Walk the Line: When to Ask, Suggest, and Tell

In the world of phone sales, it's tough to walk the line between being courteous and getting your job done. The 'inside sales' part of the sales process (before a scheduled meeting) involves a lot of careful maneuvering. Our Meetings Manager, Bill Ball, brought up an interesting point: When do you ask, when do you suggest, and when do you tell?


Here are three scenarios illustrating this point:

1. The prospect tells you she is in the middle of something and doesn't have time to talk even for a minute.

You ask her, "When is a better time to talk?"


2. The prospect says he has never considered a solution like yours because he didn't even know something like this was out there.

You suggest a meeting as a best next step by saying "Do you mind if I propose something to you? How about we get something on the calendar to understand more about your business and see if this might be a good fit for you?"


3. The prospect objects by saying she already works with another similar vendor.

You use the second vendor option to get her to commit to reviewing your offering by saying, "If something happens with your current vendor, doing a Google search for new vendors on a Sunday night is no fun. Let's set something up now so you don't have to go through that." At this point you tell her that a meeting is a good option by saying, "Let me know when you have your calendar open."

The art of asking vs. suggesting vs. telling is at the core of persuasion and phone sales.

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