If I asked you what most sales people hate with a passion and what a lot will admit to being the weakest area of their sales game, what do you think it would be?
If you are in any doubt, I will also throw in the fact that it is the most important part of new business sales and the people that are good at it get paid the most money.
Well it’s not much of a secret as it was in the title, because it’s cold calling.
The mere words send chills down sales peoples backs. If you are a sales manager and you want an office tidied up, just announce a cold calling session because your sale people will then do anything to avoid picking the phone up.
But it has to be done and my guess is at some time in your life you will need to know how to generate a meeting or sale with somebody you don’t know.
Probably the biggest truism in cold calling is that it is a numbers game. The more calls you make the more success you are likely to have, but you also have to follow a plan rather than setting off like a headless chicken being chased by a blind fox. And I’m the man to give you that plan and right about now I wish my name were Stan. But it isn’t so let’s get on with it.
Belief: The first thing you need to do when setting up a prospect session is have the right attitude. Believe you can do this because you can. You decide what is possible for you so think big and start off with the attitude that people who don’t want to speak to you are missing a treat.
Many times I have seen seasoned sales people start off hunched over their phone expecting rejection and feeling miserable. Then when the first couple of calls go badly they will cheerfully announce that they were right after all and that this it is waste of time. Brilliant!
Material. Do not sit down with a Yellow Pages in front of you dialing number after number. Find as much information about your target company and the person you need to speak to beforehand. Calls that start, ‘Can I speak to the person that arranges your training please?’ are doomed to failure. Whereas a call that starts ‘Can I speak to Bob in HR please its Tim from A Daring Adventure’ is infinitely more likely to get past a gatekeeper.
If they ask you what it is about tell them it is of a personal nature. A fib? Well not really, it should be very personal when you are talking about your business.
A word of warning, this can backfire. I once called a company and asked to speak to Bob, the CFO. His secretary was absolutely appalled and screamed, Bob? Bob? Do you mean Robert? Needless to say Bob and I didn’t have a good old chin wag that day.
Rejection: The person that just yelled at you has probably had a bad day. Maybe Bob’s secretary’s cat had just been run over by the garbage truck, or she’d just discovered a nasty little rash after a dalliance with Dave in Accounting. I don’t know, and more importantly, neither do you. So thank them for their time and move on to that next juicy prospect that is just bound to say ‘yes please’
Time: Do not attempt to hit the phone for 5 hours non-stop fueled my 14 cups of coffee. Take breaks at least hourly. Have a walk round, get a drink, boil an egg, anything that breaks your state and allows you to disengage. Then just before you sit back down, focus on how many calls you want to make in the next hour or however long and just do it.
Stats: These can be important as you do more prospecting as you will get an idea of how many calls you need to make to get an appointment. It can also encourage you to beat your own personal best each time if you’re the competitive type.
Comfort: Some people prefer to make calls stood up or even walking around whereas other prefer the more traditional method of sitting at a desk. Whichever you are most comfortable with is fine as long as you come across as enthusiastic and awake. If you’re lying on the floor fiddling with your crotch the other person will probably know something is amiss.
Script: Every successful sales person I know uses a script be it written down or in their head. Know exactly what that first 20 or 30 second pitch is going to be and make sure that speech is relevant and demonstrates the benefits of you or your service/product without giving chapter and verse. Conversations that start off ah and er usually end up with a speedy good and bye.
Availability: You may have been passed through inadvertently to somebody that is in the middle of drawing up plans to conquer the world by Friday week. Simply ask ‘are you free to speak for 2 minutes Bob about something that is going to help you and your business be more efficient and profitable?’ If Bob says no he’s got this world-conquering thing to finish, ask for a time that would be more convenient.
Selling: Unless you are in telesales or have no intention of meeting the person at a later date, do no try and sell. This is very important; Telephones are for making appointments not selling. Give the reasons why you should meet and then assume the meeting.
Enjoy: Remember, this isn’t life or death, it’s a few phone calls, a few opportunities to chat to interesting people and most importantly, a chance to make some friends, some lovely money and feel wanted again.
Sales and prospecting are skills. Skills need fine-tuning and practice so go easy on yourself.
One final thing. If you wait until you need customers before you start to look for them you’re already in trouble. You should be filling your pipeline as a mater of course because this is a process that takes time and people can sniff a desperate sales person quicker than my dog can sniff my dirty boxers
Tim Brownson is a Certified Life Coach and has been unsticking people and helping them reach their true potential since 2005. If you would like to know how he can help you