Last week, I wrote a little bit about customer service and quick communication. I hope that all of you have been responding to your emails and returning phone calls in a prompt time frame! If you are performing outstanding customer service and lightening quick communications, I’ll bet your customer and prospect list is growing. We are going to discuss all of those a bit further some other time, only because there is something much, much, more important that we need to discuss right now: THE INCOMING CALL OR EMAIL INQUIRY. What do we have here? The answer is:WE HAVE SOMEONE READY TO BUY AND SPEND MONEY WITH YOU! Wooooooo……

There is nothing better than picking up the telephone and hearing someone interested in purchasing from you. I’m going to teach you a few things you need to say to a “Call In” and a few things you should never do or say. In order to do this successfully, I’m going to to take a real life situation which many of you wholesalers encounter everyday.

1) Prospect (”P”) calls and says, “What’s your minimum order?”

P is calling you because he got your number from an advertisement, website, business card received at a trade show, or referral. The P is calling you because he probably sells your merchandise in his store and wants to order more. How do you answer that question?

a) “Our minimum order is $100.”

b) “That’s a great question Mr. P. Depending on what product you’re ordering, and how much of them you would like to purchase, our minimum order can vary. What are you looking to buy today and how much of that product do you need?”

c) “It’s $100. How can I help you?”

If you answered A or C, you definitely need to keep reading this. Yes folks, the correct answer is B and I’ll tell you why.

In order to understand why B is the correct answer, we need to analyze the structure of the response. In the opening line of the response, “That’s a great question…” we immediately start off by complimenting Mr. P and telling him how intelligent and savvy he is for calling you today. Mr. P is aware of the fact that you understand he’s an informative buyer who asks mindful questions. We then ask Mr. P the type of product he is ordering and how much of them he would like. Mr. P must now give you a precise answer to a direct question. He’s going to tell you the very product he wants and how much of that product he needs. We’ve already asked Mr. P the type of product he wants and how much he needs TODAY, so, what’s next? Let Mr.P answer you! He could make it easy and say, “I’ll take 100 pieces. Do you take credit cards?”, or her could say ,” I need to think about it. I’m kind of just shopping around right now.” Now, that’s certainly what we don’t want to hear. Let’s overcome that objection.

Start off by saying:

a) I understand that you want to shop around. However, I have these products in stock right now and I’m sure the reason you’re calling me today is because you saw our low price in the ad. There are customers of mine reselling this product right now making a significant margin and I’d like you to experience the same benefit. I’m going to expedite the shipping to you today and have these products in your store front by week’s end. What carrier do you prefer we use to ship to you?

Kind of aggressive, I know. Keep in mind, you have nothing from this prospect right now, and nothing to lose if he still wants to wait. Test Mr. P and see how serious he is. If he still wants to hold off, then fine.

Get his name, phone number, and address. Make sure he gets a call the very next day. It shouldn’t take that long to shop around — don’t risk losing this sale to a competitor. There are many ways to be creative and present your products as a unique opportunity. The incoming call is the most important call you’ll get all day. Always be ready and prepared for it.

Remember, you have someone waiting to buy your goods right then! Do your best to present your features and benefits. Then all you have to do is close.

Go and get some sales!

Jason