What reasons would potential customers give for not doing business with you? Anticipate the objections customers may raise, and deal with them before the customer brings them up.

For example, if your prices are higher than your competitors’ explain why your product is a good value. Perhaps it gets better results, or faster results, or it lasts longer than cheaper models. List all of the reasons a customer might give for not buying, then address them in your marketing copy.

Be straightforward, objective and confident. Just give the facts about why they should do business with you. Are they afraid to buy over the Internet? Don’t dismiss their concerns. Instead, describe the security features that make ordering from you online safe. They don’t know you? Include testimonials from other customers.

Although it is not possible to overcome every possible objection, many times customer objections are simply an opportunity to make the customer feel that they are making the right decision. Give them the information they need to make their good decision and to feel confident about their decision, and they will give you their business.

A well-crafted telephone pitch can get you appointments with decision makers, repeat business, media attention and more. All it takes is a little preparation, some practice, and the discipline to make the calls.

You might use a telephone pitch to make an initial approach to a prospective client, introduce a new product to your clients, remind customers that it’s time to reorder, offer yourself as an expert to the media, or inform media about an event or other newsworthy activity of your business. Whatever your purpose, your pitch should be tight and well-rehearsed.

Write a script for what you plan to say. Read your script out loud. As you do, you will make changes that make it shorter, clearer and easier to say.

Practice, practice, practice. There is nothing more boring than listening to someone read a script to you, so practice until you are comfortable with the words. Once you have learned the script, you might keep a card handy with keywords to remind you of key points in your pitch. That way you will not be reading, but you won’t forget anything important, either.

Keep your pitch to about 30 seconds or less. Time yourself. Don’t rush it by speaking fast, but keep it short and get to the point quickly. Do not rush through the pitch and not give the person to whom you are pitching a chance to respond, comment or ask questions.

Take a deep breath. If you get nervous when you make calls, taking a deep breath (or two or three) before you call can help you relax. Stress can send the pitch of your voice up to a level that is only audible to dogs, so be relaxed when you call.

Smile. Keep a mirror by the phone to remind yourself to smile. It comes through in your voice. You might also try standing or walking during your calls, to keep your energy level high. A flat voice with no energy will not get anyone excited.

Make it immediately clear why you are calling. Do they know you? Were you referred to them? What do you have to offer? Have a strong benefit message. Give them a reason to listen. Remember that the question on their minds is, “What is in this for me?”

Give a call to action. What do you want them to do? Tell them, and give them a reason to do so. If there is a deadline, tell them that.

Many times you will be pitching to voice mail. Be prepared and deliver the pitch as you’ve rehearsed. What if an actual human answers? Give them the pitch, but pause and let them get a question or comment in. Don’t forget to breathe!

What if you reach a human and they tell you they’re not interested? Say, “Thank you,” and end the call. Go on to the next one.

Although many people are uncomfortable at first, making telephone pitches gets easier with practice, and the results you get will motivate you to continue.

Elmer Wheeler did years of research into the words and phrases that trigger buying decisions. His books, long out of print, teach about selling techniques that still work today. Here is just one of them.

Read what Elmer Wheeler had to say about selling pie a la mode, then I’ll tell you why it matters to you (even if you are not selling pie).

It is the desire of every restaurant owner to sell his pie with a scoop of ice cream on top, for the pie tastes better, the eater is happier, and the restaurant has increased the average check.

“Like a dab of ice cream?” will never induce people, for they carry that depression “no” on their tongues, and will say “no” first and think afterwards.

We determined that there were thirty-six possible methods of asking a customer if he would care for some ice cream on his pie.

Finally we reverted to the old principle and had the waitresses ask, “Would you care for an order of vanilla or chocolate ice cream on your pie?” The mind of the customer would fluctuate between vanilla and chocolate, not between ice cream and no ice cream. Whichever he decided upon meant a happier customer — and a richer restaurant proprietor.

“Which” is a stronger word than “if.”

So what lessons can you take from this? There are at least two:

Always offer an upsell. When you give customers the opportunity to upgrade or add to their purchase, some percentage will. Take a low-end example: You sell a product for $20 and offer an add-on for an additional $10. If half of your customers take you up on the offer (certainly a possibility) you have increased your revenues by 25%. (Here’s the math: Say you make 100 sales at $20. That is $2000. If half of those customers take the upsell, that is 50 times $10, for an additional $500. Your revenues increased 25% with one simple action.)

Instead of asking a yes or no question, give customers a choice between two yes answers: “Would you like the blue one or the green one?” By doing this you are steering customers but you are not forcing them to do anything. Some customers will still say no and if they truly do not want the upsell, they will say no. However, you have planted the idea in their minds that they can have this desirable thing and many will happily choose to take it.

You can incorporate this into your sales process whether you sell in person, over the telephone or online. If you have salespeople or order takers working for you, train them to properly use these suggestive selling techniques to increase your sales, revenues and profits.

Making a phone call is inexpensive or free, and it can be a great way to get customers. Use these tips to warm up a cold call and increase your success. 

Cold calling is hard. That means calling people who have never heard of you, and getting them to listen to what you have to say. It can work, but you must be able to accept rejection. Just don’t take it personally (it’s not personal) and go on to the next call. It’s all a numbers game. The more calls you make, the more success you have.

A better way is warm calling. That’s where you heat up a cold call by having a connection to the person you are calling. If you can say that their friend Jack Kenner suggested you call, or that you met them at a conference, or establish any connection, it is easier to reach them, easier to get them to listen to you, and easier to get a yes.

I’ve also used the telephone to get enrollments in my seminars. For example, I’ll call people who have been in recent seminars to tell them about something coming up in which they may be interested.  Many times I get their voice mail, so I leave a message telling why I am calling and ask them to call back if they want to know more. It works!

How can you heat up a cold call?

• Call people you have met. Go through the business cards you have collected and start calling. (“We met at the Chamber of Commerce meeting last week.”)
• Call people you to whom you were referred. (“Jack suggested I call you about this . . .) Call customers and ask them for referrals so you can do this.
• Call people who have received information about you. (They contacted you to request information, or they dropped a card at your booth at a trade show.)
• Call people who know some of the same people you do. (“I’m John Thomas’ niece, Kelly Thomas.”)

Know what your objective is when you call. Have a script so you know what you are going to say. Don’t read your script, though. Rehearse it so it sounds natural. Keep the script in front of you just in case you get nervous and forget your next line. And make the call short. Other people are busy, too, and they don’t have a lot of time to spend on the phone. Introduce yourself, take care of business, and get off the phone.