How to get the most out of your introductory sales call in 2022

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How to get the most out of your introductory sales call in 2022

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An introductory sales call with a potential client can be like a first date with a person you’re interested in. It can make or break your case, as it’s your first and most important chance to make a lasting impression. There is so much to learn about each other during an introductory sales call, and sometimes, even when you think you’ve covered all bases, you could miss bits of information that are crucial to winning the prospect over.

According to HubSpot research, 58% of prospects want to talk about pricing on the very first call, while only 23% of sales executives are ready to do that. Similarly, close to 54% of prospects want to learn how a product works on the first call, while only 23% of reps are prepared to break it down. However, 42% of sales reps feel they don’t have enough information before making a call.

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Unless it is a cold call, 60% of prospects talk to sales reps only after researching their options. Whether they know you or not, keep your personal and company introductions short and sweet. If you don’t know how to introduce your business over the phone, remember that this is not a pitch. Instead of talking about features, talk about benefits or solutions. Maybe even add an interesting stat or an exciting value proposition to pique their interest right away.

Once the initial ‘stranger’ barrier comes down, get the prospect to tell you more about these three things to get the most out of an introductory sales call

‍1. Get to know the person you’re talking to

67% of sales are lost to reps not qualifying their leads properly before taking them through the whole process. The first step is to know more about the person you’re talking to and figuring out if they are a decision-maker or can influence the decision-making process.

However, this doesn’t mean you start asking the person about their company or their designation. You can get that data from LinkedIn or their company website.

Questions you can ask your prospect during an introductory sales call include:

How are buying decisions made in your company (1) (1)

The purpose of these questions is to understand if your prospect has both the motivation and the ability to sign the sales contract. It will also help you form a mental image of the person you are talking to and the aspects of your product that might matter to them. Find out what motivates your prospect

Once you know more about who your prospect is, it’s the perfect time to dig deeper into the numbers that matter to them. It’s also the right moment to start talking about the challenges they face and how these challenges affect the metrics they care about. These metrics could be anything, from lead generation to ROI, or sometimes even intangible things like how others perceive their brand.

79% of prospects want their sales reps to be trusted advisors. Understanding your prospect’s motivation will help you frame your solutions in a way that resonates with them. Here are some questions you can ask during an introductory sales call:

What are the metrics that matter to you? OR What are some of the metrics you are looking to improve?
What is the one number that you care about the most?
What do you hope to achieve with a possible solution?

2. Find out your prospect’s most critical pain point

Once you know what your prospect cares about, get them to admit that they have a problem. Doing this achieves two things. First, it helps your prospect understand and articulate the urgency of their problem better. Second, it helps them accept that they need a solution to the problem, which is your cue to start building a business case for your product/service.

Once you’ve confirmed the challenges your prospect is facing, the next step is to establish urgency. Try and understand more about the numbers that this change will impact and if this challenge is a make-or-break factor in your prospect’s workday or business. Questions you can ask your prospect during an introductory sales call include:

Is [mention pain point] what is keeping you from achieving your goals?
Would this concept improve the metrics you care about?
Do you think [your offering] could solve your problem and help you achieve your target numbers?
Will this directly impact your company’s bottom line?

How technology can make an introductory sales call less strange and more productive

Did you know there are tools that can transform the way your sales team interacts with prospects? Salesken is one such tool that leverages the power of Conversational Intelligence to assist your reps with the right things to say and when.
Salesken analyzes speech to detect meaning and emotion. Based on what is said during a sales call, Salesken provides reps with the next best steps and relevant information in real-time to help them make the most from every call.

As a sales leader, Salesken’s post-call analytics allows you to monitor these calls, giving you greater visibility into your team’s performance. You can use these deep insights to benchmark best practices followed by your top reps and build a team of high performers.

Want to see how Salesken does all this? Book a demo now.