How often have you started a call to a friend, family member or
business associate with the phrase, “How are you?” I’m willing to
bet the answer is a lot. I know I say it frequently. It’s
commonly used as a greeting, as a “hello.”
Because “How are you?” is so commonly used, how often have you started your introductory calls with this phrase? If you do use
this phrase as an opening for your introductory call, please stop
immediately. It’s an introductory call-killer, and this is why:
1.) If you ask this question, you must be prepared for the
answer. What if your prospect answers, “I’m having a lousy day.
My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my wife left me
yesterday”? Do you really care? Is this the reason for your phone
call?
2.) You lose control of the call. (This is probably the most
important reason.) If your prospect does respond, “I’m having a
lousy day. My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my
wife left me yesterday,” how are you going to get the call back
on track?
3.) It’s a set up, a tip off to your prospect that you are making
a sales call. It gives your prospect the opportunity to say, “I’m
busy. What do you want?” (See number 2 above.)
Similar issues apply with the introductory call-killing phrases,
“May I have a moment of your time?” and/or “Is this a good time
to talk?”
With both of these phrases, you lose control of the call right at
the beginning, before you’ve had a chance to say anything at all.
If the prospect answers, “no,” the call is over. These are also
both tip off phrases. Friends, family and important business
colleagues would probably not say, “May I have a moment of your
time?” or “Is this a good time to talk?” Only someone making a
sales call would use this language, and it’s all too easy for
your prospect to respond negatively.
I know that many of you reading this will argue, “Wendy, it’s
polite. It’s polite to say, ‘How are you?’ as a greeting and it’s
polite to ask permission to speak.” There are, however, many ways to greet a prospect – saying “hello” works just fine. It is also equally polite to simply introduce yourself and get to the point.
This is not only polite, it’s respectful of your prospect’s time,
it’s more effective and it allows you to retain control of the
conversation.
In order to be truly effective prospecting or selling by phone,
it is imperative to control the conversations you have with
prospects. You want to set yourself up to have the best possible
conversation that you can have with any given prospect. While it
is true that not all prospects will respond badly to the above
phrases, why take the chance? Why risk blowing a lead at the
beginning of the call if something as simple as not starting out
with, “How are you?” can totally eliminate that possibility?
Say hello. Introduce yourself. Get to the point and say what you
have to say. Then ask for what you want. This is the formula for
a successful introductory call. Save the “How are you?” question
for those whose answers really interest you.
Call-Killing Phrases