Telephone sales

• Making the Sale –Telephone Inquiry
  
  It has been said that nothing happens until a sale is made. Yes, it’s important to market our studios but if we can’t close the sale, we’ll soon be out of business. In today’s economy all businesses are feeling the effect, and almost all businesses are down in sales. It is imperative that we maximize (optimize) every sales opportunity and turn it into a sale. Every time we have a contact with a prospect we have the opportunity to close the sale. Every time we have contact with the customer we want to somehow close a sale and get a desired outcome. We need to be aware of what outcomes we wish to accomplish with each contact. Let’s take a look at each contact starting with the telephone.
  
  When the phone rings we need to determine what will be our objective. Do we want to book the session, book a consultation, direct them to our website, or simply send them some literature? This should be predetermined depending on each product line. If a call comes in concerning a wedding, my objective was always to book a consultation, and if I was successful in doing that I have closed that sale with that first encounter. The next step would be at the consultation, with my desired outcome to book the wedding and collecting the deposit. The third contact or outcome would be the pre sell. My objective was always to try to sell as much up front as possible because it is more difficult after the wedding. The couple usually has other expenses, and is more reluctant to invest more money after the wedding. Many times we get in front of a prospect and ramble on telling them all about the features of our product, how many 8x10’s, how many hours we spend at the wedding and never get to the real heart of the issue, that this is a special day and we’ll create a memorable day for you with wedding portrait that are sure to touch your heart and that you will be able to treasure for the rest of your life. If we keep talking and talking about what we do the prospects eyes will glaze over with information overload and tell us they’ll have to think it over or give some other stall. With a well thought out sales presentation with predetermined outcomes and the skill to effectively close the sale, we will be able to maximize our sales efforts thus improving our bottom line.
  Let’s talk about incoming telephone sales for a family or child’s portrait. My objective is to book the session on the phone without a consultation. The first thing you want to do is establish some kind of repore. When answering the phone I always identify the studio name and say “Hello ABC Studios this is Paul.” The last thing I want them to hear is my name. If they don’t identify themselves with their name I’ll then say “Your first name is?” They will give it to me and I’ll make sure I use their name throughout the phone call. People love to hear their name. It makes them feel significant, and helps to establish the repore’ I talked about earlier. Usually they will ask how much we charge for a particular size portrait. I’ll answer that I would be glad to tell them but I then ask them permission if I can ask a few questions first about the portrait they’re inquiring about.. I’ll then be able to give them a better estimate of how much they can expect to invest. Two things happened here. First, I’ve taken control of the conversation, and I’m the one asking the questions not them. Second, you notice I use the word “Invest” instead of “spend”. It’s a small thing but the words we use are very important. Spending indicates how much it will cost them. Investment indicates that they will reap a return, hopefully bigger than the money transacted. I now have control of the conversation because I’m the one asking the questions. The purpose of the questions is to establish need. I’ve created a form in our studio with these questions and we are able to fill in the blanks as we ask the questions and record the quotes so that when they place their order we are equipped with all the information needed and make sure the customer gets the thing they initially wanted when they called. This makes it much easier at the time of the sale. If they indicated they were interested in a wall portrait, we don’t have to guess at the sales session if they want a wall portrait. It’s now just a matter of size. As we write down all the answers to these questions we will save this form and use it at the order appointment. The first question I ask is:
  · Do you need this portrait by a certain time? (Can we deliver?)
  · Does the portrait need to be taken at a certain time? (Are we available?)
  · Who is the portrait of?
  · How many people will be in the portrait?
  · Are you looking for something casual or dressy?
  · Is this a special occasion? (need)
  · Who is the portrait for?
  · How did you find out about us?
  · Do you know anyone we photographed?
  Optional questions. If yes
  “What did you like about the portrait?”
  “Are you looking for something similar?”
  · If no
  “Have you seen any of portraits”
  “Have you visited are website?”
  · How do you plan on displaying the portrait? Are you looking for something to display on the wall or were you looking for something little smaller like an 8x10?
  When asking these questions, the prospect feels that we’re really interested in them and want to create the best portrait and experience for them. This helps to establish the repore’ that I mentioned earlier in this article. The last question we asked is a very important question. We want to make sure we tell them how much they plan on investing before they have to ask a second time. With the information we just assembled we can now qualify them and give them a range of how much they can plan on investing. This is closing the sale. It’s called a trial close and it goes something like this. “You can probably plan on investing somewhere between $300 to $500 depending on the sizes and quantities. The good thing is you don’t have to decide until you see the portraits. We also have a 100% money back guarantee. If you’re not completely satisfied for what ever reason with your session we will gladly take additional photographs, or refund all your money. What would be better for you? We have some openings on Saturday March 15th or would something during the week be better?” Two things are happening here."
  1. The money back guarantee is called risk reversal. Minimize the risk on the customer and put it on yourself. This eliminates buyer resistance.
  2. This is called an assumption close as well as an alternate choice close. We assume that they want to book and we give them two choices when to come in. Notice that I didn’t ask them if they wanted to book. I just assumed and gave them two options. If they are alright with the quote you are most likely to close this sale.
  The next thing to do is collect the session fee. All session should be prepaid. When people invest their money they are more committed to show up. Also this helps out on your cash flow. You can use the alternate choice close by telling them that all session are prepaid. “Which credit card will you be using? We accept Visa and master card.” Don’t ever be afraid to ask for the sale. The next article will deal with selling in the cameraroom.