Using The Phone To Set Appointments

Writen by Art Sobczak

The caller sounded quite distressed as he explained,

"I'm an outside sales rep, and my teleprospector quit. Therefore I have to do my own prospecting, and I hate it. I'm a good outside rep, but I'm freezing up when I have to call these people."

"What are you saying to them?", I inquired.

"I'm ____ with _______. We are a freight shipper, and I'd like to come out and take some of your time to explain what we do."

Analysis and Recommendation

No wonder he didn't like prospecting. I would have been paranoid, too, with the resistance he was experiencing. But it was entirely unnecessary, because the rebuffs were invited. That opening is awful.

To paraphrase, it says, "We're one of the hundreds of companies that are in this business. I want to sit in your office and take your valuable time so I can talk about my company and why I think we're good."

Nothing of interest for the prospect. No reason for him to even listen on that call, much less agree to an appointment! It puts the listener on the defensive, closes his mind to possibilities, and causes him to shift into his "Let's get this guy off the phone"-mode.

I gave him a simple suggestion for an opening:

"I'm ___ with _____. We've worked with a lot of traffic managers in the (fill in his industry)to help them get the best rates and on-time deliveries with no hassles. Depending on what you ship, and to where, it might be worth our time to talk. If I've caught you at a good time, please tell me briefly about your less-than-truckload shipping requirements.

He liked it, but mentioned it doesn't ask for the appointment right away.

Precisely.

I asked if he ever had situations where he visited a "prospect" who was less-than-euphoric about the appointment, or who wasn't a prospect at all. He concurred. So why even visit these people? Why not conduct the preliminaries by phone?

If you're using the phone to prospect, and regardless of whether your next step is to communicate in person or by phone, be certain you have something of interest in order to get them talking. Your results are much more pleasurable.

Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone, provides proven ideas, tips, and processes to help salespeople use the phone to prospect, sell and service without morale-killing rejection. To see word-for-word phrases you can use right now to get to and sell more buyers, and other resources such as books, audios, and seminars, and to get his FREE weekly TelE-Sales Tips, and access to back issues, go to: www.BusinessByPhone.com