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How To Warm Yourself Up To Cold Calling
Cold calling ...
even the name is enough to strike fear into the heart of many a small
business owner! What image comes into your mind? Sitting in a lonely damp
office, surrounded by paper, 2 day old coffee cups and a stack of
outstanding work. In other words, something not very nice!
Why do we hate
cold calling so much? Why does the very thought of it send shivers down some
people's spine? Firstly, what were we taught at school and by our parents?
Don't talk to strangers! No wonder picking up the phone and speaking to
someone you have never met causes such mental problems.
What about
every small business owner's fear - the fear of rejection. That's enough to
find any reason not to pick up the phone. Here's another one - lack of self
confidence and the nagging doubt that you won't live up to the expectations
you put in your prospect's mind.
I think that's
enough! Perhaps all very good reasons why you may find it hard to pick up
the phone but, at the end of the day, to be really successful in business,
it's a necessary evil. Yes, you can convince yourself that you are too busy
servicing your existing customers and looking after their every need, but
unless you get out and bring in new business, one day you may find yourself
with a tired and sold-out customer base.
But it doesn't
have to be this way. You can do it. All it needs is careful planning and a
structured approach. If you can see the error of your ways and understand
the impact this lack of action is having on your business, I'll show you how
you can become a successful cold caller. You have got it made if you follow
this structure:
Identify,
Preparation, Just Do It! and Review.
Let's consider
each of these steps in turn.
Identify
The first step
is to identify who you are going to cold call. How do you go about building
up a list? Here are some ideas:
-
Ask your customers who they
think you should be talking to; who could benefit from your product?
Referrals from happy clients can be very powerful when speaking to your
prospective customers. It tells them that if their colleague was happy to
pass on their name then that's a good recommendation
-
Go through your old database
and identify companies that no longer deal with you. Unless you really
messed up first time round, they may appreciate a call
-
Read all your local newspapers
and magazines. Is there a story which would be a great excuse to call them
up? "I read about your award in the newspaper and ..."
-
Use networking events and any
other social gatherings to make new contacts
-
E-mail everyone in your mailing
list and tell them that you are on the look out for new leads!
-
Train your brain to spot new
opportunities
It doesn't
matter how outlandish your first draft list seems, stick the name down and
get thinking about where the others are going to come from.
Preparation
Having got your
initial list, the first task in the preparation stage is to tidy it up. Take
another look at it and pick the top 5 which are likely to end in success.
Why do this? Because to be motivated to carry on with something, there is
nothing like success. Failure will not spur you on, but success will. So go
for the ones which are likely to yield positive results. With practice, you
will be able to tackle the more challenging ones later on!
Next, set
yourself an objective. What do you want to achieve out of your phone call?
An appointment, an agreement to send a sample, a sale? Being realistic, the
best you can hope for is an appointment. Be clear on what your aim is. This
will help you focus on the outcome during the rest of your preparation.
The most
crucial part of the preparation stage is your research. Find out whatever
you can about both the company and person you are going to call. What
exactly do they sell? Who are they buying from at the moment? How many
employees do they have? Do you know of any problems which you could resolve?
What is the perception in the market place? What can you learn from their
web site?
All of this
information will help you in the next part of your preparation - your
opening statement and subsequent words. Actors don't go out on the stage
without thoroughly learning and rehearsal and neither should you. Write out
your opening statement, which says who you are, which company you are with
and what you do. Keep it short, focused and punchy. Remember that many
businesses receive cold calls all the time, so what is the benefit in the
person spending some time with you? Think of a clear benefit statement to
include in your remarks.
As in any
selling situation (which a cold call is after all), you are very likely to
be met with objections - can't see you, too busy with a rush order, its
Audit time, too many staff on holiday etc. Try and think of every objection
and write down what your response will be. Being this prepared will keep you
ahead of the game.
Bearing in mind
your end objective, how are you going to go in for the kill? What are you
going to say to get that appointment?
Going through
all this preparation will give you a much needed confidence boost, ready for
the next step.
Just Do It!
If you have
identified a number of names, set aside a whole morning or afternoon to make
your calls. It's easy to say to yourself that you will do one call today and
another tomorrow. Athletes know that you perform better when you are warmed
up, so doing a number of calls in a row means you will get better each time
- remember what I said earlier about success breeding success. Put the time
in your diary and stick to it!
When should you
call? Some people will say it's better to avoid Mondays and Fridays. On
Mondays, people are recovering from the weekend, they are too busy planning
their week, or clearing up the mess from the weekend! On Friday's people are
winding down and are recovering from a hectic week.
But think about
it - if people are planning their week, wouldn't Monday's be a great time to
call? If people are winding down on Friday's, they may be in a good mood
with the weekend approaching, so more willing to talk and agree an
appointment. The bottom line is that there probably is not an ideal time -
just do it!
Now you are
ready to go. Before picking up the phone, relax your body and muscles, take
some deep breaths and 'see' yourself achieving your objective. What does it
feel like to have achieved your goal? What are you doing to celebrate all
those appointments you have got? See yourself as a success!
Now you are
ready to go. Pick up the phone, ask for the person you want to speak to and
in a confident, crisp and clear voice, start off with your opening
statement. Be warm and friendly. Don't switch off into your own 'self-talk',
really listen to what the other person is saying; listen out for those
inevitable objections. When they come, answer straight back with your
prepared answers. The standard objection is that they are too busy to talk
now. If so, agree a time when you can call again as this will avoid
telephone tag, where you keep missing each other. In the end you will become
a nuisance and you want to avoid this at all costs.
At the end of
the call, summarise what was agreed so you are all clear on what will happen
next. You don't want any potential costly misunderstandings.
Review
You will be
glad to know that the final step is a review of what took place! After you
have put the phone down, sit back and write up your notes, put the agreed
meeting time in your diary. Think about what went well; what could have gone
better; how you could have approached things differently. Do you think you
sounded confident? Did you anticipate all the objections? Did you
successfully handle the ones which were thrown at you? Did you meet your
planned objective? If so, then celebrate!
Armed with all
this new information, pick up the phone and dial the next person on the
list.
You may feel
cold calling is a bit of a chore. But if you follow these steps then you
will very quickly find yourself having too much new business to cope with.
What a great problem to have!
©
Robert
Warlow
Small Business
Success
www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
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