Most of you know that I'm not a big cold calling fan but the obituary for cold calling is a bit premature. While in the perfect world, your phone would be ringing off the hook all day with clients offering you business, the reality is that if you want business, you need to go after it, and cold calling is the most effective sales tactic for generating new appointments. The fact is, most sellers would rather spend an entire day in a dentist's chair than cold call. These cold calling tips won't eliminate your fear, but they will help you make cold calling a more successful experience.
1) Start with good data. Good, clean data is the only way to success in cold calling. Start with taking a look at Hoovers, Harte-Hanks, InfoUSA or Jigsaw.
2) Begin at the top of the food chain. I'm a big believer in beginning your calls at the highest possible point in the org. chart. Start with the CIO in a tech sale or the CEO in a business sale. You may not get through but they will refer to the right person to make the appointment. I've found that it's much easier (and faster) to sell down the org chart than sell up any day.
3) Focus on the goal. Beginners tend to think that cold calling is about making the sale. It's not. It's about getting the chance to make the sale. Specifically, the purpose of a cold call is to set an appointment to make the pitch.
4) Research your market and prospects. You need to target your cold calling to the right audience. Use market researcher Hoover's or Hillsearch to focus on your target market. Then find out as much as you possibly can about the company or individual you're going to cold call in advance. This gives you the huge advantage of being able to talk about their business and their needs when you call them.
5) Prepare an opening statement for your cold call. This lets you organize your thoughts before cold calling, and helps you avoid common mistakes in the cold call opening that would give the person you're calling the chance to terminate the conversation. For instance, you should never ask, "Is this a good time to talk?" or "How are you today?" Don't read your opening statement into the phone, but use it as a framework to get the conversation off to a good start.
6) What should be in the opening statement of your cold call? This organizational scheme (from AllBusiness.com) works well: "Include a greeting and an introduction, a reference point (something about the prospect), the benefits of your product or service, and a transition to a question or dialogue. For example, 'Good afternoon, Ms. Marshall. I read in the local paper that you recently broke ground for a new office complex. (pause) This is Ken Brown with Green Works. We specialize in commercial landscape services that allow you to reduce in-house maintenance costs and comply with the city's new environmental regulations. I'd like to ask a few questions to determine whether one of our programs might meet your needs.'"
7) Prepare a script for the rest of your cold call. Lay out the benefits of your product or service and the reasons your prospect should buy. Write out possible objections and your answer to them. Without a script, it's too easy to leave something out or meander. Once again, it's not that you'll be reading your script word for word when you call, but that you've prepared the framework of the cold call in advance.
8) Ask for an appointment at a specific time when cold calling. Say, "Would Wednesday at 11 a.m. be a good time to meet?" instead of saying, "Can I meet with you to discuss this next week?"
This is just a beginning and there will be more to come on this topic in future posts. Enjoy!
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