7 Tips for Making a Successful Sales Call

Love them or hate them, sales calls are a necessary ingredient for organizational success.

The sales process, however, is often arduous. Research shows that it takes an average of 18 calls before a salesperson connects with a buyer. Because of this, it’s important that sales professionals are well-prepared for sales calls so they can efficiently and effectively convert prospects to customers.

If you’re looking to improve your conversion rate, here are seven tips for making a successful sales call.

How to Get Better at Sales Calls

1. Do Your Research

Before calling a prospect, learn as much as possible about their business, industry, and competitors. With this information, you’ll be able to ask relevant questions and uncover their possible pain points.

Today, you can find valuable information about your prospects online. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn to learn more about your prospect’s specific role at the company and what might be important to them.

2. Know Your Product

It may sound self-explanatory, but be prepared to speak to what you’re selling. It’s likely that prospects will have questions, and you need to have the answers to close the deal.

The more you know about your product before you make the call, the better you’ll be able to understand whether you can provide a beneficial solution to your prospect.

3. Think About the Next Steps

Go into the call with a goal. Whether it’s a cold call and your goal is to get an in-person meeting, or a follow-up conversation and you want to get a signed contract, set an end goal. At the end of the call, ask the closing question to get to the next step in the sales process.

4. Be Friendly (and Remember to Smile)

Smile and be curious. These may seem like two separate things but they serve the same purpose. People tend to buy from people they like and trust. Whether on the phone or in person, smile and ask open-ended questions to try to get to know your prospective client as an individual; don't just treat them as a potential sale.

If your sales call is via phone, you might think that smiling is unnecessary, but prospects can “hear” your smile. Smiling will affect your tone of voice, causing you to sound more positive and confident.

5. Know Your Prospect’s Role

In the book The New Strategic Selling, authors Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman list four types of buying influences. Which of these categories does your contact fall under?

• Economic Buying Influence/Decision Maker: This is the person who signs the check. If this is not the person you are talking with, find out how your contact is connected to them and what the decision-maker will need from your company to close the deal.
• User Buying Influences: These people have an interest in the product and/or service in question. It will directly affect their productivity.
• Technical Buying Influences: These people screen suppliers. Providing them with information to avoid possible barriers to close is key.
• Coaches/Champions: Coaches are allies inside the client organization that can help the salesperson to move the order forward, mainly by giving advice on the people and processes in the organization.

Knowing what role they play can enable you to navigate the sales process and follow a quicker path to “Yes.”

6. Call at the Right Time

Believe it or not, timing is everything when it comes to sales calls, and your scheduling can affect the success of your call.

According to a study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Dr. James Oldroyd, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically the most successful days for salespeople to follow up on leads via phone. Drilling down further, Oldroyd found that 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. is the best time of day to make a sales call.

7. Focus on Value Creation

Value creation is a key part of any successful negotiation, including sales calls. It occurs when “solutions are found that benefit both parties, or at least benefit one of them without making the other worse off,” says Harvard Business School Professor Mike Wheeler in the online course Negotiation Mastery.

Try to understand what’s important to the other party, so you can demonstrate how your product will effectively create value for them and how you might be able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Closing More Deals

Sales calls can often feel intimidating and overwhelming, but with the right preparation, you can become a more effective salesperson and ultimately close more deals for your organization.

Are you interested in developing your negotiation skills? Explore our eight-week online course Negotiation Mastery, and discover how you can close more deals by expanding your knowledge of effective bargaining techniques.

This post was updated on May 14, 2021. It was originally published on May 3, 2017.