How to create interest with your openings
by Art Sobczak
In telephone sales, you’ve probably already experienced what immediately turns otherwise nice upstanding citizens into fire-breathing, crazed demons, so let’s discuss the much more pleasant alternative: interest creating, curiosity piquing utterances of brilliance that mesmerize them into clinging to your every word. (Well, that’s your go al, isn’t it?)
The opening is without a doubt the most critical part of your call. It’s like the first section of a bridge. If it is not structurally sound and therefore crumbles, the remainder is useless.
Your opening must accomplish several objectives. It needs to,
identify you,
let them know what’s in it for them, and
get them involved.
As mentioned earlier, your goal is not to sell, or ask for a decision or appointment in the opener. That’s a sure way to make them as elusive as a butterfly in a windstorm. Instead, by accomplishing the three steps above you’ll,
put them in a positive frame of mind, and,
move them to the questioning.
The three essential components
Let’s take a look at the three key components.
1. Identify yourself and company. No need for me to spend time here. Just do it.
2. Let them know what’s in it for them. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART! Take a few minutes and grab a large piece of paper. Answer these questions:
What do your prospects want most in life?
What do they want to avoid most in life?
How are they evaluated in their jobs?
There you have it! The very reasons why they buy from you, and why they’ll listen to you. Your answers are Statements of Results (SOR). Forget all that mumble-jumble about feature-advantage- benefit-proof etc., etc.,… people buy results. And you need to put an SOR in your opening.
For example,
"Hello Ms. Sturgeon, I’m Sandy Carp with Aqua Industries. I’m calling today because we specialize in working with building contractors, and have a system that helps minimize or eliminate cost overruns, while ensuring they get projects done on time…"
Notice, that opener didn’t talk about the fact they sell a software program to do that-the listener doesn’t give a hoot about the product. He doesn’t care about the means at this point; the end, the result, is what really matters.
Another favorite of mine that’s easy and effective is,
"I’ve got a few ideas that I’d like to run by you regarding how we might be able to _______."
Then you simply fill in the blank with the answer to one of the questions you asked yourself earlier.
3. Get them involved. I’ll repeat it again: you don’t want to sell in the opening; just move them to the questioning, and have them be in a receptive, curious frame of mind when they arrive. I like to say,
"…and to determine if this would be of value to you, I’d like to ask a few questions about how you’re now handling your project management."
Or, you can use phrases like,
"…and to determine if what we have would be worth taking a look at, I’d like to find out more about…"
Another is,
"…and to see if this is something you’d like to discuss further, I’d like to ask a couple of questions about how you’re handling…"
You’ll know you’ve succeeded when they say, "Sure, go ahead and ask," or, "Fine, what do you want to know?"
Before you even consider delivering an opener, listen to it as if you were the person hearing it. Ask yourself if you would be truly inspired by it. If not, can it. If you don’t, your listener will. The magic that moves them to the positive frame of mind is in appealing to what they want. And that’s how you create interest every time.
Just Sell
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