Do You Make The Biggest Mistake on the Phone?

What happens when your phone rings at the office, do you convert the caller into a new client or do you make the number one mistake that many hypnotists do on the phone? In this post, I want to key you in on this mistake on the phone and teach you how you can overcome it to boost your business.

In my experience, when potential clients call my office they typically ask 3 questions. “Do you help people with this problem?” “How many sessions does it take?” “How much does it cost for a session(s)?”

The biggest mistake made by most hypnotists, not properly trained in sales, is giving potential clients direct answers to these questions. What tends to happen when these questions are asked, the ineffective hypnotist will directly answer these questions with something like, “yes I help people do that,” “it will take this number of sessions,” and “I charge this much per session.” As soon as they answer these questions more often than not that ends the phone call and the sale is lost.

If you want to increase your conversion rate and turn your calls into clients then it is essential that you get your potential clients to open up rather than just answer their questions. In life people make three types of investments; time, energy, and money. Your goal on the phone should be to get your client to invest their time and energy into the call which greatly increases the likelihood of them investing their money in your services.

So how do you get your clients to open up? This is very simple to do if you follow two crucial rules. Rule number one is never answer a caller’s initial questions with direct answers. Rule number two is answer their questions with a question. By answering a question with a question it encourages the client to divulge more information about their situation. This is crucial to getting the caller to open up and invest their time and energy. Here are a few simple examples of this:

Caller: “Do you help people with weight loss?”

Hypnotist: “Can you please tell me more about your situation so I can best answer you based on your needs?”

Caller: “How many sessions does it take to quit smoking?”

Hypnotist: “Can you tell me more about your habit?”

Caller: “How much do your sessions cost?”

Hypnotist: “What is it that you want to achieve using hypnosis?”

These are 3 very simple examples of answering a question with a question. I would encourage you to think about the common questions you get on the phone and how to respond to a caller in a way that gets them talking rather than giving direct answers. Trust me this will increase your conversion rate significantly.

My goal is to have the caller on the phone for at least 15 minutes for several reasons. First, I want the caller to invest their time and energy. Second, I want to use questions to elicit information about the client so I know what I need to say in order to close the sale. Selling hypnosis is all about selling value. It is impossible to sell value if you know nothing about the person and what’s important to them. Finally, I want to create rapport with the person and demonstrate to them by listening that I really care about them. This is perhaps the most important reason why I want to get them opening up to me. The ineffective hypnotist in regards to selling, answers the caller directly which leaves them with a cold, distant, and unattached feeling to the hypnotist. By spending time with them on the phone and truly listening, the caller will get a feeling of love and connectedness to you. Consequently, they will feel the most comfortable with you and more often than not will become a new client of yours.

In addition, if the caller just invested 15-20 minutes of their time and invested their energy talking about their problems they are unlikely to want to continue to call other hypnotists and do the same thing over again. Even if they do call another hypnotist, most make the biggest phone mistake, and the caller will end up calling you right back to book sessions with you due to the rapport that was created. They will have an intuitive feeling that you are the right one for the job and this all will happen just because of your willingness to listen to them and get them opening up.

By following this simple phone approach you will notice an increase in your conversion of caller into clients. Take time to develop these skills because there are so many people that need your help. Eliminate this common mistake on the phone and watch as your schedule fills up before your eyes. Many blessings to all and happy hypnotizing.

Tags: hypnosis, hypnosis classes, hypnosis training, hypnotherapy, hypnotism, hypnotist, john weir, john weir hypnosis, nlp, psychology, More…self-help

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Comment by RevLindsay G. King on February 16, 2011 at 10:57am: You remind me of the smart salesman who was asked by his friend: "Why do you always answer a question with a question?"

Quickly, he responded: "And why NOT? It always works for me!

Think of it this way: To a fish, bait on a hook offered to a fish is like a question: "Hey, fish! Would you like to have a snack?

Comment by Kathleen Hanover on February 14, 2011 at 7:41am: The best advice I can give anyone who owns and runs their own business is to get professional sales training. My favorite is Sandler Training. It's pricey but truly life-changing, in my opinion. It saved my bacon.

You can get an idea of what Sandler is like is to read the book The Sandler Rules: 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply ...

@James, the belief that the person who places the call controls the conversation is simply that, a belief (and probably a limiting one at that.) Sandler teaches a "no-pressure cold call" that teaches salespeople how to get over that limiting belief.

I never make cold calls. All of the calls I deal with are inbound, generated by my marketing efforts. And I control every one of them because I use professional sales techniques.

Comment by Kathleen Hanover on February 14, 2011 at 7:34am: Answering a question with a question is a sales tactic that, when used amateurishly, can make the prospect defensive and break rapport, because it can seem as though you're being manipulative and evasive.

The isn't to "remain in control" of the prospect or to answer questions with questions. The point is to discover, with honesty and integrity on both sides, whether you as a practitioner have a skill set that can help the prospect, and whether the prospect has a budget that is fair to you and a level of motivation that is likely to lead to a successful outcome.

If both parties believe what they are about to get is more valuable or as valuable as what they're about to give up, and they feel comfortable with each other, then they will probably choose to work together (close the sale.)

So, the point of answering questions with questions is indeed to get the prospect talking, because you as a salesperson need information, and they as a prospect need the opportunity to describe their pain and connect with it, so they connect with their motivation to end the pain.

The thing is that people don't usually connect with real pain the first time you ask them about it, which is the real reason you answer questions with questions, like, what does that mean to you? Why is that important? What happens if you do nothing? What have you tried up to now? How did that work for you? How motivated are you on a scale of 1 to 10? What's the next option if hypnosis doesn't work?

Who wants to connect with pain? So if you were to ask, "what can I help you with" and they say "my wife wants me to stop smoking," it's likely the prospect hasn't connected with his true motivation. Ask more questions, shut up and listen, and eventually you get down to the real pain, which could be "I'm afraid my marriage might be over" or "I'm terrified of dying of lung cancer like my uncle" or something like that.

Comment by Dimitrios on February 13, 2011 at 7:16pm: Thanks. Very helpful information John.

Comment by James Malone on February 13, 2011 at 9:39am: One quick point: when I meant "controlling the call" I certainly didn't mean establishing an unequal relationship. Perhaps a better choice of words would be "optimizing the call"-as I do believe this initial contact is incredibly important.

In my experience this sometimes didn't happen when I answered the call directly, especially if I was in a distracted state because a client was expected in shortly or some other task had my attention-of course other people's experiences probably vary.

What has worked for me is returning a call when I am comfortable and free from distraction so that I can give it my full attention and a fair amount of time. Not unlike the standard I have when doing an actual client session.

Comment by Fable Goodman on February 13, 2011 at 6:03am: the end of my response got cutt off, Ill try and remember what I said...

Sometimes they will say "what was it about?"

I would say: " I don't know, I have just checked the last number that called when I got in, and rang back to see what it was about."

If they appear notr to know who rang, I might say: "that's fine, I am sure that whoever it was will ring back when the time is right, if it is important."

Bear in mind, that for all I know, I could be actually talking to the right person, but the cant admit it as there is someone else there who they don't want to know that they have rang me.

only when I am ceratin that I am speaking to the right person, will I talk about hypnosis, and their issues.

So quite a few things to think about there.

Thanks again for starting this off John

Comment by Fable Goodman on February 13, 2011 at 5:54am: Ideally, I want to speak to the person at the moment they have rang me.

I don't have any problems with them being in charge of the call.

I am in charge of my end of the call (how I receive it), and they are in charge of their end.

That is in my way of thinkng, the way the balance of power should be.

I assume that this is exact right moment to speak to them, as they may have made preparation physically or menatlly to make the call, selecting a moment when they are in private, and are not likely to be disturbed.

I like to reward them for that effort, by answering.

If I do ring somebody back, (perhaps because they have left a message, or just rang and hung up on no answer. I would at a very early stage, ask "is this a good time to talk?"

And there are a couple of other things to take into consideration when ringing someone back.

When you ring back, you do not know if you are going to be speaking to the same person who rang you, and if they have not left a name, then you can't ask for betty or mr smith. It could be a workmate, or a familly member that picks up the phone. and they not be aware that someone on that phone has called a hypnotherapist. and that person may not want them to know.

It is important , I feel, to ascertain that you are speaking to the right person before disclosing that you are a hypnotist.

I might say something like: " oh hello, this is Lawrie Shaw. just returning a call, I think sombody from this number, might have called me a few minutes ago."

They may say: 'ah I think it was my mother that rang, I'll get her...'

Often the person answering the phone will know nothing about it, and the call ends there.

Sometimes they will say "what was it about?"

I would say: " I don't know, I have just checked the last number that called when I go

Comment by James Malone on February 13, 2011 at 4:52am: Personally I do not like answering the phone directly since the person who makes the call controls it. Rather I return the message promptly and ask "did I reach you at a good time?" and if yes, go into a bit of an interview process as the others here describe. The key does seem to be building rapport and positive expectation.

Comment by John Cleesattel on February 12, 2011 at 8:11pm: I find that the question "so tell me, how will your life be different when you no longer have this issue?" to be extremely valuable.

Some use it to instill hope. I use it to give them a view of a plausible future, and for them to realize the true value of what is available.

John