Why Do Sales Pros Hate Cold Calling?

Hate may not be a strong enough word to describe the feelings most sellers have toward cold call prospecting, but for our purposes it will do.

Sales pros are among THE most intelligent people among all of the professions. You've gotta have something going on for you upstairs to be able to rely on your mental abilities to earn a great living from commission sales.

So, why do sellers detest cold calling? The answer is simple really, they detest cold calling because, they aren't any good at it. Getting lousy results with cold calling makes sales professionals feel lousy about themselves so in turn they avoid cold call prospecting like the plague.

Let's back up a few steps in thinking to figure out why face-to-face sellers aren't so good at cold call prospecting.

Sellers grossly underestimate the importance of one important fact. Because they underestimate the importance of this fact, sellers fail to make appropriate adjustments to their phone sales presentation.

The result? Unfailing, predictable rejection ... with every dial.

What is that one fact? When you move from selling in person to cold call prospecting by phone you are working with less than 50% of the information you are used to receiving literally in the blink of an eye. That's right, more than 1/2 of communication occurs through your eyes ... and when you move to the phones you are left floundering without a well-defined set of tools that allow you to register verbal cues; interpret those cues; and to decide what to say next.

When you move to the phone, poof, all of that non-verbal information is gone. Fail to compensate for this missing information and you will fail to learn how to "see" what you hear on the phone.

Add to that the fact sellers talk even faster than normal because of an underlying sense of discomfort and you end up with an undesirable situation.

Even though prospects report a desire to talk with sales professionals because they bring leading edge products and services to their door ... these same prospects report a fine-tuned ability to quickly end cold calls because sellers talk so fast and forcefully that the prospects feel slammed up against the wall (yes, even through the phone) instead of listened to.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Cold Calling Pre-Approach Letters and Emails

"Leslie, your book doesn't discuss the appropriateness of scheduling phone meetings (one-on-one web conferences) with Top Executives. Is this appropriate?
Also, does it makes any sense to attempt to soften the sales by sending an email to the executive using the same benefit statements to try and elicit positive interest? "
Shelia

Absolutely one-on-one web conferences are appropriate with Top Executives. When you nail down your unique selling proposition (USP) and use it during your prospecting call to secure a phone meeting ... make sure the topics in your web conference are formatted around the USP that piqued the interest of the executive in the first place.

As far as the subject of sending an email to elicit positive interest. Remember the majority of snail mail and email is culled by the executive assistant and never reaches the executive. Direct mail and email campaigns can yield amazing results. But "one shot, one letter, one email" does not constitute a well crafted Direct Response Marketing campaign. This is a branch of marketing with a steep learning curve.

If you opt to go this route, don't be disappointed if you take dozens of hours to painstakingly pour your little-ole-sales-heart out in a letter/email ... then you call your prospect, ask if he has received your letter or email only to learn he has no idea what you are talking about.

My counsel is to phone first.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Even More About Your Unique Selling Proposition

Many of you let me know that the books, DVDs, and CDs are a great way to begin the process of changing your mindset to that of a successful cold caller. And many of you let me know you want some one-on-one time to customize your particular benefit statement. Steve is no exception.

During a recent consultation he let me know about a really cool software he brokers that will help his clients out ... a lot. My husband is in the industry that is Steve's market niche. I like Steve's product so much that I told Luke about it ASAP. That's what happens when you are a consultant you find out the leading edge innovations just before they explode into their respective markets.

Steve was crafting a benefit statement around the one identified in our "Secrets" book, namely "I'm looking for a 20 minute meeting to see whether or not we can reduce your (prospects' significant) expenses by 20%." Then, he told me he believed he was on target when several of his happy clients said "that's it exactly what we want, we want to do this process 30% faster."

Then, I said, "Try replacing your first statement with an adaptation of the second. From ' ... we can reduce you expenses by 20% ... to ... we can get you through the process 30% faster ..." The light bulb went off in Steve's head. He could see clearly he was better off using the words of his clients than the words that simply fit a template.

Very cool. Very profitable.

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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Learn About Cold Calling from Telemarketers

The title of this post may seem like an oxymoron to some of you ... much like "military intelligence". No offense to our amazing troops but you know what I mean.

A telemarketer just called me from a call center. She said she was with Discover Credit Card Merchant Center and she had a no obligation offer for me.

I said, "Just in case this call is recorded the owners of your call center need to know that the background noise is distracting and evokes immediate distrust. And your opening statement doesn't address any of my needs."

She apologized all over herself.

I replied, "It's not your fault. You are doing a good job. I know because I help all sorts of companies prosper by coaching them cold calling well. Unfortunately your company is failing to equip you with what you need to do your job - the right background sounds and an effective script. No doubt you're on commission and will do well in the right environment. However, Discover isn't it."

If Discover wants to blast past Visa/MC and American Express leveraging cold calling to the max, then they will give me a call. I'm not holding my breath as clearly they are missing the obvious.

You on the other hand are a different story altogether. You can quickly learn and prosper from their mistakes.

1. When you cold call make sure the background noises project the kind of environment you want your prospects to see you in.
2. Make sure your opening line presses their buttons - addresses one or more of your prospects' most pressing business concerns.
3. Like this caller did, apologize when you screw up, not only is it the right thing to do, but it makes you seem human - people want to do business with honest humans. I would give this caller a few minutes of my time, anytime for that one reason

Visit: www.coldcallingexecutives.com

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