Cold Calling Crisis

Mention the words cold and call to business people and the majority cringe at the thought because we’ve all experience those boiler room phone calls where your gabled at and coaxed at a hundred miles an hour while they try and close a deal over the phone for some product you just don’t need, but somehow feel obliged to purchase.

But cold calling doesn’t have to be like that. I prefer to use the tern prospecting which is more about using the phone as a way of researching data and find information about your potential clients.

You firstly need a good idea of who is likely to want the products and services that you and your company provide, the tighter the profile the more responsive people will potentially be. You can profile by the market your customers operate it, or your own if you have a specific niche, the size of the companies by employees numbers or turnover, and even budget levels, or the magazines read by executives, then brain storm and research for companies in those markets or buy a profiled data list.

Data lists may save you some time, but there will also be some qualifying to do which can be done by simply calling these companies and confirming the information you have.

Once you have identified who they are and how to reach them, send a well written sales letter or email and then follow up with a phone call.

Each time you approach the phone make sure you are in the right frame of mind and you set the expectations correctly. If you start thinking negatively then things won’t go well, and if you expect too much its just as bad. Each phone call should help you take a smaller step closer and allow you to gather more intelligence about your prospects as you go.

All this information needs to be recorded and stored in a customer management tool which will arm you more intelligently each time you make a call to that company and help to reduce stress or anxiety.

The bottom line is if you are selling a good product or service, supplied by an equally good company you must not be embarrassed or ashamed about picking up the phone and speaking to people and companies who have never heard of you and telling them about what you do.

You can make the call easier to progress by having a simple script with a very brief benefit politely direct and to the point, a reason for calling and what the benefit might be of what you are offering.

Take a deep breath, standing up can help, lift the receive and dial that number and just say;

"Hello, I would like to speak to somebody in your marketing department please"

When questioned why - have a response prepared, if it sounds OK then 9 times out of 10 you will get put through.

Tell that person why you are calling and if it sounds right for their business they will either ask for more details of they will give you the right persons name, tel and even email and off you go.

It’s that simple. Remember, nothing happens until somebody sells something and cold calling is just a way of getting a step closer.

Don’t be afraid about making mistakes and keep on practising and learning.