CHAPTER 4
THE PHONE IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE AND UNDERUSED SELLING TOOL WE HAVE

In sales, the single most effective tool we have is the telephone.

It is also our most underutilized and avoided tool.

We are far more comfortable with much less effective communications like social media and email.

In this chapter, let's look at what makes the phone such a powerful tool for selling more.

And in the next chapter, we examine the reasons we avoid phone selling. Because once we understand that psychology, it becomes much easier to overcome.

REASONS THE PHONE IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE SELLING TOOL

Phone Calls Feed the Machine

Proactive calls to customers and prospects feed your whole sales machine.

They build relationships.

They fill your calendar with appointments and meetings.

They create opportunities.

They build your pipeline.

They generate quotes and proposals.

They add on additional products and services for existing customers.

Phone calls get you the yeses very quickly. They also get you to the rejections in a hurry - which is a good thing, because we have to walk through a lot of them to get to the wins. (More on this Chapter 12.)

Proactive calls feed the machine.

Proactive calls feed your family.

You and Your Customers Have a Phone within Arm's Reach Almost Always

As you read this, your phone is probably within arm's reach. You probably don't even have to stand up to get it.

Because it's on your desk.

Or in your pocket.

Or in your purse.

Or maybe it's in your hand right now.

It's a tool all of us salespeople have.

There's something else, and this is kind of incredible: all of our customers have a phone within their reach, too.

At all waking, much less working, hours.

No matter what they're doing, at work or at home, this tool is with them.

Our prospects, too.

All the people who can buy from us have a phone within reach.

All the people we can help have a phone.

And almost nobody is calling it.

You Will Stand Out from the Crowd

Most salespeople assume that our customers' phones are ringing off the hook.

This is informed by our own discomfort with the phone (see the next chapter and Part 2).

The truth is, most people's phones are silent when it comes to proactive calls.

Think about your experience:

When is the last time you got a call from a supplier you know, when nothing was wrong?

When is the last time somebody called you and said, "How are you? I was thinking about you. How is your family? And listen, I was wondering, what are you working on these days that I might be able to help you with? Because I'd like to help."

Can you remember the last call you got like this?

Most people say they cannot remember the last one.

But those who did receive one got it weeks or months ago.

And guess what?

They remember every single aspect of that call: who called, what they wanted, how long the call lasted, and what each party said - sometimes word-for-word. They even remember what the caller's voice sounded like.

That's amazing, but why is this so?

Because it's the only call they've received like this in the last weeks or months.

The only one.

And they remember everything about it.

The vast majority of salespeople simply don't make proactive calls.

Which means your competition is not showing up like this.

Their customers don't get to hear their names, because they don't call.

But your customers will hear your name.

And you'll stand out from the crowd in your customers' and prospects' eyes.

Want to be totally memorable?

Make proactive phone calls to customers and prospects.

PICK UP THE PHONE SUCCESS STORY

"On at least half of the proactive calls I make, my customers tell me they are not hearing from anybody else on the phone. They tell me I am the only one doing this. It sets me apart, they say. This makes me feel good. I'm doing something others are not, and it shows in my results. My sales are up 45% this year."

-Chris O.; inside sales, manufacturer

PHONE CALLS MAKE US SINGULARLY MEMORABLE, BUT EMAIL MAKES US FORGETTABLE

If you want to be utterly forgettable, send emails instead of making calls.

If you send an email, there is a good chance you'll end up in the junk folder.

Think about that.

Your communication will be with the trash emails.

And even if your email gets into your recipient's inbox, you probably won't ever know it.

This is because the most common response to an email is silence.

Did your customer or prospect get your email?

You don't know.

Did they see it with their eyes?

You don't know.

Did they read it and process it with their brain?

No idea.

Did they make any kind of decision regarding what you emailed about?

Again, you don't know, because there was probably no response.

Interestingly, if you don't send the email, you have none of these problems.

Therefore, because of all the issues and questions it creates, sending an email is actually worse than doing nothing at all!

The Customer Gets to Experience That You Care

I will never suggest that you need to care more.

I think you care more than enough. Most salespeople care a great deal.

The problem is, most salespeople care in silence.

We don't let people know that we care.

How do you let somebody know that you care?

By showing up.

By being present.

By calling on the phone when nothing is wrong and saying, "Tom, I was thinking about you. How is your family? And what are you working on these days that I can help you with?"

When you don't make proactive calls, your customers and prospects do not think about you.

But when you do make proactive calls, they know you care about them.

They know you're interested in helping them (because you will actually say these words - I'd like to help you).

And you're probably the only one showing up like this.

And so, I am not suggesting you need to care more.

What I'm suggesting is that you communicate that care a little bit more.

With some proactive calls.

You Will Build Relationships in Record Time

Proactive calls supercharge relationships, especially when compared with the generally silent competition.

Proactive calls tell customers you are interested.

Proactive calls make you present in front of the customer.

This is impressive to your customers.

When you call, your customers will trust you faster.

They will expand their business with you faster.

Know what else will happen when you call your customers when nothing is wrong?

They will also call you.

Proactive calls generate incoming calls.

And quite frequently, these incoming calls will result in business.

Proactive Calls Take Timing Off the Table

When you reach out to customers and prospects only sometimes, when you happen to think about it, you are at the mercy of timing.

If they don't have an itch that you are offering to scratch at the moment you call, you will not get the business.

That's a hard way to live, because the odds of the timing of their need lining up with your rare communications are really bad.

But when you call systematically, you are constantly in your customers' minds, while your competition is not.

When you are present in their system, it takes the timing off the table.

That is, it doesn't matter when your customer has a need for your goods or services, because whenever they need something, they'll simply pick up the phone and call you.

When you are consistently present, the customer will always think of you.

It's like placing a backscratcher on your customers' and prospects' desks.

And the backscratcher has your name on it.

So when the itch comes, they pick up the only backscratcher on their desk.

They scratch, and you get paid.

There is simply no other communications method that will generate all these benefits.

And there is certainly no other way to create these benefits with such speed.

You could go from an empty pipeline to one that's bursting at the seams in short order if you systematically make proactive phone calls!

WHAT ABOUT MEETINGS?

But you might be thinking, meetings are more effective than phone calls.

This is probably true.

But here's the thing about meetings: you can only have so many in a day.

A perfectly planned, very busy day might get you a handful of meetings.

You can make the same number of phone calls in less than 30 minutes.

If you get voicemail, which is more likely than not, your five calls take 5 to 10 minutes - and that's with leaving a message.

There's one more important thing: we tend to have...