Getting the Most Out of Cold Calls
I have made well over a half million “cold” calls in my career. That makes me highly qualified to talk about the subject and – who could have made so many calls if it weren’t working? How would I have had the time for it? I can tell you that I extract an extremely high value out of my calling versus most other marketers. The reason this is so is that I have both long term and a short term objectives when I call.
- First, I focus on current interest, and I hardly ever attempt to “overcome” objections.
- I have a secondary goal in mind while calling of collecting qualifying information about the prospects I talk to.
- If a prospect tells me something useful that either signals a future buying opportunity or that disqualifies him or her as a prospect, I make a note.
- I “code” the outcome of every call with a number that tells me what the result of the call was.
- I store the data and the codes I collect in a prospecting database. I study and sort that database based on this information and I take follow up action when appropriate.
- I mix media by adding other forms of outreach to my marketing mix. If a prospect asks me to “send something,” I send it. I may have started my interaction with a phone call, but I will also send a fax, direct mail, permission email, etc. as needed.
- I call and send information to the same prospects in repeating cycles.
- When I send something to a prospect, it is always proactive and prompts a reply if the prospect has any current interest.
- I refresh my system over time by adding new potential prospects and by removing the names of prospects that are no longer viable.
When I am cold calling, I am seeking current buyers along with the opportunity to develop relationships with prospects over time. Today, I have a list of prospects that is like gold. Thousands and thousands of prospects on my list know me, my company, my products and services and look upon all of these elements in a favorable light. As such, my business pulls new sales out of this list continually. Further, we make our outreach consistent so that it produces a steady stream of interested new buyers.
To characterize what I do simply as cold calling misses a lot about of what I do. Most “cold” efforts fail to see the long term perspective, thereby missing out on substantial value. Can you learn to find success in sales by learning how to call the way I do? Sure, but it will take some study and some hard work. The results are waiting to be had, you just have to get in the game.
