Cold Calling Made Easy
By: Katrina
Sawa
In my many years of sales and marketing work with small businesses, many of them would ask me all kinds
of questions about cold calling like the ones below. They would profess to be leery of doing it for fear of rejection or simply
through fear of making the call. See if any of these resonate with you?
1. “Does cold calling really work?”
2. “I hate feeling like I'm being sold, so I want to learn how to come across less like a salesman.”
3. “What's the MAIN purpose of cold calling anyway?”
4. “Is it to get the decision
maker's name or to make an appointment?”
5. “Do you recommend phone calls, or personal visits,
or mailing literature first?”
6. “How often should I try to contact a person?”
First
of all I want to mention that you need to make sure any list of names or prospects or whoever you are calling is not on the
Do Not Call List or you could get in big trouble. Go to www.donotcall.gov to find out more about it or to sign up as a consumer
or a telemarketer.
I did a little research online before I sat down to write this and I found just a ton of information
on cold calling and sales (like I had suspected). I thought I would find a simple 10 step process that would sum it all up,
but no such luck. I found a lot of sites who claim to have the best cold calling secrets out there, some sites who claim cold
calling just doesn't work anymore, some sites with numerous articles written on the subject and then some sites selling
all kinds of books and CD's on how to improve your skills.
You know I will always recommend reading books
or listening to CD's about certain topics to make you better at what you do and in this case, it may not necessarily be
books about cold calling but rather about SALES. Knowing good sales strategies and closing techniques can really help when
cold calling because you learn to react quicker and respond better to objections or negative responses.
Is there
anyone out there who really uses cold calling as their main lead generating avenue however? In this day of relationship selling,
I can't even imagine cold calling in my business. In fact, all the telemarketing calls I get at home are either mortgage
companies (#1 by far) trying to give me a free loan comparison analysis, phone companies trying to get me to switch or credit
card companies trying to get me to sign up or transfer balances to their card.
There are of course certain ways
this could be good, for example IF the mortgage company knew I had a high interest loan, say over 8% (glad I don't, but
you get the point), getting my name from a list from their title company, they could possibly tempt me with a 4.5 or even
6% rate over the phone enough to warrant the free analysis.
However, every one of them that calls me can never
beat the rate that I currently have which tells me they haven't done their HOMEWORK to narrow down their target list.
In turn they are wasting hours of their time calling on people like me.
Why wouldn't they just get a list
of prospects that REALLY have high rates, ones who would be easier prospects? I would.
Then, using the mortgage
company as an example: People these days don't have a lot of time and I would venture a guess that most don't like
receiving telemarketing calls, especially those that don't get to the point of the call. You know the ones…they
say hello Mrs. Saallla (can't pronounce my name of course and stumble over it a few times); I say “hello, it's
Ms. Sawa”. Then they ask “How are you this evening?” and I say “Does it really matter, what do you
want?” (Yes, I know, sometimes I am harsh). Then they say, well Mrs. Saallla (again), let me tell you why I am calling….
(By that time it's too late, I'm done with them). You know what I mean? They need to get to the point and fast.
If you really want to cold call then you'll want to make sure you take some time to develop a good script to grab
their attention and get to the point in the first sentence or question. Practice your script on friends and colleagues, role
play. When you do start to use it, try it out on the coldest leads you have not the hot ones, save them for when you have
more practice or you may blow some big opportunities.
The question I ask you is who is your target market? Are
they going to be receptive to cold calls? If not, you might want to find another way to reach them - more than likely there
are numerous other ways to market to your target market.
Just know that if you are calling the consumer you will
need a whole different script than if you are calling a business prospect - many factors come into play such as the “Gatekeeper”
(receptionist) or kids, answering machines, etc. Do you leave a message or don't you? I say you do - you've already
spent the time it took to make the call and wait for the machine you might as well leave a clear, short and well constructed
message. Then when you call back a few days later, it's a WARM call. Don't leave pricing info or rates or anything
that will give them the opportunity to decide a NO answer before you get a chance to call back.
So, as far as
when to cold call in your sales process, do you call first, mail a letter first or send an email? This will depend on your
industry and your target market and what they would be most receptive to or how long your sales process is (the higher cost
of your product or service may warrant a longer sales process).
I normally suggest mailing a letter or emailing
if you have their email first and then when you call, it's not a cold call but a follow up call to the letter or email;
hence eliminating the 'cold call'. Of course it isn't that simple, you might need to send 2 letters, a brochure,
email 4 times with attachments or links to your website and you probably will have to call at least 6 times, leaving 3 or
4 messages before even considering giving up.
In an aggressive industry where there is a lot of competition you
will want to be persistent. Many people value persistence as a good quality to have, you don't want to be annoying or
a pest, but a confident salesperson being persistent with their prospect can be respected and it also makes you look more
dependable, credible and reliable.
The following websites are ones I found (I am not familiar with them all) that
you might find helpful, some have email newsletters that you can subscribe to. Anytime you can get constant reminders about
a subject you are weaker in, suggestions, tips, etc. it can only make you stronger in that subject.
1.
www.coldcalling.com - newsletter and book suggestions
2.
www.briantracy.com - sales guru
3.
www.nevercoldcall.com - another option?
4.
www.gitomer.com - sales guru
5.
www.eyesonsales.com - many articles on the subject
6.
www.wendyweiss.com - a couple good free reports
7.
www.leadsintogold.com - articles about why not to cold call
To be honest, I think I would find other ways to promote your business and
generate leads rather than wasting your time on the phone. If you are a good salesperson and a real expert in your field,
you might come off a little desperate if you cold call. I don't mean to offend anyone out there who IS cold calling. I've
done it; I've even done door-to-door sales before!
I find that I am more effective in front of people, in
person and most of the time they need to see me quite a few times (building relationships) before they'll even consider
talking to me about their marketing needs. You can't build that type of relationship over the phone, not with one call
or twenty calls. Good luck and let me know what you think of what I said here; I'd be interested to know what works for
you and what you've tried.
Furthermore, if you want help developing your cold call script or deciding if cold
calling is even a good way to market your product or service, I would suggest signing up for one of my JumpStart Your Marketing
1-On-1 Planning Meetings! You can find out what those entail and how they will benefit you at
http://www.ksawamarketing.com/pages/1on1.html!
About the AuthorKatrina Sawa, Solopreneur Marketing Expert, helps entrepreneurs and independent consultants
build their database of clients and prospects, determine the best ways to market their business to their target market, teach
them how to network, develop follow up systems, marketing and advertising plans and find ways to get free or low cost publicity
which all lead to more customers and increased sales!
Katrina has been named "The Networking Queen"
by her peers and clients ever since she founded her business in 2002. She was always found out mingling at chamber of commerce
mixers, business networking events and expos and any event she could attend where her target market would be in attendance.
Consistent networking and follow up is the primary reason Katrina has been so successful in her business.
An avid
gardener, party planner and softball buff, Katrina enjoys the sunshine of Northern California. She grew up not too far from
the Sacramento area and then received her B.S. in Business, Marketing Concentration, from California State University, Sacramento.
PERMISSION TO REPRINT: This article may be reprinted provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution:
Katrina Sawa, Solopreneur Marketing Coach and Founder of K. Sawa Marketing. © Copyright 2002-2007 K. Sawa
Marketing. Reprinted by permission of Katrina Sawa, a marketing and promotional expert who helps small business owners and
entrepreneurs make the most of their marketing dollars and time. For more insight about her services or to sign-up for her
FREE REPORT on How to JumpStart Your Marketing, visit her at
www.ksawamarketing.com , or email:
katrina@ksawamarketing.com.
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