How To Make Nurturing Calls Less Awkward
It can be uncomfortable to talk to anyone you don’t know very well over the phone; never-mind if you’re asking for money. But if you’re always thinking about making the sale, it could end your relationship with that prospect pretty quickly.
The main thing to focus on during a nurturing call is a mindset of curiosity – like you’re calling a friend whom you haven’t spoken to in a few months.
You call to check-in and to see how they are doing vs. calling in the hopes of having something new or good enough to present.
Here are a few sales tips on how to make these calls a little less uncomfortable:
- Ask For Permission To Speak
Since you are calling out of the blue, it’s most respectful to ask – “Did I call you at a bad time?”, that way, you give them an easy out if it’s not a good time.
. - Call For No Particular Reason
If you approach the call from a curiosity standpoint, you can keep it simple: “I’m just calling to say hi. It’s been a few months since we have spoken and I wanted to see how it was going.” (or “how XYZ was going?”)
. - Call At A Targeted Time: “In the summer, many of our nonprofit clients are working on the end-of-year campaigns right now and I wanted to see how we might support you with your efforts.”
. - Report Relevant News (subscribe to Google news alerts for top prospects/clients): “I read about XYZ and thought you might want to support those efforts…”
. - Doesn’t Matter What You Say
People are either going to want to talk with you or not. If they do want to talk – that’s great. If they don’t, that’s fine too. You just need to get on the phone and start making calls.