What is wrong with this photograph?

By Bruce King | 16 August 2022

This is a photograph of someone having a session on the telephone to make appointments with prospective customers. Pretend they're real. What is wrong?

Answer: They are not using a telephone headset.

I still visit companies where those people who must make appointments with prospects, sell over telephone or carry out customer service calls and other customer focused activities are using a telephone handset.

Many of those who took my advice and replaced telephones handset with headsets have achieved a twenty per cent plus increase in results and frequently dramatically more.

You must have a headset for several reasons. Firstly, you avoid noise distractions from those around you and can totally focus on the task in hand. You owe it to yourself and the customer or prospective customer to be totally focused.

Secondly, you must have your hands free to be able to carry out other tasks whilst you are making your calls without holding the telephone with your shoulder and cheek. Not only will this give you a stiff neck but, more importantly, it affects your posture which in turn affects your voice, the way you communicate and the way you come across to your prospect or customer.

Thirdly, when you are speaking on the telephone, my Number One rule is that you should always act as if you were sitting down, face to face with that prospect.

You never do anything you would not do if you were not there and you do everything you would do if you were there. You wear the same expression on your face as if you were there and you gesticulate and use mannerisms as if you were there. You cannot do that with a telephone in one hand and a mouse or pen in the other and are not wearing a headset.

If you are not using a headset and you want at least a twenty per cent increase in productivity, it is time to invest in one.

---

There's more inside The Rainmakers Club

Ready to double, triple or even quadruple your sales? Join the Rainmakers Club today and get access to hundreds more worksheets, ebooks, tutorials, guides, tools and downloads.

NEW FOR 2022! Join our growing club of successful small business owners and get The Raindeck free: a 3-deck strategy for brainstorming and running successful marketing campaigns.