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Stop Cold Calling! Turn Your Prospects Into Clients
| Guest post by: Meridith Elliott Powell |
Article Overview: Sales should be fun, something you look forward to, and a skill that you are motivated to develop and enhance. For most people, it is something they dread and cold calling is a big reason. Why do people cold call? It always amazes me. It isn't fun, it is stressful and no one really ever feels good after it is over. If you want to turn your prospects into customers then stop cold calling!
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Stop Cold Calling! Turn Your Prospects Into Clients
If you want to turn your prospects into clients - stop
making cold calls. Yes, you heard me! Unless you just love calling people you
don't know, who don't know you, and pushing your product or service on them
then stop. You know you want to, you know your prospects want you to, and
whether you know it or not there is a better way.
Late last Friday afternoon, I received a message from a nice man (named George)
in Washington DC asking me to return his phone call. He said that he had
received my name from Vicki someone, that he believed I knew, and she
recommended we talk. Well, I could not recall a Vicki someone, but as I strive
to return all of my phone calls, I called him back. This time I received his
voice mail, so I left a nice message explaining I did not know Vicki, but to
call me back and let me know why he was calling and I would be happy to talk.
Next time the phone rang, I recognized his number so I didn't answer . I wanted
to see if he would let me know why he was calling me. Sure enough, he left a
nice message with no reason why he was calling. Naturally, I did not return his
phone call. My suspicions were confirmed - this is a cold call!
Monday rolls around, and I am busy running from one meeting to another. The
phone rings, I grab it (unfortunately) without looking, and my luck, it is this
nice man (George) - again. I say hello, listen as he explains the Vicki
connection again. I interrupt him and explain I do not know Vicki and again ask
why he is calling. He explains that Vicki is actually a researcher (meaning she
pulls calling lists together for him) and he sells technology for delivering
courses on line. He asks if I would like to hear more about his online
technology, or if I am interested in purchasing it. I say no, he pushes a
little harder and begins explaining his product. Again, I interrupt him, let
him not I am not interested and say thank you as I hang up.
I would guess that I was much nicer than most prospects he called that week.
This process can not be enjoyable for ole George. I mean, we just effectively
wasted each
other's time He made five long distance phone calls just to
connect with me. He lost credibility with me on several fronts - one he
described Vicki as someone who knew me (not true), two he would not leave me a
message as to why he was calling which made me suspicious, and three he talked
only about himself and his products and services. He never asked what I do or
inquired about my challenges and opportunities. We never discussed how his
product or service would benefit me. We simply discussed his product, his need,
and his goals.
Why does anyone want to sell like that? It certainly is inefficient, as he put
in a lot of effort and gained no return. It is stressful, as he told a white
lie, and he knew I was resistant by the fact that I kept asking why he was
calling. Lastly, it was ineffective. I did not buy the product, and because of
his dishonesty I never plan to.
If you want to turn your prospects into clients then try a different way. Take
the time to clearly identify who can truly benefit from your product or
service, and invest in building relationships. Your process also needs to
involve asking great questions, learning about your prospect and then finding
unique and custom ways your product and service is something that truly adds
value. Selling should be fun, enjoyable and something both you and the prospect
look forward to. Stop cold calling, start relationships building, and sit back
and watch your prospects turn into clients!
Stop By All That Business Your Are Driving By If You Want to Increase Sales
Cold Calling
What Cold Calling Business Lead Management Can Do For Your Business
Is cold calling right for my business?
3 Cold Calling Mistakes that Trigger Rejection
Article Tags: business selling, cold calling, sales strategies, selling successfully
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Related Forum Posts
Re: Email Etiquette
- [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58]
The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58]
Andy,
You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures.
Takuya
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
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling
- Gary,
A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple!
In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people:
1. Strangers
2. Prospects
3. Returning Customers
You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question.
My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative).
My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him.
So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc.
The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation.
You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him.
At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation.
Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool.
Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
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