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Warm Up to Cold Calling

Written by: Andrew Wall

Article Overview: Cold calling: For many of us, the word "cold" is the key. Just the thought of picking up the phone sends a chill up our spines. Unfortunately, if we approach cold calling with an attitude of negativity, we’ll communicate that attitude to the prospect.

Warm Up to Cold Calling

Warm Up to Cold Calling
Cold calling: For many of us, the word "cold" is the key. Just the thought of picking up the phone sends a chill up our spines. Unfortunately, if we approach cold calling with an attitude of negativity, we’ll communicate that attitude to the prospect.

Do you want to send the signal that, "I’m a desperate salesperson in an uncomfortable activity?" Or do you want to indicate that "I’m a financially independent consultant who is comfortable making cold calls?"

Here are some tips for greater effectiveness on the phone:


Stand tall, you won’t fall. Here’s a sure cure for cold call anxiety. Stand up. Throw your shoulders back and take three deep breaths. Inhale deeply and let it out slowly. Look up at the ceiling, not at a 45° angle but straight up. It’s very difficult to feel down when you’re flush with oxygen and looking up.

Contrast that with how you feel when you’re hunched over a desk, sitting in a chair, looking downward. Stop making cold calls sitting down! And use a headset (never a speaker phone) so you can move around and keep your hands free. When you speak to someone in person, you gesture with your hands because it makes you sound warmer. So why not use your hands when speaking on the phone?


Control your tonality. It’s not always what you say; it’s how you say it. If your tone is one of anxiety or fear, no matter what you say you’ll leave an unpleasant impression. But once you’ve pumped yourself up by standing talk and breathing deep, you’re controlling the way you look and the way you feel. Then your tonality will be much more likely to create the atmosphere your prospect will want to listen and respond to.


Mirror the prospect’s voice pattern. People are more comfortable doing business with people who are like them. If you find yourself on the phone with someone who’s every word pierces the air with authority and decisiveness, raise the strength and authority of your own voice just a bit. Of course, you don’t want to assume an accent that isn’t your own – there’s a fine line between mirroring and mocking! But a person who enjoys a casual conversation probably distrusts a fast-talking, to-the-point salesperson, just as someone who likes to punctuate every syllable and drive home every point probably is in no mood for a mellifluous, relaxing voice no matter how sincere and friendly it sounds.


Welcome the "no." What?! That’s right: don’t fear to hear "no." Here’s why: Trying to sell or get an appointment over the phone just sets you up for failure. Instead, set yourself a goal of trying to get 20 people to say "no." By trying to get 20 "no" responses, you’ll be working to eliminate a lot of non-productive leads before they waste your time. Regardless of how many times you hear a "no," you will feel good about yourself when you finish a call. Then, if you get 5 prospects to say "yes," that’s an acceptable kind of "failure!" Anything but a "no" or an appointment is unacceptable. Don’t accept, "Get back to me next week," or "Send us some literature." You can’t get the "no," the only other option to accept is to be invited in.

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Article Tags: anxiety, atmosphere, attitude, chill, cold call, cold calls, decisiveness, deep breaths, doing business, gesture, independent consultant, negativity, oxygen, salesperson, shoulders, speaker phone, spines, tonality, voice pattern, word cold



Related Forum Posts
Re: How to develop sales contacts? - Everyone has the right idea here. Depending on your business, there are different techniques that you could use. For consultants and sales heavy businesses, there are three tactics that I have found especially useful in my business: 1. Attend Networking Events 2. Cold Calling 3. Referral Program 4. Affiliate Program (most successful) The affiliate program was successful for me, as I hooked up with a franchise consultant, and he gave multiple unit businesses that needed my credit card processing services. I highly suggest you hook up with a sales partner, and give him a cut of the monthly revenue.
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - Post cards would be really expensive to send from Japan...but one way to advertise that is not expensive from overseas is by Cold Calling using cheap VoIP equipment. I know Japan has a really good internet connection, so as long as you are willing to stay up late, it might be an option. I cold call from Thailand far, far away from any city using a CDMA wireless internet connection and have had pretty good results. I find tho, that cold calling works best for business 2 business (b2b), rather than b2c products. --matt
Re: Cold Calling - As long as people are out of jobs, you'll probably have a lot of people who say they want to work for straight commission, but if they don't get paid fairly quickly, they usually move on. We've run into that and went through about 500 people (whose resumes looked really good) until we found about 3 good resellers. People just don't want to work for anything. Or they do a good job getting the business but don't do the follow up necessary to make the sale......so they move on thinking they need money NOW. Our business requires all cold calling as well. It's really tough for people to perfect that but there are a lot of good books out there. On is Cold Calling Techniques, by Stephan Schiffman
Re: Hello. - Thanks to all For the Warm Welcome.
Re: I have an invention, now what do I do? - Hi Michelle, Thank you so much for your kind words - much appreciated. Warm Wishes


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