How to Make Cold Calling Opportunities out of Voice Mails

Most people who still use the traditional cold calling mindset look at voicemail as a dead end. They say to themselves, “Oh well, I may as well leave a message and hope he calls me back.” This almost never happens, and we know it. But we′re often so relieved not to have to talk with someone, that we leave a message anyway. We avoid dealing with another person’s potential negative response to us and we avoid being challenged by the receptionist as well. By the time the day is over, we might feel good because we′ve played the “numbers... Read more »

Every Cold Call Needs a Problem to Solve

In the old way of making cold calls, we offer a sales pitch to a perfect stranger, cross our fingers, and hope for the best! This really doesn’t work very well in building a business relationship (or any other relationship, for that matter). This is done best by stepping into the world of the other person and finding a problem we can solve for him or her. That’s how we begin a conversation with another person talking about them rather than talking about ourselves. It’s just a very common dynamic that occurs in any human interaction. When you’re dating somebody, for instance, if you just talk about yourself, they′re... Read more »

How to Make Cold Calling Effective

How can we make cold calls “work” when we′re talking to someone we haven’t met, about something they may not need? Well, it’s really simple. First we look at how to relate to them rather than hoping they’ll relate to us and our solution. When we approach cold calling with a question about what their needs are, potential clients respond much more readily to the idea of talking with us. To help you with this, here are a few examples of dialogues within four very different industries. Example: Staffing In the staffing or recruiting industry,... Read more »

How to Avoid Cold Calling Burnout

Old-school traditional cold calling can take a toll on a person’s self esteem over time. It’s just not natural to have somebody hang up on us, or to experience rejection over and over each day. Because of this, many of us tend to recoil at even the idea of cold calling. It’s a fear-laden experience that’s often depressing. You see, most of us have a mental block around cold calling. We associate cold calling with the worst of what selling is about — the “going to war” concept where we put on armor and play... Read more »

How to End Your Fear of Cold Calling

Most of us really dislike cold calling. It’s probably the most dreaded of all sales activity, and causes the most rejection. But there are wonderful ways to think differently about cold calling. We can eliminate the negative experience that’s typical for both caller and receiver simply by changing our mindset. When we begin to think differently, we find that cold calling is no longer the fear-laden experience we’ve come to expect. By adopting this new mindset, you’ll be able to enjoy calling again. And, for the first time, you’ll see other benefits to cold calling besides actually closing a sale. Here are three key focuses that shift us into... Read more »

How to End the Cold Calling Game of Chasing a Sale

Our thoughts are always at the basis of our behaviors. If our thoughts are fixed on the goal of making a sale, then we′re not really being forthright. We′re not focused on the conversation or the truth of a situation. We′re chasing people — or at least chasing the sale. Here are 5 important steps to help end the “chasing game″ in our cold calling efforts. 1. Avoid reading from a script Life is not a script, nor are normal conversations. When we read from a script, we′re not being natural. We′re... Read more »

How to Stop Cold Calls from Feeling Intrusive

Can′t you tell when somebody wants something from you? I certainly can. And it usually feels inconvenient and intrusive. So you can understand, then, why potential clients will often run for cover when your cold call is only about “making the sale.” Most people sense that cold calls are self-serving to the person calling. You can almost hear the unspoken thought, “You want something, right? Otherwise why would you be calling?” This triggers almost immediate resistance. For cold calling to be done in a non-intrusive way, we must shift the perception away... Read more »

How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling!

Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows. Most of us dislike putting on our “salesperson persona″ when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is. This artificial... Read more »

Cold Calling With Integrity - The Way We’ve Always Wanted To Do Cold Calling!

You probably never tell potential clients your real goal in calling them, but you don’t need to. They′re already aware, because we′re all sensitive when the phone rings and it turns out to be someone we don’t know. In the old traditional training, we learned the latest techniques for making a sale. We talk to “prospects” rather than with people. And we “guide″ conversations along rather than letting them unfold naturally. The way we do this sometimes might even... Read more »

How to Diffuse Cold Calling Pressure Points

Stop your expectations from sabotaging cold calls Sales pressure is a mighty saboteur. And it comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Beginning any conversation with the anticipation of a sale puts the whole conversation under pressure. This doesn′t normally create good outcomes. It usually triggers pressure, resistance, and tension. People have received so many calls with such a strong focus on sales that they respond in a defensive manner to any sales calls at all. If you can release your expectations while... Read more »