Telephone Sales Skills
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, May 15, 2009 and posted in Hospice SalesAll sales people should have good phone sales skills. They must be able to make good calls to both existing accounts and prospective accounts. In hospice sales there is much less phone work than in other fields of sales; nonetheless, always be as effective as possible. Many of the skills that you have learned to be effective in person are also effective when used on the phone.
Some other dimensions to understand when using the phone include:
- Leaving voice messages
- Getting through the screener
- Creating a bond by phone
- Capturing attention
Use the telephone as an extension of your time and to leverage it. Most of the time you will not want to call ahead for appointments as this is not usually the best approach. That being said, there are times when this is the only way to get in front of the right people at a specific account.
The most common use of phones in the sales process is to follow-up with contacts to make sure that they received information that was dropped off, that things are going well, to deliver promised information, etc. These calls should be planned before dialing the phone and are an integral part of the process. Planning is paramount.
Finally, you will want to use the phone to thank referral sources from time to time. This enables you to leverage your time and vary the method of thanking the referral source.
Excerpted from Field Guide to Selling Hospice Services with Legendary Results by Michael Ferris
