Cold Calling - 10 Do's and Don'ts

How To Sell Coach

So, you need to get some new business in and Cold Calling is on your list of things to do. Great! But are you feeling 'great' about it? Perhaps not. But why? What is it about Cold Calling that fills salespeople with dread, horror and fear?

• Fear of failure?
• Fear of rejection?
• Fear of making a fool of yourself?
• Fear of people being aggressive or abusive towards you?

First off, none of these feelings are unnatural. We all feel them from time to time at some point of our lives. It's how we deal with these fears that makes the difference. Will every cold call be positive and have a good outcome. Well no. But when you do make a sale how will that make you feel? What difference will it make to your life and the lives of those around you? How much closer will it take you to achieving your goals?

My first 'proper' job was running a team of canvassers selling subscriptions for publications. We knocked around 400 doors every night. And yes, I had doors slammed in my face, and not answered when I could hear the T.V. on and chased by big dogs more than once but hey..............I was developing my selling skills, coping with rejection and most importantly, learning a lot about myself.

So what kept me going? Well I was young, hungry for success, wanted to make my bonus and keen to be the front runner for the next promotion. And in those days, that's all I needed. I very much had a 'no-next' attitude to an extent but I also wanted to have the best conversion figures of any of the teams. Soon I began to understand the approaches that worked best for me.

But what about all those people who said 'no'? Well, I can't remember them and likely they don't remember me. Nobody's ever stopped me in the street and asked, "Hey were you that guy that knocked on my door?"

Business to business Cold Calling is different of course. But if you're polite, professional and prepared - what's the problem. You're doing your job and a good business person will understand that. More importantly, many of your competitors won't be doing it well if at all so there are sales to be made and business to be done. Right, here are the How To Sell Coach Top Ten Do's and Don'ts of Cold Calling:

1. Attitude - keep you goal's at the front of your mind. Why are you doing this? What's you goal or objective? What is your desired outcome? What will success bring you and your family? What is the life you are working to create. Focus on these things and understand your motivations.  

2. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. Prepare yourself, prepare your research, prepare your presentation.

Why would you ever call a potential customer without finding out at least some basic information about their company, their business and better still, them?

"Hello, can I speak to the owner of the business." I still get calls like this every week and I'll tell you straight - I will NEVER buy from any company who opens a sales call in that way. If you can't be bothered to find out who you're calling, I don't have the time to explain my business to you. Not a chance.

3. Making the Call About You.  The call is not about you, it's about what you can do for your customer. " Hi, I'm calling from Big Boss Products, we're the largest supplier of stuff in our industry sector." So what. In what way would that make someone buy from you? What the customer wants to know is what your product can do or them. You need to establish a need for your product. Research, prepare and establish the need.

4. Respect the Gatekeeper.
"Hi, I would like to speak to Mr. Jones in your Buying Department."
"Can I ask who's calling?"
You sigh, "It's Chuck Faber from Acme Products."
"Can I ask what it's in connection with?"
"Well it's quite complex, it would be better if you put me through to Mr. Jones."
"Have you spoken to Mr. Jones before?
"No, but he'll want to take my call."
"Mr Jones is busy right now................................"

Your dead. Create a rapport with the Gatekeeper. It's the difference between, "He's busy" and "I'll put you straight through." Treat them as you would the decision maker.

5. Nail Your Opening Statement. Work on this, fine tune it until you get it right. Your opening statement in a Cold Call is just about the most important part of the sale. Get it wrong and you'll be on to the next call in less than 20 seconds.

"I'm calling to introduce myself to you." Hang on, this isn't a networking event. You're not at the Captain's Dinner of a cruise ship. The customer has got to see that there is some value in continuing the conversation so make you opening statement value driven.

6. If you go to Voice Mail - leave a message. Why wouldn't you? You've made the call and paid for it so use it. OK, you may believe that this will just be a heads up for the customer to avoid future calls - and it may be but equally they may call you back which suggest that you would then have a warm lead. Leave your killer opening statement then tell them when you will call back, leaving a contact number so they can get back to you.

7. Focus. Set a specific time aside for cold calling and make it the focus of that time. Clear the clutter from your desk, switch off you email alert, even tell others that you have set that time for cold calling so you don't get any interruptions. Don't try to fit them in between other jobs. You can't do this piece meal. When cold calling, you will get into a flow so stay with it.

8. Tone, don't become a robot. Make every call as if it was the first one you did that day. There is a right 'pitch' for a call. You don't want to sound like this is just another one of the many calls you are making that day as the customer will hear that over the phone. Equally you don't want to sound annoyingly enthusiastic. Remembers selling is just a conversation, so normal is good.

9. Avoid meaningless statements. They're a waste of time and don't move you forward.
" Our aim is to provide a quality service." Of course it is - move on.
" We're the biggest in the business." And this helps me how?
" We always put the customer first." And so you should, next.

Stick to the point and what the benefits are to the customer.

10. Reject rejection. Ah now this is the difficult one for many of us. No, No, No. As Jim Rohn suggests every no takes you closer to a yes. And that is true but sometimes difficult to keep at the front of your mind. It is a discipline and one that has to be practised. When I look at the top pro tennis players. DO they hit the perfect shot every time. No. Often they will shout or stamp around but when they're ready to receive the next serve, it's forgotten. Their are down, ready and focused on making the next shot.

Sure learn from the last call but don't dwell on it. Re-focus and move on.

Pick A Direction And GO - 5 Top Tips

Most salespeople are avid readers of self-help books. Many buy CD's by the guru's and listen to them in the car between sales calls and that's good use of time. I have collected quite a library of books over the years and although many of them share the same or similar themes, they are all worth reading and re-reading - or are they?

I have a friend with a more extensive library than mine and he can quote you chapter and verse from all of them. So he should be the most successful person I know. Right? Well no, he's not. But how can that be? He's read the books, understood the messages and agrees with the philosophies so what's not working?

Well we had a chat about it and arrived at the following conclusion - his head was so full of information, theories and strategies that he didn't know which to use and therefore which direction to go in. Now that may seen quite strange but think about it. How many of us have some well thumbed books on the shelf. We may love and appreciate them. read certain sections over and over until the book becomes quite worn but are we putting this good advice into action.

Many year ago I read something which stuck with me. R.S.V.P - READ. STUDY. VISUALISE. PERFORM.
(I'll credit the author when his name comes to me) That was my friends problem. The first three parts he absolutely nailed but the PERFORM bit wasn't happening.


5 Top Tips on Making Self-help Books Work for YOU

1. Pick one author, and only one. To an extent it doesn't matter which one whether it's Jack Canfield, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn or whoever you choose. Pick the author with  message and teaching that strikes a cord with you right now, at this moment in time.
2. Read the book or programme all the way through as a first reading. Make some notes perhaps but the aim here is to get a feel for it.
3. Happy? Good. Right, back to the first chapter and work on it until you really have a grasp on the message and are performing all the actions - fully and completely. Don't skip anything or float around other parts of the programme. Just stick with it and complete it - one thing at a time, one chapter at a time.
4. Measure your success. Keep a record of what you have completed and your achievements. At the end of the exercise you want to know and understand what difference it has made to you
5. Don't stop making progress. When you have completed the first one, why not move on to the next. Can you imaging where you would be if you put all the great teaching from all the great teachers in to action. Outstanding.

Inspiration comes from unlikely places sometimes. I found this video quite inspirational. Enjoy.

Take Control - Top 10 Ways to Get You Moving.

Wouldn't life be great if we were in a state of continual high motivation. Every day when you get out of bed you feel alert, ready to face the day and excited about what that day will bring.

How To Sell Coach

Perhaps this describes you but more likely you will have good days and bad days. That's life - we all have good days and bad days. The difference between high achievers and non-achievers however is that high achievers recognise this and have processes in place to get then through a slump.

The first thing to understand that bad days happen - they just do and you level of motivation can ebb and flow. So don't beat yourself up about it. Where it really get to being a problem is when a down day becomes a down week which becomes a down month. Then you have a problem.

And guess what - that can happen too and it can be a struggle to get yourself back on track. You can feel overwhelmed, that things are getting on top of you and it can be hard to get moving again. So here are the How To Sell Coach Top 10 ways to Get You Moving again:

1. Write It Down - There is no point keeping stuff in your head. Yes, you brain will desperately try to sort it all out but give it some help! Write it down. All the things that you need to do, that are troubling you, that you're worried about. Do it now. In fact don't read any more of this. Get a pen and a pad and take 20 minutes to get it all on paper. Just one line per point. Don't get into the detail just get them out of your head and on paper. Once they are all down, you can begin the process of truly understanding what you need to do. This is now you tasks lists.

2. Focus On Your Goals - If you have a list of goals, great. Get your goals in front of you and spend 20 minutes reviewing them. If you haven't got a list of goals, now is a good time. Do it now. On a separate sheet of paper list down your goals. Take 20 minutes to do this.

3. Prioritise - Now you have the two most important lists in your life - your list of Tasks (where you are now) and your list of Goals (where you want to be.) When you see the two list in front of you, this may seem like a fairly daunting. That's all good but the really interesting thing is now that you have committed them to paper, your brain can begin to make sense of it all. It's no longer a confusion of random thoughts - everything is now clearly in front of you. How To Prioritise? I use a method that I call "Stoppers and Movers."

• Highlight you Top 5 Goals, the ones that are most important in terms of achieving the success that you want in life.
• Now take your Tasks list and mark beside each one whether it 'Stops' you from achieving your goals or by completing this task, it 'Moves' your towards achieving your goals.
• Take you Top 5 Stoppers and your Top 5 Movers and put them in order, the most important at the top of the list.  

    4.  The Power of One - doing one thing at a time to completion is key to achieving results. It may seem    that we're really busy and multi tasking but what are you really achieving. How well are you competing these tasks and are the the right ones - the ones that are moving you towards your goals? So pick one from either your list of Stoppers or Movers and work on it until you have completed the task fully. Then go onto the next one. But, one at a time. Don't fall into the trap of trying to do too much. That's likely how to got here!

5. Break It Down - OK, you have picked a task and it's a whooper! "Where do I start? How am I going to get this done. The best way is to break a big task down into smaller more manageable tasks. Write down all you know about it, what you need to know about it and from that create a list of what you need to do to complete the task. It's about taking small steps but steps that always take you towards your goal. Stick at it no matter what.

6. Ask - don't be afraid to ask for help. There may be someone you know who already has the answer or has faced and overcome this problem before. Ask. By ask, this does not mean delegate. You have to get it done ultimately. Also don't ask until you have considered the problem fully and you have at least an idea of what the best outcome may be. There is nothing worst than someone who burdens someone else with their problems. That's a sure fire way to not being offered help in the future. Surely it's better to say, "I've been working on this problem and I have some ideas as to how to over come it. But, I'd really value your opinion. Would you mind having a look at this for me?"

7. Take Action - There is no point doing the hard bit, working out the solution, and not seeing it through. Guess what, the problem will still be there and it will eventually work its way round again so get it done. Strike it off your list of things to do. Even if you are not 100% sure that it is absolutely the right way forward, move in that direction. You will be amazed that by taking action and starting the process how often a better solution will present itself.

8. Set A Time Line - You have to set a time line for the completion of the task. Now that you have considered it fully, you will have a clear vision of what needs to be done. So break it down and work through it. Don't set some fuzzy time in the future, be absolutely precise. Write a mini mission statement to really plant this in your mind. " By 12 noon of the 23rd of February I have completed this task fully and by doing so I have moved closer to achieving my goals." Share this with people close to you to help you focus on achieving the completion of this task.

9. Reward Yourself - Don't wait for people to say, "Good job." Take to time to enjoy the fact that you have done a good job. Reflect on it, take the good points from it and use what you have learned from the process to motivate you towards completing the next task.

10. Consistency - this is key. Don't let up on the completion of your tasks. Once you're on a roll, keep the momentum going. Set time aside every day to work on the completion of your tasks. Getting out of a slump or dip in you motivation or performance is not about completing the big tasks in one go but consistently working on the small tasks that take you toward your goals. This is a journey and as they say, every journey starts with the first step. But it is completed by taking one step then another then another until you get to where you want to be. By working through this 10 point plan, you will get to where you want to be sooner than you think or every thought possible.

Next 5 please!