Sales - Open Statement
Crafting an Opening Sales Statement
Five Key Opening Statement Components
You're picking up the phone to call your prospect. For right now, let's assume you actually do get through to the executive.Here are the five key ingredients your opening statement needs to contain:
1. An Introduction. Usually, when an executive (or anyone else) picks up a direct line, they say their name: "This is Jane Smith," or "Jane Smith speaking." Your first step will be to repeat this person's name. Keep things formal for now--use Mr. or Ms., then the contact's last name.
Prospect: This is Jane Smith.
You: Ms. Smith?
Prospect: Yes.
This first step will earn you Ms. Smith's undivided attention. Whatever she was doing prior to you saying her name, she's now stopped doing. She's paying attention to you, and that's a good thing!
What most salespeople do now--despite ample and endlessly repeated evidence that they shouldn't--is say something like this: "Hi, Ms. Smith. This is Will Perish, with the ABC Insurance Company." Unless your name is, say, James Bond, or your company affiliation is, say, the Prize Disbursement Division of Publishers Clearing House, I can tell you exactly what's going to happen next in the vast majority of such calls: The prospect will respond to this self-defeating "verbal handshake" by tuning out, asking you to send written information, pretending the building just caught fire, or otherwise disengaging from the call. In other words, you'll have only been on the line about a second and a half, and you'll be done.
2. The Pleasantry. Here's an alternative plan. What I'm about to tell you will contradict what you've been taught. Do it anyway.
When Jane Smith says "Yes," you're going to respond with something positive and enthusiastic, something that doesn't directly identify you, your company or the product or service you eventually want to discuss. It's too early in the relationship for you to pass...
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