Greetings and openings techniques- how to effectively start sales pitches 

Every commercial conversation must started in some way. The greeting takes place in the form of a courtesy phrase we use or gesture while greeting another person. There are many forms of greetings, depending on methods of communication.

In direct sales, otherwise referred to as personal, as a rule, we are dealing with  two types of Contact:

a)       personal face to face contact;

b)       by telephone.

Most often in both cases we present ourselves by name, after which we give the name of our company.

And here, we may get our first mistake, in which, especially in a phone call, immediately after presenting ourselves by name, we pronounce so quickly the name of the company in which we work that the customer usually completely  does not understand us.

The next step is to open up a conversation that I would define as a form of encouragement to talk.

The opening intruduction is a form of talk's encouragement.

It is important to have a first impression that should arouse the interest of our interlocutors. While in a  personal face to face conversation, even if our way of opening up sales is not very pleasant for customers, we always have  a chance to improve its quality, but in a telephone contact our wrong  opening introduction can bring a results in a lack of interest in the conversation from a customer, and in extreme situations like throwing the handset.

Most often, sample openings may sound as follows:

•       "I have an interesting offer for you"

•       "We have prepared an individual proposal for cooperation for you"

•       "I have a great offer for you"

Nowadays, customers are increasingly sensitive to the various opening techniques used by telemarketers, who say as they were reading ready-made phrases from cards, most often only annoyance

"In phone contact,

a good opening is the key to further sales success"

Let's look at the different stages of opening sales in practice.

Let's look at the different stages of opening sales in practice. The diagram shown in figure shows the stages of designing effective ways to open a sale. Let's say that the examples of word phrases that are presented may be related to contacting a new lead.

At the first stage, using the appropriate salutations, we welcome our interlocutor. Note, however, that after each suitable word phrase there is a pause. You might wonder: why? Well, when conducting training focused on active work with the use of a phone, I have found that very often we forget to pause while speaking. As a result, our entire message becomes unreadable, and the seller himself makes another mistake, increasing the pace of speaking. Therefore, the use of pause allows you to take another breath. Moreover, immediately after using the appropriate courtesy form: "Good morning", "Welcome", the unleashed seller very often does not even hear that the interlocutor also responds to his greeting.

Using effective greetings and openings, we practice our quality of speaking.

After welcoming our name, we should introduce our company. I mentioned earlier that most of our wordings may be incomprehensible, especially in telephone work. That is why I recommend, in addition to giving the company name itself, to present what we do. Of course, my tip is about contacting a new customer. It turns out that the name of the company itself can say little to our customers. Very often at this stage we can hear:

"From what company are you calling to me? I have not heard, please repeat!"

Therefore, a professional seller should practice the skills of using different opening options, addressed to individual groups of customers.  When we first contact a new potential customer, we may feel nervous, which will certainly be palpable by him. The use of clear and confident messages will therefore strengthen the strength of our message.

The more professionally we start our conversations, the more sympathetic the reactions will appear from our customers

At this stage, I recommend using simple encouraging word phrases. Here are some examples:

·         "I would like to talk to you about the cooperation that can give youmany benefits"

·         "I would like to present an individual proposal for cooperation for your company"

·         "I have prepared a special proposal for you, which I would like to discuss with you"

"In the techniques of negotiation and influence,

 the way of opening introduction will determine the final effects”

Well prepared opening introduction  is most often caused by the following verbal reactions: "I am listening to You", "Please tell me what kind of proposal have you got?." In phone contact, a lot also depends on the moment when we contact our potential customer. At the wrong time, we'll hear that the customer can't talk now. By the way, we don't even have to ask, "Can you talk now?" In all the construction and use of effective forms of opening of sales, we do not want to repeat some memorable word phrases or – even worse – reading them from a piece of paper. What matters is our creativity and ingenuity. However, it is important that you realize that this element of trade conversation has a big impact on our effectiveness.

In the techniques of negotiation and influence, the way of opening introduction will determine the final effects.

To understand this, it is best to try different opening techniques. It suggests that you prepare them according to different groups of customers. It is important to personalize the sales message.

More information about greetings and openings techniques in sales you can find in book: "The art of selling in practice-training guide book" was written by Krzysztof Czupryński Sales book