Successfully closing a sale over the phone is a stressful ordeal. No matter how open your customer is during the call, there is always that possibility that the sale may not come through at the moment, or at all, so this is the reason that Phone Selling Techniques is so important.

Today, you have to know how to approach a customer to ensure success for your company, and this is why the ConvertCall team has come up with 6 phone selling techniques to achieve successful calls.

But before we go into these 6 phone selling techniques, I want to show you some common call closing techniques that the best sale’s reps around the world typically use.

Opinions Count

Adding the phrase “In your opinion…” while asking a question will smoothen your customer’s answer, if he has any objection to your pitch. A good example is to ask something along the lines of: “In your opinion, is this something that may resolve your issue?”. If the customer says no, then take is a fact and you can now go deeper in finding out what his issue is.

Negotiations

When a customer wants to negotiate the price, delivery time, or some additional perks, always come back to him or her with: “If I am able to do this for you, would you sing the contract now?” This is an important closing question that will hold the door open for that sale.

Act Now

A free gift with their purchase can help close a sale when done correctly. When you buy a car, you can also add airbags if the customer takes the car home today. This is the right way to offer an act now gift. Do not offer something the customer won’t find useful to him or her.

Time Limit Offer

You may have a discount on a product or service, free shipping, a specific holiday sale going on, etc. Bottom line is that you can use these gimmicks to close a sale if you dwell on the fact that this is an offer with an expiration date.

Now that we have discussed these well-known sale-closing techniques, let’s look at the ones that have proven to work for our ConvertCall sales team.

1. Listen More, Talk Less 

Although we have a lot to tell our customers about what we offer, the key to speaking with customers is listening more and talking less, especially in the first stage where we need to gather all the info on the customer’s needs and issues. After you have heard them, you will have the key selling points to attack possible objections.

2. The Two Pill Technique

Asking questions in which the answer will never lead to a no is a great way to lead the customer down the sale’s funnel quickly.

For example, instead of saying

“Do you want to sit down and talk in person about our product?”

You can ask:

“At what time and date would it be convenient for you to sit down and further discuss the product and what it can do for you?”

You have turned the same question into a yes and you can do this with any question you can think of.

3. Pitch vs Ask

By asking questions, we are subjected to listening to a lot of negative answers. Our top sales agents suggest avoiding asking too many questions and focus on direct proposals that may solve your customer’s needs.

By doing so, you are helping your customers avoiding taking too much time to think and lead them towards a positive outcome for both.

So instead of asking:

“So, do you want to schedule an appointment for tomorrow?”

You can say:

“Let’s schedule an appointment for tomorrow. Is 10:00 am good for you?”

4. Don’t Bargain Prices

Our sales team all concur that negotiating prices over the phone is one of the worst possible ideas and should be avoided at all costs. You cannot and are probably not authorized to even bargain prices and overpromising can also work against you.

You should explain that the price of the product or service is not the only thing that matters, but what the product or service will do for them; how it will help THEM.

Always show customers that quality beats worth and that your company is a trustworthy one, that aims in helping more customers solve their issues.

You can say that your company has a satisfaction guaranteed seal or read them some customer testimonials. Ask them: “How much is fixing your issue successfully worth to you?”

You can always tell them that you are not authorized to negotiate prices if customer is still insisting upon it and let them know someone may contact them with a counteroffer. Make sure you tell them you will not be the one contacting them.

5. Ask Customers to Write it Down

This is one of my favorite selling techniques yet. You ask your customer that if he can kindly take notes on what is being discussed (product or service offered, the issue that can be solved by purchasing, name of sales rep, features, etc), and tell him you will follow up with an email with all that is talked about during the call.

So why make them write anything down when you’re going to follow the call with an email recap? Simple: You want to involve your customers in the process. The customer will remember specifics of the call and will more likely follow up, but most of all, it further engages the customer with the sales rep.

6. The Three Yeses

According to most of our sales reps, it is important that the customer says yes at least three times on a call.

If a customer says “yes” three times, even on small things at first, you can try to get the “yes” on more important things.

You are now creating a positive moment between you both and the customer is more likely to trust you and be more open to accepting your terms.

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