Many salespeople struggle with prospecting – especially phone prospecting. This kind of outreach can be intimidating because the chance of rejection is so high. It can also be tricky to master the approach. You don’t want to come across as overly salesy, which can immediately turn off your prospect.

If you don’t necessarily love phone prospecting, you’re not alone. However, it could be that you just need to adjust your approach in a few ways. Emily Yepes, a sales trainer at Sandler, has put together a list of some mistakes salespeople often make when prospecting by phone.

Keep reading this issue of PromoPro Daily to make sure you’re not making any of these errors.

1. Relying too much on a script. Never read word-for-word from a calling script. You’ll sound like a robot rather than a real human who wants to build a genuine relationship with the prospect. Remember that any worthwhile conversation is dynamic, relying on free choices from the individuals involved, Yepes says.

2. Not following a sequence. While you shouldn’t memorize a script, you also shouldn’t totally wing it. It’s important to plan the call carefully and follow a clear sequence. Yepes says it should cover the four bases: pattern interrupt, contract, 30-second commercial and hook question. (More on these below.)

3. Not using a pattern interrupt. According to Yepes, this is a way to shake things up, be different and quietly challenge what the prospect assumes is going to happen during the call. It might look like this:

Prospect: Hello?
You: Is this (name)?
Prospect: (any positive response)
You: Hi, this is Sam. I know that you weren’t expecting my call. (Pause.)

Yepes advises using a peer-to-peer tonality. You’re calling because you have a right to call and because you have an idea you want to discuss.

4. Not touching all the bases. If you were playing a baseball game, and you hit the ball out of the park, then ran the bases backward, the umpire would call you out. Prospecting calls are like that, too, Yepes says. If you do things in the wrong order or skip steps, nothing much gets accomplished. After your pattern interrupt, establish a contract, which is a mutually workable agreement.

5. Trying to sell during the prospecting call. When phone prospecting, don’t transition into discovery mode on the first call. You simply want to get a meeting, set the agenda for that call and thank the prospect for their time.

6. Rushing the call. Your prospects are busy, but so are you. Don’t downplay your value by trying to wrap things up too quickly. Remember that you are peers, Yepes says, and you can take your time. If it turns out there’s no good reason to schedule another call, that’s OK. You can always ask for a referral. There are no bad outcomes, she says, and no reason to rush anything.

One study shows that 92% of customer interactions happen over the phone. It pays to look at your prospecting techniques and tweak what no longer works. Do some mock sales calls and keep working at it. The better you get at phone prospecting, the more successful you’ll be.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Emily Yepes is a sales trainer at Sandler.