The last thing a business owner wants to deal with is late payments. That’s why they may want to consider asking for payment upfront. One of the best ways to do this efficiently and effectively is to get credit card information during a sales call.
The truth is, if you’ve played your cards right, people will be happy to pay you for your product or services. Here are x ways to position yourself so that you can get credit card information over the phone.
Before the Actual Call
There’s a lot that needs to happen before a sales call in order to get credit card information over the phone.
Mostly, business owners just need to have a very clear picture of their customer map. Once they have that everything else starts falling into place.
Here are the things that need to occur before a sales call in order to increase your chances of getting an upfront payment.
Market Research
I’m a big believer in knowing your market better than they know themselves.
This will help business owners craft content, send enticing emails, use social media effectively and get people on the phone in the first place.
That’s why the first step is to do your market research so you know the following:
- Who is the audience exactly?
- What are they struggling with?
- How are they feeling?
- What do they want?
- How do they communicate what they are feeling?
- What kinds of challenges/obstacles are in the way of them paying you?
If business owners can find answers to these questions – and then use that in their marketing – clients and customers will already be primed to pay you ASAP.
Have a strategy.
One thing I often help my business coaching clients with is mapping out a system that leads to sales.
Usually, one of two things is going on. Either they are doing too much (like trying to be on every social media platform) or they don’t have a strategy.
If you have no strategy, then you can’t get paid.
When creating systems, start with the end in mind. In other words, start with your offering and reverse engineer the sales process.
This will help you craft every single touch point until you get a sale. If you get all the touchpoints right, then you increase the chances of getting credit card information on the phone.
Here’s a sample of how to use systems to increase your chances of getting paid upfront:
- Drive traffic to an opt-in.
- Craft an opt-in that caters to your market’s needs. When someone opts-in then they are on your email list.
- Send a series of emails meant to get people on a webinar.
- People attend the webinar and are prompted to book a call.
- Call is booked.
- Sales call.
Use online tools to streamline.
There are two things to keep in mind here. The first is market research. If you do it well then you’ll know what kind of opt-ins, emails, and presentation to create.
The second is leveraging tools and software to automate the process as much as possible. This saves a lot of time and streamlines the process. It also creates a great user experience.
By combining these two things, business owners significantly increase their chances of getting credit card information on the sales call.
First, the client has already been exposed to you and your work. Second, you’ve probably already helped them accomplish something via the free content. Third, they’ve had a pleasant experience.
This is how you can have sales conversations where people have already made up their minds about paying you.
During the call.
Once you’ve done the work to prime a customer and get them on the phone, it’s time to discuss what happens during the call.
Here are some strategies which will help you be able to get credit card information during a sales call.
Don’t give away your power.
When it comes to sales, many business owners make the mistake of letting the prospect drive the call.
There’s one mindset shift that will change that.
This is not for them to see if you’re good enough for them, it’s for you to see if they are good enough for you.
If you keep that in mind, you will maintain control of the sales call.
Show them the what, not the how.
One of my mentors taught me a great sales strategy when I was oversharing on sales calls.
“Show them the what, not the how,” she advised.
In other words, point out why the need you by showing the problem (the what), but don’t tell them how to solve that problem.
If they want that information, they’ll have to pay.
Furthermore, if you’re able to do this well, you open their eyes to why they need you as soon as possible.
Make a time-sensitive offer.
If you’ve maintained control of the conversation and you’ve shown them the value of your offering, people will be ready to come on board.
However, in order to have them come on board immediately, you’ll want to consider a time-sensitive offer.
For instance, maybe you offer $X off, but it’s only valid if they pay right then. Make the offer enticing enough where it’ll be hard for them to say no.
This fires off two marketing strategies at once: scarcity and exclusivity.
Scarcity works because they don’t have a lot of time. Realizing there isn’t “a lot” of something makes it more valuable.
Exclusivity because they feel special for having been offered an “exclusive” deal. They feel like they are a part of an inner circle.
Both methods move people toward giving you their credit card information over the phone.
Final Thoughts
Getting credit card information over the phone during a sales call will help eliminate late payments. It will also help eliminate objects so that you increase sales. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.
Just note that if you decide to take credit card information via the phone, that there are certain regulations you must follow.
