This has happened more often than I’d like: I’ll be in a training session working on opening statements with sales reps, and someone will say,

"This won’t work in my market. My prospects are busy people. They won’t listen to this fluff. They want something direct."

So then I’ll ask, "Ok, what do you say?"

"I’m Jay Nelsen with AB Services. We’re an information technology consulting firm and I’d like to talk to you about your IT needs."

It takes all the tact I have to resist saying,

"Are you kidding me? You’re telling me that your prospects are important, busy people, yet you expect them to listen to you despite the fact you have given them absolutely no reason to do so? The fact that your prospects/customers are busy is the very reason why you need to have a value statement in your opening. Otherwise they have no reason to stay on the phone with you. Prospects and customers don’t care what you sell. Their only concern is what they get."

It really isn’t that tough to come up with a compelling, benefit-loaded opening, if you try.

For example, fill in these blanks for an initial call:

"Ms. Prospect, I’m _____ with _____. We specialize in working with (fill in with a type of company, or title of a decision maker) in helping them to (fill in with something they want to get or avoid) so that they can (fill in with another desired result). I’d like to ask a few questions to see if this might be of some value to you."

That might look like,

"Ms. Prospect, my company specializes in working with network administrators who have been told they need to come up with ways to limit personal use of the Internet on company computers. We help them implement a simple system to help do that, that doesn’t make management look like it doesn’t trust their employees. How much of an issue is personal use of the Internet at your company?"

Now, this example does not use any personalized information that you should be able to come up with by doing a bit of research, which I certainly suggest you do.

(In the new Opening Statement Teleseminar I show you how you can get great info and use it in your opening so the listener feels like he is the only person you have called all day. http://www.businessbyphone.com/teleseminar2.htm)

WORKS WITH VOICE MAIL ALSO
And I always tell my seminar participants that there’s no secret to a great voice mail message. It’s the same as your great opening, modified slightly. We could take the aforementioned opening and tweak the ending slightly:

"… depending on how much of an issue this is at your company, it might be worth our while to talk. I’d like to ask you a few questions to see if you’d like more information…"

Learn How to Write Your Own Interest-Grabbing Opening And Avoid Demoralizing Resistance
Without a doubt, the most important part of your phone call is the first 15 seconds. You can have the greatest product or service in the world, but if you can’t get past the opening, you’re sunk.

Most calls sink.

But it’s not that difficult to say the right things to create interest and avoid the things that most salespeople say that ensure they get blown off the phone. I share these ideas, strategies, process, and word-for-word examples in my teleseminar, "How to Easily Create Telephone Call Openings that Stimulate Interest, and Avoid Resistance"

Plus, as part of participating in this seminar by phone, I will personally review your opening and make my comments or suggestions. And if you can’t attend, you can still get the 90-minute seminar on two audio CD’s, and get the bonuses and review. For more info and to register go to http://www.businessbyphone.com/teleseminar2.htm