When is the Best Time to Pick the Phone Up to Clients?

Salespeople are too often lulled in to thinking it’s ok not to pick the phone up. Client business is trundling along. Orders are being taken. Targets are being hit. And they assume everything in the garden is rosy.

They don’t see the need to pick the phone up to clients for no apparent reason. Or they don’t want to be seen as overbearing by clients.

“’When is the best time to pick the phone up?’ is a question I’m frequently asked by salespeople,” says Paula Bates, Managing Director of Toucan Telemarketing. “My response is this – Isn’t it always a good time to pick the phone up to stay connected and ahead of the game with your clients?”

Recent lockdown situations were prime examples of Paula’s ethos. Many salespeople laid low in the shadow, feeling awkward and wondering whether it was appropriate to call clients. In fact, it was never more important for them to remain in regular contact, in order to bend and flex quickly to clients’ changing needs.

She goes on to explain the many advantages of a proactive approach to sales, rather than a passive one, which doesn’t have to mean badgering people to distraction.

What’s the Difference Between Passive and Proactive Selling?

“I see too much of an ‘If they want to buy, they’ll buy’ mentality”’ she continues.

“Salespeople should enjoy and embrace catching up with clients, rather than just going through the motions, reluctantly and irregularly, because they feel they have to.

“Those elongated silences when you think everything is smooth sailing are missed opportunities. Things can be happening behind the scenes in your clients’ businesses that you could play a major part in, if you knew about it.”

These are exactly the sorts of opportunities Paula and her team unearth, with expert telemarketing services that are built around three pillars –

• Data – Information about client mixes to call and where they’re at in the buying funnel

• Message – What businesses want to tell their clients about

• Person – Telemarketing professionals with a positive mental attitude, the right training, and the relevant skills, who treat every piece of data and every prospect with respect

Calls need to be intentional for even the best salespeople in the business to get something meaningful out of the exercise.

What’s Your Reason for Calling?

Paula’s range extension service is the perfect antidote for salespeople who shy away from picking the phone up to clients because they aren’t sure why they’re doing it.

“It’s a great way of checking clients are buying everything they possibly can be from you, without being aggressive or pushy”, she concludes. “Because, I see it time and time again, those speculative, checking-in phone calls when it crops up in general conversation that your clients are –

• Buying something from somebody else that they could be buying from you
• In the market from scratch for buying something they didn’t know you sold”

Could your Sales Team use some fabulous extra hands-on-deck for having those client conversations they’re too busy for, or feel uncomfortable making? Contact us via our website or email paula@toucantelemarketing.co.uk for an initial chat.