Sales Training - Is There Any Need For Cold Calling Anymore?
Sales Training - Is There Any Need For Cold Calling Anymore?
Cold Calling had been with us for thousands of years and will be for the foreseeable future. That's right, I said thousands. No matter which name you give it the art of cold calling has been developed over thousands of years of networking, knocking on doors, town criers, street peddlers and hand written letters of introduction.
All of these time tested methods have one thing in common. They are forms of cold calling. They seek to identify other people who you do not yet have a relationship with and to initiate contact to see if there are areas of mutual benefit. It's about building relationships. That doesn't sound scary does it?
WARNING:
If you get a lot of inquiries from the internet or other forms of lead generation and think you don't need cold calling then think again. You need this more than most!! The skills you can acquire from picking up the phone and engaging someone in conversation are essentially the core skills of selling.
No other form of prospecting has such immediacy, such human contact and so much potential for winning long term business. Yes, I mean it. Google Pay Per Click (ppc), for example, is one of the greatest sales breakthroughs of the last 100 years but is only one way of prospecting and lead generation. You should never base your business on just one form of prospecting. Appointment setting largely based on cold calling has some fantastic benefits for your business:
It is instant. You can read an article about a local business in your Chamber Of Commerce magazine and be talking to the same person within 5 minutes. No other prospecting method allows this speed of contact.
You are constantly learning. A business consultant contact that I was once acquainted with, approached every call with the curiosity of a child. Even if it was immediately apparent that there was no potential for immediate business he would ask permission to have a conversation (you can't do that with ppc). He would be interested in the marketplace, the economy and how it affected their industry, environmental and legislation changes, the challenges the businesses faced - you name it, he was interested. Within the space of 1 day he could go from knowing very little about an industry to having an almost 'expert' intimate knowledge about what was going on. Did that help him 'position' himself on future calls --- You bet!
It's one of the most human forms of contact - When done professionally and properly. In this world of electronic communication it is very often the strength and quality of our human interactions that will distinguish you as a top performer.
Imagine for a minute, you have just been flicking through the trade press for your industry and a Director of an organisation has given an interview.
In that interview he talks about some of the challenges he faces over the next two years that could have a massive positive or negative impact on his business. As you read you understand because you have helped solve those challenges with other clients. You know the errors they could make that would cost them a fortune in time and money. You have the solution easily packaged up and ready to go. What would you do? Hopefully, you said something along the lines of "That's a stupid question Peter! I would be on the phone right away introducing myself." If you did - well done. Strip away all the hype and that is essentially what professional cold calling is.
Sales Training Is There Any Need For Cold Calling Anymore - To learn more about this author, visit Peter O'Donoghue's Website.
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Sales Training - Is There Any Need For Cold Calling Anymore?
Cold Calling had been with us for thousands of years and will be for the foreseeable future. That's right, I said thousands. No matter which name you give it the art of cold calling has been developed over thousands of years of networking, knocking on doors, town criers, street peddlers and hand written letters of introduction.
All of these time tested methods have one thing in common. They are forms of cold calling. They seek to identify other people who you do not yet have a relationship with and to initiate contact to see if there are areas of mutual benefit. It's about building relationships. That doesn't sound scary does it?
WARNING:
If you get a lot of inquiries from the internet or other forms of lead generation and think you don't need cold calling then think again. You need this more than most!! The skills you can acquire from picking up the phone and engaging someone in conversation are essentially the core skills of selling.
No other form of prospecting has such immediacy, such human contact and so much potential for winning long term business. Yes, I mean it. Google Pay Per Click (ppc), for example, is one of the greatest sales breakthroughs of the last 100 years but is only one way of prospecting and lead generation. You should never base your business on just one form of prospecting. Appointment setting largely based on cold calling has some fantastic benefits for your business:
It is instant. You can read an article about a local business in your Chamber Of Commerce magazine and be talking to the same person within 5 minutes. No other prospecting method allows this speed of contact.
You are constantly learning. A business consultant contact that I was once acquainted with, approached every call with the curiosity of a child. Even if it was immediately apparent that there was no potential for immediate business he would ask permission to have a conversation (you can't do that with ppc). He would be interested in the marketplace, the economy and how it affected their industry, environmental and legislation changes, the challenges the businesses faced - you name it, he was interested. Within the space of 1 day he could go from knowing very little about an industry to having an almost 'expert' intimate knowledge about what was going on. Did that help him 'position' himself on future calls --- You bet!
It's one of the most human forms of contact - When done professionally and properly. In this world of electronic communication it is very often the strength and quality of our human interactions that will distinguish you as a top performer.
Imagine for a minute, you have just been flicking through the trade press for your industry and a Director of an organisation has given an interview.
In that interview he talks about some of the challenges he faces over the next two years that could have a massive positive or negative impact on his business. As you read you understand because you have helped solve those challenges with other clients. You know the errors they could make that would cost them a fortune in time and money. You have the solution easily packaged up and ready to go. What would you do? Hopefully, you said something along the lines of "That's a stupid question Peter! I would be on the phone right away introducing myself." If you did - well done. Strip away all the hype and that is essentially what professional cold calling is.
Sales Training Is There Any Need For Cold Calling Anymore - To learn more about this author, visit Peter O'Donoghue's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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