In any kind of sales job you have to be aware of various types of Cold Calling Techniques. You must also be able to use these highly effectively Sales Techniques at the drop of a hat. This is extremely important in Telesales and Selling Over The Phone.
Cold Calling is used quite often in a lot of businesses and is sometimes the main method of Prospecting as well as getting orders to quickly increase sales. Many industries use the telephone for Business to Business (B2B) introductions, appointment setting, and surveys.
In other cases a company might use the phone to actually make cold calls that go from product introduction through to the final sale in one call.
If you look at the sales process Telemarketers of Newspaper Subscriptions follow, it’s a Cold Call designed to get the customer to subscribe during the Cold Call.
These types of Cold Calls rely heavily on a script that is followed to the letter.
The script is mapped-out through experience and each Telemarketer is usually given a list of prospects or is setup on a Predictive Dialer which dials the phone number and shows the customer information on a computer screen.
Handling Objections in this type of environment can make a big difference to the outcome of any sales call and the Telemarketers who can best deal with Sales Objections and think quickly will get more deals and are often promoted into the Sales Department.
I am a big advocate of Being Prepared Before You Make A Cold Call. The Art of Cold Calling is best suited to those of us that take the time to be prepared before we pick up the telephone. This means having up-to-the-minute Client Intelligence! I’ll return to this subject later.
Introducing Yourself | Breaking The Ice
The crucial moment of any Telesales Cold Call is the moment your Decision Maker answers the telephone.
Many salespeople freeze at this moment and ruin any chance at all of making a connection with the person on the other end of the phone line.
Face it, even though Cold Calling may seem impersonal, it’s exactly the opposite when you are using the phone. When was the last time you got really close enough to someone to whisper in their ear?
At this crucial moment several things can happen but there are five critical impressions you must satisfy for your prospect.
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You Are Not A Threat
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You Are Relevant
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You Are Informed About Them
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You Could Present A Beneficial Opportunity
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They Like You
One of the easiest ways to get a person to let their guard down is with a little humour. If you can make your prospect laugh or smile in the first seconds of a Cold Call you’ll be half the way there.
There are many methods to make this work for you but you have to remember – there is a big difference between being humorous and silly.
You must come across as lighthearted yet professional as well and witty yet inoffensive. You’re not looking for someone to fall off the chair laughing, you’re goal is to be engaging and charming without going off the deep end.
One of your goals in Cold Calling is to quickly establish that you are speaking to the correct individual without making that person feel like a mark.
You have to be clever about this.
Let’s say you are selling a line of industrial cleaning supplies.
You may not want to ask:
Are you the person responsible for purchasing the cleaning supplies?
You may rather say:
I understand that you’re the person that makes sure your building has the latest and greatest cleaning supplies on the market.
When they say Yes, I am – you’ll answer:
That’s great, My company just came out with a brand new line of cleaners that I knew you would like to hear about.
As in the pervious example you’ve shown the person you’re speaking with that you’ve done your homework and know who they are. If you are paying attention to what is happening in your industry you should be alerted to when a company is doing something that can benefit from what you sell.
It all goes back to being prepared
As in the above example you’ve demonstrated to the prospect that if they buy cleaning supplies, you could be a potential supplier.
The prospect knows you are talking to the right person, if not, they may point you in the right direction.
By satisfying the above conditions there is no reason the person wouldn’t like you. We are not talking about setting up a date!
We are talking about being comfortable enough with you to continue a conversation about their business and the opportunities you might bring to the table.
Breaking down barriers is very important in the first moments of any Cold Call. You have to Warm-Up the person you’re talking with and the best way to do it is to be friendly, engaging, professional, and interested in the prospects business.
If a potential customer is comfortable speaking with you in the initial stages of your phone call, you’ll find they will be open and forthcoming in the rest of your conversation.
By quickly developing a good rapport with someone over the phone, you will come to realize how much fun Cold Calling really is!
Breaking The Ice and making a connection with a prospective buyer of the goods or services you sell, is one of many Cold Calling Techniques. Throughout TeleSales-Pro.com I’ll continue to explore how you can employ more Cold Calling Tips to help you be successful in Telesales.
Jim
Telesales-pro.com is primarily concerned with B2B Telesales. Selling over the Phone to business is a highly specialized activity and depends on many Sales Techniques specific to Telesales.
Whether you are looking for Sales Jobs or Sales Leads, TeleSales-Pro exists to provide you with valuable Sales Tips and Resources.
If you are trying to build your Sales Skills, improving your Telephone Sales Skills will give you a great foundation in Sales. After all, as salespeople, we all want to be Selling more.
Learning to Sell over the Phone will help you understand the Sales Process and will enable you to improve your overall Sales Negotiation Skills.
If you have any comments, feel free to comment about anything you read on telesales-pro.com. If you want to contact me you can email me: jim@telesales-pro.com
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