If someone doesn’t need your services today, they might need you tomorrow!
Don’t be too upset if a client doesn’t need your BPO service today. They might have someone else, or just not have any work to do. But, if you stumble upon people who need one or more type of outsourced services in the long haul, they might be worth chatting with. The key here is to be casual during your initial phone call, and perhaps making very carefully phrased suggestions.
The mistake Indians make selling their BPO services over the phone is that they are often careless, pushy, or desperate sounding. This doesn’t work. The higher level salespeople in India are smooth talkers. They are cool, calm, knowledgeable and collected. Learn to be cool as a cucumber. Remember — you are not attached to the results of your phone call, you are just interacting and seeing what people need.
How to make suggestions
Be careful making suggestions to prospective clients. Let’s assume you are on a phone call with a prospect who doesn’t need you now, but perhaps they might need you in a year. It is still worth talking to them. Talk very nicely and try to be helpful, but not too helpful, because that is being pushy.
Have you considered adding xyz software to your site?
We noticed that your coding might be cleaner if it were divided into smaller modules, but it is not a huge issue. It might be easier to read if it were segmented.
The graphic design on your home page looks nice. How often do you redesign it?
These are gentle questions and suggestions. You are probing the prospect to see what their needs are without shoving your BPO service down their throat. Remember, if they have a pleasant chat with you and find you to be a reliable source of knowledge, they might consider you next time they are in the market. Humans tend to want to work with someone they either know, or have had more contact with in the past.
The next step is to follow up by email. If you exchange emails from time to time, or if you send “we just wanted to say hi” emails every four or five months, people will remember you. Sending emails to strangers doesn’t work, but if you call first, and then email someone who likes you, they will be likely to read and save your email. If you stay in touch with people, there is a chance they will use you in the future, or refer you to a friend. On the other hand, if they either don’t like you or are not impressed by you, you will just be annoying them. If someone from your company interacts with prospective clients, choose someone who is a smart talker who is cool as a cucumber!
You might also like:
Social media: Promoting your products with humor and information
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/28/social-media-promoting-your-products-with-humor-information/
The future of marketing is information
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/01/the-future-of-marketing-is-information/