Do you cringe when you hear the term “cold call”? Does the word “telemarketer” send you running in the opposite direction of the phone?
Cold calling isn’t a dirty word. It’s an opportunity. It’s something your competition probably isn’t doing or may not be doing well. It’s also a skill that’s easy to master, and when done correctly, will allow you to find opportunities and build relationships that will lead to new sales and increased profits.
Attitude Is Everything
When you pick up the telephone to make your first call, how do you feel? Are you motivated to make the sale or irritated that this is something you have to do? Do you feel like you’ll be bothering the person you’re calling or doing them a favor introducing your offering? Are you hesitant about the quality of what you are selling? When you’re cold calling, any inkling of hesitation will come through on the telephone and hinder your ability to make the sale.
Your attitude will make or break your ability to entice decision makers. You can have the best widget on the market, but if you think of cold calling as a necessary evil, you’ll be wasting both your time and your prospect’s time… and prospects don’t forget.
Be Prepared
Before you pick up the phone, you need to be prepared mentally and “physically”. The physical part is easy– a quiet room, alone if possible, and a solid block of time with no interruptions.
For the mental part, you need to feel absolutely confident the person you are calling will benefit from your product or service… and they will, because you’re selling something you believe in. You don’t need to know every detail for an initial call, but be solid on the basic facts and have a comfortable understanding of the need your offering addresses.
Skip The Script
Don’t use a script. You should have a concrete understanding of the basics of your offering and why someone would want to buy it. If they need more detail than you can initially provide, it’s a good (opportunity?) reason to set a proper appointment where you can offer the detail the prospect was looking for and move closer to closing the sale.
That said, you can keep an outline or a few notes in front of you when calling, but don’t read them verbatim. Use your notes as a quick reference tool or “memory jogger” in case you get stuck.
And finally, the purpose of cold calling isn’t to convince someone to do or buy something they don’t need or want. If you pick up the phone with that as your objective, you’ll fail every time. Cold calling is an outstanding tool to find “low lying fruit” - people that already know they have a need, and your call prompts them to do something about it.
Think of it this way… somebody’s going to make the sale, and if you don’t pick up the phone and call, it won’t be you.
