Instructions “Receive an incoming call. Script “Processing an incoming call from a potential client”

You can train managers to effectively handle incoming calls in 2 weeks.

When we started working on sales development, we had no idea how we could help if the company’s sales were driven by an incoming flow of calls. After all, these are already warm customers who are interested in your product/service. Cold calling is several orders of magnitude more complex, requiring time, detailed development of call bases and clear business sales processes. This is where our experience and knowledge will come in handy. But incoming calls? It is enough to have basic sales knowledge to effectively close them on maximum effect. Telephone sales on incoming calls are called hot, because the client is already prepared and interested in buying, but is it all that simple?

Lately, more and more clients have been turning to us to organize work on incoming calls. And when you constantly encounter incoming traffic, you realize that the market has changed. Simple and quick ways handling incoming calls. And we are happy about this, because in this sales section it is easiest to control the result and achieve it in just two weeks. And with this service we can quickly prove the effectiveness of our work.

But let’s return to those who independently decided to increase conversion through hot calls. I will share those elements that increase inbound sales. For the sake of secrecy, I will call them “secrets,” although for successful companies they are no longer secrets.

Secret #1 “Incoming Flow”

In this article we do not dwell on how to organize the flow of incoming calls; this is a topic for other articles, but we cannot help but touch on it. You can only begin to improve your efficiency by understanding where your incoming calls are coming from.

Maximum effectiveness can only be achieved when the product or service at least somehow corresponds to what the source of this hot call “promises”. Difficult to achieve efficiency incoming call, if an advertisement on the Internet says “free legal consultation”, and a lawyer answers the phone and immediately says that it is free for the first 5 minutes, and then pay 2000 rubles. I’m not saying that “free consultation” techniques don’t work, they really do. I'm talking about the compliance and approach to handling such incoming calls.

If a client wants to get free legal advice, the manager should answer him, collect the need from him, then transfer the client to a lawyer who will give basic advice, the manager will listen to this call and then sell paid services. Then the efficiency will be high. Therefore, we always start building an incoming call processing system by analyzing incoming traffic. And the more the work scenario corresponds to the promises at the beginning, the higher the efficiency will be.

Secret No. 2 “Statistics”

Without a statistics collection system, optimizing your work with incoming calls is like playing football with eyes closed. That is, in principle, it is possible, but no one will know the score :). The sales funnel for such hot calls is quite simple. Often it consists of two stages: the number of calls and the number of sales. Of course, you can sell very large complex projects with incoming calls, but this is rather rare. If we are talking about the flow of incoming calls, then this is most likely an inexpensive product; the purchase decision can be made over the phone, after two or three conversations. If there are still many stages, then the sales funnel may look a little more complicated. But statistics will allow you to understand the dependence of sales taking into account the average sales cycle. For example, a 2-fold decrease in incoming calls today indicates that in a month sales will drop by 2 times. Therefore, statistics must be:

• Number of incoming calls
• Number of effective calls
• Number of minutes in conversation
• Number of submitted offers
• Number of deferred purchases
• Number of items sold

Secret No. 3 “Recording”

Registration required telephone conversations managers. Not recording is even worse than playing football with your eyes closed. Not recording is like playing football with permanent memory loss. It seems like we see the goal, we see the ball, but no one knows which goal to shoot at, who is playing for whom, who is playing how, what the score is. Recording conversations allows you to:

• Evaluate managers' performance
• Disciplines managers
• Allows you to constantly evaluate and improve employee performance
• Allows training
• Allows you to clarify details after the conversation

Secret #4 “Scripts”

For incoming calls, scripts are a must! On one project, by changing one phrase, we increased the conversion by 3 times. In total, the conversion increased by 6 times. One phrase is half of our work on the project. And this phrase was like this. The client called and said: “How much does it cost?” They told him the price, he hung up and then with a 5% probability he bought. Managers began to say the following phrase: “Who are you taking for?” Within 15 minutes, they listened to the client’s problems and needs, and already made a sale with a 15% probability, explaining why the price was so high. If managers do not use scripts developed by professionals, it is almost always possible to increase sales from incoming calls by 2 or more times. The maximum result was a 12-fold increase in conversion. And half due to well-developed hot sales scenarios.

Secret #5: NO Scripts

Surprised? I agree, it looks funny. Clause 4 “Scenarios”, clause 5 “No Scripts”. In fact, conversation scripts are needed, but they must be used correctly. They cannot be used in a formulaic manner. A script is a skeleton that needs to be expanded with the interests of a specific client. Therefore, one script is not enough; you need to have the skill to work with this script. This requires special training in using scripts.

Secret No. 6 “NO to Operators”

May call center managers forgive me. You cannot trust more or less expensive goods to simple operators. When I worked in large company, we decided to transfer part of our sales to an outsourcing call-center. Resources were not limited at all. I went through all the leading players at that time. Nothing good came of it! Regardless of the quality of the contact center, the amount of time spent on operators and training them in unconventional thinking and individualization. Managers who know how to think and adapt to the client, who know the needs and types of customers, should work on the phone. This is special training, this is knowledge about the product, this is a completely different motivation.

Secret No. 7 “Motivation”

It is difficult to motivate a manager on incoming calls for sales volumes or percentages of the volume, since the incoming flow does not depend on the managers. No calls - no motivation. People suffer for no reason. But it’s quite possible to determine the acceptable conversion level efficient system motivation. In practice, I will say that it is quite possible to bring conversion to 50% for some types of products. Usually, when we come to a project, we independently work on incoming calls to determine the maximum conversion. And we take it as a guideline for creating a motivation system. An additional evaluation criterion may be the quality of call handling; for this there must be a supervisor who listens to all calls and gives ratings.

In general, I repeat, these are the main factors influencing the effectiveness of incoming calls. In order to set them up, you don’t need to have super knowledge, but if you have some doubts, you can contact. We can help not only with hot calls, but also with any problems in your sales department!

Conversion – to in this case the percentage of calling customers who bought your product in relation to the total number of calls.

You have waited for the moment when we will post entire sales scripts for you. More precisely, their examples and templates. Today we will discuss an incoming call sales script, which is aimed largely at products for which it is difficult to name a price without finding out the client’s need. But it will also be useful for those who have one price and can name it right away.

I also want to warn you right away that there is not one universal script incoming calls. For one company, the structure described below may be suitable, for another company, this script may completely fail. Therefore, adapt everything to your business.

General knowledge

An incoming call implies that the client is already interested. That is why you need to close it on a purchase more confidently than in the same cold calls, where you first need to identify a need or, in some cases, even create it.

You must pick up the phone no later than 3 rings on the line, since with each subsequent ring the client begins to develop a negative attitude towards your company.

1. Starting a conversation

I won’t go on and on about the fact that picking up the phone “Hello!”, “I’m listening to you” and other things is a thing of the past, which simply ruins sales from the very beginning. You need to start the conversation like this:

Manager: - Good afternoon. Stretch ceiling "______". My name is "______". I’m listening to you / How can I help?

Peculiarities:

• We say hello with the first phrase, since it happens that the connection is not established from the first second you pick up the phone, and if you say the name of the company first, then there is a chance that it will simply get lost in the abyss of silence and the client will not understand where he called;
• We say the type of activity of the company is “Stretch ceilings ____”, and not just “Company ____” (exception if the name of your company already includes the type of activity, for example, “Ceilings38”). This is done so that callers do not feel discomfort if they suddenly forget the name of the company, and this often happens during mass price monitoring;
• Be sure to introduce yourself! Everyone enjoys communicating with people, and not with faceless voices. It is better to introduce yourself only by your first name, and not by your first name and patronymic.

2. First question from the client

Client: - I bought an apartment of 50 sq.m., I want to install a suspended ceiling everywhere, guide me on the price!

The client always calls and asks a question, amazing right? =) All questions can be divided into two types. Some questions come with exact information (sq.m., color, material, how many corners, etc.), other questions come without exact information, as in our case.

Well, here is a list of the most frequently asked questions:

• What is the price _____?
• Do you provide _____ services?
• Do you have _____ in stock?
• I want to know more about _____. Tell me!
• I have a _____ situation. Can you solve it?

In very rare cases, the client will ask another question. They can be neglected when writing a script.

3. Agreement and name recognition

The main task in this block is to let the client know that he has come to the right address and then find out his name.

Manager: - Yes, of course, I’ll tell you everything now. How can I contact you for ease of communication?

Peculiarities:

• We add a reason for recognizing the name, in our case it is for ease of communication.
• The classic scheme involves finding out the name at the beginning of the conversation, but this is not always the case. the right decision. In some scripts, we insert this phrase in the middle of a conversation, so it is perceived more positively and creates the effect of a casual conversation between two people.

4. Introductory answer

You've probably read our article about multi-format and know that you must have at least three versions of one product. For some, the specificity itself has already created it, as, for example, in suspended ceilings, since there is different types materials, different complexity, different lighting elements, etc.. Therefore, in this block, our task is to voice the estimated cost and agree on a series of issues.

Manager: - The estimated cost will be from 30,000 rubles to 50,000 rubles. It all depends on the chosen material, the number of angles and other nuances. In order for me to calculate it in more detail, allow me to ask a few clarifying questions. Fine?

Peculiarities:

• When a client asks about cost, you must answer it. And don’t try to hide it in the tone of meaningless words about individual calculations and your other problems;
• We call the price both the lowest in order to hook him, and the average market price, so that in the future he will be ready for the announced result;
• We explain that the price varies from various factors, and to count his specific case, we need to ask a few questions.

5. Clarification of needs and proof of expertise

We need to ask questions that will create a complete picture about the client, that will clarify all his needs and we will understand whether this is our fish. Moreover, there are three types of questions: 1) questions to find out technical information (“Have you already decided on the material for the ceiling or is it worth telling what you have?”) 2) questions showing your expertise (“Are your walls brick, concrete, and are there gypsum plasterboards?” partitions?”) 3) questions to find out the reasons for making a positive decision (“How urgently do you need to solve the problem?”)

Peculiarities:

• The maximum number of questions is 7.
• It is advisable to ask open-ended questions in order to get the person talking and get as much information as possible.
• It is better to write down all the answers immediately in the CRM system, so that later you do not waste time meditating in order to remember his answer
• Questions of all types must be considered. Otherwise, you will not have a complete picture about the client.

6. Summing up

Then we summarize so that the client is convinced that you understood him correctly, and at the same time agreed with the problems that he voiced.

Manager: - Thanks for the answers. Then I will now summarize so as not to miss anything. So, you now have the task of visually expanding the space of the room with the help of a stretch ceiling, the material you need……….. Right?

Peculiarities:

• Summing up is a very important block, especially if your product has many different options.
• You definitely need to get confirmation from the client that you said everything correctly. This will make it more difficult for him to contradict you in the presentation block.

7. Presentation

The most favorite part of managers is the presentation, as they can talk for hours about your product, its advantages and benefits. True, this is partly a problem, since the presentation should be quite short, succinct and straight to the point.

Manager: - _______________ is ideal for you. The cost of such a solution will be ____ rub.

Peculiarities:

• We use the language of benefits, not properties and characteristics
• Do not delay the presentation, otherwise the client may go into energy-saving mode
• To “reanimate” him in the middle of a conversation, you can insert an easy question to which the client will always answer “Yes!”
• Use your first name during your presentation
• The cost in 9 out of 10 cases is announced at the end of the presentation

8. Question aside

Next, it is important for us to ask the client a question immediately after the presentation, without waiting for an answer from him. And it is desirable that the question leads away from thoughts about price. But this is a separate topic for an article; it will definitely be on our blog, but a little later.

9. Closing the deal

If the client does not agree, then we work with the objection. If he agrees, then we will definitely take his contacts and agree on the next step:

- “Client’s name”, it means that our specialist will come to you tomorrow at ___... And, so that in case of anything, I or our specialist can contact you, please dictate your phone number. I'm recording! - Thank you for contacting our company. Have a good day!

Peculiarities:

• When we take contacts, we need to name the reason for taking them.
• It is imperative to agree with the client on the next step.

Briefly about the main thing

At first glance, the incoming call script seems to be the easiest to develop. And there is a piece of truth in this, but it will definitely be possible to establish yourself in this only by starting to write it. Since, according to our practice, the script for an incoming call can be either 4 or 12 pages.

I am sure that this structure will help you in developing a sales script, but if you have any questions or don’t know how best to write, just write to us in the comments and we will help you.

Cold calling is very difficult if you don’t know what to say and how to say it. But if you have a script written in advance, then everything immediately becomes much easier. And in this article, we will write a cold call script - a step-by-step conversation diagram for your specific situation.

And yes, of course we will consider different examples working with objections. So that you don’t just repeat this scheme like a robot, but can adapt it to the situation. Then your results will improve several times.

How I did cold calling

I remember about 6 years ago, I was attracting clients to our translation agency through cold calls. I put off starting work for two weeks and looked for excuses in every possible way not to call anyone. It was just very scary.

But when the money began to completely run out, I still forced myself to pick up the phone and dial the first number from the list. To my great relief, the other end of the line did not answer the phone.

Then I dialed the second number, and they quite politely told me that the head of the foreign economic activity department had just left, and asked me to call back in 15 minutes. I already thought that it was enough for a start, and I could go and take a break. But still, to clear my conscience, I decided to dial the third number.

It was a large industrial company in our city. And I knew for sure that they were already working with some translation agency. Therefore, I assumed that the conversation with them would not last long.

Imagine my surprise when the person on the other end of the line listened to me and offered to meet in an hour to show me the current orders. On the same day we received our first order from them. And this company is still our regular customer. And it all happened in one single call.

Of course, I understand that I was lucky. Clients are not always so willing to start working with you. But there are still certain statistics - how many cold calls you need to make to get one order.

How many cold calls do you need to make to get one order?

If you think that there is some magical cold calling script that will open all doors for you like a golden key, you are mistaken. There is no such script and cannot exist.

And there is not and cannot be a salesperson who would make twenty calls and conclude twenty deals. You can’t sell to everyone, no matter how hard you try, and no matter how wonderful the conversation pattern you prescribe.

Working with cold calls is a statistic. Statistics of refusals and agreements to meet with you. You need to know your statistics and just do them every day. For example, in most cases you need to make about 20 calls to schedule 2-3 meetings.

Next, out of 3 meetings (according to statistics), you will conclude one deal. That is, you need to make twenty calls and hear “no” nineteen times to close one deal. It is very important. Often salespeople are trained to “press” everyone on the phone until they agree to meet with you. My experience is that this is bad practice.

Why being too persistent is bad

If you are persistent enough and find your own answer to any “no,” then eventually the person on the other end of the line will still agree to meet with you. As a result, you will only waste your time.

That is, after half an hour of the “objection-response” game, your interlocutor will say, “Okay, you persuaded me, let’s meet next Monday, at two o’clock in the afternoon.” But he will say this only to get rid of you. Then you will not be able to reach him (he will write down your phone number under the name “Do not take it under any circumstances”).

And when you arrive at the meeting, you will not find anyone at the specified address. That means you will waste several hours, or even the whole day.

In fact, the goal of a cold call is not to “persuade” everyone, but to intelligently filter out those on whom you should spend time and on whom not. The entire conversation scheme that you will find below is precisely aimed at making this filtering as fast and comfortable as possible.

It was very important for me to clarify this before starting to analyze the circuit. Your task is not to get one “yes” at all. Your task is to get nineteen reasonable “no’s.” After that, you will make a deal and calmly move on to the next circle.

And yes, by the way, all of the above applies to the conversation with the decision maker (decision maker). But before talking with the decision-maker, we will most often have to talk with the so-called “Gatekeeper”. This is a secretary or assistant or someone else who doesn’t want you to distract the boss with your calls.

You have to do things a little differently with gatekeepers. After all, there is no way they can give us a valid no. This means they just need to be “pushed through”.

Scheme of conversation with the “gatekeeper”

And then it happened. After much procrastination and making excuses, you finally decided to get on the phone and start calling potential clients on your list. You sell antivirus for corporate computer networks. You pick up the phone, dial the number of the ACS department (Automation of Control Systems), and after a series of beeps you hear:

• JSC Mashinstroyperestroy, I’m listening to you...

You answer:

• Hello, my name is Dmitry. I'm calling you from the Peresvet company about a new antivirus for your computer system. Tell me, who can I talk to about this?

And in response you get:

• Thank you, we are not interested. Goodbye.

This is one of the standard gatekeeper objections. And if you bought into this “we are not interested”, then it’s in vain. Now I will tell you one secret. In fact, the secretary on the other end of the line has no idea whether they are interested or not.

It's just that your call interferes with her work. If she lets you in to see her beloved boss Arkady Petrovich, head of the automated control system department, and you suggest some nonsense, she will get hit on the head.

And if you offer not nonsense, but a super solution that will save the plant a million dollars a month, and her boss is rewarded for it, then the secretary... will still not receive any benefit.

All the laurels will go to Arkady Petrovich, because he “found”, “suggested”, “implemented”. That is, the secretary will either get hit on the head, or (at best) get nothing. So why should she take the risk? It's easiest to go straight to the best option and get "nothing". That is, just don’t miss your call to your boss.

But the secretary has his own problems and tasks, and you and I have ours. And task number one is to break through the barrier of standard “objections and denials.”

Overcoming standard objections

Here are some of the standard objections a gatekeeper might typically give you:

• We are not interested/need it
• What exactly do you want to offer?
• Send us an email, we'll take a look and call you back
• No (I won't connect you/he won't talk to you)

And here’s how best to build a dialogue with such an interlocutor.

Secretary: What did you want to offer (What specific issue are you on?) (Are you on the issue of advertising?) (What are your services?), etc.

You: We are installing a new antivirus program for computer networks. Who can I talk to about this?

Secretary: We are not interested in this (we do not need this)

You: Understand. You know, with about every fourth client our cooperation began in the same way. That is why I would like to ask your specialist a few clarifying questions. Who can I talk to about this?

Secretary: Submit your offer by email. We will review and call you back.

You: We have nothing in common commercial offer, there are a lot of options. I need to talk to your specialist because we strive to offer only what people need, not everything at once. Connect me please.

Secretary: Everything is fine with us.

You: Amazing. Among our clients, most companies are developing successfully. That is why our services were useful to them. All I would like to do is talk about whether we can be of service to you. So who can I contact about this issue?

Secretary: No (I won’t connect you, he won’t talk to you).

You: If it’s so difficult to talk to him, maybe I can talk to someone else about this issue?

Two main points in the conversation pattern

You methodically work through all the “nos” and push the gatekeeper so that he still takes the risk of connecting you with the person you need.

Please note two important points in this conversation pattern. At the end of each response to an objection, ask to connect you with the decision maker. Usually people can't stand being asked for something several times and give up.

The second point is an explanation of the reason why you need to be connected with someone. In the famous book “The Psychology of Influence,” Robert Cialdini describes an experiment in which a person first simply asked to be skipped in line. And in the second case he added “Let me skip the line, because I really need". And in the second case, he was missed 3 times more often.

Of course, in our example we came across a very hard nut to crack. Usually secretaries give up after 1-2 objections. But there are even harder ones. They just tell you no.

What to do if you are still told “no”

If you just can’t convince the gatekeeper to let you through further, then you can try to “make friends” with him.

And make an acquaintance with stranger not difficult at all. This is what the dialogue might look like after four or five “no’s.”

You: Okay, I understand you. By the way, my name is Dmitry, I am a sales manager in our company. What is the best name for you?

Secretary: Maria.

You: Maria, what is your title?

Secretary: Assistant manager (secretary/assistant).

You: Maria, please advise me. What is the best way for me to deal with this situation?

In this simple way you win a person over to you. You met him and asked him to help you. In this case, even the stony heart will melt, and Maria herself will tell you how and with whom you need to contact.

And after that we move on to a conversation with Himself - the Decision Maker.

Scheme of conversation with decision maker

As mentioned above, the task of talking with a decision maker is to filter out those who are not worth wasting time on right now. To do this, we need to either get a reasonable “yes” or a reasonable “no”. Both results will suit us quite well.

Our conversation with the decision maker will consist of four stages:

1. Performance
2. Question-involvement
3. Handling objections
4. Make an appointment

After that, we are either told “no”, and we calmly move on to the next contact. Or they say “yes” to us, and we enter the time and place of the meeting in our diary. And let's look at options for conversation patterns using examples.

Stage #1 - Presentation

Here we just need to state our name, the name of our company, and explain why we are calling. The person on the other end of the line is primarily interested in who we are and what we need from him.

Therefore, do not try to be cunning and deceive someone. As a result, you will deceive yourself. For example, I am very annoyed by salespeople who call me under the pretext of conducting some kind of “survey”. I don’t have much time, tell me right away what you want.

You (we learned the name from the secretary). My name is Dmitry, I’m from the Peresvet company, and I’m calling you about a new anti-virus program for corporate networks.

That's literally all. You immediately said everything directly and honestly. In this case, the interlocutor may not answer you anything. And we need dialogue. not a monologue. Therefore, we immediately move on to the second stage.

Stage #2 – Question-engagement-pause

At this stage, we need to get a primary reaction to our proposal (most often the reaction will be negative).

You

We ask a question and fall silent. This is a very important and very difficult moment. Most people physically cannot bring themselves to pause. Because a pause is pressure. With our silence, we literally force a person to answer us something. This will be the beginning of engagement in the conversation.

We specifically formulate the question in such a way that the answer to it “is impossible” is no. Of course, most often the answer will be no. But at the same time, your interlocutor himself will feel the strangeness of the situation.

They offer him to increase the level of protection, but he says “no” - I don’t want to increase anything, let them hack our computers and steal data. We will lose clients because of this, and I will be thrown out of my position, and I will end my life under the fence with a bottle of Triple Cologne in my hand. Everything is great, I'm satisfied.

You: Please tell me, would you be interested in increasing the level of security for your computer network?

decision maker

Let him say “no” out loud (giving up everything is the first normal defensive reaction person). But subconsciously he says yes. And this is much more important for us. And having received this “no”, which is actually a “yes”, we move on to the next stage.

Stage #3 - Closing the objection

There is one simple phrase that gets around most objections. That is, it will encourage a person who, at least theoretically, may be interested in your proposal, agree to meet with you.

And if a person does not want to agree to anything, then this means that this is not our client yet.

decision maker: No, thank you, we are not interested in this now.

You

That's all, this simple phrase firstly calms down Arkady Petrovich - they say, there are other people whom I have already met, and they are all alive and well. Secondly, it explains the benefits - simplification of work and reduction of costs.

After this phrase we no longer need to pause. You need to immediately move on to the final stage of the conversation.

Step #4 - Making an appointment

It is very important to offer yourself exact time meetings. This way the interlocutor is more likely to agree to meet with us. That is, either he will simply accept our conditions, or he will set his own. Here's what it sounds like all together.

You: You know, Arkady Petrovich, other people working in your field told me the same thing before I came and showed them how our program could simplify their work and reduce costs.

Could we meet you? Will it suit you on Wednesday at two o'clock in the afternoon?

decision maker

And if in this case the person repeats - “No! We don’t need anything,” then you can congratulate yourself. You have already received one justified refusal. Looks like they don't really need to improve anything in this moment. Eighteen more such refusals and the deal is in your pocket.

To reinforce this, let’s once again write down the entire scheme of a telephone conversation with a decision maker.

You: Hello, Arkady Petrovich (we learned the name from the secretary). My name is Dmitry, I’m from the Peresvet company, and I’m calling you about a new anti-virus program for corporate networks ( Stage #1)

You: Please tell me, would you be interested in increasing the level of security for your computer network? ( Stage #2 - Pause…)

decision maker: No, thank you, we are not interested in that now.

You: You know, Arkady Petrovich, other people working in your field told me the same thing before I came and showed them how our program could simplify their work and reduce costs ( Stage #3)

Could we meet you? Will it suit you on Wednesday at two o'clock in the afternoon? ( Stage #4)

decision maker: Let's better on Thursday, at one o'clock in the afternoon. I'll have half an hour.

Conclusion

We have looked at how best to structure a conversation when making cold calls. Let me remind you that you need to push through the gatekeeper, and get a “reasonable refusal” or “reasonable consent” from the decision-maker. The main thing is not to confuse it.

Don't forget to download my book. There I show you the fastest way from zero to the first million on the Internet (extract from personal experience in 10 years =)

Happy hunting!