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Art of tele calling, tele sales & cold calling. A thread.
During 2005- 2007, I was a salesman in American Express in Bangalore. I used to sell paid credit cards which used to cost Rs 4000+ tax yearly when rest of the world was flooded with free credit cards.
During 2005- 2007, I was a salesman in American Express in Bangalore. I used to sell paid credit cards which used to cost Rs 4000+ tax yearly when rest of the world was flooded with free credit cards.
There were strict eligibility criteria for being eligible 4 the card. Salary/income should be more than 8 lakhs/year. The applicant needs to have landline at office & residence(to reduce the risk).
Think about finding one prospective customer and make him pay for the card.
Think about finding one prospective customer and make him pay for the card.
We used to collect HNI data from various sources and call. Most of the builders, jewellers, IT park owners, MDs, GMs were our targets.
But, most of the time we found it too tough to by pass the cunning secretary.
But, most of the time we found it too tough to by pass the cunning secretary.
So, we usually call office number by 7 pm. By the time the secretary and the target customer would have gone for the day. The remaining person would be the security, who mostly will have the number of target customer. I call (in firm voice)pretending the friend of target and say
I got stuck at bangalore airport & want 2 talk to Mr.X(target). The guy normally gets confused and gives out the number. Job done. We keep silent for 2 weeks & call target in evening. We never say word credit card. We say " Mr. X, we have an invitation from the travel desk
of Amex( a short for of American Express.We never utter the word bank), and we would like to fix up an appointment with at yout convince to discuss the same. See, we never said anything abt card. Attention has been grabbed. The guy is now curious. We, say this is the
pre platinum product of Amex which u can use while u travel abroad and shopping. We give him a small hint. We pause. We ask how many times u travel abroad? Most of our targets would travel at least 3-4 times for business or leisure. We say, this plastic card gives you great
spending power at shops abroad. We ask, what cards do you use? Many would say Citi/Diners etc. We say, sir, I have seen many people dying for an Amex card, but, in your case, it would our privilege and pleasure to have you as our customer? When do you think we can
come and meet you? Next week? He mostly say yes. To get a commitment, we ask, how about next saturday? He mostly say yes/no. Now, ball is slowly coming to our area. We ask, sir, we are passing through ur area tomorrow, how abt meeting you at ur office
say 11 am? See, how we comfortably, brought down the appointment time from next week to the next day? Most of the customers say yes(depends on their schedule). At last, we say, sir just keep yout ITR/Salary slip ready for process autherization (just a fancy word).
At the end, before hanging up, we say the product(we never say card), will cost u 4k( we never say four thousand) per year.
Believe me, most of the eligible customer agree to it. We have bought their commitment.
Believe me, most of the eligible customer agree to it. We have bought their commitment.
With this, we hang up. On the day of appointment, we carry our laptop bag(we never had laptops, just bags 
) with needed forms. Carrying such bags gives more confidence to customers and they feel they are not dealing with a regular sales persons.
) with needed forms. Carrying such bags gives more confidence to customers and they feel they are not dealing with a regular sales persons.
This is how we used to sell 4000+ yearly annual fee cards to prospects.
If you are a direct salesman, do pamper(without losing your standard) the ego of the target. It helps to get your numbers on board.
Sales is an art. An art all of us practice in our daily life.
Sales is an art. An art all of us practice in our daily life.
