3 Ways to Successfully Engage Prospects

Summary:

• Personalize every call by using the prospect’s name and introducing yourself clearly. PhoneBurner’s built-in CRM features and integrations provide easy access to key details that support this step.
• Understand what the prospect wants or wants to avoid. Tailor your opening to address their specific challenges or goals, offering clear benefits or solutions. Avoid generic sales pitches—be credible and specific to build interest.
• Define your objective before the call and communicate it clearly to the prospect. Guide the conversation to uncover their needs, then provide a straightforward call-to-action, like scheduling a follow-up meeting or demo.

No single “plug and play” sales script will work every time, for every type of business. But when it comes to making successful sales calls or running an outbound call center, certain things can give you an edge.

Confidence, composure, and charisma are all great, but they take time to learn. We’re talking about simple but impactful things you can start doing right now to improve engagement during your prospecting conversations.

So here are 3 effective ways to engage your prospects during phone calls—from establishing a meaningful first connection all the way to making the ask. Hitting these milestones during each call can put you a step ahead in the outbound dialing game.

1. Ask Their Name & Give Them Yours

This one is simple, but important.

You should always know the name of the decision maker you’re trying to reach—not only will this help you get past potential gatekeepers, but it will also make you sound more welcoming when you do get to the decision maker.

So do your research beforehand, and be sure to refer to your prospect by name. Naturally, your opening should include your name and where you're calling from as well—so that your prospect knows who they are speaking with.

Something else to pay attention to is pronunciation. Nothing adds to a prospect's inherent skepticism like the butchering of their name. Sure, mistakes happen. It's not possible to get every name right. But—and this is especially true when you're using dialer software—be sure to take a good look at their name as the call is connecting, instead of waiting until they've already said hello.

How PhoneBurner Can Help

Using the right CRM software makes it easier to see key details about your prospect while you’re dialing, so that you can start every conversation on the right foot.

PhoneBurner has a built-in CRM with features that put essential information at your fingertips and allow for seamless note-taking during calls. It also has 200+ integrations with leading CRMs so that you can dial contacts at scale, often without ever leaving those applications.

2. Focus on Solving Their Pain Points (& Be Specific)

Understanding and speaking to your prospect's hot buttons is a prerequisite to selling. That is, what they really want or what they really want to avoid.

A good opener identifies this, and offers up a solution. If they believe you can help them, you've opened the door to a sale.

A weak opener would be something like:

“Hey David, it’s Sam over here at Smith Company. Are you interested in ranking your website higher in Google SERPs?”

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‍‍While that's something a lot of your leads are probably interested in, this opener screams sales pitch, and offers no solution or credibility.

A more engaging opener would be something like:

“Hey David, it’s Sam over here at Smith Company. The reason I'm calling is I noticed that your Google SERP ranking for the keyword 'Lawyers in Glendale,' is toward the bottom of the first page, and I wanted to share a few ideas with you that have helped attorneys in other Arizona cities jump into the top three. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

Notice how this opening specifically ties into a hot button. Plus, it also hints at a clear and credible benefit the prospect can get from giving you a little bit of their time.

Learn More: 9 Openers to Improve Your Outbound Prospecting Calls

3. Be Clear About What You're Asking For

What are you asking your prospect to do? To buy? To meet with you? To watch a demo or presentation? Not only is it important for you to know your objective before you make the call, it's important for your lead to know as well.

The goal of the call should be to define the prospect’s problem or sought-after benefit as quickly as possible, as well as how you can help them address it.

This leads into your call to action.

It can be something as simple as, “I’d love to learn more about what you’re currently doing for SEO, and then share some strategies you're missing that are working well for our clients. Can we set aside 15 minutes for a call next week?”

Related: How to End a Sales Call (No Matter the Outcome)

Engage Your Prospects the Right Way

If you can successfully walk your prospect through each stage outlined above, the chances are high that they'll be more receptive to your message. That also means they’ll be more likely to advance to the next stage in your sales process—and ultimately easier to close.

And remember: using the right dialing tools does more than just make life easier for you and your sales team. It also improves call quality on the prospect’s end, which removes the amount of potential friction holding them back from taking those critical next steps. Start a free trial of PhoneBurner here to see how our power dialing platform can set your sales team up for success.