Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling, 2nd Edition

Chapter 17

How to Sound Smart

Effective Telephone Communication

I’m assuming that if and when you visit a prospect or customer, you are concerned with your appearance. You certainly wouldn’t look like you just crawled out of bed, nixed the showering, shaving, grooming, and makeup, having thrown on tattered clothes and beat-up shoes.

However, that’s the impression some people give over the phone. You can probably recall some of them right now. Just as you form impressions of others within seconds over the phone, they do the same with you. If your calling “look” resembles what I described earlier, it can negate everything you say, since how you say it will quickly alienate the prospect.

The good news is that it’s easier and quicker to modify and improve the way you sound than it is the way you look. There’s no dieting, sweating, vitamins, or surgery required, just some knowledge and practice. Let’s explore how.

Don’t Sound Like a Salesperson

Whenever I conduct customized training and presentations for companies and associations, I ask for recordings of phone calls as part of my preparation. On one recording, I heard a sales rep say in a very seductive, Kathleen Turner–like voice: “Yeah, this new guy at my gym, he’s totally hot. They might have to call security one of these days because he’ll complain I’m staring at him. What I wouldn’t love to do to that guy.”

She spoke with great emotion. Oh, she wasn’t talking to a prospect or customer. She was talking to her friend, apparently ...