Sales Chump

Cold calls are the heart and soul of any outbound sales effort.  Whether it be setting up face to face interviews, telemarketing or telesales; a new sale is made by picking up the phone and calling someone.  A cold call is calling someone who did not ask for your call nor are they expecting it.  This is why most people grimace when you mention the two “c” words back to back.

Many sales reps try to avoid cold calling by doing other busy activities.  Those rep’s sales generally suffer.  Sales is a numbers game.  The more cold calls = more prospects = more sales.  More experienced reps can make less calls to make one sale.  A lot of times these reps stop when they hit their quota or goal instead of making more calls and doubling their numbers. 

The number of cold calls you make a day is likely dictated on whether you have an auto dialer or any other normal job functions to handle on a daily basis.  Most people try to come up with the lowest number possible when coming up with an acceptable call volume but put it in perspective.  3 cold calls every half hour = 48 in a day.  That seems so insignificant when it is broken down.  100 cold calls a day should seem much more attainable now!

Cold calling is not fun but it can be more tolerable by following some of these tips: 

-Don’t take a no or hang up (or worse) personal.  The person at the other end of the line does not know you.  They may be a miserable person or a nice person caught at a bad time.  Whatever the case, they don’t know you from Adam so don’t let their negative attitude bring you down or bring you to their level.  Move on and forget it the second you hang up.

-Make more cold calls.  This will thicken your skin and get you more accustomed to rejection.  You will have 99 no’s but that one yes will make up for it. 

-Make goals and track your daily progress.  This will keep you motivated during the tougher times to succeed.

-Set up competitions with your co-workers and put lunch or just bragging rights on the line.  A contest for most sales in a week or most prospects or calls in a day can make cold calling a little easier to do. 

-Find out how much a cold call is worth to you.  To do this you have to figure out how many calls equals a sale and how much that sale is worth to you.  Simply take that amount and divide it by the number of cold calls you make.  For example if it takes 100 calls to make 1 sale and that sale is worth $100 to you, each call you make is worth $1.  Every time you pick up the phone and dial, it is $1 in your pocket.

Who wants to make some cold calls? 

Now that we are in the last few days of 2008, it’s time to start setting sales goals for 2009.  Setting goals is very important for your success.  It forces accountability and should help map out your path to success.  Just as sales calls need a script, you need a trail to your goals as well.

I like to set lofty yet obtainable goals.  Unrealistic goals can leave you demotivated and discouraged.  If you like to shoot for the starts, set two goals:  your lofty but obtainable goal and your BHAG (big harry audacious goal).  There is nothing wrong with two goals or two levels.

Break your goal out on a time-line.  You have to set smaller goals within your large goal or your large goal will be forgotten about.  You will have your yearly goal but then set weekly, monthly and quarterly goals within that year.  Don’t just take your annual goal and divide it by 12.  Think about the different times.  Are there certain months or times of year that are better for sales?  Are there certain months that are worse for sales?  Do you already have a 3 week vacation planned in the summer?  Keep these factors in mind when breaking down your time-lined goals.  It can be a consistent number at each interval but it will work better if you take all the factors into account.

Goals are great but how do you figure out what that magic number is?  High sales numbers sure do look and sound good but what specifically needs to be done to get there?  Set an amount you like (10-20% higher than 2008 for example) and then back your way into that number to really see how obtainable it is.  Sales is all numbers and figures so this should be no different.

You should be keeping track of all kinds of numbers and figures on a daily basis.  These include;  how many calls you make a day, how many doors you knock on a day, how many people come in each day, how many prospects you make, how many appointments you make and of course how many sales you make.  You also have to know what your average sale is worth. 

I’m going to keep these numbers simple (your numbers will vary but the concept will remain the same).  Let’s say you make 100 cold calls a day.  That results in 10 appointments and one sale.  That sale is worth $1,000.  Your annual goal is $150,000.  You will need to find out how many sales you will have to make first, so simply divide 150,000 by 1,000 = 150 sales.  That means for 150 sales you will need (150*100 calls= 15,000) 15,000 cold calls.  That’s (15,000/252 sales day in the year=60) 60 cold calls a day.  If that is easily obtainable, your goal needs to be raised.  If that is impossible, it should be lowered.

With the correct figures you should be able to set a goal, hold yourself accountable on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, and hit your yearly figure.