Tweet

How can I make cold calling easier?

Written by: Karen Andrews

Article Overview: Lately I have been working with a number of sales teams to help them increase the success of their cold calling and I thought I would share with you some of my tips for success:

How can I make cold calling easier?

Lately I have been working with a number of sales teams to help them increase the success of their cold calling and I thought I would share with you some of my tips for success:

• Use a friendly, conversational approach rather than a cold, direct approach

• Don’t try and sell on the phone; you can’t. You can, however, get a meeting or permission to send information.

• Talk about how you can help that business or how you have helped other business. Don’t try and sell to them.

• Name other clients that you are working with who are in a similar industry or who are a similar size to the company you are calling.

• Set a goal for each phone call. Would you like contact information, a meeting or permission to send information.

• Write down all the possible objections that you are likely to encounter and have an answer ready for them.

• Target a particular Industry at a time so the script can be adapted and modified to their current situation/challenges/problems etc

• Always treat Assistants, Personal Assistants and Executive Assistants with respect; they have the power to get you in or keep you out.

• If you get through to the right contact and they sound busy or harassed ask them “is now a good time to talk?” should I call you at a later time?

• Make your calls from 9.30am to about 11.30am and then start again around 2pm and go through till 4pm

• Set yourself a call target rather than a time target, it makes it easier to achieve.

• Don’t leave messages; it is rare that anyone would call you back.

• Ask or appeal for help rather than just going straight into a spiel

• Don’t be fooled into thinking that a person asking you to send information means they are interested….. they are simply trying to get you off the phone!

• If you send information by email make sure you follow it up the next day to confirm the person received it. This gives you the chance to ask them if they have any questions and gauge their interest in meeting.


• Try and do your calls in a block of time, one after the other, after the other. After you have finished, for example, 10 calls then send out information or do any follow up. This saves you reliving the ‘fear’ or the ‘pain’ of picking up the phone; after about 3 or 4 calls you will have established a habit and you will be much more confident.

Related Articles
  Stop By All That Business Your Are Driving By If You Want to Increase Sales
  What Cold Calling Business Lead Management Can Do For Your Business
  Is cold calling right for my business?
  Cold Calling
  Overcoming The Fear Of Cold Calling

Article Tags: closed questions, cold calling, increase sales, managing sales, open questions, prospecting, questioning, sales, sales coach, sales expert, sales person, sales pipeline, sales strategy, sales tips, sales tricks, strategic selling, telemarketing



Related Forum Posts
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I think it really depends on what you are selling. For example, we sell chiropractic software that they can enter and store their notes on. Since the law is requiring them to go electronic by 2014, we have a pretty good chance of calling someone who needs it. I agree that for other products and services cold calling would probably be a waste of time. I think the key to cold calling is knowing how to get past the gate keeper. If you just keep calling people and have no clue how to get to the decision maker, cold calling is a BIG waste of time. There are some really good books out there that will teach a person how to do that if he/she decides cold calling would be helpful to their business.
I hate Cold Calling! - In my past I was really scared to cold calling until I realized that cold calling in my line of work was the only way for me to generate accounts. I assiociated large amounts of pain in my life with not cold calling such as loss of house, car, wife.... The fear of losing all of that helped me over come the fear. Good luck with your problem It might help to think its all in your head and the only thing in the world that you have control over is your own mental thinking.
Re: Who hates cold calling? - Why anyone would use cold calling is beyond me. It's simply an ineffective tactic and a waste of time when you measure conversion rate. If you really understanding your customer segments and how your products and services provide value, there are many more effective strategies than cold calling.
Re: Who hates cold calling? - Here's how I have had success with cold calling: Adopt the right attitude.If you fear/hate cold calling, chances are you are feeling like an intruder. The person on the other end of the line isn't making us feel that way. We are. Why do we feel like an intruder? Could be a couple of reasons. One: we don't really believe in the value our product offers. Two: we aren't calling a somewhat qualified prospect. The person you are calling has problems. He/she WANTS solutions. EXAMPLE: I cold called someone yesterday. An ad agency. The web site offered a direct line to the agency principal. This was the conversation: "Hi, I'm a direct response copywriter who works with agencies who are swamped with writing projects. Do you ever hire outside writers?" [i:4b9wkh89]KEY: In one sentence he knows what I want. Before I called, I know that most agencies hire outside writers. It's a question of whether or not they need one now. [/i:4b9wkh89] His response? Yes. Now , here's where I need to resist the temptation to [u:4b9wkh89]tell[/u:4b9wkh89] him how great I am. I simply said, "I'd like to email you some evidence that shows how I can add value for your clients. Where can I email it to?" He gave me his email address and that was the end of the cold call. He didn't say , hmmmm, that would be nice...he simply, literally told me his email addresss. That's a sign he has a need. I sent him off some recent results I produced for a client. Yesterday he sent me an email asking to learn more about me. Who knows where it will go but it started with a cold call. So, why did this approach allow me to be heard and generate interest? I knew something about my potential prospect's needs. I let him know quickly what I was after. I didn't try to bend his ear with a 'Stop me when you hear something you like' story. Try this and see how if works for you. It's important to believe what you are offering can change the life of the person you're calling. Once you believe that, it's easy to understand that every time you make a call , you have a chance to make a difference for someone.
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I can see a role for calling your warm market, people who have opted in to your list or requested more info from your website. But is does cold calling really offer the best return on your investment of time? Sure you can "maintain" a positive mental attitude and eventually find someone to buy your stuff, but it takes an awful lot of "maintaining". I would prefer to spend my time improving my web copy skills so as to achieve a higher conversion rate online and use the telephone to contact those who have requested further info. One guy who has a lot to say on this subject is Daegan Smith ("The King of never calling a single lead"). I am not one of his affiliates, but I do enjoy his email newsletter. You can learn a lot from what he has to say - and from the way that he says it. So if you want to get OUT of cold calling, check out via a Google search what he has to say!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Leading with Discernment

How to Improve Your Time Management

Are You Remarkable Enough?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.