Cold Calling…
Posted on | June 23, 2007 | 2 Comments
Do you ever get the feeling that a cold call is like a spin of the roulette wheel? Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. Is this a game of chance or a game of skill? Is this an effective use of time for any dedicated sales person? I would like to hear about successes, failures and your general opinion of this topic.
Category: Sales Philosophy
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2 Responses to “Cold Calling…”
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About Coley
Coley Perry is a 15 year veteran of the sales and marketing grind. Most of his experience is in and around the intersection of sales, marketing, change management, technology and business process helping clients solve business problems through innovative solutions and consulting. He has built sales teams, go-to-market strategies, demand generation engines and sustainable revenue streams. Currently his passion is focused on the convergence of sales, marketing and technology. He wrote a lot of checks to Columbia College and Northwestern University but learned the most from The “Second City” Training Center in Chicago where he studied the Art of Improv.
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June 27th, 2007 @ 10:15 pm
I absolutely believe there is skill involved in making an effective cold call. As a real sales rep you don’t have to like cold calling, you just have to do it.
A dedicated sales person MUST make cold calling a part of his/her strategy. It createsa sense of accountability and humility. Add all the other stuff in like networking, marketing, etc…but never leave cold calling out of the plan. I have a fool proof cold calling plan that works like a charm and would be happy to share it.
June 29th, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Cold calling is a must. I have been in multiple sales team environments and it never fails- the TOP producers are highly skilled and fearless cold callers. Those that are afraid to cold call cannot be successful sales people. Cold calling is a tactic that when used accurately, can be a highly successful lead generation tool. Cold calls made warm are the best form of cold calls. Gaining intelligence on a contact prior to the cold call makes your cold call much more effective.
Cold calling is also a system. It’s not as effective if the calls are one-off’s and do not generate caller awareness to the prospect. There are different strategies that can be employed, but the one that has always worked for me is the “keep a promise” tactic. Once you have generated intelligence of some sort on the prospect, understand the 2-3 points that may create a pain or conversation with the person answering the phone. Make the call and if they do not answer, leave a message. The message MUST include a statement telling them that you will call them again by a certain date if you do not hear back from them. This is the promise that you have made. KEEP THAT PROMISE. Call the person back when you promised and then leave another message. Repeat this cycle. I realize that this tactic is very different from others, as most people prefer not to leave messages and just call and call until they get the prospect on the phone. By creating a dialog with the person’s voicemail, you are displaying consistency, organizational skills, commitment and much more. Even if it takes forever to get the person on the phone, when you do, they will either tell you to quit calling or apologize for not getting back. 9 times out of 10, I have had the person apologize. NOW THEY OWN YOU SOMETHING! Start asking questions to understand pain.
Bottom line, you can’t be a good sales rep and not have cold calling in your prospecting plan. I would challenge anyone that manages sales to tell their sales team not to cold call and actually produce top performers. More of this to come on http://www.e-four.com .
Thanks for the forum Coley.