The quality of your ‘follow-up’ sales call can win or lose you business – which puts a lot of pressure on you.
It won’t surprise you to learn that the majority of follow-up calls I hear made are fairly poor (and some are truly awful), so here are a few mistakes you need to avoid to win more business from your calls.
Being desperate and lying
Now I know we’re in sales (or have to do sales as part of our role), and sometimes we may have to bend the truth a little on occasion, but I’m not sure that outright lying helps our cause.
Sometimes we may have to bend the truth a little on occasion, but I’m not sure that outright lying helps our cause
One call I heard earlier this month went like this: “Hello Mr X, we spoke three months ago and you asked me to call back today to make an appointment with you.”
Why was this so bad? Not only because the potential client hadn’t said anything of the sort, but also because the salesperson had never even spoken to the client before!
What could that do to your credibility in the eyes of the potential client? And if you’re speaking to a decision-maker with any level of authority, expect to be challenged quite strongly, leading to either an argument or a rapid climb-down on your part – and probably the end of the call and any hope of getting them on board.
While the aforementioned opening gambit is quite unusual, it does have a similar, more common ‘cousin’: the “Hi, we spoke three months ago and you asked me to call you back today.” Usually used by desperate salespeople without a better opening line, it’s said in their misguided belief that it will help build rapport with the decision-maker – not likely!
Talking about literature (Or emails)
Be warned: many of you will cringe when you read this one, especially those guilty of doing it. The biggest mistake I see most people make when they follow up literature or an email is when they say something like this:
“Hi Andy, it’s Fred from XYZ company. We recently sent you some literature – I’m just calling up to make sure you received it.”
This is truly awful, yet how many calls I hear go something like that? That’s right, nearly all of them!
And a large number of you make similar calls, don’t you? Go on, be honest!
What are the two most likely responses from a decision-maker with whom you have little rapport?
Something like: “No I didn’t. Would you please go through the same rigmarole again, just for my amusement?” Or: “Yes I did, and I’ve got all the information I need right now, thank you.”
Where on earth are you going to take the call now?
Even if you’ve sent literature and been lucky enough to get the decision-maker to take the call, you run the risk of the call being brief, with another call-back scheduled for a while later, leaving you no further forward with the prospect.
