Telephone sales and ways to improve?

Telephone Tips to use when contacting customers:
1. Never ask if it’s a good time to talk. This gives the other person a perfect excuse to end the call. If you are unsure the person has time to talk, immediately state that the call will only take 3 minutes. When you give the person an exact time, be sure you stick to it. After the allotted time has passed, tell the customer and ask them if they would like to continue or reschedule. Using this practice allows you to demonstrate that you respect their time.
2. Ask questions. People will never hang up on themselves.
3. Use the person’s name at least 3 times in every phone call. Who does-n’t like to hear their name said aloud?
4. Your objective should be to have a casual conversation, in the same way you would talk to a good friend.
5. Use visually descriptive words to help paint a picture of what you’re saying. A phone conversation
doesn’t have to be boring and stale.
6. When starting a new telephone conversation, always give your first and last name. Never assume the person you’re talking to is going to recognize your voice to identify you.
7. Watch your facial expressions by placing a mirror in front of you when you talk. It’s amazing how they come through over the phone.
8. Add energy to your phone calls by standing up. Nobody likes talking to a “blah” person. People who
have good posture tend to come across more enthusiastically than those who don’t.
9. When you finish a conversation, always summarize it in the same way you would end a live meeting.
By doing so, you can prevent misinterpretation of your discussion.
10. Always allow the other person to have the final comment or question. Just because you’ve asked all of your questions doesn’t mean the other person has asked all of theirs.
11. Avoid negotiating over the phone. Use it as a means of introducing, following-up on, or confirming
information. It’s impossible to truly read body language over the phone so you lose a major negotiat-ing tool. A phone call, however, is an excellent way to introduce a new idea you would like to receive
some feedback on. Many times, it will allow criticism to be gained in a less threatening manner than if
it were to occur in a traditional sales call.
12. Never use a speaker phone with a customer, even if they say it is permissible. Speaker phones add to
the perception that the conversation is not important enough to capture 100% of your attention. (The
only exception is when there is a group involved.)
Source: http://www.thesaleshunter.com/Resources/Articles/EBooks/Phone%20Sales%20...