Do's and Don't in Cold Calling

12 years ago

DO pick up the phone/pull those doors!

DON'T get discouraged and quit!

Whatever your product is and your target customer, identify a common pain point for the industry, call with a solution, offer value, get a check.

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JCorp

12 years ago

Agree with wsands.

Cold calling still works...

- Be enthusiastic
- Be happy
- Smile as you talk
- Be friendly, but semi-aggressive (in control of the situation)

- Don't be boring
- Don't be too pushy
- Don't read a script word for word... just use it as a guideline.

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Jason Kanigan

12 years ago

Well, I happen to have seen over the past 20 years that Enthusiasm Is Your Enemy.

Anyhow, start with this

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...beginners.html

Then you'll have the right expectations. Most people get in with the wrong expectations, no technique, and crash & burn.

Use the Search function, advanced, and for threads in this subforum. There's lots here. Find an approach that works for you (there are a couple main ones from different people) and stick with it.

This is a SKILL, just like cooking, writing, painting, and plumbing. Don't expect to be great at it overnight. You won't be. But after a month or so of consistent effort you'll be better than 90% of the people who have been in "sales" for many years.

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>> Executive advisory: Unstick sales, strategy & growth problems fast â†’ jasonkanigan.com

>> Sales On Fire â€” Module 3 (advanced sales frameworks for experienced sellers)

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popstocks

Banned 12 years ago

Rule #1 don't cold call.

Rule #2 remember rule 1

Any business that has to cold call to get new "suckers" clients says what about them? Word of mouth is so great they have to sucker people in with cold calling.

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Jason Kanigan

12 years ago

Originally Posted by popstocks

Rule #1 don't cold call.

Rule #2 remember rule 1

Any business that has to cold call to get new "suckers" clients says what about them? Word of mouth is so great they have to sucker people in with cold calling.

PLEASE stay out of these threads.

We're not interested in you or anyone bashing cold calling. Not to mention what you had to say was completely inaccurate and worse than useless. Your misinformation actually hurts people.

The OP asked for help with making prospecting calls. That's what we stick to here.

Can you, should you, have other lead generation methods working for you along with phone prospecting? Absolutely.

If you have other offline marketing advice, I'm sure people will be glad to see it in another thread.

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>> Executive advisory: Unstick sales, strategy & growth problems fast â†’ jasonkanigan.com

>> Sales On Fire â€” Module 3 (advanced sales frameworks for experienced sellers)

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mojo1

12 years ago

Originally Posted by popstocks

Rule #1 don't cold call.

Rule #2 remember rule 1

Any business that has to cold call to get new "suckers" clients says what about them? Word of mouth is so great they have to sucker people in with cold calling.

I guess Mark Cuban, Barbara Cochran and all the rest of the Sharks on Shark Tank are suckers too. That's usually the first question they ask of would be presenters is " who have you called to get an order for your product?"

As a matter of fact, if a product presenter hasn't made a phone call, any one of the sharks typically response is the person isn't or couldn't be all that serious about their business or don't have what it takes to sell their product.

Successful entrepreneurs know it takes putting the pedal to the medal to get sales of product moving. Cold calling isn't the only way but it's definitely one of the fastest ways to get traction.

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Jason Kanigan

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill

Cold calling is about communication. You need to engage the person on the other end. If you simply run what amounts to a mechanical pitch, you're screwing yourself and annoying potential clients.

Exactly.

Most calls are started so badly they end quickly. Prematurely.

If you behave and sound differently, you'll be treated differently.

We have to get the prospect out of what they were doing and onto the call. We also have to stop them from feeling the fear that this is going to be "one of those calls", where the salesperson goes on and on and on about features & benefits.

We must have a real dialogue with the prospect to find out if we're a fit.

And it's OK if they aren't a fit. If they don't have a problem we can solve, that's all right. Let's find out as soon as we can, though, so we don't waste anyone's time.

If a prospect doesn't want to talk, that's fine too. We'll simply move on. It isn't rejection. It's just them not being available to talk right now. Let's find people who do wish to talk to us.

The beauty of selling is someone is out there, actually many people, waiting, hoping, WISHING someone just like you would call them right now to get them out of the awful situation they're in.

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>> Sales On Fire â€” Module 3 (advanced sales frameworks for experienced sellers)

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wsands

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

The beauty of selling is someone is out there, actually many people, waiting, hoping, WISHING someone just like you would call them right now to get them out of the awful situation they're in.

I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a place, delivered my opening line about what I do for businesses, and the response was..."We were just talking about needing to find a website guy!"

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l23bc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by chris07

I'm about to venture into cold calling for my offline biz. I believe cold calling is still very effective if done right. However, I would like my follow warriors already involved in cold calling to shares some of their golden nugget, the Do's and Don't in relation to cold calling. Thanks

In my younger Days i work as telesales Call caller and here some pointers that was Learned from training.

1) The Customer known as the Sniper on the Grassy Knoll.Well what the staff were i used to work for a telephone company use to call them You get into your script based and they seem so Fantastic and hanging on every word you say slenderly they go quiet and all well ...Until they start shouting down phone hence the name sniper!

My point on that note is its all down to the 80/20 sales rules? 80% listening 20% talking or replying whilst building up a pore with your customer. Not much difference between that and internet Marketing really

Tone of voice is also desired. example of this is when someone raises their voice you Dont raise yours. But you try to match the tone of the other person just like for example body language when you see a friend in life for example.

Tip:Just imagine the people you talk too to be in the same room as you. Rather then a telephone. That's how i used to approch the whole day to work at the time.

Also try to not use words like for example.....How does that sound Mr smith?
Always try Open Questions to a conversation example most annoying thing about telesale was what we call Gate-Keepers, People like Secretary Who never let you speak to the client and ask I can pass a message on if you like? for example its mostly about handling Objections fairy well

My best advice i could give you is if you have a Kindle try looking for the Kindle Book Call calling for Chickens. One of the best books i have read on the subject. or Garrett, Robert J (2012-09-01). 101 Phone Tips for Telephone Pros - Scripts proven to work for 38 years (Kindle Locations 1057-1065). Coral Bay Publishing. Kindle Edition. That was Good also

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chris07

12 years ago

Originally Posted by l23bc

In my younger Days i work as telesales Call caller and here some pointers that was Learned from training.

1) The Customer known as the Sniper on the Grassy Knoll.Well what the staff were i used to work for a telephone company use to call them You get into your script based and they seem so Fantastic and hanging on every word you say slenderly they go quiet and all well ...Until they start shouting down phone hence the name sniper!

My point on that note is its all down to the 80/20 sales rules? 80% listening 20% talking or replying whilst building up a pore with your customer. Not much difference between that and internet Marketing really

Tone of voice is also desired. example of this is when someone raises their voice you Dont raise yours. But you try to match the tone of the other person just like for example body language when you see a friend in life for example.

Tip:Just imagine the people you talk too to be in the same room as you. Rather then a telephone. That's how i used to approch the whole day to work at the time.

Also try to not use words like for example.....How does that sound Mr smith?
Always try Open Questions to a conversation example most annoying thing about telesale was what we call Gate-Keepers, People like Secretary Who never let you speak to the client and ask I can pass a message on if you like? for example its mostly about handling Objections fairy well

My best advice i could give you is if you have a Kindle try looking for the Kindle Book Call calling for Chickens. One of the best books i have read on the subject. or Garrett, Robert J (2012-09-01). 101 Phone Tips for Telephone Pros - Scripts proven to work for 38 years (Kindle Locations 1057-1065). Coral Bay Publishing. Kindle Edition. That was Good also

Thank you for the insight