One of the first things that awakened me to and fascinated me about Lead Generation and Telesales was a sales training seminar instructor’s admonition: “When you are getting ready to ask for the order or move the sales process to the next phase, get right up out of your desk chair and deliver your closing lines. Your prospect will feel it, at the other end of the phone. They will be much more likely to be moved off the dime than if you delivered the same closing lines sitting at your desk.”
This insight led me to understand something very profound: A phone voice has to be made, through an intentional process that is both mental and physical. How you feel about yourself, most certainly, translates into your phone call. However, there is much more than self-image that goes into the making of a voice for Lead Generation & Telesales. Standing up from your desk to deliver closing lines is more about the image you project to your audience. I’ve learned that, in the grind of Lead Generation & Telesales, it can’t be about you or your feelings about yourself. It’s about projecting an “Optimized Avatar of Yourself” which is what your prospect sees (in their mind’s eye) when they speak with you and how they feel about what you’re saying, on an entirely nonverbal level.
The best definition I’ve ever heard for Sales is this: “Sales is the transfer of a feeling”. I believe this definition of Sales is the best because it distills the essence of what the ‘human element’ of Sales really does that no ‘Bot’ or ‘AI platform’, marketing collateral or video presentation can do. It’s the indispensable interpersonal element that goes into the creation of that feeling which is everything when it comes to Sales effectiveness. On the phone, we must build a voice that transfers a feeling that projects honest caring about the person with whom you are speaking, confidence about the product or service being offered—and all the intangibles, including whether you are standing or sitting at your desk, smiling on the phone, dressed professionally (even if you are not seen by the other person), your desk clean & well-ordered, your breath minty, etc.
What gripped me about all of this is that Lead Generation and Telesales forced me into the disciplines necessary to put myself continually into my optimal state of being—not just state of mind but in terms of my physicality itself (including my physical environment)—so that my ‘whole person’ becomes a revenue-generating instrument. Inwardly, and this is really at the core of it all, I had to find meaning in my work. How do you do this within the daily grind of phone work? Well, there’s a spirituality to all of it that’s very important, if you’re going to remain in your optimal state. For me, it was the realization that I was encountering fellow human beings—albeit in one call after another. What I resolved to do was let a sense of respectful compassion and professional thoughtfulness flow into each call. An attitude of respectful compassion puts the relationship with the person we’re calling first and then, as the approach of professional thoughtfulness unfolds in the conversation, revenues naturally follow.
“Making a voice” is really about continually translating your optimal mental and physical state into your voice and approach on the phone. The voice you build is connected deeply to who you are but it is an Optimized Avatar of Yourself which gives you a stable touchpoint with the market, in the ebb and flow of professional life and the daily grind of Lead Generation and Telesales. Making a Phone Voice is not easy and requires consistent awareness and the acceptance of a certain degree of the discomfort which comes from discipline, all because the rewards are great and there is no better path to consistent, long-term success on the phone.