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The TACTIC You dont have to like cold calls you only have to make them

Guest post by: Andrew Wall

Article Overview: The STORY: Bob absolutely detests cold calling, and when he is in a sales slump, like he is this month, he’ll do just about anything to avoid the phone. The past customer files in his desk will suddenly all get new folders. He’ll update his Rolodex with all the new phone and fax numbers that he can remember. Picking the lint off his suit becomes a serious endeavor. Figuring out his commissions, should he make some sales beyond the normal price points, requires intense calculator work. Lunch time starts at around 10:40 a.m.

The TACTIC You dont have to like cold calls you only have to make them

The STORY:
Bob absolutely detests cold calling, and when he is in a sales slump, like he is this month, he’ll do just about anything to avoid the phone. The past customer files in his desk will suddenly all get new folders. He’ll update his Rolodex with all the new phone and fax numbers that he can remember. Picking the lint off his suit becomes a serious endeavor. Figuring out his commissions, should he make some sales beyond the normal price points, requires intense calculator work. Lunch time starts at around 10:40 a.m.

With luck, he’ll remember that one of his customers mentioned three months ago that she might know someone whom he should stop by and see. At last, someone to call. But, unfortunately, she is on vacation this week. Have to mark that one to call next week.

Thumbing through his card file of past “dead” prospects, he decides to sort them by when he saw them last. Then he’ll call the oldest ones figuring that by now they probably want something. But, looking at the cards, he realizes that not all of them have Date Of Last Contact filled in. “Damn, that won’t work,” he mutters to himself.

I know what I can do, he says to himself, feeling much better, I’ll go find the sales manager and bug him about not having the latest product information sheets that were promised five weeks ago. I really need them today if I’m going to get anywhere.

Coming back to his desk an hour later, without any new product information sheets, he decides that now, since its 2:10 Wednesday afternoon, no one he calls will have any time for him. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning at 10:45 so that kills tomorrow for cold calling. I think I’ll spend the rest of the day preparing for that meeting. It is my first time into the company. I want to make a good impression.

The RESULT:
Bob has not accomplished any prospecting activity that will generate any future sales. In fact, as he sits there, his prospects are being cold called by the competition. And if he contacts them some other day, only to find out they bought from the competition, will he see the point of “Why didn’t you cold call me?”

DISCUSSION:
Unless you have a prospecting plan that is reasonable and doable, you will never do any serious prospecting. Instead, much like Bob, you will go from day to day “running into” prospects who might or might not buy your product.

Most salespeople decide to create a prospecting plan when they are in a sales slump. While a sales slump does provide motivation to do something, the psychological push to do something is based on the fear of failing. Fear is a lousy motivator because every act that the salesperson thinks of doing becomes tinged with the thought that it won’t work. “And since it won’t work,” thinks the salesperson in the slump, “why bother doing it. I’ll just fail.” The vicious circle of sales slump, fear of failing, thinking of things to do but coloring them as probable failures, leads to doing nothing productive.

Perhaps Bob’s preparation for tomorrow’s appointment will result in a sale. If it does, he will believe that when he is in a sales slump, the proper action to take is preparing for a future appointment.

What will Bob do when he does not have an appointment the following day?

APPROACH:
There are many ways for salespeople to prospect. Cold calling on the phone, physically showing up unannounced, sending invitations to seminars, asking existing customers if they were you, whom would they call—literally hundreds of ways. None of them will work unless the salesperson does them on a daily basis.

Daily prospecting is the only method that will work if you want to be successful. How to start? Take the first thirty minutes of every morning and do one of the prospecting activities. Stop thinking about doing it and do it.

At the end of the first week you will have spent a minimum of two and a half hours looking for new business. Within four weeks you will have spent ten hours.

Ten hours a month may not seem like a lot of time, but consider this, if you ask Bob how much time he spent prospecting, he’d tell you the whole day. In truth, he did not spend one minute prospecting. He spent the entire day avoiding it.

THOUGHT:
Prospecting is a daily activity like breathing—If you don’t breathe, you die.

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Article Tags: appointment, being cold, calculator work, commissions, customer files, endeavor, fax numbers, future sales, last contact, lint, lunch time, new folders, product information sheets, prospects, rest of the day, rolodex, slump, three months, tomorrow morning, wednesday afternoon



Related Forum Posts
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I've never done cold calling for myself, only as a "last ditch attempt" at earning some extra money, on behalf of others. Yes its difficult, I had to pull numbers from a phone book and call to introduce a financial advice company, probably the toughest of them all. The way I got myself through the calls, and continued to make more, was to put myself in the recipients shoes and speak to them as if I were speaking/listening to myself. It just made it more personable, friendly and sometimes I actually enjoyed the conversations I had, although most of them said "no" at the end of the day. I dont think I would be prepared to do this for my own products though.
Re: Your weapon for success - Thank you for the list, keeping that customer relationship is vital because they can also act as your own little marketing team when they talk to their friends and family. Also ask for referrals! Each referral is way better than 40 cold calls.
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Getting over a mammoth cold. As the leader does so does the rest of the team. Everyone seems to be moving slowly - but we need to ramp up for a few projects. I dont everyone really understands that I am working slowly because if I move to fast I may throw up... ;0)
Selling a Service - What sort of service are you trying to sell? I have a good friend who headed up the marketing for a good number of service companies and showing pictures of before and after (if applicable) is good. Putting together a flyer with a bulleted list (quick and easy to read) of the benefits to the customer and testimonials from satisfied customers are all great ways to help sell your service. Cold calls are horrible and I've done them, but never liked it. Besides, your normal return on cold calls is low. I joined a BNI (Business Networking International) networking group to promote my home improvement business and that worked well. I got to know the members and many used my services. At this point they were able to refer qualified leads to me. Let me know what you're selling and I can try to think of some other ideas. Chris
Re: Cold Calling - In my experience the problem with hiring cold callers is that many of the successful candidates already realize that they have a talent for sales and are already working for themselves. Most of the candidates that would take a job cold calling most likely do not have solid selling or client service skills. I used to work for a brokerage firm in Victoria and we hired co-op students to cold call. In my opinion that was a mistake. Potential clients can sense inexperience very quickly and without a seasoned cold caller on your team prospecting will be very challenging.....the key is to find someone with skills that isn't already doing there own selling....tricky. Good luck Phil


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