create a sales script. How to get around the secretary;
4. Bonus: a general list of errors of sales managers + solutions to each item.

Okay, enough entry. Keep the utility!


To begin with, I will introduce an expert so that later there are no questions like: “Who is he at all and why is he an expert?”



Schikoyants Vilen

Senior supervisor in the telephone sales department of the outsourcing company Homer Software House. The fifth year passed, he worked in sales, traditionally showing with his group the best indicators among other groups in the same department, and showing with his department a better result than in other departments located in other cities. In his direct subordination is a group of 15 people, as well as 4 leaders of other groups, where each has another 25 people. In total, about 120 people are subordinate to him. Over the years, a lot of people went through Vilena and everyone had to be turned from nothing into a sales manager. Judging by the indicators, he succeeds well.

What are telephone sales

Usually they use the separation of “hot” and “cold” sales, but I understand that there is a type of sales that is appropriate to call “ice” - they are the primary ones when the business is just developing.

“Ice” sales

The bottom line: you call the office of a company in which no one knows who you are and what you want. No one is waiting for your call. You found the number somewhere on the Internet.

An option for those who do not have a multi-thousand client base with contacts of decision-makers (approx. “LPR” - a decision maker). Actually, my version too. Of course, you have less chances with “icy” calls than with ordinary “cold” ones, but such a school of life will allow you not to “drain” your customer base in the future by making inept calls. It is somewhat ironic that the smallest and most inexperienced companies have to use the most difficult method of telephone sales.

The hardest part is bypassing the secretary. And, believe me, you are very lucky if the secretary turned out to be a girl with a thin voice, and not the 50-year-old Valentina Grigoryevna, who will split your head like a nut, before you even know how to name the director and how to contact him. Let me remind you that I’ll tell you about the bypass of the secretary in the third part of the article.

Often the “ice” method is not very effective, since a small company can hardly afford professional sales managers, but some of the tips in this article will help you sell a little better, albeit not at the professional level. In addition, “ice” calls give you the opportunity to conduct “hot” sales in the future, which, in turn, will allow you to carry out “cold” sales in the future. In general, then everything will go in a circle.

Cold Sales

The bottom line: you directly call LPRam from your customer base. The secretary’s bypass is no longer terrible, but nobody is still waiting for your call: you’re just trying to sell something to someone who was already your client.

The option is not for everyone, because the contacts of decision-makers from their own client base are a rather rare and valuable resource. Not everyone can afford to call their own customer base, and even more so, not everyone can be entrusted with such a responsible business.

Hot Sales

The bottom line (if the call is outgoing): you call LPR, who is already waiting for your call and is interested in discussing the details of the transaction.

The bottom line (if the call is incoming): you receive a call from a person who (most often) has not yet fully orientated, but in principle he is interested in what you offer.

Perhaps the perfect option. All that remains for you is to “squeeze” the interlocutor. In the first case, it’s enough just not to do anything stupid, and in the second you need to properly present your product. More about this later.

Summarize

• “Ice sales” - no one is waiting for you, no one knows. Do not call your customer base.
• "Cold sales" - no one is waiting for you, but they know you. Call your customer base.
• “Hot sales” - you receive incoming calls from interested people, and also call only those people who are waiting for your call.

Sales stages

In the standard model, the telephone sales process is divided into 5 important stages:

1. Making contact
2. Identification of needs
3. Presentation
4. Work with objections
5. Transaction completion

Compliance with all these stages is mandatory, regardless of the "temperature" of sales. Sometimes, however, new stages are added, but it’s more correct to say that existing ones are becoming more complicated. We can say that these are 5 sales commandments, in violation of which a punishment awaits you: a lost customer. What is each stage, what processes are present at each stage - I will write about this below. In this part of the article we will analyze

Making contact

This stage is, although the fastest, but decisive: will you even have a chance to sell anything. The establishment of contact itself consists of 3 main parts:

• Greeting
• Acquaintance
• Call of interest

The essence of the greeting: you must introduce yourself, give your name and surname (you can only name, but then you need to contact the interlocutor only by name), place of work and position, after which the purpose of the call. So your interlocutor will understand who you are, where you are from, how to contact you and why you are calling at all.

The essence of the acquaintance: immediately after the greeting, you should check with the person who he is in order to understand whether you even called there, whether he is a decision-maker, how to contact him. Often the interlocutor simply copies the format of your greeting, but if this did not happen, do not pause after the greeting: immediately start the acquaintance.

The essence of the call of interest:when everyone understands with whom he is talking and how to contact the interlocutor, it is necessary to ask the client a question that would arouse his interest. If this is not done, then the client will be embarrassed, because unlike you he still does not understand what is happening, and therefore does not know what to say next. I recommend using the following question: “Tell me, X, how much time can you devote to our conversation?” This will allow you not only to continue the dialogue, letting the client know that there is communication ahead of you - you also understand how much time you have. If the client, for example, has about 5 minutes, it makes no sense to speak with him. Better arrange a chime. The wording is very important, since if you ask: “Is it convenient for you to talk now?”, You will give the client a reason to answer “No”, after which the dialogue will be completed. Dialog example:

- Good afternoon, my name is Kim, a marketer at Videolom. I call you to discuss the idea of ​​our mutually beneficial cooperation. I got in * company name *?

- Good afternoon. Yes that's right.

- Tell me, with whom can I discuss the details of cooperation?

- With me you can

- Fine, but what is your name?

- Vasily Ivanovich

- Very nice, Vasily! Tell me, how much time can you devote to our conversation?

Errors in establishing contact

Often beginners make mistakes when making contact. Because of these errors, the conversation “does not go” from the very beginning, which is why sales go away. I asked Vilen Shikoyants several questions about what mistakes are usually made. Below are my questions and Vilena's answers to them.

Tell me, what mistakes are often made in the process of establishing contact with the client?

There are several basic easily resolved errors:

1. The manager introduced himself too quickly and inaudibly

- Hello, who is this?

- # @ ^% &! # @! $

- Ah, right.

It is very simple to solve the problem: you need to go to your more experienced colleague or leader, ask to listen to your conversation and ask how many percent you need to speak slower. Just just do it.

2. The manager does not communicate on equal terms

- Vyacheslav Sergeyevich, good afternoon!

- Good, Sasha, kind ...

- Vyacheslav Sergeyevich, have you considered my proposal?

- No, Sasha, it’s not interesting.

You need to contact the client the same way he addresses you. I mean the format. If a client addresses you simply by name, then you turn to him by name, and vice versa. If the client allows himself too familiar treatment, it is necessary to correct it correctly.

3. The most common mistake is the question: “Do you feel comfortable talking now?”, Or “Can you give me n minutes?”, Or “Give me n minutes of time?”.

- Good afternoon, give me 5 minutes of time?

- Not.

or

- Good afternoon, are you comfortable talking now?

- Not.

It happens that we make a call to a client and we hear not the most pleasant phrases: “Speak faster”, “I don’t have time”, “I am very busy”, etc. In this case, you must correctly set the time for the chime:

- Vyacheslav Sergeyevich, in this case I will call you back later. Tell me, what time will be convenient for you tomorrow?

There is no point in wasting time and energy on a conversation in which the interlocutor will be in a hurry and still do not comprehend the proposal.

“Never” can answer, but such an answer can be given mainly by the person who is initially annoyed by something. It’s better not to mess with him in principle.

There are much more errors, but these are the most common when it comes to making contact.

What to do if a mistake has already been made? Is it possible to revive the dialogue?

This is almost impossible, as the first impression is indelible. It may happen that you can somehow make a joke during a conversation. That is, if it is possible to translate the unsuccessful start into a joke, thereby raising the mood of the interlocutor - not everything is lost. But it is necessary to work on anticipation, and not on struggle with consequences.

* Vilen will return to us in the next part and tell you what mistakes are made when working with objections *

Identification of needs

The definitions of most sources on the Internet say that the essence of the process is as follows: to understand what exactly the client wants, what product arouses his greatest interest, to determine what his expectations regarding the purchase are.

The problem is that you won’t get far on such tips: most customers have no idea what exactly they want, what product they are interested in, and what their expectations are. And even if they knew - this information will not give you anything. The problem is aggravated by the fact that customers themselves, without understanding (and sometimes understanding), often lie to you, saying that they want something or do not want to.

I would have stated the essence of the process differently: to find out what the client lacks in his business. Understand what is a “pain point” for him. I will give an example, since the line is not so obvious. Imagine a man who has sprained ligaments on his legs.

What happens if you identify a need according to a general principle: you find out what kind of ointment the client is looking for, by his answer you try to understand what’s hurting him, then you desperately offer your analogue. Where is the mistake? The client is not a pharmacist, and is unlikely to fully understand what kind of ointment he needs. And you have already drawn conclusions on his answer. Why did he even give an answer? I don’t know, seriously. Maybe because I didn’t want to look stupid, maybe deliberately misleads you, maybe something else. The bottom line is that for some reason he gives the answer, although he himself does not know it, and this should be taken into account.

What happens if you identify a need according to my principle: you ask the client to describe the pain, how he feels, try to determine the location of the source of pain, and then you begin to understand why he generally feels this pain. Further, you already independently offer the client an ointment that should help him. You do not ask what kind of ointment he wants - you ask if he wants to get rid of the pain, and then you just give him the solution, the ointment. If we get away from analogies, it becomes clear that without understanding the client’s business, you cannot determine what his problem is and how to help him, but this is a solvable problem, unlike the first, when the principle of work leaves much to be desired.

How to identify customer needs

Questions are the main weapon in the arsenal of the sales manager, because it is the questions that allow you to get all the information you need to negotiate.

Questions are divided into 3 types:

1. Open - suggest a detailed answer. Example: “How did you spend the weekend?”
2. Closed - suggest a response in the format "Yes" or "No". Example: “Have you been to the cinema this weekend?”
3. Alternative - you yourself offer the answer options. Example: “Did you work or relax on the weekend?”

The most useful are open-ended questions, as the client cannot simply wave back the short answer. The more the client says, the more information you get, and the easier it will be for you to successfully complete the transaction. In addition, the customer is important to talk. I think that everyone paid attention to the fact that sometimes I want to talk to someone who listens attentively and will not interrupt or laugh. The sales manager acts as a psychologist who listens attentively and asks questions that stimulate the continuation of the story. Confidence in you will be much higher, and the client will more willingly listen to your proposal. Based on this, it follows that it is worthwhile to start the identification of needs with open questions.

Next, when you have received all the general information, go to the clarifications. For them, you can use alternative and closed questions - this will make it possible to direct the conversation in the right direction. That is: you received general information, and then delved into the topic, asking clarifying questions. Everything is simple and clear, if we talk about the principle of work, but the skill to ask the right questions is a rather rare occurrence. As a rule, a manager has 5-7 open questions and 3-5 closed and alternative ones to identify the client's need.

Mistakes in identifying needs

• Too many closed questions. Clients do not like being interrogated in a Yes / No format;
• Excessive diligence in identifying needs. As you know, the client has a lot of needs, but you should not try to identify each of them: one or two is quite enough for you;
• Interrupt the identification of needs for a partial presentation, and then continue to identify needs. A very common mistake among beginners;
• Bad listener error: you cannot interrupt the client. He says - you are listening;
• Talk about life. Sometimes it is possible to establish contact so well that the client begins to conduct a friendly conversation with you on abstract topics. This must be corrected correctly, returning the conversation back on track.

In the next part (2 of 4):

1. Product presentation
2. Work with objections
3. Transaction completion