presentation over the phone

3. Find common ground.

Finding connections is an integral part of how we build rapport with others in our personal lives, and it works the same way in business.

Pro Tip : Don't get too comfortable, too fast. You can bond over something you enjoy, but don't start cracking jokes or debates with your prospect — you don't want to wind up putting them off.

4. Match your prospect's energy.

Do your best to match certain elements of how your prospect speaks — considering elements like their tone or pace. This subtle form of mimicry displays strong listening skills and will help you build rapport without changing your character.

Pro Tip : While you want to match your prospect, you don't want to be devoid of your personality or speaking style. You're not a mime, after all.

5. Let them know you understand their problem.

You, as a salesperson, are supposed to let prospects know that you’re listening to them, and that you see where they’re coming from. Demonstrate your attentiveness by incorporating verbal nods and reiterating key points that your prospect has shared in the call as you discuss your solutions.

Pro Tip : While you listen to a prospect relay their problems over the call, let them explain the situation in full to you before you chime in. Otherwise, you run the risk of making assumptions or offering a solution that’s not fully personalized to their situation.

6. Ask productive questions.

To build rapport over the phone, you have to ask rapport-building questions .

As a salesperson, you always want to understand where your prospect is coming from, as best you can. That means you have to understand their circumstances based on factors like their resources, business size or scale, and where they’re trying to get in their own career development.

Pro Tip : You can use the information you gain from productive questioning to form more informed decisions on how to solve for the customer .

7. Stay attuned to and reflect your prospect’s feelings.

Be considerate and empathetic throughout your sales calls. Plain and simple.

Prospects are coming to you for solutions, so reassure them while they explain their situation to you. The last thing you want to do is brush off their concerns or feelings — that will make them feel invalidated and push them away.

Pro Tip : Some rapport-building phrases you can use over the phone could be, "I understand how this issue could have affected..." or, "I can imagine how frustrating it's been to…" These phrases are subtle ways to provide vocal support that doesn't sound condescending.

8. Summarize and go over the details.

At the end of your call, the best thing you can do is recite a summary of the talking points. It’s a great way to demonstrate just how attentive you are and show that you gave the prospect your undivided attention for the call’s duration.

Pro Tip : If you take it a step further, let the customer know what you'll do between this call and your next. Use phrasing like, "Here's what I'll do next to ensure…" or "Since you raised concern over… I'll make sure to…" A salesperson who is specific and actionable will be considered more of a trusted adviser than your typical rep.

9. Show appreciation for your prospect's time.

What better way to close a call than to show some appreciation?

Thank your prospect for their time, attention, and understanding. Let them know their success means just as much to you as it does to them. Additionally, you want to provide them with clear steps on when and how to contact you to make a purchase.

Pro Tip : Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect. If you had just shared your problem, concerns, desires, and hopes — you'd want to feel understood and appreciated. Give them that same gratitude, and let that call be a stepping stone to making your next loyal customer.

Your Next Phone Call Could Be Your Next Connection

Building rapport isn’t exclusive to in-person exchanges. It’s something that you can do successfully with a headset and mic or just a cellphone. We hope you find success in building relationships that last in your future sales calls.

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Perfecting Your Phone Meetings

Staying in Touch Through Phone Meetings

As your business grows and your client base expands, you’re probably finding it challenging to meet with everyone face-to-face.

How do you maintain the same level of intimacy and customer service in a world that’s becoming increasingly virtual?

Presenting over the phone is an excellent way to do this, but you need to make sure your phone presentations are well planned and executed, and that your telephone meeting skills are flawless.

Being able to communicate with people is critical in any business—whether it’s communicating externally to your customers or internally with your colleagues or partners.

I’ll admit, meeting in person has its advantages, but it can also hinder your workflow. And when you’re trying to bring together multiple people in several locations (none of them in your city or state), daily face-to-face meetings are impossible.

Phone and internet meetings allow you to connect with people in the next building or thousands of miles away. We’re living in an age of incredible communication technology, so why not use it to your advantage?

Benefits of Presenting Over the Phone

Not only does the phone allow you to present to anyone, anywhere in the world, it also provides you with the luxury of presenting in a familiar environment. That means you feel more relaxed and comfortable—which is always a good thing when you’re nervous about presenting your thoughts and ideas.

Plus, when you present over the phone, you’re forced to strip back to basics. Your words are what your listeners have to focus on, and that means your message can’t hinge on presentation slides or hand-outs.

How Do I Effectively Present Over The Phone?

Whether you’re meeting in person or connecting over the phone, you need to put together a solid format for your presentations—one that involves everyone who’s in on the call, so no one feels left out.

Remember, a productive meeting is one that’s well organized and allows each attendee to feel comfortable to participate and engage. You may be the call’s moderator, but the same rules apply in a phone presentation as in a face-to-face meeting: Your presentation is about them , not you.

Be prepared so the call can start on time. The best way to do this is for you to be early. If you send your attendees the meeting information in advance, everyone has time to figure out how to join the call in a timely manner. We all know what it’s like to be in a meeting where someone walks in late. It’s very distracting and can throw your presentation off.

Start by outlining how the phone conference will proceed, so everyone is prepared to receive your presentation and provide a meaningful contribution. Then move on to the presentation.

Phone Meeting Engagement

Before the advent of conference calls, the only way to meet was face to face. The benefit, of course, was that it allowed you to monitor visual cues and body language . Eye contact and gestures could help relay your message and engage your audience.

This is not the case in conference calls—particularly if they don’t involve any video. That means you need to get creative and use your words in ways that will hold your audience’s attention.

When you’re delivering a presentation through a conference call, the conversation can seem pretty one-sided. It’s important to constantly engage the people on the other end of the line.

For starters, keep in mind that sometimes your conference call will bring together people who don’t know one another. If that’s the case, use attendees’ names regularly. This will help everyone understand and keep track of what’s going on and who is speaking, and it will make each listener feel included.

Circle around to each participant throughout the call to make sure they feel included and that their contributions matter. (This will also keep them on their toes, so they don’t get distracted, drift off, or decide to check their emails during the conference call!)

Gesture With Your Voice

Your voice is the only way to communicate during a conference call; no one can see you point, cross your arms, or pick up on any other non-verbal communication. That means it’s all up to what you say and how you say it.

Here’s where proper enunciation, speaking speed, and pitch come into play. And believe it or not, a smile can be heard over the phone, too.

If you’re planning a conference call, practice your delivery by recording yourself without video so you can hear for yourself how well your message is transmitted when there is nothing to see.

Make Sure Your Message is Heard

There are plenty of conference call service providers out there—some with video capabilities and some without. Here are some things to take into account when you’re choosing a conference call provider:

• Excellent audio quality without any static interference. You shouldn’t have to repeat yourself or second guess what someone is saying during a call. If you have attendees getting disconnected or dropped from your conference call, that’s a big problem, too.
• Amazing support and customer service. Holding a phone meeting may be overwhelming the first few times you try it so it’s reassuring to know that you have a support team on hand to help you learn the ropes.
• Call recording functions. As important as your conference call presentation is, sometimes someone who’s supposed to be in on the call just can’t make it. If you’re hosting the call, you may want to choose a provider that offers the ability to record your call, so you can send the recording to anyone who couldn’t listen live. It can even be beneficial to give the recording to the people who were there in case there was something they missed.

The Conference Call: Meeting Up Anywhere

When you hear the words “public speaking” or “presentations,” it’s not usually a conference call that springs to mind. But as most business professionals can attest, it seems there are more things to do and places to be these days than there are enough minutes to do everything and be everywhere.

Conference calls are basically on-the-go presentations that you can make from virtually anywhere, as long as you have a phone. For that reason, it’s just as important to keep your telephone speaking skills sharp as it is to keep your presentation skills sharp. Sooner or later, the two are going to meet up and you’ll appreciate being prepared.

I have so many conference calls a week that are ineffective. I will use some of the tips this week!

I will try smiling more on conference calls. Ive been told I come across bitchy at times and I dont even realize when its happening.

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Pitch Perfect: 25 Tips for Pitching over the Phone

Virtual Selling , Voice

3    comments

I work with several inside sales teams who deliver their pitch strictly over the phone.  While not a formal presentation,  discussing your product, idea or service over the phone still requires the same thoughtful planning, preparation and execution.

There are some additional challenges sellers face when pitching over the phone however,  like not being able to see your prospect (and vice versa) or have a deck or visuals to support your message.  I’ve compiled 25 of my favorite tips  for overcoming those challenges and improving your success rate.  What would you add?

25 tips for pitching over the phone

• Find your confidence . Don’t be fooled into thinking they won’t see you sweat.  A lack of confidence comes through loud and clear in your voice. For tips on getting into a confident state, click here.
• Dress the part. Flip flops or dress shoes? Which makes you feel more professional and confident? How would you show up in person? How you feel about yourself is strongly reflected in your voice, so choose wisely.
• Visualize your prospect. The more you focus on talking to a unique individual rather than a generic prospect, the more connected your prospect will feel to you.
• Limit background noise. Pets, kids, deliveries, notifications.  Shut it all down.
• Keep talking points handy. Just because they can’t see you doesn’t mean they can’t hear you shuffling through your notes.
• Practice.  Enough said.
• Record yourself.  Listen for both messaging and delivery.  But don’t be too hard on yourself.  Pick 1-2 things to work on at a time.  This free on-line Voice Recorder is a simple, high-quality way to hear how you come across to your prospect.
• Prepare an outline. You don’t have to use a script, but at least have a pitch flow and memorize key points that you want to ensure land on your listener.
• Prepare questions. Without body language to go by, it’s easy to make a lot of assumptions.  Eliminate the guesswork by asking specific questions on a regular basis to gauge interest and comprehension.
• Don’t answer your own questions. It’s tempting but resist the urge. You are training your prospect how you expect them to engage.  Answer your own questions and you’ve set a dangerous precedent.
• Speak with punctuation . When you arrive at the end of a sentence, put a period on it and STOP. Yes, silence feels deadly, but if you don’t leave some space in your pitch, you may never really know what you prospect thinks.
• Create a compelling opener. Your opening needs to reassure your prospect that taking your call was a good decision. Prove that by coming up with a short, compelling opening.  See 5 Outside-the-Box Opening ideas here.
• Answer “so what?” With so many distractions available to your prospect, you need to constantly relate everything back to how it benefits them.
• Narrow your focus. Don’t try to cover too much.  Focus on making a strong impression with 2-3 key ideas rather than a blur of topics.
• Use open-ended questions. A successful pitch is one where the prospect is talking at least half the time.  Make it easy for them to engage by feeding them appropriate questions.
• Have a back-up plan . What if you get voice mail at your appointed time?  What if the prospect has to cut your call short?  You won’t panic if you have a plan.
• Smile. Research proves that a smile can be heard in your voice.  But make sure it’s a “real” smile by focusing on something to be happy about.
• Stand. Energy transfers across technology as well. But you have to try harder on the phone. Standing increases your energy and allows your body to fully support your voice.
• Cut to the chase. Don’t spend a lot of time on small talk. Get to what your prospect is really interested in within the first minute.
• Warm-up your voice. So much is riding on the sound, tone and quality of your voice.  Make sure yours is at its best when pitching over the phone by getting my Free 7 Minute Power Warm-up here.
• Use your hands . Gestures mean you’re engaged and that will come across to your listener.  So buy yourself a good headset so you can gesture freely.
• Show you’re listening. Your prospect can’t see you nodding or smiling, so interject some listening sounds, like, “uh huh, mmmm, right”
• Command the call. You asked for this call, so take charge.  Confirm how much time you have, get agreement on the agenda, and park questions that may derail you.
• Summarize often. Summarizing is even more important on the phone without visual support of your message.  Try summarizing at the end of every topic, after answering questions, and when you are wrapping up.
• Final piece of advice. Have fun. If you’re not having fun, neither is your prospect. You don’t have to tell jokes, but this shouldn’t feel like a trip to the dentist either.

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I would add “Stand Up” Your voice projects better and you generally sound more energetic.

oops! You already have it there ; )

Pitching over the phone is incredibly successful, especially if it is done right. These tips can help anyone in sales boost their effectiveness while pitching over the phone.

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Presentation Tips: How to make mobile friendly presentations

• Presentation design

Welcome back to our article series on practical and short tips to help you create better presentations. 

So far, we’ve tackled the issue of compressing presentations , followed by some tips on how to make a presentation printer friendly. Now we’re going to dive into yet another topic that is often overlooked when creating a presentation and that is making sure your presentation is mobile friendly.

Why is this important?

We’re living in a world where smartphones have become ubiquitous (and for some people, their smartphone is even more than that, as it’s almost become an extension of their body). In 2020, for the first time ever, mobile internet traffic surpassed desktop traffic.

More and more businesses adopt a mobile first approach when it comes to their website, apps and overall user experience of their clients. So why don’t we apply the same logic to presentations too?

Whether we’re sending a presentation through email (either before or after a meeting), holding an online meeting or giving a webinar, high chances that someone from the audience will view it on their mobile device.

So here are some simple tips on how to create your own mobile-friendly presentation.

1. Larger Text Size

This is probably the most important guideline out of all and it makes sense why. If the text size is too small, your presentation is unreadable and people will stop paying attention.

So make sure your text sizes are large enough to be viewed on a mobile screen. But how large is “large enough” you may be wondering? 

Well I’ve done this quick experiment with various font sizes on my own phone to test it out. 

I put different sized-lines and took the picture from how I would see it. Feel free to judge yourself and see what is the smallest size that your eyes are comfortable with.

As a rule of thumb, I’d go with at least a 60 point size for headlines and a 30-32 point size for body content. You could probably get away with a bit smaller text, but I wouldn’t go smaller than 20 points.

2. Less is more

Due to the small size of mobile devices, you definitely don’t want to overcrowd your slides. Keep them simple, uncluttered and follow the cardinal rule of “1 idea = 1 slide”. I’d take that one step further and say even “1 sub-idea = 1 slide”

What do I mean by that? Well, let’s say you have a slide called “5 Success Factors for X” and typically you’d add all 5 points on your slide, along with some accompanying graphics like icons or numbers or pictures (we hope that by this point, you stopped using bullet points in your presentations).

But in a mobile version, after enlarging your text to be the minimum readable size, you might want to split those 5 points into 2 slides, or even have one success factor per slide. 

If you’re worried that your presentation will get too long in this case, then don’t. In the end, your audience will still see the same amount of content in the same amount of time, so why not at least space out that content for a better understanding?

3. Large images

When adding images to your presentation, make sure they are large enough so that the audience doesn’t have to squint to see them.

Ideally the image should occupy the whole slide and work as a background with minimal content on top of it. But if you need to add more than one image, make sure that each image takes up at least a quarter of the slide.

Because of this, I don’t recommend using more than 4 images on your slide, and if you need to use more (for example to showcase multiple products), just remember guideline #2 and split it up across multiple slides.

4. Show & tell, don’t write

As a result of guideline #2, you’d have to keep your slide content to a minimum. When thinking whether to keep a certain word or phrase, think of it from this perspective: is this something I can visually illustrate or represent with an image or icon?

Graphics don’t even have to be a literal representation of the content, but can be more subtle and indirect in order to cover more of the slide content while you explain the context

5. Make a higher contrast

Contrast is one of design’s key principles, and it plays an even bigger role on a smaller screen size. 

Make sure your slide content, whether it’s text, graphics, images or charts, has enough contrast between its different parts. Contrast doesn’t refer just to color contrast, but also contrast in size or placement.

A good way to tell if your presentation has enough contrast is to slightly squint your eyes when viewing your presentation on your mobile. If some colors get blended together or if pieces of text look the same when they shouldn’t (eg. a main point and a sub-point), then you have to increase the contrast of those elements.

6. Clean & simple charts & diagrams

Charts and diagrams can easily become overwhelming on small screens if you’re not careful. A standard chart in Powerpoint would have both axes, it would have a legend, a slide title, maybe some data labels or some trend lines and so on. If you have all of these elements, then it can become over cluttered and people won’t be able to properly distinguish them.

Try and think of any unnecessary elements and remove them. Remember that less is more. For example, if you have a bar chart, you should keep either your vertical axis or your data labels, you shouldn’t keep both.

7. No fancy stuff

For the purpose of a simpler and seamless viewing experience, don’t overdo it with animations and transitions. In fact, if they don’t serve a real useful purpose, just take them out completely (I’d argue that 80-90% of animations are useless beyond just being flashy and we rarely use them).

Without animations and transitions you will also make sure that who is viewing the presentation will have a minimum risk of the presentation lagging. Another way to achieve this is to just save your presentation as a PDF and send it like that.

Creating a mobile friendly doesn’t require a huge amount of extra work, you just have to keep these tips in mind from the very beginning.

Following these guidelines will help your presentation stand out from a mobile viewer’s perspective, giving them a better overall experience. And that in turn will better reflect back on you, as you’ll be perceived as a professional that has a high attention to details, cares about the audience and does not let things to chance. 

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Virtual Presentations: How to Develop & Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone - COURSE NOW FREE 

Learn how to persuade, influence and communicate with people even when you're not in the same room.

Given today's realities of COVID-19-related changes, such as 

travel restrictions, work from home requirements and physical distancing, you are now required to communicate with clients, teams, colleagues and vendors who are not in the same location with you.  

Whether you're a corporate executive or entrepreneur, small business owner or manager, you need a way to talk to and influence people who are geographically dispersed and remotely located.

While video conferencing is growing in popularity, technological challenges such as internet bandwidth and software learning curves, plus the challenges of finding a quiet place with a good background amid newly improvised home daycare and schooling for your family, make video conferencing still a challenge for many people. 

Often, presenting over the phone is the best option for communicating and presenting remotely, since it requires less equipment and software set up, and can be done on the move, or in any quiet part of the house or yard. 

But presenting virtually over the phone can be challenging because you can't see your audience and know whether they are paying attention and are understanding you.  And the audience loses part of your communication because they can't see your gestures or facial expressions.

In Gilda's 3-session course,  Virtual Presentations: How to Develop and Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone , learn how to overcome these challenges so you can create and deliver a presentation over the phone with confidence that achieves the desired result, whether it's to:

• persuade clients and close a sale

• share crucial information with your team

• establish priorities with your vendors

Audio recordings & written transcripts of each session

Virtual Presentations: How to Develop and Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone  consists of 3 pre-recorded, content-rich sessions of 45-55 minutes each - you receive both the mp3 recording and the written PDF transcript for each session. 

You can download and listen to the audio recordings while you're  exercising and read through the PDF transcripts on your computer or tablet or print them out.

Regular fee for this 3-session course is $397

Now available free of charge, to support you during this crisis, download now , no opt-in or log-in required, https://www.box.com/s/w1tsxk19q9kfkpmqb6bf.

(This link takes you to a box.com folder, from which you can download each of the 3 audio files and 3 PDFs)

More about this course

After going through this course, you know how to present over the phone so you can:

• Boost sales by closing more deals over the phone

• Boost productivity by avoiding the waste of time and rework caused by miscommunication

• Boost your career prospects by becoming known as the subject matter expert who can convey that expertise clearly over the phone

• Boost the reputation and reach of your company or business by engaging audiences  throughout the country and the world

There's more to a successful virtual presentation than just picking up the phone and talking.  In this course, learn the nuts and bolts of giving a successful virtual presentation:

Session #1: Virtual Presentations Essentials

Getting started with virtual presentations

• Why your career will hit a roadblock if you're smart but can't communicate your smarts over the phone 

• Avoid the common mistake of confusing your audience by presenting before you have defined a clear message

• The Communication Golden Rule: learning to speak your audience's language

• Tips for organizing your content around your message

• Should you use slides for a phone presentation - or not (the answer may surprise you)

• Best practices for slide creation and delivery, if you must use slides

Your voice is all you have over the phone

• How to energize your voice to keep your audience engaged

• How to take care of your voice so you don't get hoarse

• The surprising reason why I don't recommend drinking ice water during your phone presentation

• Simple vocalizing exercises you can use to warm up your voice

• Using your voice to project authority whatever your age

• Borrowing breathing techniques from yoga and singing

Session #2: Confidence, Practice & Preparation

Confidence matters in virtual presentations

• Strategies for overcoming a lack of confidence

• How to deal with mild anxiety as well as mind-numbing fear

• Why acknowledging the voices in your head can increase your confidence

• Why sitting down may be the worst posture from which to deliver a presentation, and what I recommend instead

• Strategies for eliminating filler words such as "um" and "ah"

The importance of practice and timing

• Figuring out how long your presentation takes to deliver

• The fastest way to disrespect your audience and be branded as unprepared and unprofessional (many speakers do this!)

• The most difficult part of preparing a presentation (it's not what you think)

• Why you should be able to deliver your presentation in 6 seconds (yes, 6!)

• Why sitting at your desk thinking about your presentation is not practice

• The one thing you must do if you want to have a successful presentation

Session #3: Logistics, Q&A, Next Steps

Handling Q&A (Questions and Answers)

• How to do your homework and prepare for questions

• What to do if you don't know the answer to a question

• What to do if absolutely no one responds when you ask for questions (and how to prevent this from happening in the first place)

• Answering questions without going off topic and losing the audience's attention

• The worst way to end your presentation (probably what you'd normally do!)

Handling the logistics of the virtual presentation 

• How to engage the audience so they resist the temptation to check email or browse Facebook

• Why you should always assume the mute button the phone is broken

• What to do if the phone dies, your laptop starts installing automatic updates or a group of people walk into the conference room while you're presenting

• How Gilda handled the situation when the phone line dropped during this teleclass

How to continue developing your virtual presentation skills

• Why copying someone else's presentation style can actually make you a worse presenter

• How to ask for feedback from trusted colleagues

• The worst feedback you can receive after a presentation (it's not what you think!)

• How to take advantage of every opportunity to practice

Format: Downloadable audio recordings and written transcripts of each session

Virtual Presentations: How to Develop and Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone  consists of 3 recorded, content-rich sessions of 45-55 minutes each - you receive both the mp3 recording and the written PDF transcript for each session. 

You can download and listen to the audio recordings while you're commuting or exercising and read through the PDF transcripts on your computer or tablet and print them out to take with you.

Who is Gilda Bonanno?

The course instructor for Virtual Presentations is Gilda Bonanno.  She  is a professional speaker, consultant and facilitator who serves as a trusted advisor to executives and entrepreneurs to transform their communication, presentation and leadership skills.

Since 2006, she has run her own business and worked with leading organizations on four continents, from Chicago to Shanghai and Rio to Rome, including Travelers, Praxair, GE, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Wells Fargo, and Yale University.

Gilda has a proven track record of sharing her know-how in-person and virtually with audiences around the world.  She has delivered thousands of in-person programs globally, the instructional videos on her YouTube channel have received over 2 million views  and her newsletter has reached subscribers in over 45 countries since 2008. 

Through her customized and practical one-on-one consulting, she has helped individuals ranging from CEOs to sales executives, entrepreneurs to financial advisors, medical professionals to non-profit leaders, be more effective in their in-person and virtual presentations.

She is a past Board Member for the Women's Business Development Council (WBDC) and also Past President of the CT chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Southern CT chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD).

Gilda holds a master’s degree from Fordham University and an Advanced Business Certificate in Management from the UConn School of Business.

You'll know how to prepare for a high-stakes phone presentation

"Gilda has put together a very useful set of insights and reminders that

will help you deliver a presentation over the phone that gets the results

you want. Many of the factors she discusses that contribute to your success in this medium are not at all obvious. Your listening time will be well spent, because you'll finish feeling more confident and knowing exactly what to do to prepare for a high-stakes phone session."

Marcia Yudkin, Author, 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 15 other books

Don't wait any longer to conquer the challenge of presenting over the phone 

After absorbing  Virtual Presentations - How to Develop and Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone , you have the confidence and knowledge to create and deliver a focused and engaging virtual presentation over the phone so your audience feels the connection, understands your content and remembers your message.

​ (This link takes you to a box.com folder, from which you can download each of the 3 audio files and 3 PDFs)

Contact Gilda   if you have any questions about this or other products

This course consists of 3 previously recorded, content-rich sessions of 45-55 minutes each - you receive both the mp3 recording and the written PDF transcript for each session. 

Regular fee: $397

Download now.

5 Data-backed Tips for Better Phone-based Sales Presentations

Let’s start off today’s post with a quick poll. when doing sales presentations, which format do you prefer: in person or over the phone.

My experience tells me that salespeople tend to be evenly split on this one, but they somewhat lean slightly toward meeting prospects in person. Face-to-face meetings let sales folks put their people skills to use and allow more time for conversing with the prospect. More importantly, in-person presentations enable salespeople to read prospects and get to know them even better from visual cues.

When you’re meeting prospects face-to-face, it’s fairly easy to get a feel for how interested (or disinterested) they really are. Once a prospect slumps down onto the chair with eyes wandering and chin resting on one hand, these are dead giveaways you’re losing your prospect’s attention—and that you better switch gears or risk blowing up the deal.

You obviously won’t get this level of visual feedback during phone-based presentations. Sales meetings done over the phone only provide salespeople verbal clues on whether or not a prospect is really into your conversation.

That’s a huge information gap, considering that 93% of communication is nonverbal.

Still, phone presentations play a key role in the selling process. There’s just no substitute for the convenience and efficiency that phone calls deliver. In some cases, for example, the telephone remains the most viable option for many companies that can’t afford their own field sales team or businesses whose target prospects are too far away.

That’s why it’s crucial to refine your phone-based presentation strategy. Conventional sales wisdom offers a ton of useful advice on substance and delivery that you should definitely pay attention to. But data to support (or disprove) these best practices are hard to come by—until now.

The data scientists at Gong, an AI-enabled language platform for improving sales team performance, crunched the numbers from over 25,500 sales calls earlier this year. Their analysis found some surprising things about many of the sales profession’s time-honored calling tactics. Among other findings, they uncovered several qualities that the best sales calls have in common.

Here’s a rundown of five actionable tips based on Gong’s study that you can (and should) apply to improve results from your phone-based sales presentations:

1) Listen 1.3 times more than you talk

This is prospecting 101, but salespeople seem to have forgotten this lesson. Gong’s research finds that the average sales rep takes up 65% to 75% of the total call time with prospects. Even more importantly, the study reveals that talk-to-listen ratio impacts win rates:

• The ideal talk-to-listen ratio for the most productive sales calls is 43:57.
• Increasing the prospect’s talk time from 22% to 33% significantly improves opportunity win rates.

The numbers speak for themselves. Let your prospects do more of the talking. Just listen.

Relared:  A Software Company’s Guide to More Software Clients and More Sales

2) Talk about price 3 to 4 times, but build value first

Gong’s analysis also uncovers a strong correlation between the number of times pricing came up in a sales call and the likelihood of closing the deal. They find the sweet spot to be between 3 and 4 times:

• When reps mention pricing less than three times or more than four times in any given call, win rates decline.
• If price comes up three or four times in a call, that’s a buying signal.

Moreover, there’s the right time to talk about price in a sales call. High-yielding sales calls tend to bring up price-related discussions around the 40- to 49-minute mark. This indicates that top-performing reps build value before talking about price, while low-performing and average reps mention pricing throughout the call.

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3) Ask (11 to 14 questions) and you shall receive

In another analysis (this time involving 519,000 sales calls), Gong’s data science team concludes that there’s a clear relationship between the number of questions a rep asks and his chances of closing the deal.

• Asking 15 to 18 questions during a call is “only marginally more effective” than asking 7 to 10 questions.
• The most productive sales reps ask 11 to 14 questions in a sales call.

So, what type of questions should a rep ask? The research also identifies that questions about your prospect’s business pain points exert the most impact on win rates. Elementary. By that, you should read this later  How to Use the 3 Levels of Pain Points for Better Sales Conversations .

4) Distinguish between caution and hesitation

Needless to say, prospects’ responses indicate a sales call’s likely outcome. But some remarks appear to be more telling than others, particularly the following replies to timeline questions:

• If a prospect uses “probably” in a response like “…probably in 2 weeks”, the forecasted time horizon is 73% accurate.
• Answers that resemble “”We need to figure out…” are negatively correlated with win rates.

Responses that indicate caution can imply that your prospect is seriously considering your offer. Responses that suggest hesitation, on the other hand, can mean a lack of interest.

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5) Use language that embraces and soothes

Every sales rep knows that their style and tone matter as much as the message itself. Gong’s findings seem to support this idea. Some specific words and phrases apparently influence a rep’s chances of closing the deal.

• Top-performing reps are 10 times more likely to emphasize collaboration than low performers.
• The most productive salespeople are 5 times more likely to use words and phrases that focus on mitigating risk than other reps.

In other words, reps who focus on collaboration and inspire confidence tend to close the most number of deals.

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The Takeaway

So there you have it, five practical ways to improve phone-based sales presentations backed by solid data. Most of you are probably already following some variations of these best practices, and the study findings cited here only serve to vindicate your calling methods. The most important results, of course, are those generated by your own campaigns. What other tips and tricks do you apply that are supported by hard numbers?

You might also like:

Proven strategies for bringing new client, dear sales directors: lead generation companies are your friends, dominate europe: how to market tech and software products, how do lead generation companies work (like a superhero).

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5 Steps to a Successful Recruiting Presentation

• Hiring Process
• Wages, Pay, & Salary

Less successful salespeople, on the other hand, spend very little time consciously building their competency in this area.

But what are the elements of a great presentation? Is there a way to make a compelling presentation over the phone? And more importantly, what can recruiters do to build their phone presentation skills? In this article, I provide a simple 5-point checklist for recruiters who make presentations to candidates and hiring managers during phone conversations.

Right Time, Right Target

Whether engaging with prospects, candidates, or hiring managers, there comes a time when a recruiter will need to “present the product.” In a good sales process, this presentation should come after the salesperson has developed some level of rapport and trust — and after the salesperson has uncovered, clarified, and developed the needs of the buyer .

Presenting product information too soon is a sure sign of a poor salesperson. It’s not “ ready, fire, aim.”  It’s “ ready, aim, fire .” Be sure you know the target (think:  needs/problems ) before you waste time presenting information that is not important to the other person.

For recruiters, the same principles apply. After developing a relationship with the candidate or prospect and getting a clear picture of what’s important, it’s time to present the specific opportunity. And the same applies to your hiring managers. Know what they are looking for before you make your “candidate presentation.”

5 Steps to a Successful Presentation

You can find a lot of good information about “best practices” for presentations. For this article, though, I’ve put together a simple 5-point “tuneup” checklist that may help as you set the goal to develop your (phone) presentation skills.

#1: Start with the pain

Begin your presentation by summarizing what you know about your candidate or prospect’s pain points. Can you concisely and accurately play back what’s important to them in a company and in a position? Perhaps it’s growth opportunities , work-life balance, o r job stability . For a hiring manager it might be a proven track record in a similar position.

Nothing is more of a turnoff than a presentation that is not relevant. Remember, people just don’t buy products. They buy products because of what they can do for them . They buy “ solutions.”  And the same principle applies to your hiring managers or to those seeking career opportunities. So be sure you clearly set the target before you begin presenting anything.

Keep lasering in on the benefits the candidate or prospect can expect to gain (aligned with the pain points) — as opposed to the “ generic features ” of your company or job opportunity. With your hiring managers, be careful to point out the qualities/competencies this candidate brings to the table that are aligned with what the hiring manager is looking for.

Here’s a tip. You can even use their questions as great opportunities to further target your presentation. For example, if a candidate or prospect asks, “ Does this position include health insurance benefits ?” resist the temptation to immediately go into a presentation about all the wonderful features of the health insurance plan.

Instead, begin your presentation with, “ I’d be happy to share information about the health/benefit plan with you. But before I do, is there something in particular you are looking for ?” Remember — customers buy for their reasons, not yours .

#2: Anticipate objections

It’s not uncommon for customers, prospects, or hiring managers to have at least one objection. So be prepared for objections before your presentation. Can you anticipate some common objections that might arise? What do you know about your prospect, hiring manager, or candidate that might help you prepare? How about putting yourself in their shoes and asking yourself what you might be concerned about? Then, plan your response and be ready to address it if it comes up your presentation.

And be sure you don’t get caught off guard by a quick “ show me the money ” objection from a prospect. Your presentation will be spoiled if you get tipped over in the first minute by this common objection. So know how to handle this objection and keep your presentation on target.

#3: Involve the other person in the presentation

Try to keep the other person engaged and active during the presentation. Do not make them simply a bystander. You don’t want to turn into a talking version of your latest marketing materials. Boring! Keep in mind that we talk at approximately 110-150 words per minute. However, research suggests that we are capable of listening and processing up to 600-1,000 words per minute! So be careful not to spend too much time talking — giving your listener an opportunity to tune out or become agitated.

Since you can’t see them (as in a face-to-face presentation) to be able to “read” their level of engagement, try to ask quick, confirming questions throughout your presentation.

“ How does that sound ?”

“ Does that address your question ?”

“ What other concerns do you have at this point ?”

“ Does that tuition reimbursement program match what you are looking for ?”

“ What have I left out that’s going to be important as you make this decision ?”

“ What other information do you need from me at this point ?

#4: Be comfortable with silence

Great presenters know that a well-timed pause can be powerful. Resist the temptation to turn your presentation into “ total transmit ” of information. You don’t have to fill the air with your voice to ensure the message is being heard and received.

As you hone your skill of becoming more comfortable with silence over the phone, try to build some intentional silences into your presentations. A good place to begin is to try a moment of silence before answering a question. Put in a pause, or a moment of silence, before simply “spewing out” a response. Many sales have been lost — or a concession made — by someone talking without thinking first.   

#5: Show enthusiasm!

When you present your opportunity, remember to sound excited! If you are not excited, why should anyone else be? If you don’t believe in your “product,” your candidate or prospect won’t either. Your enthusiasm (think: confidence) is noticeable to others.

OK, this is sort of corny, but you’ve probably seen some of those commercials on TV. You know — the ones that pitch a product and end with something like, “ But wait! There’s more. If you act RIGHT NOW, we’ll DOUBLE your offer. All you pay is shipping and handling … ”

Regardless of how you feel about these approaches or products, one thing is clear. Without exception, the people you are watching are enthusiastic about their product! Perhaps a bit over the top, for sure. But clearly enthusiastic. Evidently, enthusiasm (even over-the-top enthusiasm about the Shamwow ) does grab attention and peak curiosity.

A final word:  Practice does not make perfect …

And finally, keep in mind the importance of practicing. The old saying, “ practice makes perfect ” is not entirely true. Practice only makes “permanent.” To develop “ perfect presentations ” be sure to practice the right things .

Practice using pain points to develop your presentation. Practice managing objections before they happen. Find a co-worker or friend and try some role-playing  Have some fun!

Practice confirming and checking — as well as silence. Start by pausing before answering questions.

Don’t forget to bring all of your passion and enthusiasm to the call!

7 final expense telesales tips

Are you interested in selling final expense insurance over the phone? Perhaps you’re worried making the transition from face-to-face sales to telesales is difficult? In this article, I’ll describe how face-to-face final expense agents can make the switch to telesales with as little pain as possible. I’ll detail 7 tips that have helped many agents in my agency make the change from face-to-face to over the phone sales. Let’s begin! Tip #1: Slow. It. Down. Here’s a big tip for you first-time telesales agents… Simply SLOW DOWN your final expense sales presentation over the phone. The biggest disadvantage of selling over the phone is the lack of body language and visual cues to strengthen the bonds of rapport and trust between you and your prospect. And the core component to sales success… ESPECIALLY selling over the phone… is building a solid level of trust. So what do you do to build better levels of trust over the phone? Focus not just on WHAT you say… but on HOW you say it. For example, when you’re building rapport, do as Cody suggests . Take time to really connect with your clients. Avoid rushing immediately into the sales presentation. Instead, REALLY get to know your client, show them that you care more than simply making a sale. It may seem strange at first to slow down and go deeply into rapport-building. But over time, you’ll become comfortable with it. Tip #2: Target Local Leads This is a strategy I’ve recommended to my agents accustomed to face-to-face final expense sales. If possible, a solid process of transitioning to telesales involves targeting the same local area you’d target your normal face-to-face leads, as opposed to statewide or multi-state leads. Here’s why… First, if your goal is to get BACK into face-to-face sales at some point in the future, then it’s easier to work those leads that never answered your original calls. Second, the “We’re Local” sales pitch DOES make a big difference with many people. In fact, telesales locally should result in higher conversion ratios since your prospects know “you’re from around here,” versus the caller located halfway across the country. Don’t get me wrong. Agents are successfully selling out-of-state daily. Selling local leads is not an absolute requirement. However, I do think it provides you an added edge selling over the phone that should aid you in converting leads better than those who work non-locally.

Tip #3: Buy More Leads

One big difference in selling over the phone versus face to face? You’ll need more leads. Most telesales specialists agree that over-the-phone agents need more leads to convert the same number of leads into sales on a face-to-face basis. Why is this the case? One reason… you can’t door knock like a face-to-face agent. Also, some folks simply refuse to do business telephonically that would ordinarily buy in-person. Regardless, play it safe. Buy more leads. Check out Cody’s Facebook-generated final expense leads , as well as his agency management program he and Landon offer if you need quality, consistent leads.

Tip #4: Consider A Power Dialer

While I have agents still hand dialing leads, there’s plenty who now use a power dialer to organize their leads and get better results. As far as power dialers go, I like ProspectBoss and Mojo Dialer . Both do a pretty good job. They offer CRM capability to organize your leads and notes. And both offer multiple outbound calling lines. In fact, you’ll find out quickly that telesales has lots of dead time if you dial by hand. Many don’t pick up the phone. Whereas a power dialer calls two and three lines at a time, reducing dead time, and increasing contact time with real life prospects.

Tip #5: Use Imaginative Language

A weakness in telesales is lacking the visual capability to explain things. For example, you cannot show sales materials, brochures, et cetera, to make your case over the phone like you can in person. That’s why it’s imperative to use visual language to “paint the picture” for your prospects in final expense telesales. I like using phrases such as: “Can you picture…” or, “Imagine for a moment…” As often as possible. Both phrases conjure up images in your prospect’s mind. This facilitates a deeper and more emotional understanding of what you’re explaining. Here’s two examples of using these phrases in painting the picture to your clients: “Imagine what would happen if you passed away with no coverage and your kids would have to pay the bill. How would you feel?” Or, “Imagine you had a term plan that was canceled at 80 years old, and all those years you paid were for nothing. How would you feel?” Bottom line, these are powerful phrases you should use in every telesales conversations with prospects.

Tip #6: Ask (And Assume) With Confidence!

Enthusiasm is contagious! Exude confidence in asking and assuming the sale. The quicker you show confidence in interacting with your prospect, the more likely you’ll convert more of your telesales presentations. And while confidence is always important in any sales call, it’s doubly important for the telesales rep. You do not have access to the same visual cues that unconsciously build confidence that many face-to-face agents take for granted. If you come off as coy, unconfident, or unenthusiastic, chances are your prospect will sour on doing business with you. They just “won’t feel good” about you as an agent, and retreat into defense, preferring to pass up on your offer rather than buying from someone they don’t entirely trust. How do you exude confidence? Be happy, be fun! Have a heart for helping your client first and foremost. And don’t make a big deal out of asking for vital information like Social Security and checking account numbers. Treat it like any other questions you ask your prospects.

Tip #7: Explain Things In Detail

I picked this up from an experienced final expense telesales veteran. Bottom line, make sure you explain the insurance process in detail to your prospect. For example, break down step-by-step what the client should expect on the insurance company phone interview BEFORE you call. Also, explain your agenda early on in your sales presentation so the client knows what to expect and understands the purpose of your call. The more you clarify expectations and processes, the better chance your client is more likely on-board with buying from you. Summary Final expense telesales is a viable sales and marketing model not only for call centers, but for individual agents, too. And if you’re transitioning from face-to-face to telesales, expect to make adjustments to your prospecting and selling strategy. Perhaps the biggest change is an intentional focus on building both rapport and trust, purposely creating a bond between you and the prospect to enhance your odds at closing the sale. David Duford owns DavidDuford.com , a virtual insurance agency helping new and experienced agents nationally become top producers in final expense, Medicare, and annuity sales. He is the author of 3 best-selling insurance sales and marketing books, including “The Official Guide To Selling Insurance For New Agents, “The Official Guide To Selling Final Expense Insurance,” and “Interviews With Top Producing Insurance Agents.” David is also a YouTube Influencer in insurance sales with nearly 13,000 subscribers and more than 1.5 million total views.

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