Contractor Sales Advice - The Phone is Your Friend
Friday, October 26, 2007
Your business phone is a tool. A sales tool. It's important to make the best use of it. For most contractors, it’s your first contact with potential clients. Those first impressions are truly important. Before you ever get a chance to have a project owner sign that contract, you have to build trust and rapport with people over the phone.Every call is a potential sale and contract. It's important to treat them as such. Many contractors hate to use the phone and answer with a terse or gruff tone. Or worse, simply say, "Hello." Announce your company name, add your name, and ask how you may help the caller. It's simple, polite, and puts the potential client at ease. No matter your professional, it can be an expensive proposition to call your company. Project owners need to feel comfortable that they've made the right decision to call you.
When you meet someone face to face, most people tend to smile at the new person. It is a comforting sign that you are similar and not a threat. Try smiling just before you pick up the phone. It's nearly impossible to be terse or gruff when you're smiling. Try it.
Potential clients are all different. Some are focused on price, some on quality, some are quick and to the point, and some like to comb through every single detail. Slowly. To build a rapport with your caller, you might try to adapt to them. In they are succinct and in a hurry, you might speed up your delivery. If the caller is folksy and full of old time clichés, you should consider returning the favor with a few tall tales of your own. The similarities between phone styles lets the potential client relax and trust they have found the right person for the job.
Converting phone calls into appointments is your ultimate goal. Like your company vehicles, your tools, and your knowledge, your business phone keeps you working. How you answer, how you talk, and how you represent your company can keep you in business for a long time.
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Labels: Sales Advice
