We’ve all been there before: at the start of the week, you’ve got a large list of potential leads and by the end, you haven’t closed a single sale. One problem you might have is coming across as the stereotypical telemarketer, the guy who wants to scam the customer out of his hard-earned money. The customer isn’t going to trust you unless you come across as though you’re offering him something truly worthwhile. We’ve chosen the top common mistakes salesmen make which gives their potential customers the impression that they’re just another telephone solicitor.

How to Not Sound Like A Telemarketer 101

You forget to start with your name

If you’re trying to build the trust necessary to sell something to a customer, how well do you think it’s going to go over if you haven’t even given them your name? If you don’t follow the rules of basic human interaction, it demonstrates incompetence and your chances of closing the sale are going to lower.

You can’t adapt to the customer’s demands

If you’re a rookie salesman or have gotten too comfortable with your pitch, you might be inclined to stick to a pre-planned strategy when talking to a customer. While having a good idea of what to say and how to say it, it can give you an extra boost of confidence, but it also makes it much more likely for your sales pitch to derail. It’s essential for the salesman to be “in the moment” when having the conversation, he or she needs to be prepared for the conversation to go in any direction; whether it’s a distraction or a hindrance they lead might throw his way that will keep him from making the sale.

You lie to the potential customer

One of the worst ways to sink your chances at landing the sale is to lie to the person on the phone. Whether you’re lying about who you are, what your company does, or how successful your company is, karma will come back to haunt you. The internet is an accessible tool and any published information about you or your company is there for your potential clients. When you’re on the phone, what you tell your potential clients should match what it says about you on the internet because if they do check later, they might have second thoughts about doing business with you. Lying never works out well in the end.

If you find yourself doing any of these things when trying (and failing) to make a sales call, they might be what’s holding you back. We get it, trying to generate sales over the phone can be tough. If you’re a small business, you should use TalkLocal to get leads sent to you in real time for free. We connect the customers looking for jobs in your field of work directly to you! For free leads in real time, check out TalkLocal.