In my many years of sales and marketing work with small
businesses, many of them would ask me all kinds of
questions about cold calling like the ones below. They
would profess to be leery of doing it for fear of rejection
or simply through fear of making the call. See if any of
these resonate with you?
1. "Does cold calling really work?"
2. "I hate feeling like I'm being sold, so I want to learn
how to come across less like a salesman."
3. "What's the MAIN purpose of cold calling anyway?"
4. "Is it to get the decision maker's name or to make an
appointment?"
5. "Do you recommend phone calls, or personal visits, or
mailing literature first?"
6. "How often should I try to contact a person?"
First of all I want to mention that you need to make sure
any list of names or prospects or whoever you are calling
is not on the Do Not Call List or you could get in big
trouble. Go to www.donotcall.gov to find out more about it
or to sign up as a consumer or a telemarketer.
I did a little research online before I sat down to write
this and I found just a ton of information on cold calling
and sales (like I had suspected). I thought I would find a
simple 10 step process that would sum it all up, but no
such luck. I found a lot of sites who claim to have the
best cold calling secrets out there, some sites who claim
cold calling just doesn't work anymore, some sites with
numerous articles written on the subject and then some
sites selling all kinds of books and CD's on how to improve
your skills.
You know I will always recommend reading books or listening
to CD's about certain topics to make you better at what you
do and in this case, it may not necessarily be books about
cold calling but rather about SALES. Knowing good sales
strategies and closing techniques can really help when cold
calling because you learn to react quicker and respond
better to objections or negative responses.
Is there anyone out there who really uses cold calling as
their main lead generating avenue however? In this day of
relationship selling, I can't even imagine cold calling in
my business. In fact, all the telemarketing calls I get at
home are either mortgage companies (#1 by far) trying to
give me a free loan comparison analysis, phone companies
trying to get me to switch or credit card companies trying
to get me to sign up or transfer balances to their card.
There are of course certain ways this could be good, for
example IF the mortgage company knew I had a high interest
loan, say over 8% (glad I don't, but you get the point),
getting my name from a list from their title company, they
could possibly tempt me with a 4.5 or even 6% rate over the
phone enough to warrant the free analysis.
However, every one of them that calls me can never beat the
rate that I currently have which tells me they haven't done
their HOMEWORK to narrow down their target list. In turn
they are wasting hours of their time calling on people like
me.
Why wouldn't they just get a list of prospects that REALLY
have high rates, ones who would be easier prospects? I
would.
Then, using the mortgage company as an example: People
these days don't have a lot of time and I would venture a
guess that most don't like receiving telemarketing calls,
especially those that don't get to the point of the call.
You know the ones...they say hello Mrs. Saallla (can't
pronounce my name of course and stumble over it a few
times); I say "hello, it's Ms. Sawa". Then they ask "How
are you this evening?" and I say "Does it really matter,
what do you want?" (Yes, I know, sometimes I am harsh).
Then they say, well Mrs. Saallla (again), let me tell you
why I am calling.... (By that time it's too late, I'm done
with them). You know what I mean? They need to get to the
point and fast.
If you really want to cold call then you'll want to make
sure you take some time to develop a good script to grab
their attention and get to the point in the first sentence
or question. Practice your script on friends and
colleagues, role play. When you do start to use it, try it
out on the coldest leads you have not the hot ones, save
them for when you have more practice or you may blow some
big opportunities.
The question I ask you is who is your target market? Are
they going to be receptive to cold calls? If not, you
might want to find another way to reach them - more than
likely there are numerous other ways to market to your
target market.
Just know that if you are calling the consumer you will
need a whole different script than if you are calling a
business prospect - many factors come into play such as the
"Gatekeeper" (receptionist) or kids, answering machines,
etc. Do you leave a message or don't you? I say you do -
you've already spent the time it took to make the call and
wait for the machine you might as well leave a clear, short
and well constructed message. Then when you call back a
few days later, it's a WARM call. Don't leave pricing info
or rates or anything that will give them the opportunity to
decide a NO answer before you get a chance to call back.
So, as far as when to cold call in your sales process, do
you call first, mail a letter first or send an email? This
will depend on your industry and your target market and
what they would be most receptive to or how long your sales
process is (the higher cost of your product or service may
warrant a longer sales process).
I normally suggest mailing a letter or emailing if you have
their email first and then when you call, it's not a cold
call but a follow up call to the letter or email; hence
eliminating the 'cold call'. Of course it isn't that
simple, you might need to send 2 letters, a brochure, email
4 times with attachments or links to your website and you
probably will have to call at least 6 times, leaving 3 or 4
messages before even considering giving up!!
In an aggressive industry where there is a lot of
competition you will want to be persistent. Many people
value persistence as a good quality to have, you don't want
to be annoying or a pest, but a confident salesperson being
persistent with their prospect can be respected and it also
makes you look more dependable, credible and reliable.
Nowadays cold calling has even taken a new turn - the
automated voice mail or cold call. Have you gotten one of
those?? Maybe from a mortgage company, time share company
saying you won a vacation or I even got one from President
Bill Clinton promoting something a year or so ago!
Funny though, I've been contemplating doing one of these
blasts myself however, but I would only call people I know
or those who are on my list, not strangers on a list I
purchased. A couple online marketers I know, Ali Brown and
Melanie Benson Strick, have called me via a voice blast
before. They were announcing an upcoming program or
workshop at the time; it really was a genius way to reach
your whole database really quick! But you've got to have a
well thought out and well written script to get your people
to take action right away!!
One thing to remember though with cold calling is to have a
clear hook and call to action; you want to hook them into
the conversation quickly, get them involved, then find out
right away if they're a good prospect with a qualifying
question or two to engage them and finally if they are a
good prospect, go in with your offer or close right away.
Don't keep them too long on the phone. If they say no, or
no, I'm not interested quickly they probably aren't in a
position to listen to you at that time anyway so say thank
you and hang up and move on. You honestly aren't going to
convince someone to listen to you if they aren't in the
right frame of mind to do so or if you caught them at a bad
time.
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© Copyright 2008 K.Sawa Marketing
Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing
Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take
dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next
level in business, revenues and life. She offers one-on-one
coaching, group coaching and do-it-yourself marketing
planning products. Go online now to get started with her
Free Report and Free Audio at
http://www.jumpstartyourmarketing.com !
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