Get Rid of “Hi, How Are You?”
Oct 04
In my recent post, 21 Things I Would Like to Fix About Sales, I stated that sales people should not open sales calls with, “Hi, how are you today?”
That prompted one person to ask what they can say instead. Here are my thoughts…
First, it depends on the type of sales environment you work in. Let’s take a look at a few different scenarios.
Cold Calls
I get my share of cold calls and when the first words I hear when I pick up the telephone are, “How are you today?” my knee-jerk thought is, “This is a sales call.” That often causes me to shut down mentally and immediately look for ways to end the call.
I’m not suggesting that cold calling is dead or that it is ineffective, but opening a call with those words is one of the fastest ways to lose your prospect’s attention.
A more effective approach is to start by identifying a potential problem your prospect might be facing—you determine this through your expertise or the research you did before you called.
For example, let’s say your company sells employee incentive programs. Your pre-call research helped you learn that a prospect’s company is in the process of merging with another company. You could open your call like this,
“Mr. Smith, most companies experience a significant decline in employee productivity during a merger and an increase in sick days. I understand that you are currently merging with XYZ Conglomerate and wondered what you’re experiencing.”
This demonstrates that you have done some research and have an understanding of a potential problem that the prospect may be facing.
Not only is it more effective than “Hi, how are you?” it captures their attention and helps you stand out from every other sales person calling that person.
Face-to-Face Meeting
When meeting a prospect in a B2B setting a “Hi, how are you?” greeting appears natural but it does little, if anything, to add to the conversation.
It’s okay if your prospect opens the conversation with this question but I suggest that you take a slightly different approach if you’re the one initiating the dialogue and simply say, “Hi, great to meet you.”
Combined with a strong handshake, confident smile and good eye contact, this is a powerful way to open a sales conversation.
Then, instead of engaging in small talk, demonstrate that you respect their time by saying, “I know you’re busy so I want to confirm that you still have 30 minutes set aside for our meeting.”
Retail
My sales career started in retail many years ago and the most common greeting front-line sales associates use next to “Can I help you?” is “How are you, today?”
Unfortunately, this does little to separate you from your competitors and stand out from the crowd. Plus, when we use this type of greeting, the automatic response we typically get in return is “just looking.”
If you want people to respond differently, you need to change your greeting and use something a bit different. One of the most effective approaches is to say,
“Welcome to (insert store name), what brings you in today?”
In today’s highly competitive business world, we need to look for every opportunity to stand out from the competition and eliminating, “Hi, how are you?” from our vocabulary and initial sales approach is one step in this direction.
I deliver engaging, impactful workshops and keynote presentations that help sales people close more deals. Please feel free to contact me if I can help you or your company: 905-633-7750 Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca
Kelley,
Saw the “R” word and had to add my 2 cents. I would take the retail scenario a bit deeper and suggest that associates use the “choice” greeting. Say a customer walks in to a jewelry store. I would say “welcome; are you shopping for yourself today or someone special?” I find a greeting like this goes even further to avoid the dreaded “just looking” response.
Great post!
Lee, I can’t disagree with you.
However, I would suggest that’s even more effective to say, “what brings you into our store today? because open questions are more effective in drawing people into a conversation.
Thanks for this follow-up post. I can appreciate your thoughts on the opening of a cold call. As I commented on your last post, this is a big pet peeve of mine. “How are you?” is disingenuous and adds little value to the conversation. If one was to use your suggested approach, I am curious what response you are hoping to receive from the prospect. Do you expect them to answer the question with out knowing who you are and why you are asking, or do you expect that to prompt them to ask you who you are are, thus giving you an opportunity to introduce yourself?
Thanks for sharing.
Mike,
I obviously missed a key step in the opening. See my reply to Dave’s comment.
Thanks for you commenting!
Thanks for the follow up post, Kelley! As the person who asked for alternatives, I appreciate your assistance in writing about this. This has been a thorn in my side and I’m ready to ditch “Hi, how are you?” from my vocabulary.
Kelley, it’s not often that I disagree with you, but I think I’m not in total agreement here. Actually, the sentence you identify in cold calling is more off putting than the Hi, how are you. Imagine–getting a call from someone you don’t know, who hasn’t introduced him/herself, talking about something that I may or may not care about. I know it’s a sales pitch, I ditch those calls as quickly as possible.
Perhaps the “Hi, how are you?” question is misused, but there has to be some level of personal connection to get people to listen. I reflected on the calls I’ve received in the last week–from people I know and have a relationship with–they always started with a Hi, how are you? And they were interested in the response. Then we went to the business part of the call–it may have been a status update, it may have been planning for something in the future, whatever. The calls with people I knew started with some level of connecting and social bonding.
I tend to think in sales cold/warm calls, that connection in someway is important. I think an introduction, “Hi, I’m Dave Brock…,” needs to be near the beginning. For example, yesterday, I got a call very much like you outlined, I had to stop the call and say, who are you and why should I be talking to you. You can guess where the call went.
I think the “How are you” piece may not be appropriate, but some level of connecting is necessary before launching into the pitch..
I’m wandering a little. I agree and disagree, but I think we must look at new ways of establoshing that connection–so you are on target with your intent in this post.
Dave,
Great comment and perspective.
I realize that I made a mistake and missed a key component to the opening and that is introducing yourself first before launching into the questioning phase.
Assuming this is an initial cold call, I believe it is appropriate to introduce yourself first by saying something like, “Hi David, it’s Kelley Robertson from XYZ calling. We specialize in…”
After that initial opening I think it makes sense to move into my suggested approach.
However, if this is a call to someone whom you know, the dynamic change entirely and it may be relevant to ask, “How are you?”
Cheers!
Excellent Topic Kelley! Nothing can kill a call faster than answering “busy” when asked that question. If you want to ease in to the topic, I suggest making a comment instead of asking the question (after your name etc), like – “I hope you’re doing well, the purpose of my call… etc.” We have to get to the point quickly!
Mike, I like that approach. Let’s face it, everyone is busy today!
Telling somone why you’re calling is a great way to start. Just had a cold call from a guy who launched into a pitch about his company. He spent several minutes boring me instead of getting to the point.
Excellent Topic Kelley! Nothing can kill a call faster than answering “busy” when asked that question. If you want to ease in to the topic, I suggest making a comment instead of asking the question (after your name etc), like – “I hope you’re doing well, the purpose of my call… etc.” We have to get to the point quickly!
I typically just introduce myself and say why I’m calling. I learned not to ask how someone is from my father years ago. He owned a retail store and hated hearing sales people call and ask how he was so he responded with “I’m not well. My dog just died today.” It’s tough for someone on the phone to recover lost ground like that.
Good approach. Get to the point and don’t waste the other person’s time. Busy decision makers like that.