3 Ingenious Ways to Get Past Call Display and Reach the Decision Maker

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3 Ingenious Ways to Get Past Call Display and Reach the Decision Maker

Written by Jim Domanski

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Breaking Out of Phone Mail Jail

THE PROBLEM “I’m sorry, I’m out of my office. Would you please leave your name and number and I’ll return your call as soon as I can.” How many of us are still waiting for our reply? Several of you have asked for help in getting your phone calls returned. Most prospects don’t call back 85 percent of the time. We know that the Economic Buyer, who has authority to release funds, is typically difficult to reach. With the average office worker getting 190 messages a day, it’s easy to understand why phone calls aren’t returned by other buyers. Technology has made our selling lives both easier and more challenging. Voice mail is a challenge that forces us to redefine our telephone strategies.

CREATE INTEREST If a customer doesn’t need your product or service immediately, the probability of getting a reply is slim to none. How can you increase your odds of success? Treat each phone call you make as a sales call (no pun intended). Each sales call has an objective and so does a phone call. The objective could be for an appointment or the return call. You have about 10 seconds before your customer decides if he is interested in you. Prepare what you are going to say. Your message should spark interest and include what you can do for your customer. Present the benefit so it sounds interesting and worth the time to make the return call. This requires you to do research to know what is interesting for this customer.

CHANGE THE PROCEDURE Other strategies exist for getting appointments. Just leave a message which says “I’ve been trying to set up an appointment with you. I know how busy you are. If June 6 at 10:00 WON’T work for you, please call me at (your phone number).” When you arrive on June 6 at 10:00 and the receptionist says, “Do you have an appointment?” you can say “Yes.” Try to do this with sales calls that are geographically close to confirmed appointments. You still run the risk of a buyer not reconfirming. At least you won’t make a special trip to his location.

GET THROUGH THE FIRST TIME Since most prospects return calls to suppliers they know, another strategy is to always get referrals. Selling in the 90s is not only about who you know. It’s about getting to know the people who know the people you want to know. This is the principle of networking which states that each person knows about 250 other people. Each one of your customers could be a member of a trade organization, a religious institution or sports facility. Who knows the prospect you are trying to meet? Ask THEM to call the prospect for you to say you will be calling. That introduction will increase the probability that your prospect will return your call or take your call! Whenever you are calling a referral, ALWAYS tell the receptionist “John Doe asked me to call Mr. Prospect.” If the secretary screens calls, she will have mentioned the person who referred you to the prospect.

GET HELP Sometimes there is even a phone screener before you get to voice mail. Enlist the help of the phone screener and you can actually speak to your prospect. Explain to the screener that “I have been playing phone tag with John Doe. Can you see if he can speak with me for a few minutes about the benefit to him or his company?” This has been successful for me after leaving numerous voice mails that went unreturned.

CHANGE TIMES Another strategy is to call when your prospect has to answer his own phone. Most screeners are out before 8 AM and after 5 PM. Some prospects are still at their desks at lunch time when the screener is out. Calling at these times gives you higher probability that the prospect will actually pick up his phone since the secretary is out.

Always keep trying. This is one area where persistence does pay off. You should not leave 10 messages a day (unless you do want to look like a pest). Trying at different times with different strategies should eventually get you speaking to the right prospect.

Suppose your client is at extension 3245. You’ve made a few calls at different times and you suspect that call display is killing the opportunity. Try calling extension 3244 or 3246 and see what happens. In larger companies, extensions and direct in dials are often in sequence and assigned in sequence down a row of offices or cubicles.

Call display is insidious and deadly when it comes to tele-sales. It silently works behind the scenes and gives your clients a heads up on who is calling. Based on the number and /or name they see your clients can – and do- let the call default into voice mail. And for that reason, call display is probably the real culprit of when it comes to screening your call and diminishing your chances for success.

The maddening thing is you don’t really know if the client is at his phone when you make the call. But when you begin to suspect that the client is dodging you by using call display here are three ingenious ways to fight fire with fire.

#1: Call Another Extension

Suppose your client is at extension 3245. You’ve made a few calls at different times and you suspect that call display is killing the opportunity. Try calling extension 3244 or 3246 and see what happens. In larger companies, extensions and direct in dials are often in sequence and assigned in sequence down a row of offices or cubicles.

If you reach someone at an adjacent extension, tell her you’re trying to reach your contact but there is no answer. Ask them if they are in or around. The neat thing is, the person you speak to will often act as ‘your eyes’ and peak around a corner or look over the divider. They’ll tell you if your party is there.

Even if they cannot see your client, you can still ask them to transfer the call. Depending on the phone system, your caller ID is sometimes lost and your contact only sees the extension of their workmate. Mission accomplished.

There are also variations of this theme. If it is a large company, you can call another department and ask to be transferred. So you might try customer service, or sales or how about this? Call the executive suite and ask to be transferred to the contact. Again, depending on the technology, your contact may see “CEO’s Office.” If they’re at their desks, they’ll pick up the phone.

#2: Call From Your Cell or Your Home Number

This strategy works well with an existing client who knows your name and number. Maybe they are avoiding your call because they haven’t read or acted on your quote or your proposal, and so when they see your number they let it ring to voice mail. If you get that vague and uneasy feeling that they are trying to avoid you, call from your cell or your home number. These numbers are unfamiliar to your client and they might pick up the call if they are available, if only because they are uncertain who is calling.

#3. Call From a Pay Phone

I have saved the best for the last. If you really want someone to pick up the phone, call from a pay phone. Nothing- absolutely nothing- will intrigue your client more than a mysterious pay phone call. Who could be calling? Spouse? Kids? Some other family member?

If your contact is there at their phone, they WILL pick it up!

Wouldn’t you?

And don’t be worried about their reaction. Simply explain you were shopping or getting a coffee or whatever you could have been doing and decided to make a quick phone call.

Summary

To be successful in tele-sales you need to be creative in your ways to reach your clients. Try these options the next time you think your decision maker is screening your call using call display.

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Jim Domanski
		About the author:
		Jim Domanski is president of Teleconcepts Consulting and works with B to B companies and individuals who struggle to use the telephone more effectively to sell and market their products. The author of three books on B to B tele-sales, Jim has worked over 17 years with companies big and small throughout the US, Canada and parts of Europe. Featured in such publications as Selling Power, Advertising Age, The Financial Post and Sales and Marketing Magazine, Jim has also appeared on television and radio regarding B to B tele-sales. Visit his website at www.teleconceptsconsulting.com and download your FREE special Report “The 9 Voice Mail Blunders and What You Can Do About Them.”