Want to know how to sell a million over the phone? First, throw out all the preconceived ideas you've had about closing business over the phone. See if some of these ideas sound familiar to you:

"You must first ask the customer how she/he is to begin a call."

"You have to get past the gatekeeper somehow."

"You can't negotiate and close over the phone."

If you have had difficulty selling a million over the phone, it may be because you've somehow been convinced that the comments above are factual. Truth is, it all begins with the phone. Unless you work in a retail environment, where customers are coming to you, we are all selling over the phone.

Just the other day I was getting a pedicure and the woman next to me and I began talking. She is the key sales corporate trainer for a Fortune 1000 company. My new friend, Anne, shared with me how they train their sales professionals to sell. They begin with a one-day program on presentations, the second day focuses on the sales call process, and the third day is on negotiation/facilitation. 

After asking me about my book, SELLING TO ANYONE OVER THE PHONE, Anne asked, "What salespeople use the phone?" I felt like jumping up out of my chair, risking smudging my freshly polished toenails, and yelling, "What salespeople DON'T?"

But you'll be happy to know that I contained myself (hey, who has time to sit at the salon for a 20-minute touch up?)

If their company's salespeople don't make phone calls to initiate relationships, set appointments, and generate referrals, their company can't remain in business. No one physically cold-calls customers anymore. We don't have the time, the budgets, and even if we had the time and money, due to security, we can't get into buildings the way we used to. It all begins with the effective phone call.*

According to Charlotte-Based, speaker and author, Jeffrey Gitomer, "There's only one way to make a million over the phone -- call someone who has a million dollars and sell them something." Jeffrey also adds: "The way to high earnings in telephone sales is by calling high-qualified people, with high income, and selling them something that is high priced -- and high in value."

Perhaps that sounds easier said than done for many of us. To understand how to make a million by selling over the phone, all of us need to know HOW to accomplish this. Since we show our clients how to make millions selling over the phone, I'm going to include an acronym below to get you and your company's started on the road to making a million over the phone.

M  I L L I O N

M = Make at least 20 outbound calls daily. Just like winning the lottery, you can't win if you refuse to buy a ticket. If not enough calls are made, the likelihood of making the big bucks through the phone can't happen. (Unless you are fortunate enough to find that one customer with a million dollars to spend.)

I = Interest your customer by grabbing her attention right away. As mentioned earlier, if your opening line is "How are you?" you'll risk sounding like an amateur telemarketer. Get more creative by opening with a more compelling statement. How about the truth? Let's dispel the "conceal unless you have to reveal" phone selling philosophy. A quality introduction may sound like this: " Hello, Janet, this is Renee Walkup with SalesPEAK.  John Michaels said we should talk about your sales teams need to boost profits."

Key points here: use a referral, if possible, and make sure you include the word "need" in your opener. A word about referrals from Gitomer: "Use your existing asset base of customers, friends and contacts to earn referrals.  Gain a testimonial from your referrals. A secret is to be so memorable...that you make the sale and earn other referrals."

L = Listen, listen, listen. Recently Tony Parinello, author of SELLING TO VITO interviewed me on his Entrepreneur Radio program. When we arrived at this topic, Tony wanted to know why as businesspeople, most of us don't listen well. The reality is, we've all had writing courses, reading courses, composition and literature courses, but rarely has anyone I come in contact with ever had a listening course! He said, "Maybe we should just shut up and listen to our customers."

Not only do we need to listen better, especially over the phone, since we lack the advantage of reading body language, we need to listen between the lines for hidden meanings. The better off you are at accomplishing this, the closer you are to making a million over the phone!

L = Lead your customer to buy. If your customers are talking, this puts them in the driver's seat to the sale. Customers know they are right, so by asking high value questions and getting them to talk, you are closer to that million-dollar sale. You lead them through decisions that they can make and you resist the urge to "tell" so much. Customers love to hear themselves talk, so learn what they have to say and watch the sale close more quickly.

I = Influence change. Ken Blanchard has made millions pointing out that businesspeople don't like change in his best selling book, WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? Well, even though your customers prefer not to embrace change; guess what? That's where you come in. The customer has a problem, a need, a desire to fulfill and you have a solution. Any solution you offer is considered change for your customer. Recognize this and that's how you are going to effectively influence decisions that will benefit both you and your customers.

O =  Organize your calls. When was the last time you cleared your desk, turned off your beeping computer/phone/Blackberry and other tools? After that, did you have a list of questions and a plan of action in front of you to accomplish making your million-dollar calls?

If you want to close the big deals, be well prepared prior to your calls. If this is a new prospect, call the customer after hours, listen to the voice mail to identify the customer's personality style and work that into your call organization.  Once your call organization is complete, watch your bank account grow!

N = Negotiate over the phone. Getting back to the earlier statement, it is perfectly acceptable and even desirable to negotiate over the phone. We do this all the time and it works very effectively. After all, it's impossible to travel to each of our customer's sites just to make an appointment! We are negotiating appointments, presentation calls, contract terms, fees, shipping and everything imaginable over the phone.

According to Cherie Marchio, Executive Vice President of Cengage Learning in Cincinnati, who runs a team of over 100 professional tele-salespeople, "All of our business is negotiated over the phone." Her salespeople never see clients face-to-face, and yet, they generate well over 500 million dollars in profitable revenue for their parent company. I've trained their salespeople for over 8 years and they keep getter better and making more money, year after year.

So, want to make a million over the phone? Pick up the receiver and happy selling!