The other day I was in a meeting with one of my clients and a new salesman he’d just hired.
The young salesman seemed very sharp and eager to go out and prove that he could sell. His first assignment was to get on the phone and start calling people he didn’t know…i.e. cold calling.
Now I’ll tell you right up front…I HATE cold calling. The less I have to do, the better. I’d much rather use clever tactics to transform the cold call into a warm lead before I make the initial contact. It just seems to work better for me that way.
Anyway, back to the young salesman. He indicated that he’d made quite a few cold calls so far, but had yet to make a sale.
And so here were a few questions I asked him…and I think anyone who cold calls should think about the answers very carefully.
- What do you day when someone answers the phone?
- How do you introduce yourself?
- If it is a secretary or ‘gatekeeper’, what do you day that would compel them pass along your message (accurately)?
- If you are put into the target individual’s voice mail, what do you say that would compel them to call you back?
- If/when you get the target individual on the phone, what is the first sentence that comes out of your mouth after you introduce yourself?
- What is the next sentence?
- Why should they listen to you for even 10 seconds?
- Is the benefit of listening to you and purchasing your product clearly defined in a very powerful, compelling, easy-to-understand, seductive and irresistible message?
- What happens if they say “I’m not interested”?
- Are you perceived as a welcome guest or an uninvited pest?
These are just a few of the questions you need to consider when cold calling on the telephone…or in person.
FACT: Once they say “NO”, it becomes ten times harder to get them to say “YES”!
You need to put a lot of thought into what you say and how you say it because there will never be another opportunity as good as the first one.
People don’t have time to waste and if they even think you are about to waste a minute of it, they will instantly tune you out and then cut you off at the first opportunity in the conversation.
It’s all about getting your foot in the door on the first call. If you don’t succeed, you have to prepare for a long and frustrating battle in most cases.
Bottom line: “Hello Mr. Johnson, I’m Frank Smith with Smith’s Widgets, Inc. How’z the weather up there in Toledo? Wish y’all would send us some of that rain down here. You got a big weekend planned? I’d be going fishing if it wasn’t for my bad back. You ever had a bad back? Let me ask you something…have you…uh… ever thought about buying one of our widgets? Hello….Mr. Johnson? Helllllooooo. Can you hear me? …….Mr. Johnson?”
Well, I think you get the picture.
At least I hope so.
Thanks for reading this…and I hope you have a great day,
Hal
PS. Find FREE Pest Control Marketing Tips, Secrets, Strategies and Techniques at my website, http://www.PestControlMarketer.com
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Or feel FREE to call me at 770-993-0004 or email Hal@HalColeman.com
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