If you own a moving company, chances are you receive a lot of calls every day from prospective customers. Per DialogTech, converting a call into a sale requires an equipped and savvy sales staff with experience in negotiating and closing deals. If you’re not closing as many phone leads as you desire, here are some ways to train your team rev up your close rate:
Have a Two-Minute Pitch
Develop a pitch with all the points you want to cover in your discussion with prospective customers. Share this pitch with your sales staff, then have them tweak the wording to better fit their individual personalities. Have them practice reading through the pitch so that the words sound more natural. According to Entrepreneur, the tone of your voice is also essential for closing leads over the phone. Sales representatives should be friendly, but firm, using inflection to emphasize certain points of the presentation.
Qualify Your Leads
Confirm that you’re talking to the decision maker when they call. Sometimes a husband and wife like to make decisions about moving together. Once you confirm that you have the right decision maker, start probing. One Miami Florida mover, Cheap Miami Movers, recommends controlling the conversation and asking targeted questions. Here are some things they recommend asking the customer:
- Contact name, phone number, and email address: It’s crucial to get these three pieces of information early on, so you can call or email them back if you get disconnected.
- Where are you moving from and to?
- When are you looking to move?
- How many bedrooms are you moving?
Even if you don’t have availability to move a customer on a requested date, be prepared to offer alternative dates or solutions to close the deal. You’ll find that most people moving won’t mind being a little flexible with their dates, especially if it means getting a good bargain on their move.
Know Your Service
Your sales staff should sound like experts when talking to potential customers. Prepare your team in advance to anticipate the types of questions customers will ask about your company, including things like what kind moving services you offer, your rates, how the estimate process works, and how you’ll protect their furniture and belongings. Also, become an expert on key competitors so you can explain the advantages of using your company over theirs.
Learn to Overcome Objections
Don’t fear rejection. The more calls you field, the more you’ll become familiar with common objections your prospects will have when you try to close them. Have your sales team write down the objections they encounter, so you can discuss and craft appropriate responses for the next time these objections arise. As with qualifying, ask questions when people seem hesitant to buy. According to consultant Chris Garrett, the most effective questions include uncovering concerns they have and, contrarily, discovering if there’s anything you’ve said that’s convinced them to proceed with the purchase. If they’re ready to buy, close them, regardless of how far off their move is.
Use Multiple Closes
If you start your close and encounter an objection, overcome that objection and close again. Become familiar with various types of closes so you can tailor your close to what the individual is telling you. Per Changing Minds, some of the most popular closes include the testimonial, compliment, and bonus close. With the testimonial close, one highlights the experience of happy customers, whereas the compliment close uses flattery to seal the deal. If using the bonus close, you may also want to stress how fast you book moves for people to entice them to book their move faster.
The key to closing more phone leads is anticipating what customers want and giving them the necessary information to make the decision. Don’t hesitate to use deadlines for deals.