Cold Calling Tip: If Your Results are Stress & Failure

Frequently I wish sales professionals could see themselves through my eyes. I see you as part of an amazingly talented group of professionals. My job as a lead new business development coach is to remove what gets in the way of your success so that you can soar to new heights of success using the skills that intimidate the rest of the world, yet come naturally to you.

Recently a seller relayed this cold calling scenario, "I cold call a prospect company for the name of an executive-level decision-maker then I call that person. Introduce my self and the name of the company. I do my best to get past the gatekeeper and get to the decision-maker, then, do my darnedest to keep him on the phone. If he stays on the phone with me I qualify him - ask him a lot of questions to see whether or not he meets my market's identity. If not then I tell him to expect a call from another member of our team who is better suited to handle his size of company. If he fits my market then I ask about his needs and ask for an appointment. " I could hear his brain short circuiting, as the sounds of too many synaptic firings sped through the phone lines - sounded something like "bzzzzzz ...t!" I heard him trying to stay upbeat as he said, "I usually get one appointment out of every 600 calls."

I got tired just typing that vignette. Wow. What a high level of stick-to-it-ness he and his colleagues have. By the way, they are part of a tremendously successful company.

As we look closely at his story, one of many things that hit me right off the bat is the number of important goals he is trying to accomplish in 90-seconds or less of phone time:
- establish credibility
- get to the decision-maker
- get past the decision-maker's front line of defense
- get the decision-maker to open up about a lot of private information
- qualify the prospect
- turn the sale over to another sales professional
- get the decision-maker to agree to a call from another colleague
- stay upbeat and enthusiastic in the face of cold calls that create stress, failure, and require a lot of work for negligible results

You can reduce considerable amounts of stress and boost your results significantly if you have a clear, new, positive direction that allows you time to actually think during a cold call. Stop being committed to such a long agenda that in and of itself is virtually impossible to accomplish within the time constraints of the initial cold call.

Have one goal in mind and one goal only. To schedule an appointment.

If you do all of your work by phone as I do, use the cold call to schedule a phone appointment with your prospect. If you want face-time with your prospects, use the cold call to schedule an appointment for face-time. Then, work your way through the rest of your agenda during your meeting.

One clear-cut, single focus during your cold calling will leave your brain free to think about how to respond to your prospect's questions as opposed to reacting to what they say so you can plow your way through your long agenda.

Learning to respond effectively and efficiently to everything that occurs during each cold call is an indication of masterful selling skills. As you scrutinize the words that are spoken during each call you will begin aligning yourself and your focus on the ultimate reason for your cold calls - to meet with high-level decision-makers. If you continue to go down "rabbit trails" of conversation that take you away from this goal you are missing the critical element to accomplishing your mission.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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