Fight the fear: How to make a success of cold calling

For many entrepreneurs, cold calling ranks up there with public speaking and death. But that needn’t be the case. Marcus Cauchi explains how to use it to massively benefit your business.

If Darwin were alive today, he would probably say that recession is Mother Economy’s way of weeding out those that cannot adapt. His advice; put yourself in danger of making some sales or face extinction. Nobody likes cold calling. The cold hard truth, if you don’t cultivate a positive prospecting culture in your organisation, you could go the way of the Dodo. 

• Do your calls in the morning
• ­Phone early to get around gate-keepers
• ­Give yourself a reward for making your calls
• ­Track what works

• Find out if the call has come at an inconvenient time
•  Appeal to the prospect’s nobler nature. Explain that you are as averse to making cold calls as they are to getting them
•  Ask permission to speak for 30 seconds and let the prospect know that they can end the call afterwards if they don’t find what you say of interest

• ­Deliver a 30-second commercial that highlights the problems that your product or service helps overcome
• ­If they see a fit, contract for 2 more minutes. Ask and get permission to talk further. Always ask for permission
• ­If they don’t, you are probably wasting your time and theirs. Move onto the next call
• ­Remember there are loads of sick puppies out there that need your help. Some will buy, some won’t buy, so what…onto the next!

• Ask great questions to help them discover the cause of their pain. The more painful the problems uncovered the quicker the close and the bigger the fee
• Challenge the prospect to explain why they need your help
• Do not commit to doing anything unless you know why you are doing it. Your time is precious. Do not get involved in pitches, proposals and tenders unless there is a clear positive future between you and the prospect
• All prospects lie. Find the truth. Remember prospects know that you can lie to a salesperson and still go to heaven
  

• Find out regularly if the prospect wants to continue the call
• ­When you get a meeting, give the prospect an opportunity to get out of it before the end of the call to eliminate cancellations and no shows. Some people agree to a meeting just to get you off the phone

Source : Marcus Cauchi is managing director of a London based Sandler Training franchise.

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