In the world of cold calling, there can be a lot of negativity. It’s not easy to talk to someone you haven’t met – especially when you experience rejection so much of the time. Most people who sell really dislike cold calling, and I don’t blame them.
But there’s a new and better way to make cold calls. Change your mindset, and you’ll find that cold calling can be enjoyable as well as productive. Take a look at these 4 powerful secrets to make your cold calls in the new way.
1. Positive Thinking Isn’t Always Positive
When you get ready to make a cold call, what’s on your mind? If you’ve been trained in the old traditional mindset, you’re focused on making the sale. It’s a cold calling “positive thinking” approach that all the traditional sales gurus teach.
But, really, this sabotages the very thing you’re trying to do. Think about it. When you’re focused on making the sale, this comes through loud and clear to the other person. Your tone and attitude say that you’re trying to “sell” them. And immediately, the walls go up. So most of the time you find yourself brushed off and rejected.
2. Re-focus Your Focus
So before picking up the phone, re-think your focus. Remember, if your focus is on making the sale, you’ll probably “lose” your prospect’s interest within the first several seconds.
Instead, let your immediate goal be to make the other person feel comfortable with you. If this doesn’t happen within the first few minutes, it’s not likely you’ll be invited into a deeper conversation.
So change your focus from making the sale into forming a relationship. Use your natural voice tone. And choose phrases that focus on the other person’s needs rather than on what you have to sell.
3. Step Out of Your World
When you start a normal conversation with someone new, you probably don’t talk exclusively about yourself. And yet that’s the training you’ve probably received around how to make cold calls. You’ve been taught to present a pitch about yourself, your company, and what you have to sell. You’re not really inviting the other person into a conversation.
So how can you make a cold call that welcomes others into really talking with you? By focusing on their needs and challenges. When you’re willing to step into their world, people respond very differently to you.
4. Stand Out From the Crowd
By now everyone knows the routine of cold calling. There’s an almost universal negative reaction to receiving a cold call. That’s because no one likes sales pressure.
So you’ll really stand out from the crowd when you don’t put any sales pressure at all in your cold calling conversations. If you’re interested in what interests them – their problems and challenges –others will sense a difference in you. You won’t be just another person trying to make a sale.
While other callers are focused on persuasion, you’re focused on solving problems. Your cold calls begin with something like, “Maybe you can help me out for a minute? I was calling to see if you’re still having issues with unpaid invoices, and whether you’re open to exploring new ways of solving that problem?”
This new cold calling mindset steps away from the old textbook world of persuasion and pressure. It’s focused on the other person, not on yourself. You’re genuinely interested in whether you can help someone solve a problem. And you’re giving them 100 percent of your attention.
When you’re thinking about whether you can help someone, this feels really good – to both of you. You’re more relaxed, and the other person is usually more willing to engage you. Try this new way of cold calling, and I think you’ll be surprised at how much of a difference it makes.
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