Effective outbound telephony: How to convince with your voice

The rapid rise of the many online tools sometimes obscures the view: The telephone is still one of the most powerful tools in business. Especially when it comes to initiating new business contacts, the telephone allows you to establish a very personal contact in the shortest possible time.

But this is exactly what requires a lot of experience and know-how. We have probably all experienced how quickly an unwanted call is ended. This makes the The art of persuasion on the phone. From many examples of my training participants and coachees, I see how crucial the right attitude, the right behavior, especially in the first few seconds – and a good portion of vocal awareness – are in order to successfully communicate and ultimately lead to sales or to secure appointments.

The challenges of outbound telephony

When it comes to active calling – so-called outbound telephony – you face special challenges. You not only have to succeed in getting through to the right contact person. Once you have reached him or her, the real challenge begins: convincing your conversation partners of your concern within a very short time and getting them to take the desired step.

It is and remains an exciting hurdle to call someone at random, knowing that the other person is not waiting for your call in any way. The fear of rejection resonates – who wants to see the interlocutor hang up angrily after the first few words.

This delicate prerequisite creates a not inconsiderable amount of concern for many employees in sales. Strain when picking up the phone. But it is in the Voice all too well audible and seems fatally treacherous. It's perfectly audible that you want something. want to sell something. You have to take an appointment home with you to meet a quota, etc.

What happens when your voice betrays your pressure:

• You will quickly be brushed off and lose a valuable contact
• You feel frustrated – a very bad prerequisite for the next call
• Your success rate in Acquisition with all the economic consequences

Your benefit if you make voice-conscious calls:

• You build a positive first impression that opens the door
• Your chances of successful interview results increase
• You have the chance to develop long-term relationships with potential customers

Three dangerous hurdles:

1. The first seconds count: The first impression you make is crucial for the further course of the conversation.
2. Voice and tonality as keys: The tone makes the music – the way you open the conversation can do more than the spoken word itself.
3. Use the script as a guide: Preparing a psychologically sound strategy for your interview is certainly beneficial. However, a script should allow you flexibility and not a rigid structure. And: Reading is prohibited.

Let's define the small but crucial steps below that will help you get a good start to the conversation when cold calling.

First steps to successful contact

It's often the little things that can make a big difference – especially when first contacting them over the phone.

Tip 1: Build a relationship instead of putting the door in the house!

Already in the first three to five seconds you lay the foundation for a possible business relationship. Why do I emphasize this so much? Maybe you know this inner pressure to get straight to the point (to your concern) as soon as your conversation partner has answered the other end of the line.

Compare the phone call with the Personal Visit at the door of the desired interlocutor:

You rings the doorbell.

Customer carefully opens the door, carefully sticks his head out: "Yes, please?"

You by pushing open the door and walking past the customer into the hallway: "Hello, I'm Han's salesman from the company WirSindDieBesten, – may I get straight to the point?"

How will such a conversation continue? It will probably end before it has begun – with a cool expulsion.

Let's think about the same situation again:

You rings the doorbell.

Your customer opens the door: "Yes, please?"

You you stretch out your hand to him: "Hello Mr. Name , good morning!"

Customer surprised by the friendly greeting, returns the handshake: "Good morning!"

You: "Mr. Name , you had been interested in xx last month..."

What makes the big difference?

You no longer fell into the house with the door in a rowdy manner, but gave your conversation partner the opportunity to invite you into the house. You greeted the other person warmly by name – and waited until your customer returned the greeting. You have created a highly effective acoustic handshake!

Pressure or suction? How words change everything

Maybe you're already impatient and thinking: "Now we've talked about the greeting for half a page – I finally have to say what I want, don't I?!"

Sure, you have a concern, you want something, otherwise you wouldn't call. But how would you react if someone approached you on the street and said: "We have an action right now, so I need five minutes of your time!"

Tip 2: Pay attention to negative trigger words

The temptation is great, the actual conversation with the Presentation of your concern. But be careful: As soon as you talk about your concern in the conventional way, the other person hears all kinds of telltale words that clearly reveal who or what the conversation is supposed to be about:

“ We have ...", " I Call because ...", " Our product..."

Why should your conversation partner be interested in a conversation with you if you already make it clear with your first words that you are only interested in you and your benefit?

The telltale trigger words "I" , "We" , "Our" etc. in the limbic brain your counterpart (figuratively speaking) small pain stimuli. And they cause that involuntary defensiveness, that dreaded change of mood that leads to a quick end to too many outbound phone calls.

Tip 3: Shift the linguistic focus

So what is this magic word? You probably guess the answer – and sometimes I almost shy away from saying it, because it seems so banal at first glance: "You" or "You" are the inconspicuous key words that always effortlessly open the door to the Limbic brain of our interlocutors.

Asking instead of saying

After the "acoustic handshake", we are still at the very beginning of our phone call. How can we now succeed in building a bridge to the other with a "you" instead of the "I" in terms of language?

Now the quality of your content-related interview preparation becomes apparent.

What is the easiest way to express your genuine interest in the person you are talking to? Of course, ask a question! Please don't say now that this is too banal for you.

You probably know the old negotiation principle: First give, then take! Transferred to your phone call, this means:

• Ask a curious, topic-related question at the beginning to break the ice.
• Then listen (= give your attention),
• refer to the answer and make a connection with your concern.

Change your linguistic perspective

Many of the common cold call phrases are telltale: "I'm calling to..." makes it abundantly clear that you want something – even before the other stones are willing to do so. Listen .

Verwende deshalb anstelle der üblichen “Ich”- oder “Wir”-Formulierungen die Wörtchen “Sie” oder “Ihr”, damit Du klarlegst, dass es Dir um den Benefit des Gesprächspartners geht und nicht vorrangig um Deinen Nutzen.

An example:

• Instead of: “Ich würde Ihnen gerne unser neues Produkt vorstellen…”
• Better: “Sie hatten sich in der Vorwoche für XX interessiert. … Wofür speziell setzen Sie momentan in der Abteilung die Software ein?“

With these or similar formulations, you put your potential customer in the center of interest.

Handling Script Templates

A script is ideally used to keep your bearings during the phone call and not to forget important core elements. It is by no means meant to be read aloud. The best telephone script loses its value if the personal tone of a real conversation is missing.

Therefore, adapt your script, written in High German, to your colloquial language so that it "comes out of your mouth". It is the personal touch and the small spontaneous human reactions that Authenticity mediate. Good luck!

Remember:

The goal of any outbound conversation must be clear. Whether it's making appointments, sharing information, or closing the sale directly, strategic planning helps you achieve your goals more effectively.

After all, you must never forget that everyone reacts differently. Friendliness, humor Appear and general respect are essential if you want to build positive relationships in the long term.

If you follow these tips, you'll be able to telephone acquisition capabilities and both short-term successes and and develop sustainable professional relationships.

Good luck with that!

Finally, I would like to encourage you to share your experiences in the commentary so that we can learn together and improve our strategies and phone calls.

Are you interested in letting me accompany you on your journey? Talk to me about your challenges over an espresso ☕.