6 Tips for Opening a Sales Call

There is a general process that you can follow with all of your prospects and clients. But you will need to modify it to fit the appropriateness of the situation.

1. Open your call by getting their attention. Sometimes, simply using your prospect's name is enough to stand apart. Why? Because most sales reps still don't use their prospect's name. Instead they talk about themselves, their company or how great their product is. Use your client's name to get their attention.
    
2. Show them that they are important to you by sharing some level of knowledge that you know about them. Verify their title; compliment them on something that they have achieved; make a statement about their industry that they may not know. But, whatever you do, let them know that they are important to you by stating some knowledge that you have obtained about them or their company.
    
3. Ask a question bearing on time. If you are performing lead generation activities, make sure that you haven't caught them in a meeting. People are busy and chances are always good that a blind call will catch someone in the middle of something. On the other hand, if you left a message stating that you were going to call at the designated time and they were there waiting, ask them how much time they have set aside for the meeting. Your prospect will appreciate the fact that you respect their time.
    
4. Make your case as to why you are calling. This is the general benefit that you supply to their industry. Remember that you can't make a claim about their specific situation until you can perform a diagnostic session with them. You can, however, state some of the benefits that you have supplied other clients in that industry. If you have examples or testimonials, this would be a good time to pull those out.
    
5. Tell them that you don't know if their company can attain the same results that you delivered to your previous clients and that further analysis would be needed.
    
6. Run your trial close and ask them if they have time for some more questions.

Remember that this a general process for opening a sales call and getting to the next level. Also remember that no two people are alike. So your process will evolve and grow in response to the individual. But you need to be flexible in your approach and you need to be aware of what your prospect is saying and doing if you want to fully leverage this process.
Flexibility and awareness are key. If you have these, you will be able to make adjustments as you move the sale forward and you will move more prospects into your sales pipeline.