Do you struggle with having meaningful conversations and making a good first impression on the phone? Everyone wants to make a good first impression, but often they start conversations in a way that is too focused on them and not focused enough on the person they are speaking with. In today’s episode, Wendy Harris, Queen of Conversation at Making Conversations Count Ltd, talks about her experience in telemarketing and how to have impactful conversations over the phone. Wendy has been in telemarketing since 1988, hosts her own podcast dedicated to making conversations, and is the author of Making Conversations Count: How To Sell Over The Phone.
The most important thing to know about making phone conversations count is that you have to be speaking to the right person, about the right thing, at the right time. You can make hundreds of calls, but if you’re advertising something that person doesn’t want to hear about, it will never turn into a sale. Results will eventually come by just talking to enough people consistently and pre-qualifying what their needs are. When you approach a conversation with the intention of hearing the other person out instead of immediately spilling your sales pitch to them, you will have a more impactful conversation.
Tune into this week’s episode of Powerful Marketing Tips for a conversation about making meaningful conversations over the phone. Learn best practices for making a good first impression, being more relaxed on the phone, and turning phone calls into sales.
Quotes:
- “We all strive for a modicum of respect from other people. So you can only earn that if you behave in a certain way.” (6:02-6:12)
- “I would challenge anybody to say that sales training is all about what you say and the process. It's not, it's about who you are, and how you say it. That comes before anything else.” (7:42-7:59)
- “When it comes to wanting to make that [good] impression, the intention has to be not about me. This is all about them. And if that intention is there from the off, the conversation flows a lot easier. It's way more natural. And I think it kind of takes the stress out of it for yourself as well.” (9:09-9:37)
- “The only person that's worried about how you sound is you. Nobody's going to really judge you.” (10:01-10:20)
- “It basically comes down to three things for you to get the formula. And that is speaking to the right person for the right reason, at the right time. And then the last part is, the results will come. Because you're talking to the right people about the right thing at the right time.” (18:26-18:50)
- “If you just rang somebody once a day, then in the course of a month, you've had 20 conversations or attempted 20 conversations. And if all you're looking to do really is to see when the best time would be for you to have the real conversation with the meat on the bones that's going into your forward calendar. So by the end of the year, you've got 200 conversations that you're having. So 200 conversations with people, how many of them turn into customers, because you're talking to the right people, and you're talking to them at the right time for the right reason? Your forecasting becomes so much simpler. That's just one a day.” (30:52-31:44)
Links:
Connect with Wendy Harris:
- Website: https://wagassociates.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WagAssoc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyannharris/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wagassoc
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingconversationscount/