SPDJ
16-05-2011, 10:37 AM
Hi Guys,
I have been putting alot of thought into how to handle telephone conversations to potential clients and meetings. My conversion to business once it gets to the stage of a pre event meeting is almost 100% (the reason its not bang on 100% is because once after a meeting a second customer came through for the same date and just paid the booking fee upfront with no need for a meeting).
My weakest link in the stage by stage chain in getting the business lies somewhere between when the initial quote has been submitted online and when I am on the phone to the customer.
Sometimes I have called the client back (just minutes after they submit the quote or the next day if they did it at night) and they have already arranged it with someone else, possibly because they contacted them long before they contacted me, though this is usually rare.
The biggest drop point for me is usually when the customer says they will arrange with the venue for a meeting date and then do not get back to me. I then send one reminder email a week later and then give up.
This indicates to me that the phone conversation wasn't convincing enough for the customer to give their time to see me.
I must admit, I can not stand the phone conversation bit, and selling myself on the spot over the phone. I much perfer doing this in person. I feel somewhat constricted in a sense because I can not go into to much detail about say, technology because the customer may not understand, or music/mixing/reading the crowd/performance because the customer may not understand, or the reasons for my pricing in comparison to much cheaper DJ's because the intricate details of which, the customer may not understand.
Yet I am faced with the job of explaining how I am unique and give 1 - 3 reasons to put the customer in the position of wanting to arrange a meeting.
Also selling myself over the phone reminds me too much of the banking/call center jobs I used to do before going self employed and I coudnt stand those either :daft:
So how does everyone else on here overcome these issues? Do you have a set structure which has proven to be successful (in which case please share :D )? Or do you let the customer do most of the talking? Or do you push for the meeting stage early on in the call to get it out of the way without giving any or many reasons to?
As I say Once it gets to the meeting stage I am pretty well in the clear as I am alot more confident at it then on the phone.
Thank you in advance.
I have been putting alot of thought into how to handle telephone conversations to potential clients and meetings. My conversion to business once it gets to the stage of a pre event meeting is almost 100% (the reason its not bang on 100% is because once after a meeting a second customer came through for the same date and just paid the booking fee upfront with no need for a meeting).
My weakest link in the stage by stage chain in getting the business lies somewhere between when the initial quote has been submitted online and when I am on the phone to the customer.
Sometimes I have called the client back (just minutes after they submit the quote or the next day if they did it at night) and they have already arranged it with someone else, possibly because they contacted them long before they contacted me, though this is usually rare.
The biggest drop point for me is usually when the customer says they will arrange with the venue for a meeting date and then do not get back to me. I then send one reminder email a week later and then give up.
This indicates to me that the phone conversation wasn't convincing enough for the customer to give their time to see me.
I must admit, I can not stand the phone conversation bit, and selling myself on the spot over the phone. I much perfer doing this in person. I feel somewhat constricted in a sense because I can not go into to much detail about say, technology because the customer may not understand, or music/mixing/reading the crowd/performance because the customer may not understand, or the reasons for my pricing in comparison to much cheaper DJ's because the intricate details of which, the customer may not understand.
Yet I am faced with the job of explaining how I am unique and give 1 - 3 reasons to put the customer in the position of wanting to arrange a meeting.
Also selling myself over the phone reminds me too much of the banking/call center jobs I used to do before going self employed and I coudnt stand those either :daft:
So how does everyone else on here overcome these issues? Do you have a set structure which has proven to be successful (in which case please share :D )? Or do you let the customer do most of the talking? Or do you push for the meeting stage early on in the call to get it out of the way without giving any or many reasons to?
As I say Once it gets to the meeting stage I am pretty well in the clear as I am alot more confident at it then on the phone.
Thank you in advance.