Cold Calling
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?