Launch Pad Solutions

During outbound sales, our tonality in terms of how we say what we say can have a significant impact since the prospect cannot see us.  With that being what it is, here are four ways to improve our tonality and voice while selling over the phone.

1.  Smile when you dial

Whether we are aware of this or not, our internal feelings can easily be displayed to others through our tonality when we speak. And if we are not enjoying making the cold calls that we are making or are nervous, it can likely be heard on the other end of the phone and this could establish a poor start to a cold call.

On the other side of this, if we are excited about what we are doing and thoroughly enjoy it, the person that we are talking to over the phone can pick up on this and can be more receptive to us when cold calling.

The problem here is, how often do we really get thrilled about or enjoy making cold calls?  One very easy tactic to use here to make it sound like we are happy and enjoying what we are doing even if we are not is to actually grin or smile while talking on the phone and making calls.  This simple body language change will actually make change and improve your tonality and can improve your conversations with prospects and gatekeepers.

2.  Display confidence

One very effective way to improve your impression during outbound sales is to sound confident in your voice.  It is very understandable to not be confident when cold calling as the prospect often has more power since they can ultimately chose whether to talk with us or not.

But if we stop to realize that we have value to offer in the products we sell, in the company we represent, and in ourselves as a true sales professional, we can begin to have more confidence internally and that can come through externally in our tonality.

3.  Communicate with curiosity

If we communicate with a tonality that has a bit of curiosity during outbound sales, we can often decrease the guard of prospects and gatekeepers. This can involve having a frame or tone that expresses that we don’t know exactly whom we need to talk to and we could use help being pointed in the right direction.

4.  Sound like You Don’t Need the Deal

To really improve the way you sound while performing outbound sales is to sound like you don’t need the deal.  The two extremes for the impression that we could make are a sales person that hasn’t sold anything for a while and the other extreme is a sales person that has a line of prospects that are ready to purchase.  There is a tremendous difference between these two impressions that a prospect could have and the tonality that we use could influence which one we make.

The best way to sound like we don’t need the deal during outbound sales is to present ourselves in the same way that we would if we have already hit and exceeded our sales targets.  If we carry ourselves like we are above plan and in a very comfortable position in terms of sales and pipeline, this will come through in our tonality and create a more positive impression with the prospect.  We will always know how badly we want and need the deal, but if we at least act like we don’t necessarily need the deal, not only might we present ourselves as very confident to the prospect, but if we do that long enough we may actually begin to trick ourselves to start to create real confidence that does not need to be faked.

Click here to comment on this article.

Launch Pad Solutions provides cold call training to help with outbound sales.