Here are eight tips you can use to make your cold calls more effective:
1. STAND UP
The tone of your voice conveys more about you than the words coming out of your mouth. By standing up and talking you energize yourself and sound better on the phone. There is some truth when people say "I think better on my feet." It also changes your perspective of your surroundings. Your brain gets more active taking in the subtle changes it is seeing.
2. HAVE DIFFERENT INFORMATION EACH TIME YOU CALL
I used to work at a company where the salespeople left the same message and had the same conversation over and over hundreds of times per week. Not only were they bored, but the number of calls returned went down. Why? Prospects knew why they were calling and found it more of an annoyance. They accepted appointments just so they could stop the calls. If you have a new idea, relevant to your customer, each time you call your customer will more readily take your call because they know you will have some good information for them that they can use and it establishes you as an expert in your field and a professional salesperson. It is a good compliment to be called a professional.
3. DON’T LEAVE A VOICEMAIL EVERY TIME
This stops you from sounding too robotic and gives you a break from leaving the same message over and over, and relieves you the stress of trying to think of something new every time.
***I only suggest this if you are routed through a gatekeeper or automated switchboard to your contact. If you dial the direct number of your contact make sure you leave a valuable message. With caller ID they might be screening calls. If they see your name or company they might not pick up. If they know you are leaving interesting messages they are more likely to pick up or return your call.***
4. TRY A FUN GAME
Instead of calling your list at random. Make it a game. Call all companies starting with "A," or companies that end in "Y," or all of your contacts who are ladies or all of the contacts who are men. If you want to know about something I did, read this blog by Mike Carroll http://intelligentconversations.com/blog/bid/45767/Cold-Calling-all-Brian-s-and-Kevin-s
5. DON'T TRY TO BE PERFECT ON EVERY CALL
Be yourself. You won't have the perfect pitch and tone or wording all the time. No one is perfect. Don't try. Be yourself. Have fun. Learn from your mistakes. Try new ideas. If you screw up, SO WHAT! You have an immediate opportunity to do better on your next call.
6. DON'T USE A SCRIPT
Scripts are guidelines. Put them into your own words.
If you are worried you can't, see tip #5.
7. SMILE
Place a mirror where you can see your face. As you talk smile at yourself often. This is an old radio broadcaster trick. Smiling helps inflection and tonality and you come across more friendly.
8. RESEARCHGo to LinkedIN and see if the person you are trying to connect to has anything in common with you. That is an easy way to start a conversation. Spend a minute or two looking at the company website so you know what they do. DON'T GET BOGGED DOWN IN RESEARCH that you let it distract you from your calls.
Don't use any of these tips when calling my clients! If you do call my clients credit me when you get through to them!
What tips do you use for making cold calling easier?
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy
You're about to read two words that will probably make you shudder...cold calls.
Everybody hates doing them to some degree, however they are necessary part of sales and NO technology will ever replace the value of speaking to a LIVE person.
Assuming you have no hidden weaknesses or head trash that is preventing you from picking up the phone (subject of a different article), here are some practical tips for making cold calling easier:
1. USE A CRM ACT!, SalesForce, Landslide, Outlook, or even an Excel spreadsheet are invaluable when it comes to tracking your calls. USE THEM!
-Log all contact information
-What the conversation was about
-If you left a message what the message was about
-Your next step when you call again
2. SCHEDULE CALLS IN YOUR CRM
Give yourself a reminder of when you want to call these people again. Inevitably things happen and if you don't schedule a call I guaranty you will forget about that customer. Next time you look at the record you'll realize it has been several weeks since you called them. Scheduling calls also allows you to do step three...
3. USE YOUR LIST OF SCHEDULED CALLS LIKE A TO-DO LIST
You know the good feeling you get when you accomplish something? Same here. Make it a daily goal to get through all of your scheduled calls. Cross them off the list and you'll have a visual record that you accomplished something today!
4. DON'T SCHEDULE ALL COLD CALLS FOR ONE TIME OF DAYYour prospects aren't slaved to their desk, why should you be? Instead of blocking out an hour or two of solid time (lets face it you'll get bored or find some excuse not to do calls within 15 minutes), schedule 3 or four blocks of 20 minutes each at different times of the day. It's shorter. Keeps you focused. Plus someone that isn't there in the morning might be there when you call in the afternoon.
5. SET A REACHABLE CALL GOAL
Make cold calling a daily goal. Pick a number of 10 or above and make sure you hit that number every day. If you don’t have a CRM that you can use to schedule your ten daily calls, print call sheets with the numbers 1-10 or 1-20 or 1-whatever. As you call each prospect write them down on the sheet until you have the sheet filled up. As you get better at cold calling increase the goal by five prospects. When you hit that goal for a month increase it again by five prospects until your schedule won’t allow any more increases. Soon you will know (through data in your CRM) how many calls it takes you to get a meeting. Then you can set a more permanent call goal.
6. STAY FOCUSED WHEN MAKING CALLS Since you're only doing calls for short periods of time, turn off your email or extra phones. If your sales manager comes by for a "gotta minute" tell them to take a hike because you're making calls. Good mangers will realize what you're doing and will leave you alone because they know cold calls lead to new business. Jerky sales managers will take offense and be pissy toward you because you're not paying attention to them. If they don't understand the importance of what you are doing and are giving you attitude, print this blog and leave it on their desk.
***I want to note here that you shouldn't be afraid to have your manager listen to you while making calls. If your manager comes in and wants to listen and they are not a distraction, let them listen in. They can offer feedback after the call or encouragement during a call. I had a sales manager that I didn't get along with and she didn't care for me. One day I was struggling with a call and trying to get an appointment. She was listening behind me and could hear I was frustrated. She calmly patted me on the shoulder. It surprised me later that she did that, but at the time it was the encouragement I needed. I calmed down and got the appointment. Even though we didn't get along, I still to this day appreciated the little gesture she did.***
7. DO YOUR CALLS FIRST THING
I'm a big believer in doing the hardest tasks first. If cold calling is that much of a strain for you, schedule one of your calling sessions for first thing when you get into the office in the morning and first thing when you get back from lunch.
Tackle calls when you are fresh and energized.
Being organized with he steps above will help ease your mind. Instead of coming into your office in the morning and wondering where to start, you'll already have a plan in place and can hit the ground running.
These tips alone will make cold calls easier for you.
Next blog I'll give you tips on what to do when making your calls.
What has worked for you? Let me know. I'm always ready to learn new ideas.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy
