Oh No, COLD CALLING!!

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Best of luck!

I started out my career as an insurance agent and cold calling was an experience! You have to have the right skin to make it work and not be afraid to be rejected. But, respectful to the callers industry, there's always a certain numbers of YES's to a certain number of NO's received. If you HAVE to cold call, be consistent and you will pick up clients. Don't be a salesperson but rather genuinely offer your services to help them. I have found that if you call to invite them to an event instead of going straight for the kill, you reduce most of the "I'm not interested" responses. A less threatening approach always makes for a better response.

I hope that helps!

Bobby

JUST DO IT!!! YOU WILL GET MANY REJECTIONS, BUT THATS SALES.. HAVE RESPONSES TO ANTICIPATED REJECTIONS PREPARED AND PRACTICE, ALSO PLANNING SERIES OF CALLS ONE AFTER THE NEXT IS ALSO SOMETHING I RECOMMEND

ALSO, FOLLOWING UP IS KEY

DONT BE ARAID OF THE PHONE, YOU CAN BE ANYTHING U WANT TO BE....

This is a great discussion! Thank you everyone for your thoughts and ideas...

I have cold called many times in the past and while it's not my favorite thing to do I have to admit the results have been very good.

In my last company I would cold call randomly just to see what I could create and always ended up with a new great client. For me it's about finding a connection and then seeing if the prospect is open to learning more about me and what I do.

The end result varies... The prospect may or may not buy from me but typically something happens! I either refer them business, they might refer me business, and ideally we refer and use each other.

Good Luck!

I've had some great experinece's cold calling and well, some bad one's too, however the good far out weighs the bad.

Things to do to make cold calling sucessful:

1. Attitude adjustment; you must be in the mind set of "smile and dial, and they will come". It's true, I swear!

2. Have a good list; There's nothing worse then calling out of the phone book. I don't care how good you are, it's a waste of your time and theirs.

3. Establish some good scripts before hand; there's nothing worse when you get a call from a bad sales person stumbling around like, "uh ummm, yea I'm calling to offer you, ummmm..." I'm sure you understand.

4. Give Them something they can't say NO to: Offering a discount or something free for their time if they schedule an appointment, like a $10 starbucks card or Borders card, can make a world of difference.

I hope that helps (Former Telemarketer in a past life)

Great comments everyone!!!!

I have a book to suggest on the subject :

"I'd rather have a root canal than do cold calling" by Shawn A. Greene

It really gets into the mind (attitude) aspect.

Cold calling is hard...period, but so is not having any clients!!!!

I also appreciate the honesty here that was shared here... bit of true life confession... I was afraid to call on realtors (which is fairly important in my business to do!)

But lke Barry Hurd said above "Get a check up from the neck up before picking the phone up. " Ha! Classic and quite true. Good luck ~ just get started...motion creates emotion.

Warm regards, Dani (http://www.DaniMcD.com/)

The best way to do it is to build immediate rapport with your prospect. We'll cover how to do this in my Sales Workshop (you can sign up on my profile for Free). Once you have rapport, get to the point quickly by either:

1. If they're random leads: Getting to the point quickly, presenting the value proposition, and the immediate value to the customer.
2. If they're hot leads: Building the relationship, doing some fact finding, learning about the interests/needs/wants of the client and then delivering to those needs.

As far as the feelings toward cold calling, you do a process called reframing. I or another trained coach can help you with this. What we do is condition your mind to focus on how you're delivering value to your clients instead of bugging them or harassing them. This will create more positive feelings toward cold calling, your attitude will be different on the phone, you'll hear less "No's" and you'll get better results.

Happy Calling!

Paul Anderson

I moved to a small town in Arizona. To help get my business in the area jumpstarted I went door to door visiting businesses and introducing myself. It was way more effective then cold calling for me. Whether that speaks to my lack of skill with cold calling or my charming personality I don't know. But, it worked out really well to go and visit other business owners in person.

Cold calling and working the cold market in general is like fishing... You just want to give them enough information about you, your business, and/or your services so they take the hook (and you set an appointment). Do not "throw up" on them and try to jam the hook in the fish's mouth by telling them every fact and all of the information that you would give them later.

Ben... that quote via Chris Kelly/Smith was type excellente.

Good deal.

Don't do too much cold calling in my field (it's one of those, "if we need you, we'll contact you" kind of bids). But i can see it's effectiveness if executed properly. I concur with the emailing in advance to gradually work your way in towards a future rendezvous.

Cold calling isn't my thing because i hate to be a nuisance to the receiver as i loathe the incoming of coldcalls myself. Sure, business is business and we're all trying to stay afloat in this fractured economy, but it's empathy.

Sincerely,

The Yes Man.

I prefer warm calling. I network with people, listen carefully, and do my best to match them up with different people...it makes a world of difference.

Taylor http://www.imagineyourreality.com

Elizabeth,

I failed at cold-call sales several times and gave up. It didn't matter how many workshops or seminars I attended, books I read or tapes I listened to. I was either fired or quit.

Years later I was given another opportunity. This time I took another approach.

Together, university studies in language and communication are topics so large they would fill any Borders book store. Yet, none are studied through what I call the Sales Training Industry.

With the help of experts in these fields teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, I developed a system for cold-calling that is not duplicated anywhere.

I then used this system which is not "personality dependent" for 25 years in door-to-door cold-call sales.

What was the difference? I eliminated Rejection in the sales environment. No, I did not call it a numbers game, I did not change the definition, I did not adapt a method that worked for everyone else, I discovered what motivated me at my deepest core. Once I knew this, eliminating rejection was easy.

We have been working with many professionals from law and business to simply curious people who want to know why they make the decisions they do.

Currently, we are focused on assisting professionals in the psychiatric industry. There are many shy people who would love to do public speaking or just be more outgoing.

If what motivates you matches the sales instructor, there is a good chance that what is taught will help. However if not, there is a common disconnect between student and teacher that persists throughout the training. The student is lucky to be able to use a kernel of information: their personality simply won't let them do the rest.

This fact has been demonstrated since 1940 with the advent of formal sales seminars. Over 90% of those new to sales fail within the first year regardless of training.

Learn what motivates you and overcome this obstacle as I did.

Biznik member, http://biznik.com/members/bill-doerr, Bill Doerr of Kensington, Connecticut is about to debut a very effective referral program. Best to develop this before you need it in person. However, we know that is not always possible. His program is elegant, embodies mannerly principles and incorporates a simple program for leaders.

Speaking of local leaders and local search, Richard Geasey of Seattle, can add comprehensive local search to your website. After he is done, your market will be covered as never before. You may be cold calling through your website—better living through technology.

Jacques Werth wrote "High Probability Selling", well worth the read to adapt the right mindset for cold calling and selling, and a methodical system for successfully acquiring new business.

This is the second old thread in two days that I've seen revived on this topic.

Yes, Cold Calling is alive and well. It's also something that everyone loves to hate, which usually means we also talk about it. . . A LOT!

I wrote an article on it a month or so ago and it seemed to get more comments than any other article I had posted previously or since.

To get where you want to go, you do what you have to do. . . and Cold Calling seems to be one of those "Have to do" activities.

Mamma always said, "God gives the birds food, but he doesn't throw it into the nest."

I like to cold call, foot blitz, canvass. You need to have a plan. A goal. Prepare before you call or knock on doors. http://tinyurl.com/ku4bax