3 things to do before you begin a cold-call

In starting out this blog, I want to share my experiences on how I've been successful in cold-calling, but please do take in to note that these methods work for me based on my past experience.  So, why am I publicizing this information if it won't benefit you?  Good question!  (if you are hopefully thinking that!).  In sales, we ultimately all strive close deals and get the sale, how we get to that point is irrelevant - everybody has their own methodology that is unique to them.  I will stress you should keep your natural style and incorporate anything that you feel will improve you.  It's a matter of getting the best out of you!


The following points are ones I incorporate in all my calls, also these are things that make cold-calling all the more enjoyable!


1. Start calling from the bottom up in the org chart - 


Anytime you start calling up a key or target account, don't try to go after the C-level executive, VP, Director, etc. positions.  The reason behind this is that they are already overwhelmed with information and it becomes difficult for them to determine "what makes you better than all the other people calling them?".  Instead try from the bottom as these are people, who have more time available, are not information overloaded, and MOST IMPORTANTLY know of a problem the company has but have no say to resolve it.  If they divulge this out to you, you can easily position yourself with a decision maker on how you can resolve their dilemma. 


2. Get to know the person -


Many times you call up a lead or a prospect only to determine they are not the right person for you to call up.  Don't despair!  You have a live person on the phone that works in the company you are trying to get your foot in the door with.  Here is an approach I take going forward:

• Be sincere (almost to the point of being innocent) and apologize saying you don't know how you thought that they would be the right person.  Apology is key as you are taking their time and sincerity makes you a down-to-earth "clean" person - and people love to help those salespeople over the aggressive unruly ones!
• Ask them what they do if they are not the right person - people love to talk about themselves, so take this as an opportunity of getting to know more about them.  They might also reveal challenges in their role and department - all valuable information to share as you speak to more people in the organization.
• Get guidance from them - be sincere and ask them if they might know of who takes care of this - they might be hesitant on sharing information about others, so ask them if they know the department that handles this.

3.  Move the conversation slow - 


Too many times I have observed people rushing through a conversation - if you do this - DON'T WORRY - it's normal!  The reason why this happens is that you are so energized when you are dialing (or dial for dollars as the saying goes) that your conversation is also at motor speed!  This is the point, you lower your energy and start the conversation slow.  


As you develop rapport with the person then start to increase the intensity and bring them to a higher-energized level.  You want to do this as higher energized people can make quicker and faster decisions than when you are lower - resulting in a scheduled follow-up meeting.  Remember when people are working they are laser focused on the task and when you called you just broke that!  Regardless of your schedule, don't be in a rush with the conversation, it's kind of like karma their position and title then move on to seeing it slow

3 reasons on the value of cold-calling

Updated on March 31, 2013: Initially this was meant for inside sales, but after further pondering this is equally valuable for outside sales people.  This is probably due to the tougher economy where outside / field sales people are facing the following two scenarios:

• Delays in closing of deals due to uncertain economic climate change
• Increasing of quotas on a quarterly basis

When you began a career in sales and got hired to do 'inside sales' - a term the industry uses for people who sell only by staying stationary at one place - you get all excited about the product (or service), the company, the people, etc.  only to find out that the honor and recognition is given to the ones bringing the deals - or what the industry terms 'outside/field sales'.  So you would think is there any value in inside sales / lead generation sales?

1.  Building a funnel - the typical flow of a sales funnel resembles this flow: leads -> call -> meeting -> demo/presentation -> contract -> negotiation -> close (might not be the same in all organizations - but this comes close).  Most organizations are very adept at moving from calls to meetings and might be achieving ratios of 30-60% for each step of the process!  But what they lack are the skills to increase their number of leads - the more leads in the funnel the greater the number of deals you close!

2.  Front line to the prospective buyer - when calling up companies in search of opportunities - inside sales people can provide a lot of valuable information that might otherwise be missed simply because they call so many prospects.  Some of the things they can uncover:

• Incumbent product/service
• New projects currently being considered
• Issues or problems - this is is a starting point for having a business and developing a solution for it.

Why might these be valuable? It gives you a heads up on what your target market is going through helping in future product development.  Social media has also helped out herein the B2C space area.   

From a salesperson perspective - keep things organized so that you can return to these customers at a future date to sell additional modifications to your product / service.

3. High churn / attrition of customers - companies are facing challenges times where customers are demanding more service for less cost (2008 financial crisis pushed this as companies have become conservative).  Now, more than ever, you need to keep maintaining a consistent flow of qualified leads and ensure you make quota.

I hope you find these reasons valuable to push yourself in cold-calling and in helping achieve your quotas. Good luck!

Why cold-call?

Journey to share my cold-calling experience 


So after months of contemplating whether I should blog about cold-calling (a not so desirable task by many!), I decided to jump in and start my first post!  So reader, you might be wondering why I am doing this, what I intend to achieve by doing this, why should you cold-call, and more importantly what's in it for you?  Well I hope to address all those questions in this blog!


Why I am doing this?


Ever since I started my sales career, I have been cold-calling - initially it was hard and I had the jitters like everyone else does, but I was young (22 years old), had no clue about life, and more importantly needed a job!  What I did notice was that I started to become very good at it and funny enough started to enjoy cold-calling!  Huh - how that come about?  How can one enjoy cold-calling - well what I found was that if you research your prospects good enough, you become engaging, this leads to more interesting conversations, you then become a pleasant person to know over the phone.


My subsequent roles led me to train salespeople (experienced and mid-career!) by shadowing me - flattering?  Well the icing was that they all gained confidence in performing the task.  So back again to the answer - I fundamentally believe everybody needs to know how to cold-call - regardless of your industry and given the right set of advice / tools - everyone (including the recipient) will enjoy cold-calling!  The key is cold-calling can be done if considered fun, I intend to do just that in this blog.


Why is cold-calling important and what if you don't cold-call?


Besides getting into the fundamental appreciation of cold-calling, again I will stress that everyone should cold-call and know it.  But there are a number of training institutes and marketing engines that always talk about the fact - DON'T COLD CALL - and claiming they have a number of methods/ways to achieve the same amount of leads without cold-calling (besides getting leads from referrals and upsells).  I don't mean to slander them, but for a moment, just a moment - imagine a world where no one cold-called and leads would trickle in (either by marketing, SEO, websites, referrals, etc.).  So, keep imagining that - a world where no one cold-called.


Now say someone broke that rule and started cold-calling - hmmm - don't you think their pipeline and sales would start to get affected against their peers and competition?  This alone can help them - imagine all the business they start to gain and get a heads-up on their competition!  So, I don't believe cold-calling is the only mechanism that will help grow a pipeline, but it is a part of a number of actions that will help you do that.


Future blogs


So stay tuned in my future blogs I will try to itemize my steps to help you get more value and enjoyment out of your cold-call.  My goal is to not only help appreciate people cold-calling, but to maximize quality of connections over the phone with the right target of supplier/vendor and making it pleasant for both sides.

HAPPY CONNECTING!