The telephone is not always seen as a marketing tool. In my experience, there can be reluctance to use the telephone because of a lack of proficiency or understanding of how you can use it to your advantage. When I was developing my sales force for The Robb Report, a magazine that I co-founded, I spent a great deal of time developing telephone techniques which would allow us to talk to affluent individuals who had their boats, planes, trains, automobiles, real estate, and other items for sale. Once we developed those techniques, we were very effective, not only in getting them on the phone, but in engaging them in a discussion to either set an appointment for an advertising rep to meet with them or to simply place the ad right then over the telephone.

Of course, in the investment community, you do not sell your products over the telephone, yet it is vitally important that you engage the individual and build rapport so that you can schedule an appointment with them. To help you get better results now and in the future, here are 15 tips that you can use to increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts via the telephone:

1. Talk into the receiver, not over it. Recognize that your voice inflection and tone energize the call. By speaking directly into the receiver, you will convey this inflection and enthusiasm.
2. Use a mirror to see yourself as others hear you. If you’re frowning, they hear a frown; if you’re smiling, they hear a smile which, in turn, puts less pressure on them.
3. Stand up to energize your voice. When I was building the sales room at The Robb Report, I put all the telephones on a platform, which was raised above the desks. The advantage was that when someone was on the phone, the tendency was to stand up. By standing up, you are able to energize your voice, project more fully, and convey an enthusiasm that is contagious. Sales Management magazine surveys show that 64% of the people in the United States say that they will make an appointment with someone based upon the energy and enthusiasm they convey over the telephone.
4. Call for success, not just to call. I often talk to agents who tell me that they make a lot of calls. The objective should be to make a lot of appointments. Sometimes it’s easy to get into making calls and completing that activity sheet. It’s far more important to focus on calling for success.
5. Let call volume dictate mail volume. If you’re calling to follow up on a letter or mailer, mail the letters at intervals that allow you to follow up in a timely fashion. Research shows that if you follow up more than one week after the mailer has been received, it is no longer fresh in the prospect’s mind.
6. Avoid drinking caffeine while on the phone. It dries out your vocal cords and it often causes your voice to crack or makes you have to clear your throat frequently. Both of these things are irritating and break the concentration of the prospect or client.
7. Warm up your voice before beginning your calls. Practice smiling and flexing your face, vibrate your lips, loosen your jaw. This helps to articulate and project your message to the individual on the other end of the telephone.
8. Record yourself to improve diction, inflection and vocabulary. It’s amazing some of the things that we say that we don’t even hear ourselves saying. By recording yourself you’ll be able to spot many of the concentration barriers that are often in your telephone conversations. You will be amazed at the number of times you say ahhh, hmmm, or repeat phrases, all of which breaks the rhythm and pattern of the listener’s attention.
9. If you have any doubt, ask the person to pronounce their name for you. People like to hear their name and they like to hear their name used correctly. If you have an unusual name, you should pronounce it in a way that makes it easy. My last name is hard for people to understand so I always give it to them phonetically, "While-men." Be sure they know who you are and how to pronounce your name.
10. If your call is to follow up a letter and the letter has not been received, confirm the address and continue the presentation. You should simply state what the letter was about. This gives you the opportunity to turn a less productive call into a more productive call.
11. Always use your full name when introducing yourself. Even if you met the individual in an association meeting or some other networking opportunity, don’t assume that they remember you. First and last names put them at ease.
12. Be warm, friendly, and enthusiastic. People respond to a sense of warmth and friendly congeniality. Portray these things over the telephone. If you feel you’re in a bad mood, there’s no sense getting on the telephone until you snap out of it and get yourself into a better frame of mind.
13. Be definite in your questions and words. By using words or questions that are not clear, the prospect becomes confused and is unsure as to whether you want to make an appointment, whether you want to sell them something, or what level of commitment you are looking for from them. By working from a script you avoid many of these challenges. Many of the most successful people in the business still work from a script so that they don’t have to worry about what they’re saying. Instead, they can concentrate on what the prospect is saying.
14. Stay focused on your objectives. If your objective is simply to convey information for them as an update on an investment, then stay focused on that objective and make sure you meet it. If your objective is to schedule an appointment, then continue to work towards that appointment in your discussions. Getting off-track or taking the discussion in several different ways confuses the prospect and diminishes your opportunities.
15. Be genuine in your concern. The average individual can immediately spot whether you are being genuine with them or are simply trying to sell them something. Perhaps the best definition of genuine that I’ve ever read is in an 1847 Oxford dictionary. It states that the definition of genuine is "not counterfeit." In this age of skeptical, cautious prospects, genuine concern for who they are can be the catalyst that makes the difference in whether they see you, meet with you, and buy from you.

Copyright © 1999 by C. Richard Weylman. All rights reserved.

C. Richard Weylman serves as President of The Achievement Group, Inc., an Atlanta-based consulting firm and publishing house dedicated to professionally and ethically help people move to the next level of productivity and fulfillment. As a Certified Speaking Professional, Richard has become a sought-after speaker in the financial services industry because his innovative ideas help advisors build more successful operations. He is the author of "Opening Closed Doors, Keys to Reaching Hard-to-Reach People" and the author of numerous sales, relationship marketing and management audio and video education programs. He is a 1999 main platform speaker at MDRT and his highly acclaimed video learning systems, "How to Target Market to Build Profitable Relationships" and "Target Recruiting Quality People" are being used by over 2,300 financial services organizations worldwide. Hear Richard Weylman live at www.unlimitedprospects.com. To receive more ideas and insight on how to market to high net worth people, recruit quality people, or practice management issues, schedule Richard to speak at your next meeting by calling 1-800-535-4332 or email achieve@theachievementgroup.com. Enroll for Richard Weylman’s free emailed Marketing Tip of the Week at www.unlimitedprospects.com. # # #