Is the glass half full or half empty? It depends, of course, on how you choose to look at it. Most people take a half-empty, or negative, view of making cold calls. They see cold-calling as the process of getting rejected over and over again, and once in a while getting an appointment that leads to a sale But, theres another way to cold-call. You can get better results from cold call selling, by first, narrowing your target market, and then trying to find out as much as you can about your prospects before you make a direct sales pitch. Most companies and salespeople define their target market as all companies that purchase our product or service. Some might narrow it down to the local region. But this type of all-encompassing targeting is self-defeating, because not all companies that purchase your product or service are equally valuable as customers. Instead of trying to call on all companies, you should focus on the companies who are most likely to maximize the return on your calls. Once youve narrowed down your target market dont go in absolutely cold. Warm the sales wires in advance by learning as much as you can about your prospects. Doing this helps in any kind of selling, especially big ticket goods and services such as industrial equipment and life insurance. The more you know about a prospect beforehand, including the correct pronunciation of his or her name, the better your chances of approaching that person in an engaging way and coming away with an order. The two most important things to find out about a prospect before making a cold call are: What are the prospects greatest product or service needs and how can you fill them? Who will make the buying decision, the person you will be talking with or someone else? When you have the answers to these questions you, or your sales reps, can start positioning for a successful sale. You can also try to get some additional information, like finding out when the companys key purchasing executive will be the most open to taking calls from salespeople. There are a number of ways to gather the information you need prior to a sales call. For example, if youre planning to call on a large or medium size business you can put a call to the switchboard and ask who makes the companys buying decisions. You can cultivate friendships with the companys sales reps. You can talk to vendors and suppliers about the company. You can also learn about the company by simply requesting a copy of their brochure. If the prospect is an individual or a small business owner, you can often establish their buying interest in advance of the cold-call by reading different sections of the newspaper. For example, you can find out if someone in their family has recently gotten married, just retired, recently been promoted, or has just purchased a new home. Some of my clients have actually hired a person part-time, just to read and clip newspaper articles and search the Internet for information that could help them zero in on a sales prospects, and have gotten great results. If you or your sales reps are having a difficult time getting a first appointment with a prospect you could send or drop-off in person a free report containing valuable information. For example, the report could be titled, How To Cut Your Purchasing Costs By An Immediate 20%. Tell them your report summarizes the best ways to reduce purchasing costs in their market. Or let the report be something of broader interest, like a collection of pointers on how to get more productivity from their staff. Whatever the subject of your free report, make it hard for a smart business person to resist reading it. Then, give your prospect enough time to read and digest the information in the report and then call the prospect to see how he or she liked the report. Ask your prospect if he or she would like to meet with you and hear more of your ideas on cost-cutting. Very often, this technique will get you in for at least the first interview. So first, narrow down your target market. Then, use a two-step approach with a free report or some other gift to generate sales leads, then do the follow-up calls, and convert the leads you get into sales. With cold-calling, your income is related to your effort. This gives you not only freedom, but also responsibility. Cold calling rewards extra-effort, but it also punishes lack of effort. According to the Bible, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Nowhere is this more true than with cold calling. Copyright2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide |
