How to Start a Sale Call
May 03, 2024
There are many ways to begin a discovery or sales call
Many of them SUCK
Does this sound familiar:
You: “Hey, thanks for taking the call today”
Them: “Yea, no problem” You: “So how’s it going?”
Them: “Fine, and you?”
You: “Yea, I’m good”
Them: “Cool”
You: “So where are you from?”
Them: “Dallas”
You: “Cool, I went there once for a conference”
Them: “Oh nice, I moved here after college”
You: “You like it there?”
And on And on And on
I’m not saying you should skip building some rapport
BUT
You also are both on the call to talk business, not to become besties (that can happen after if you want)
After evaluating over 1000 hours of sales calls (measured against the end result) as well as training many reps and solopreneurs, I have found that Framing the call is the most powerful way to start (after a quick pleasantry)
What does this mean?
You want to set the tone and expectations for this call
People want to know what’s coming
They trust people with a plan. It makes them feel like you’ve done this before
It only takes 2-3 minutes to deliver the call frame
The impact is massive
So, what do you include in this framing section?
- How long the call will take (helps to avoid people drifting off mentally to their next meeting)
- What the call will cover (breakdown of each section or stage)
- Why (people like to have a sense of ownership over how they spend their time, this justifies each section as relevant to your process)
- Explain that you will decide if you can/want to help them (this is not the norm BUT being honest about the fact that you can’t help everyone goes a long way in building trust, it also makes them want you more)
- Tell them if everything aligns that you will make an offer to work together (again, being honest but feeding into your exclusivity) Remember, they might be the prospect but they do not hold all of the power
Just because you can help doesn’t mean you want to work with them
You have to put your time and energy into this relationship
You only have so much time and energy
Choose wisely
Mike