Is the size of the contract too small or too large? If too small, the culture of the organisation may be inappropriate to manage the works, and overheads will make the bid uncompetitive. If too large then the company’s resources may not be able to cope. The first M1 motorway project was divided into four separate contracts. John Laing bid for all four and although not the cheapest on each, the client asked them to consider constructing all four as one contract. The total value of the works was very high relative to their annual turnover. Laing’s board made a strategic decision to take on the work.

Has the company experience of this type of work? Again, this may become a strategic decision to break into a new market. Equally, it could be removed from the company’s experience and the decision made to decline.

©2010 American Express. All Rights Reserved.

The greeting should be welcoming. Answer the phone with your company’s name. Smile when you answer the phone, as this alters your tone of voice. A smile can be heard over the phone. Enquire as to the person’s name, but please don’t say ‘Who’s calling?’ It is far better to say ‘May I have your name, please?’ Best of all, if the call is from an existing customer, is to recognise the voice and use the customer’s name immediately.Once you have the person’s name, introduce yourself. It is so much easier and nicer for customers to have the name of the person that they are talking to. Do listen carefully to the enquiry.

If you are in any doubt, ask again, for example ‘Do I understand correctly? Are you looking for…?’ If you then have to pass callers to someone else, always give the name of the person you are putting them through to and make sure that they are connected. If there is any difficulty in connecting callers, get their telephone number, promise to call back and state when the return call will be made. Now if you are able to handle the enquiry yourself and can complete the sale over the phone it is just as important and in many cases more so to offer the add-on, as described in the previous section on retail selling. In many cases customers can be so focused on the one product that they forget or are not aware of the add-ons. There are of course occasions when there is an opportunity to ‘up-sell’. This basically means offering a better product than the one the customer was enquiring about. There also may be an opportunity to cross-sell by offering a new or different product that you may have available. For example, ‘Mr/Ms Customer, you may or may not be aware that we also do…’

©2010 American Express. All Rights Reserved.