The customer is calling, we are losing him! Part 1 - The Gatekeeper

An incoming call from an interested Client would seem to be a gift of fate. But they still lose.

If the call in your company is received by the office manager, and not by a specialist in the sales department, ask yourself the question: did you learn to sell it? Yes, yes, to sell, not the final service or product, but the next action that is necessary for the sale to take place.

" Hello! Yes, we provide a service, it costs 10,000 rubles. Please. Goodbye! " - Do you know such words of the office manager?


Firstly, of course, not “Hello!”:

• do not force the Client to specify where he got, name the company
• let him be comfortable contacting you - introduce yourself
• ask how you can be useful

The attitude of the Client to the company consists of small things.

And of course, not a professional seller should not immediately answer the Client a question about the cost and / or properties of a product or service.
The dialogue, as a rule, ends here.

The main thing that needs to be done after the Client’s question is to try to get his contacts so as not to lose him irretrievably in any event (for example, an unsuccessful switch to a manager).

If the client’s question is clear to whom to redirect, the office manager should “sell” communication with a professional seller competent in this matter, and not try to advise on their own. Even if he knows everything (as it seems to him) and can easily answer himself immediately.

But it may turn out that no manager can answer the Client right now - in this case you need to “sell” a call back and take all the necessary contacts and information so that the seller can be prepared as little as possible.

Plus, different businesses have a lot of nuances.
For example, an advertising agency often calls to us with the questions “ How much does it cost to print a banner? ”, “ Can you quickly print leaflets? ”, “ Do you conduct promotions? ” And all this despite the fact that for several years we have been engaged in advertising only on the Internet.
It would seem that these are not targeted calls, and they can’t sell anything, but this is a contact! And we decided that we would try to get it.

Our office manager has a script with detailed instructions "How to answer an incoming call", which he strictly follows.
If there is an incoming request for services that we do not provide, then the office manager says that he will send a list of reliable and trusted partners, and takes the mail, name and phone number and company of the potential client. And then leads into the CRM lead for the sales department.

• Firstly, we achieve a wow-effect, initially earn loyalty;
• Secondly, we get the contact of a client who plans to invest in advertising. There is a chance to transfer it to our services.

We send the contacts in a template letter within 20 minutes.
In such a simple way, we concluded several contracts.

Of course, an office manager often needs only one A4 sheet on which all the correct phrases and scenarios are written.
But, if there are a lot of nuances in your incoming calls before switching to the seller, or the office manager periodically still has to act as the seller, we recommend using technical solutions to conveniently follow the developed script.

In the last article, we talked about why we ourselves wrote such a solution and how we quickly train newcomers with it.