"I’m no good on the phone."
"Who is a good telemarketer?"
"Where can I find a good appointment setter?"
"Who has a good script?"
How many times have we either said one of the above or heard others say them?
What that really translates to is “I don’t know how to use the phone effectively”.
Agents spend “big bucks” purchasing leads and are not getting the full value from them. Why? Because when the prospect answers they don’t know what to say nor how to say it. Not only is what the agent says important, the timing with which it is said is even more critical.
I have talked to a lot of agents who want to know what to say when the prospect says “I’m not interested”. There really isn’t a good answer to that statement. The reason there isn’t a good, overall answer is because the agent is no longer in control of the conversation. The prospect is.
The best way to deal with “I’m not interested” is to not allow the prospect to say it in the first place. Right now you are saying to yourself, “easy for you to say”. Actually it is easier than one might think.
The first thirty seconds or so of the phone call are the most critical. It is imperative that the agent stay in control of the conversation during that time. Lose control and it is very difficult to regain it. Once you get past that first thirty seconds, the half minute of hell, it is much easier to begin engaging them in a conversation. This is your goal, to be able to have a conversation with them. You will not be able to interest them in setting an appointment or making a purchase if you can’t have a conversation with them about it.
There are several things during that “half minute of hell” that inhibit the agent from smoothly making the transition into having a conversation with the prospect.
1. Asking an open ended question like “how are you today”? You don’t care, they know you don’t care and all you have done is give the prospect an opportunity, in the first five seconds of the call, to say “I’m not interested” or "Why are you calling?". When you give them the opportunity to say that, they assume control of the conversation.
2. “Seal talk”. We have all heard the sound seals make, ah, ah, ah. If you were in a rookery trying to call another seal it would probably be a very effective way of communicating. I don’t very often talk to seals, unless it is the Navy kind, so I prefer to use “people talk”.
While the agent is saying “ah”, four or five times during every sentence, the prospect is not listening to the information the agent is trying to convey. It makes the agent sound like he/she doesn’t have a clue what he/she is talking about and trying to “make it up” as they are speaking.
3. Using a “script”. Using a script implies that the agent is reading something, more often than not words they got from someone else. If it is not worded the way the agent normally speaks, extremely well practiced so it sounds very natural, smooth and conversational the agent may as well not even pick up the telephone.
Start the phone call by introducing yourself, both first and last name, followed by a brief statement about why you are calling. Not, “Hey Bob, how you doing today?”.
Ask a very simple, non threatening question. Preferably one you already know the answer to. Speak loud enough to be heard, enunciate each word, don’t talk too fast and make sure that you have someone call you from the phone you will be using when you telemarket.
A crappy phone or headset can be one of the main reasons the agent is not getting the desired results. I talk to agents all the time that are on their headset or bluetooth and it is “work” to try to clearly hear every word they are saying. Making the prospect “work” to understand you is not a good thing.
(Cont.)
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Medicare Supplement Sales Training and Coaching.
"The Perfect Contact Management Program (CMP) for the Insurance Professional" www.YourInsuranceOffice.com
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Below is an example of what I say when cold calling.
"Hello Mrs. Smith my name is Frank Stastny the reason I'm calling is because you recently requested information regarding the changes Medicare has made you are on Medicare aren't you?"
That takes about twelve seconds. Any less than that and most likely you are speaking too fast for them to follow what you are saying. There are no commas in the above because I do not pause during that statement. No "seal" talk either.
If I were to pause after I say "...regarding the changes Medicare has made" I have given her the opportunity to say "I'm not interested". Now I have lost control of the conversation and she is in control.
However, by adding "...you are on Medicare aren't you?" I have asked her a simple, non threatening question that I already know the answer to.
She still, in the back of her mind, wants to say "I'm not interested" but human nature being what it is she is more often than not going to feel compelled to answer my question.
As soon as she says "yes" it is imperative that I begin speaking immediately. If I allow there to be a pause, even a very short one, after she says "yes" then I have permitted her to say "yes, but I'm not interested".
It is all about proper timing. When buying property is about location, location, location. When using the phone is about timing, timing, timing.
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Originally Posted by moonlightandmargaritas
Wow Frank, that's a long-a s s post for a guy who doesn't like to type!
Look down, it gets even worse (longer), See what happens when the grass is still too wet to mow.
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Originally Posted by somarco
Maybe so, but he does like to talk . . .
It's an occupational hazard. Jacqueline would agree with you.
Ever watch NCIS? Every time I start droning on and on Jacqueline slaps me on the back of the head.
Last edited by Frank Stastny : 07-11-2009 at 10:27 AM.
Reason: Posts merged
In this day of age of phone sales saying "I'm terrible on the phone" it a lot like saying "I'm trying to break into construction but I suck working with tools."
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I agree with you Frank, I've always thought the first 10 seconds is the most difficult. Good information, I take a little different approach, but it effectively is geared to do the same thing you are doing. If you want to be treated different, you need to sound different than every other yahoo calling them this week. The good news, it's easy since the bar is set so low.
Nice post Frank. I couldn't agree more regarding your calling approach. I get a few calls per day from telemarketers trying to sell leads to my office and very few have lasted past the first thirty seconds with me. The few that have, have taken your approach of a friendly, calm introduction with a non threatening open ended question. Do you do all of your own telemarketing? Thanks.
If you want to be treated different, you need to sound different than every other yahoo calling them this week. The good news, it's easy since the bar is set so low.
Nice post Frank. I couldn't agree more regarding your calling approach. I get a few calls per day from telemarketers trying to sell leads to my office and very few have lasted past the first thirty seconds with me. The few that have, have taken your approach of a friendly, calm introduction with a non threatening open ended question. Do you do all of your own telemarketing? Thanks.
Yes I do. Over the last sixteen years I have tried to market Med Supps every way you could possibly conceive of selling them. I mean I have tried it all, at least twice.
Me making the phone call, the way I do it, is the most successful way of anything else I have ever tried. (It also does not require that I piss away thousands of dollars on "leads".)
One of the main reasons I make my own calls is that I am good at it and I am calling to either sell it over the phone or set an appointment on the first call. No one can do it better than I can. The reason? Besides that I am really good at it, haha, I have a vested interest in making the sale. Even much more so than a "hired gun" working on a tiny commission who is making calls for me.
That "hired gun" cannot sell the policy or talk about the policy unless he/she also has an insurance license. If the prospect is interested then that is a totally wasted phone call unless I made the call.
Most likely the prospect is not going to be nearly as receptive when I call them back after the "hired gun" has already spoken to them. At least that is what I have experienced when I had telemarketers working for me.
Great posts, Frank! I believe you once stated on here that you "give good phone." I once had a girlfriend that gave "good phone." Oops....wait a minute, that was a bit different from what you do (slightly different script).
Great posts, Frank! I believe you once stated on here that you "give good phone." I once had a girlfriend that gave "good phone." Oops....wait a minute, that was a bit different from what you do (slightly different script).
No, I've had that kind of "good phone" from Frank. You might give him a call.
Rick
------------------------------------ ILIAA
Training, Community, Support, and Success Independent Life Insurance Agents Assn rick@iliaa.org
One other thing that most ppl/agents do when they begin using the phone, (making calls) is they expect that they person on the other end of the phone doesn't really want to talk to them. Those expectations are transcended via voice inflection, confidence, urgency, nervousness, and other verbal idiosyncrasies that are communicated.
If you expect the person to have an interest, and want to get the info to them, then the call receipient absorbs that in the call. Maybe this is as important or more so, than the subject matter that one is conveying.
SN
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Originally Posted by arnguy
Yeah, Rick, but my former girlfriend's "good phone' was damn satisfying----in a different way.
WAS... so didn't you pay the phone bill, Arnguy...?
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"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." David Brinkley
Last edited by SportsNut : 07-11-2009 at 01:20 PM.
Reason: Posts merged
One other thing that most ppl/agents do when they begin using the phone, (making calls) is they expect that they person on the other end of the phone doesn't really want to talk to them. Those expectations are transcended via voice inflection, confidence, urgency, nervousness, and other verbal idiosyncrasies that are communicated.
If you expect the person to have an interest, and want to get the info to them, then the call receipient absorbs that in the call. Maybe this is as important or more so, than the subject matter that one is conveying.
That is all so true. To use inflection and portraying confidence is what it is all about. I had an agent call me the other day to talk to me about training. No, no one from the board.
I was talking, interjecting a little humor and pretty excited about what I was telling him. I was trying to get him involved in the conversation. (That is a pretty good clue as to how they are going to do.) Nothing on the other end of the phone. Not even a grunt. I kept having to ask him if he was still there.
I didn't, but I came very close to telling him he better forget about selling insurance. He may be great in person, didn't sound like he would be, but on the phone he was just a lump on a log. He could not have sold me a rain suit if I were crab fishing on the Bering Sea.
I Hate The Phone
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