Cold Calling – Yes, you heard it, ‘never cold call’, in my earlier days my personal metric was to make 100 phone calls per day. On reflection (years later!), I considered how I could have made fewer cold calls and yet had more meaningful conversations that resulted in ‘movement’. I now realise why decision makers answer the phone with trepidation, ‘Oh, it’s probably another waffling sales person, taking up my time, allowing me to lose my focus’…… yes I was one of those ‘waffling telesales executives’, hungry but absolutely no cold calling technique. I was more focused on tracking activity and not cold calling ‘movement’.
So, what is cold calling best practice? How can you turn raw energy and endeavour into real sales process ‘movement’? Forget about activity, its ‘movement’ that is key.
Drop the call count down to about 30 per day, use your extra time to research your target prior to any phone call. Note any company ‘trigger events’, drop a name, a recent press release, new strategic focus, etc. This will earn you the ‘price of admission’, you now have their attention. And you’re not like the other sales calls, you actually know my business. ‘OK, I’m listening, you have my attention’. And don’t be afraid to use their words, content and messages from their website or press releases, yet another powerful form of influence.
• Focus on ‘their pictures’, what’s in it for them?
• Make sure your script is not scripted
• Have a strong opening statement
• Have a bank of questions at the ready to open up the conversation, allowing you to discover their objectives and fit those objectives into your value proposition
You have approximately 30 second’s to get the buyers attention, more research and preparation will lead to more ‘movement’. Undertake Pre Selling Research and Planning, and your calls won’t be considered ‘cold calls’.
Try the process and tips above and you should get past the 30 second cold call barrier!
Let me know how you get on…..
Remember, if you need help with any aspect of your Sales process, consultancy, lead generation (digital and traditional), metrics, motivation, etc. Reach out, send me a mail (diarmuid@digitalsales.ie) or give the team a call.
Diarmuid Haughian – Business Development Director – Digital Sales
Dip. International Selling, Cert. Digital Marketing, MSc. BITS, MA Career Guidance
