X Tips for Better Sales Calls in Small Businesses

In small businesses, you’ll often be forced to make sales calls over the phone, pitching a product or service with someone from a distance. When you do this, you’ll be robbed of some serious potential.

Not only will you have less control over the visual components your prospects see, but you also won’t have access to use and interpret body language, and you won’t be able to read someone’s tone the same way. Even worse, if your call quality is bad or unreliable, it could make the entire interaction frustrating, sabotaging your attempts to close the deal.

Fortunately, there are strategies you can use to improve your persuasive power over the phone, and close the deals that might otherwise slip through the cracks.

Tips for Better Phone (News - Alert) Pitches

Try these tips to improve your phone pitch results:

1. Invest in the right conference call technology. First, you need to make sure you’re using the right conference call technology. Your choice in communications providers can make a difference not only in the reliability of your connection, but also the quality of the sound on both ends of the call. A break in the conversation, or shoddy call quality could ruin what might otherwise be a perfectly good pitch.
2. Give your client a strong visual. Phone conversations can be incredibly persuasive, but they lack the visual power that an in-person meeting can have. To make up for this, send your client a strong visual before the meeting, that you can both look at and describe during the pitch. This may involve investing in the right rendering software, or hiring a designer who can produce the visuals you need; do whatever it takes to make sure you’re engaging a client’s eyes, as well as their ears.
3. Narrow your audience. If you’re dealing with multiple decision makers, or an entire department, it’s tempting to invite everyone to get on the call with you at the same time; that way, everyone can hear what you have to say and ask questions. However, most sales calls tend to go better with only one or two people. There will be fewer opportunities for interruption, less confusion and chaos when a dialogue emerges, and fewer total people to convince.
4. Warm up with some friendly chat. Almost every successful sale starts with a warm introduction. Instead of jumping into your products and services, or even the nature of your meeting, ask your prospect how they’re doing, and see if you can find a common interest or point of relatability. Your prospect will be much more likely to hear what you’re saying if they feel a friendly connection with you.
5. Keep it short and to the point. People don’t like to be on phone calls (generally speaking), and the longer they go, the more likely someone will be to tune you out or start multitasking with other projects. If and when that happens, you might as well be talking to a brick wall. Maintain your prospect’s interest and attention by keeping the call as short and to-the-point as possible; that way, there’s no opportunity to get distracted.
6. Block out distractions. Speaking of distractions, it’s important to block out the possible distractions in your own environment. For some people, that might mean closing the door to your office. For others, it might mean shutting down the computer or changing locations. Distractions will pull you away from the conversation, and in some cases, produce noise that can make your call sound unprofessional.
7. Use your tone to make up for a lack of body language. You won’t be able to use your body language as a persuasive tool during a phone-based sales pitch, but you can make up for that weakness by learning to harness the power of the tone of your voice. Emphasize the most important words in your sentences, and vary the highs and lows of your voice to sound more dynamic; you’ll sound much more engaging and professional.

Practice Makes Perfect

Once you have the right systems in place—including a reliable, high-quality phone connection, everything else comes down to practice and ongoing improvement. Try out different variations of your script (if you have a script), and different angles for persuading your target audience. The more you experiment, the more opportunities you’ll find to make long-term changes and improve, and the more deals you’ll close in the future.