Cold calling is intimidating, at least for a person like me who hates phone calls. But, because they’re necessary to the success of any startup, we have to get really good at them. Here’s some tips to make the process a little easier:
- Make a plan.
Know who you’re planning to call. It doesn’t make sense to call a plumber about the veterinary supplies you’d like to sell. Create a list, and know the best times to call that person.
- Prepare a loose sales script.
Note the word loose – you don’t want to sound stinted, but if you struggle with speaking on the phone to strangers it can help to have some semblance of the responses you’re looking for and the questions you’re asking in front of you.
- Practice calling.
Get a voice recorder, and walk through a prepared script as if you were talking to a new prospect. Listen to the recording, and note ways in which you could improve your delivery. Note your voice tone, your word choice, and the overall tone of the message you’re communicating.
- Five minutes after fifteen calls.
After fifteen calls, give yourself five minutes to rest, eat, stretch, etc. Then go back and do fifteen more calls!
For the complete list, see this article that I adapted this post from.
testacr22
These are great tips for cold calling and will help you not make mistakes. I struggle with sales over the phone but the biggest help for me is to treat the call as a natural face to face conversation and not be so scripted.
I have such a hard time cold calling. Even in non-sales situations, like making new friends or prospective dates, I just struggle with the notion of initiating a conversation.
These are great points! I was just talking to someone over the weekend who makes over 100 cold calls per week and he also noted that it’s important to make LOTS of calls. If you just have a few calls to make it can almost seem more difficult than a lot. When you have a lot, each specific call loses some of it’s significance and the pressure involved.
I agree. Networking is key to sales. One has to has to maintain a high standards of integrity in order to build trust and relationships. Making sure you your product or service is actually something they value. Ask them if they if they care about or use certain products or service and tell them you sell that product or service too. Then shut up and see if they want to know more about it. if they do then go ahead answer with a question or short answers.
By all means. If that what it takes to effective at building relationships with potential costuemers. Be mindful, fair when it comes to treating everyone equally and no cheating or exception when come treating everyone equally with respect and costumer service.