Sales Chump

Most sales positions require cold calls.  Whether it is to set up appointments where the sales rep visits prospects or where the sales rep tries to get more prospects to visit them; it is a necessary practice to stay successful. 

Most sales managers and sales reps focus on the total amount of cold calls per day.  This is generally because they know how many calls it will take to make X amount of sales.  This can get very tiring and a lot of reps get defeated when starting each day with such a big number of calls to make.

Instead of looking at total cold calls, try focusing on total prospects each day.  A prospect is someone that can be closed (whether it be via call, visit to prospect or visit by prospect) in the next 30-60 days depending on your industry.  This varies on each industry but typically it will take 100 calls to get 3-5 prospects.

So instead of 100 cold calls a day, a rep can focus on 4 prospects a day instead.  This not only has a positive effect psychologically on the sales rep it also puts an emphasis on quality over quantity.  Most likely a rep will make him or herself get better at each call so they don’t have to make 100.  After using this practice for a few weeks, the reps ratio will probably get better and be 75 cold calls to get 4 prospects.  After a few more weeks it may further reduce to 50 cold calls to get 4 prospects.  It will level off at some point but the ratio of cold calls to prospects almost always gets better.  This will either relieve the sales rep of stress or allow the rep to make more calls to be more successful.

Try focusing on prospects instead of gross number of cold calls daily and watch your sanity and success improve.

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? 

I’m not going to beat around the bush or try to make cold calls out to be better than they are… cold calling sucks.  There I said it.  I’m a sales rep and I hate to cold call.  How many of you enjoy it?  If more than 1 of 10 people said yes, I would say there’s something wrong.  It’s not that as sales people we don’t like making new contacts, it’s more of a psychological thing.

I know as a sales rep myself I fear rejection.  This is something I’ve worked out of my system and no longer fear it.  If you complete a good sales process, you will know whether or not a deal will go through.  But I digress from the point of this blog/rant…. cold calls suck.

While cold calling leads isn’t fun, sometimes we find ourselves having to do it to generate new prospects.  Referrals and being an “order taker” is nice but it doesn’t always work out that way.  At some point in your sales career you will cold call. While after a while you can use your customers to generate hot leads and give you referrals, a cold call at some point in time is going to be required.

For example, the other day one of my customers (which was a complete cold call right out of the phone book) referred another franchisee who owned several more locations.  While I get a lot of referral business now, my referrals all started from a cold call at some point when I look back at it.

So what is the point of this rant you ask? I’m getting there…

When you are cold calling, you most likely don’t have much information about the decision maker or the business.  You will find yourself having to work on bypassing the gatekeeper and various other things.  There are some things that can make your cold call easier:

1. Goal for Sales Call - Have a goal in mind for your cold call… what do you want to accomplish on this call?
2. Know the Business You’re Calling - Have an idea of what this business does and what is important to them.
3. They Aren’t Expecting Your Call - Remember they weren’t expecting your call today, that you are interrupting their day.

There are many other things that will help you on your cold call.  For me I have these goals in mind when making my first cold call to a lead:

1. Get Decision Maker name and email
2. How High of a Priority This Decision Is
3. Time to go further in depth about the product

While cold calls aren’t the best thing in the world.  Good things do come from them when the right approach is taken.  If you have to make cold calls, make sure you have clear goals laid out for the call, know the business you’re calling, and realize you are interrupting their day to talk to them.

As always, please chime in with tips that you may have for cold calls.