Sell by telephone - get through and get a hearing

Cold calling is a waste of time and resources. Does this sentence have a familiar ring to it? If you work in a call centre and have to make sales calls all day long, this might seem a strange statement. Someone thinks that cold calling is worth the cost of paying people to do it. Most sales people, who perceive a choice, choose to avoid making cold calls. Adhering to a simple set of rules can take most of the pain out of the process.

These words from a course participant make the point. "I continue to be astonished at how bad I can be, when calling strangers to sell them something. Yet when I remember to apply the rules, I am surprised how good I can be."

Here are the rules:

1. Only call hungry people. If you were selling bread, and you could get hold of a list of hungry people, you might make a few sales. If you know your product or service, you can apply forethought, planning, and preparation to select only those sales prospects that are likely to benefit from what you sell. No matter how generic your product, there is a sub set of prospects who are more likely to buy it than anyone else is. Use due diligence, intelligence, and some hard work to choose the right prospects and only call hungry people.
2. Do your homework. If you are calling B2B, It should only take a minute or two to look over a prospects web site. Often it takes only another minute to find the right persons name, using one of the many online databases, search engines, or networking tools. If not, make a call to get the name. Get any name and then ask for the person with whom you need to speak.
3. Write first. Studies show that a written communication prior to a call, increases success by as much as 50%, depending on message effectiveness. Sending a series of relevant and interesting communications prior to calling, further increases success. Turn a cold call into a warm call.
4. Get introduced. Once you have a name, look for links amongst your contacts. Ask who they know who might know people at the prospects Company. Use online networking tools to see who amongst your contacts is connected.
5. Know exactly what you will say. You are unlikely to get through first time. You will have the option of having an intermediary pass on a message. The intermediary might be a real person or voice mail. For both instances, prepare a compelling message. Make it special, unique, useful, urgent, and short. If you havent thought about it in advance, any message you leave is unlikely to meet these criteria.
6. Ask for the prospects email address, direct telephone number, and mobile number. Sometimes some or all of these details are given out freely.
7. Know exactly what you will say. This rule is about preparing what you will say to your prospect in person. If you dont prepare you are unlikely to sound confident. The more decision-making authority a person has, the less time you will have to break their pre-occupation. They have a To Do list and you are not on it.
8. Know what you want. If you need to get face to face with the prospect, dont get drawn into a long conversation. Dont sell on the phone, sell the appointment. If you can sell on the phone, prepare a crib sheet to remind you of your important questions and any messages you want to communicate.
9. Send an email. If you dont get through and you think the prospect was present, send an email immediately. Keep it brief and to the point. Ask for a response or say you will call again.
10. Never accept the first no. If your opening line is not powerful enough, you are bound to hear some fob off excuses such as, Im in a meeting or, can you put something in the post. Be ready with a prepared turn-around for the common excuses. If the prospect changes the excuse, keep your cool and keep trying turn-around solutions until the prospect either runs out of excuses or becomes annoyed. Nothing impresses like persistence.

Few sales people ever get enough leads from marketing to be sure of busting their sales target. Prospecting is part of the job. If you dont prospect, you will never be in control of your results. Cold calling is a bit like physical exercise. You dont feel like doing it before you start. Then, once you begin, you find you can enjoy it and afterwards, you feel really good about it.

By Clive Miller, Founder of SalesSense