Some people may not know this, and as an employee of a company that has made it its business to help sales people sell more effectively, I offer these simple tips on how to improve your selling techniques by not pissing off your prospects:
0. I have caller ID. I know who is calling. If you block caller ID, I still know who is calling because in my experience, only salespeople block caller ID. And just like my caller ID at home, even if you call and I'm not at my desk, I still know that you called.
1. Do not call me more than twice in one day. I will call you back if I am not busy. Maybe I'm out of the office that day. Do you really think I want to come back to 8 missed calls in a single day from you?
2. If you do not get me, you MUST leave a voice mail. You are SELLING something. It is not so important that you have got to tell me in person or not at all. Just state who you are and why you are calling. I will call you back; if I don't, call me again tomorrow.
3. Under no circumstances will you call the receptionist and ask her to page me. Again, you are SELLING something. When I get paged in a meeting, that is a signal that something awful has happened (building on fire, web page defaced, I'm being laid off, etc). "I just wanted to follow up with you about that data sheet I sent you the other day" is NOT something awful and does not warrant having me paged.
4. You shall not call someone else in my company and try and get them to transfer you to me or relay a message to me.
5. If the phone only rings once before my voice mail picks up, that means that I sent you to voice mail manually. Leave a message. Do not call back for the remainder of the day.
Following these simple tips will greatly improve the chances that I will at least not tell you to never call me again, and maybe I will even buy your product.
0. I have caller ID. I know who is calling. If you block caller ID, I still know who is calling because in my experience, only salespeople block caller ID. And just like my caller ID at home, even if you call and I'm not at my desk, I still know that you called.
1. Do not call me more than twice in one day. I will call you back if I am not busy. Maybe I'm out of the office that day. Do you really think I want to come back to 8 missed calls in a single day from you?
2. If you do not get me, you MUST leave a voice mail. You are SELLING something. It is not so important that you have got to tell me in person or not at all. Just state who you are and why you are calling. I will call you back; if I don't, call me again tomorrow.
3. Under no circumstances will you call the receptionist and ask her to page me. Again, you are SELLING something. When I get paged in a meeting, that is a signal that something awful has happened (building on fire, web page defaced, I'm being laid off, etc). "I just wanted to follow up with you about that data sheet I sent you the other day" is NOT something awful and does not warrant having me paged.
4. You shall not call someone else in my company and try and get them to transfer you to me or relay a message to me.
5. If the phone only rings once before my voice mail picks up, that means that I sent you to voice mail manually. Leave a message. Do not call back for the remainder of the day.
Following these simple tips will greatly improve the chances that I will at least not tell you to never call me again, and maybe I will even buy your product.
