If you follow the old traditional cold calling approach, as soon as you dial the telephone your focus is on acquiring a sale. And you’re probably using different techniques and strategies to guide your conversation towards that goal.
But I’m suggesting that you should consider releasing your sales agenda entirely when you make your cold calls. Why? Because whenever you focus on getting the sale, you inadvertently trigger resistance from the other person.
You see, when you have a sales agenda, others feel pressured by your expectations. And whenever pressure is felt, people naturally become wary and defensive. Because it’s just human nature to resist pressure.
Here are 4 powerful reasons to surrender your cold calling sales agenda:
1. Others Can Relax
When you release your sales-oriented agenda, others can relax and be more open to having a relevant, truthful conversation with you. And much more often, you’ll be able to explore together whether your product is a “fit” for them instead of being immediately rejected.
2. You Can Be Yourself so Others Can Be Themselves
When you release your sales agenda, you’ll also stop using the pitches and strategies designed to move things in the direction of a sale. You can become a real person again. You’ll be natural. And others naturally will respond to you.
When you’re being natural, you won’t find yourself trying to force a sale. And on some level, others will sense this. They’ll sense that it’s safe to be less defensive and that they can be much more open to talking with you about whether your product can help them.
3. You’ll Stop Coaxing and Start Helping
If you have an agenda, it will always show up in a variety of ways during your cold calling conversations. Even if you’re trying to be low-key, others always recognize the underlying goal of making a sale – and they almost always respond with resistance.
So what’s the best way to approach your cold calling conversations? By seeing if you can help someone solve a problem. When you do this, you’re not interested in maneuvering anyone into buying anything. Your goal is to identify a problem they’re having, and then explore whether your product can help them.
It’s really very simple. When you’re truly interested in helping the other person, it’s easier for the other person to want to talk more with you.
4. Cold Calling Can Become Enjoyable
When you release your sales agenda, your cold calling conversations become completely focused on your prospects’ world and the problems they may be looking to solve. And for the first time, you’ll see other benefits to cold calling besides the actual idea of closing the sale.
Once you begin to enjoy the idea of building trust with people, your perspective will shift into a new frame of reference. You’re not just wanting to make a sale. You’re interested in finding out whether your product or service can help someone. And if your product isn’t a fit for them, perhaps you can recommend something else to them.
So you see, it’s no longer a win-lose scenario focused around whether you can “win” a sale. It’s more about people, and about being human. And this means that, as a person, you can enjoy cold calling again.
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