Maximize Your First Impression to Make a Sale

They say a person makes a judgment within the first seven seconds of meeting you. But when your initial interaction with a lead is a phone call, how do you optimize the conversation to make a positive impression?

Here are our top four tips on building solid professional relationships over the phone:

1.) Do Your Research – Plan Ahead

Before you even make the call, do your research. Figure out what their pain points are and unique solutions that only your company can provide.

Do: Be informative, receptive, and understanding.

Don’t: Be pushy, “salesy”, or inflexible to their needs.

Look for how your company can add real value and make their life a little easier. Some questions to consider are:

•        What does their company do?
•        What is this person’s role?
•        Have the previously expressed interest in a certain product?
•        What potential issues might this person be facing?
•        How can my service or product help them?

Use this information to create a personalized story. Make sure that you have an outline and talking points ready to go. You will sound both knowledgeable and confident in your company’s offerings.

2.) Get in the Door

How are you supposed to win the trust of prospects if they don’t answer your call? It’s important to be intentional on how you approach people, and that begins with sales localization. The reality is that people don’t like to answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize. More so, they are even less likely to pick up the call if it’s from an 800 number or area code from another region.

Thanks to Area Code Matching, you can match the area code of your outbound call to the area code of the business you are trying to reach. With just the click of a button, you can up your chances of outbound calls being answered while giving your sales team a local presence, no matter their location.

3.) If You Can’t Get In The Door, At Least Stick Your Foot In

Despite your best efforts, sometimes people aren’t able to answer the phone. In that case, leaving the perfect voicemail that inspires someone to call you back is the top priority. Using features like Voicemail Drop can help you reach more potential clients faster by letting you pre-record messages and drop them in the voicemail box of contacts who miss your call. To further personalize things, you can add as many recordings as needed, prepend recordings with a personalized introduction, and even change the time settings so that your recordings have the perfect cadence.

4.) Continue to Build the Relationship

So, your call was picked up. You’ve impressed with your story. Made some small talk. Now it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

You don’t want that relationship to end after you hang up. Make sure your business phone solution is compatible with your CRM and can integrate into your existing workflow. Log relevant information, comments, and call dates/times for each call so that you can pick up right where you left off the next time you talk. 

FluentStream offers unlimited API integrations, including Salesforce, Freshdesk and ZOHO. Even better, if there is an integration you are looking for that isn’t already offered, we will work with your team to create a solution that works for you. See All Our Integrations >>