How to Make Your Cold Calling Effective
How to Make Your Cold Calling Effective
When we approach cold calling with a question about what their needs are, potential clients respond much more readily to the idea of talking with us.
To help you with this, here are a few examples of dialogues within four very different industries.
Example: Staffing
In the staffing or recruiting industry, the goal is to call a company and identify whether they need help finding new staff.
The old cold calling approach is, “Hi. My name is... I’m with XYZ Staffing Company, and we offer these services. I’m just calling to...” And by that time, the person pretty much says, “We’re not interested,” right?
With this new cold calling approach, the idea is to think about the problem you’re solving. The problem you’re solving is helping them find good people.
So I would start the conversation with, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” And they usually say, “How can I help you?”
I reply, “I’m just calling to see if your company is still looking at finding good, quality employees to hire?”
The response to that is likely to be, “Well sure. Who’s this?” This is a normal response which we want to be ready for. I would simply say, “My name is Ari and I’m with XYZ Staffing Company and we help companies identify and find good people. I’m just calling to see if your company is in a situation now where you’re looking to hire and find new people.”
Example: Software
Let’s say you’re in the software industry, and that you sell software to improve the
productivity of an organization. What you want to do is focus on the problem that you solve specifically.
What most software salespeople do in cold calling is say, “Hi, we sell software to help improve productivity.” But that doesn’t really identify the problem it solves. You have to focus specifically on an issue.
So, for instance, the software might solve a problem with lost paper-based documents. That’s a very specific issue.
In this case, I might call and say, “I’m just calling to see if your company is having
issues with lost paperwork because of manual paper-based filing systems.”
See how specific that is? It’s very directed to the problem in their world. This is in contrast to, “I want to see if your company is looking to buy some software
or looking to improve productivity,” or something similar.
Example: Advertising
Advertising is a very good example. Typically, what most advertising sales folks start with is an introduction. They talk about their advertising product or services that they offer.
But with our problem solving approach, the question becomes, “What does advertising solve for people?” The first thought usually is that it gets people leads. It gets
more branding.
Let’s go deeper than that. What do leads do for companies? Leads provide sales, right? So if I sell advertising, I might call and say, “Maybe you can help me out for a second. I’m just calling to see if your company is open to new ideas of generating leads for your business.”
From this place, the discussion unfolds around their world, and not your advertising.
That’s the real shift in making cold calling relevant to their world.
Example: Collections
Another example is the collections industry. Typically, collection agencies call companies to see if they can be hired to collect invoices that are unpaid. They usually talk about their services as opposed to making their cold calling focus on the problem.
The client is looking to bring in more revenue from invoices that aren’t paid. So an approach might be, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” The reply is once again, “Sure, how can I help you?”
“I’m just calling to see if your company is still having issues with unpaid invoices.” And the response probably will be, “Well, yeah, we are. Who’s this?”
You can then respond in a very relaxed tone, “This is John. I’m with XYZ Collection Agency. I’m just calling to see if you’d be open to some new ideas on how to better solve that problem.”
These are some examples of how to make your cold calling relevant to the other person and his or her needs. Practice this, and you’ll find that your cold calling conversations become more relaxed. You’ll no longer have to shift into an artificial “salesperson” role.
How to Make Your Cold Calling Effective - To learn more about this author, visit Ari Galper's Website.
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How can we make cold calls “work” when we’re talking to someone we haven’t met, about something they may not need? Well, it’s really simple. First we look at how to relate to them rather than hoping they’ll relate to us and our solution.
When we approach cold calling with a question about what their needs are, potential clients respond much more readily to the idea of talking with us.
To help you with this, here are a few examples of dialogues within four very different industries.
Example: Staffing
In the staffing or recruiting industry, the goal is to call a company and identify whether they need help finding new staff.
The old cold calling approach is, “Hi. My name is... I’m with XYZ Staffing Company, and we offer these services. I’m just calling to...” And by that time, the person pretty much says, “We’re not interested,” right?
With this new cold calling approach, the idea is to think about the problem you’re solving. The problem you’re solving is helping them find good people.
So I would start the conversation with, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” And they usually say, “How can I help you?”
I reply, “I’m just calling to see if your company is still looking at finding good, quality employees to hire?”
The response to that is likely to be, “Well sure. Who’s this?” This is a normal response which we want to be ready for. I would simply say, “My name is Ari and I’m with XYZ Staffing Company and we help companies identify and find good people. I’m just calling to see if your company is in a situation now where you’re looking to hire and find new people.”
Example: Software
Let’s say you’re in the software industry, and that you sell software to improve the
productivity of an organization. What you want to do is focus on the problem that you solve specifically.
What most software salespeople do in cold calling is say, “Hi, we sell software to help improve productivity.” But that doesn’t really identify the problem it solves. You have to focus specifically on an issue.
So, for instance, the software might solve a problem with lost paper-based documents. That’s a very specific issue.
In this case, I might call and say, “I’m just calling to see if your company is having
issues with lost paperwork because of manual paper-based filing systems.”
See how specific that is? It’s very directed to the problem in their world. This is in contrast to, “I want to see if your company is looking to buy some software
or looking to improve productivity,” or something similar.
Example: Advertising
Advertising is a very good example. Typically, what most advertising sales folks start with is an introduction. They talk about their advertising product or services that they offer.
But with our problem solving approach, the question becomes, “What does advertising solve for people?” The first thought usually is that it gets people leads. It gets
more branding.
Let’s go deeper than that. What do leads do for companies? Leads provide sales, right? So if I sell advertising, I might call and say, “Maybe you can help me out for a second. I’m just calling to see if your company is open to new ideas of generating leads for your business.”
From this place, the discussion unfolds around their world, and not your advertising.
That’s the real shift in making cold calling relevant to their world.
Example: Collections
Another example is the collections industry. Typically, collection agencies call companies to see if they can be hired to collect invoices that are unpaid. They usually talk about their services as opposed to making their cold calling focus on the problem.
The client is looking to bring in more revenue from invoices that aren’t paid. So an approach might be, “Maybe you can help me out for a second?” The reply is once again, “Sure, how can I help you?”
“I’m just calling to see if your company is still having issues with unpaid invoices.” And the response probably will be, “Well, yeah, we are. Who’s this?”
You can then respond in a very relaxed tone, “This is John. I’m with XYZ Collection Agency. I’m just calling to see if you’d be open to some new ideas on how to better solve that problem.”
These are some examples of how to make your cold calling relevant to the other person and his or her needs. Practice this, and you’ll find that your cold calling conversations become more relaxed. You’ll no longer have to shift into an artificial “salesperson” role.
How to Make Your Cold Calling Effective - To learn more about this author, visit Ari Galper's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle'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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New Cold Calling and Sales Approach - Cold calling and sales guru and EvanCarmichael.com expert Ari Galper explains how the Unlock The Game sales approach can provide you with a framework for how to create trust over the phone when you are cold calling.
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