There is both a science and an art to phoning for new client meetings. The science is in the predictability of your ratios – how many dials it takes to generate one new appointment. The art is your mindset and your skills, as well the tools you use to be most effective when phoning.
Phoning is an often underutilized tool for a variety of reasons: it’s not a priority, it’s intimidating, or it hasn’t generated past results.
The first reason is the easiest to overcome: it’s your job to make phoning a priority. It should be on your weekly schedule and treated as an appointment with a top client.
Secondly, when you truly understand phoning and have a system in a place, it will absolutely generate results. The key is to have the right mindset and genuinely crafted and memorized phoning language.
The one and only purpose of the phone
Before addressing your “phoning mindset,” you should understand that there is only one purpose for phoning. Its sole purpose is to generate an appointment.
When you have this mentality, your phone calls will be succinct and compelling. This allows you to get a lot more dials in a day and shows that you are a busy professional.
Too many reps spend as much as 15, 20 and even 30 minutes talking to somebody trying to convince them to meet.
The purpose of the phone is not to sell. The purpose of the phone is not to tell them all about yourself and what you do. The one and only purpose of the phone is to get the appointment.
Phoning is the gateway to your business. No surgeon goes to medical school excited that they have to spend 10 - 15 minutes scrubbing down before going into surgery. But, they do understand that it’s an important part of their job. That’s how you should look at this aspect of the business.
Begin with belief…
If you never get in front of a client, nothing will happen. However, if you do get in front of a client, you can change their life.
When I carried that mentality, it gave me intensity, a sense of competitiveness and a deep desire to get an appointment.
I have the utmost faith and confidence that if I let this individual off without getting an appointment, I don’t have the opportunity to change their life. But, if I meet them, I have the opportunity to bring them to financial security.
Language is key
On your calls, you should never wing anything. Your phoning process should be full of intentionality. You need to sit down and put together language that you feel is authentic, from your heart, and effective.
You need to practice it so it doesn’t come across as a telemarketer. Once you have the language down, however, the most important aspect becomes your delivery: your tone, inflection and volume.
Even though the person on the other line can’t see you, a smile on your face and confident posture literally jumps through the phone. But, you can’t really think about passion, purpose and inflection until you first have your script.
At this point in my live workshops, many reps look at me and say, “Jim, what’s your language on the phone?” While my phoning language is far more effective in person than in written format, I’ll share it with you here.
Phoning language that worked for me
Let’s say I’m calling Bill Smith and I was referred to him by Mary Jones. Bill answers the phone and I say:
“Hey Bill, it’s Jim Effner from BLANK Company. I’m calling on behalf of Mary Jones. Did she get a chance to give you a call and tell you that I’d be reaching out?”
He might say, “No… who are you again?”
I’d say, “Well, that’s too bad, I’ll have to give Mary a hard time. She promised she was going to do that for me, but since we’re on the phone and I know you’re busy, I’m a financial representative with BLANK Company and I work with Mary Jones.”
“Mary has no reason to assume that you’re interested in my services today, however she spoke extremely highly of you, she knows exactly what it is that I do, and she believes that a meeting between the two of us would serve to our mutual benefit.”
“I know that you happen to be in BLANK Location. I’m going to be by your way next Tuesday, would 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock be better for you?”
This is my basic language. It leverages the nominator and does not focus on what I do, how I do it or what products I have. It simply asks for the appointment and relies on the strength of the nominator being a close friend.
In summary, phoning is the gateway to having a great impact on your clients’ lives. Block it off on your calendar and stick to it, no matter what. Create and master your script so that you can put some real passion and purpose in it.
Lastly, have fun with it! Don’t build it up to be something bigger then it actually is – it’s just phoning. In next week's post, we'll look at some common objections you'll encounter while phoning and how to overcome them.
