8 Cold Calling Tips

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