How to have confidence while making RSP calls

This is the time of year we see people that normally do not make sales calls getting on the phones to call their clients. This can cause a great deal of stress for those that are not confident using the phone to sell. So how do you gain the confidence to make an effective sales call?

Be prepared. Confidence comes when you know what you are doing.

Here is a list of preparations you can engage in before you pick up the phone to help you feel more confident and increase your success rate:

1. Recognize call reluctance when you see it

- What is call reluctance? It's anything you do to procrastinate on making your calls. Some people make coffee because they have to be "up" to make the calls. While they are in the kitchen making coffee they notice that no one has cleaned out the fridge in awhile and they volunteer to do that instead of what they know they should be doing - calls. Being prepared is one thing, but recognize when you are just avoiding the inevitable.

- They key to overcoming call reluctance is the same as it is for getting any unpleasant task accomplished: make up your mind what you need to do, when you need to do it by, and then GET AT IT!

2. Have a clear objective

- Know why you are calling. It surprises me to no end when I ask someone that is about to make 50 calls to their clients what their objective is and they don't know. One of the strangest responses I hear is when they say they are calling just "to remind the client that it's RSP season". Great. Will you call them on the first day of spring as well just in case they forget? Let's call this type of a call what it is: a shot the in dark ... in football they call it the "Hail Mary". People that call with this objective are simply hoping like crazy the client does the work for them and volunteers that they'd like to come in and discuss their retirement. They are just trying to get through their call list so they can say they did it. Is that any way to treat your clients?

- What does your manager want? Do they want the clients to come in so they can uncover additional opportunities and win more investment business from other financial institutions? If that's the case the goal should be to get the appointment and the call needs to be set up accordingly. Do they just want to secure the quick contribution? Then the call objective needs to be geared for that.

- Selling is leading. If your call is not set up for you to lead the client into the discussion you would like, then chances are they will take it somewhere you don't want to go.

3. Have a number goal

- Without a goal people tend to give up too soon. They look at this massive list of people they need to call, get depressed because they are not making headway and then start doing a mundane task that's easily accomplished to make themselves feel better.

- How many calls do you need to make? When do you need to make them by? Do the math to come up with the number of calls that need to be made each day or for a specific session.

- How many calls do you need to do before you take a break? Chunk it up. Don't stare at a list of 300 calls you need to make over the next month. Take one sheet of phone numbers, fold it in half and highlight 20 names you'll call before you take a break.

- Reward yourself with a stretch or trip to the lunch room when you accomplish the goal.

4. Have a script

- There was a great sales meeting on this subject in last month's Sales Meeting Express so I won't go into great detail here.  Sales Meeting on Scripting RSP Calls

The steps to designing a good script are:

A. Introduce yourself and the company
B. Give the client a benefit statement. This is an extremely important step that will make or break the call.
C. Take the curse off the call – ask them if they have time to talk.
D. Ask a question to engage the client immediately

5. Practice

- If you want to sound confident you need to practice. Complicated isn't it? It is amazing to me how many people who sell for a living, and say they want to be really good at it, never practice.

- People trust people over the phone when the sales person sounds believable. Umming and ahing makes you sound nervous. If you sound nervous people will likely shut you down. People that get shut down a lot get even more nervous when they make their calls and the cycle continues.

- Over learn the fundamentals. Know your script so well that it doesn't sound like a script. Have you been to a good movie lately? Was it scripted? Every detail is scripted. Why? So it comes across as being unscripted.

- Invest 15 minutes into yourself, your company and your client by practicing with a co-worker before you pick up the phone. Everyone will thank you for doing so – especially your clients.

"Most people have the will to succeed. Having the will to succeed is not the problem; it's having the will to prepare to succeed - that is what stops most from fulfilling their potential"

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Copyright © 2008 by Fusion Performance Group Inc.
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