The Art Of The Cold Call

One of the oldest sales techniques is the cold call. It is also one of the most widely ridiculed! One of the main reasons why it is made fun of so mercilessly is plain and simple: most people don't like receiving cold calls. In fact, a lot of people don't like having things "sold" to them at all! You have probably been at the wrong end of a bad cold call once or twice yourself. By having experienced this, you should already realize what the main key to cold calling is: Don't do it the same way everyone else does! You have already lost the battle if someone picks up and thinks, "Oh, great - another cold call." Instead, you need to figure out how to cold call differently.

Firstly, understand that you need to put in some research. A little research can go a long way, and furthermore, you can waste a lot less time. Instead of blindly calling tons of people, hoping you somehow hit the mark somewhere, make sure you are calling people who will be interested in hearing from you. There are plenty of avenues by which you can gather good information to help your cold calls, but research and studies of your own are the most valuable of all.

When the time comes to make the call, have confidence. One of the best ways to achieve the necessary level of confidence - and in fact, one of the best ways to cold call in general - is to have a script. And stick to this script once you have it in place! You do not need a word-for-word script - just a general outline of what you will say, and the order in which you will say it. You can refine your script over time as well. When you find that something in particular works, add it onto the script. When you find that something does not work, take it out.

As you gain more experience, you can start customizing your script depending on the flow of the conversation, or on who you are speaking with. Maybe you will want to soften things up when speaking to a small business owner. Add a more formal tone if you are speaking with a high-ranking executive. You will become more and more adept at making adjustments the more cold calls you have made.

Some companies cut cold calls out of their strategy completely, claiming that they "do not work." But cold calls can be a huge help for your business, provided you know how to do them correctly.

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