Sales Prospecting- Cold Calling- Tips On The Phone

Let me be abundantly clear on my thoughts of cold calling. To me cold calling is a last ditch resort. I'd rather spend my time convicing my manger to spend money on marketing to generate leads than to do it, but sometimes you either have to decide to do it or to move on with your career. I am not a quitter so I say do it, and quite frankly if you move on you'll probably run into the same situation at the next company eventually. It is possible to turn a cold call into a warm call though.

With the internet and Google it has become increasingly easy to find out key information about decision makers. If you look hard enough many times you can find out perosnal information about the decision maker in a bio, contact information and maybe even an email address. This gives you a head start on calling. My recommendation is to spend 30 minutes a night researching new potential prospects. Try to put yourself in their shoes and try to understand their perspective. One of the most important qualities of a successful sales professional is the ability to listen. With the internet you get to listen before you even talk to a person. Below are some tips for when you are actually calling.

1) when you talk to a gatekeeper know the name of the person you are trying to get a hold of. 3 minutes of reasearch is very productive. Also always ask for the decision maker by first name only. Try to sound confident and sincere, the objective is to convince the gatekeeper that you already know the decision maker and he or she is expecting your call ( I am not saying to lie to the Gatekeeper, communicate this through your tone and delivery).

2) Never apologize for calling a prospect- "Mr Smith, this is Bob Jones fro XYZ Company, I'm sorry if I interupted something, but..." If you have a valueable service to provide to the prospect you shouldn't apologize, which leads me to my next point. Only call people who can use what your selling. if you know that what you provide will be a value to the person you are calling you will automatically be more confident on the phone.

3) Stand while talking- it allows you to automatically project your voice more which exudes confidence through the phone.

4) Smile while talking- I know the person you're talking too won't be able to see it, but thats not the point. You can hear a smile through the phone. People always tend to mirror the mood that you're in. If you're happy, they will tend to be happier.

5) Understand no means not yet. Many sales in any industry are made on the 5 calls or later.

6) If you get a voicemail, zero out to the operator after you finish the voicemail and ask for the decision maker's email address. Send him one email with a link to your website (if it's good) or a quick introduction. Let him or her know you appreciate their time and because you appreciate their time you would like them to invest 15 minutes into you so that you an find out if you can mutually benefit each other.

7) Be organized- Take notes on each call that you make, write down when the next time you are going to call them is and why? Takes notes on key points from your conversation so you can use them on your next call. I recommend using a salesforce.com or similar CRM tool to stay organized. pipelinedeal.com is around 15.00 dollars per month and has mobile phone capability.

Be persistent- all the technique in the world won't work without the right attitude.