Cold calling is such a dirty phrase, isn’t it? With a success rate of around 2 – 3% it should come as no surprise that this one task can make wimps out of winners, cry babies out of tough guys/girls. It’s hard — I’ve had to do it more times than I can count and honestly, it’s one job that I’ve failed to learn to love over the years.
While some people will tell you that it takes a certain kind of person to do it day in and day out, sales expert and Grant Cardone’s second-in-command, Jarrod Glandt tells us its all about planning, practice and persistence in this gem-packed video:
Gotta love how that dull-sounding car salesman, who claims to make 100 cold calls a day, hung up on Jarrod once he tried to get him into a practice session. I kind of wonder if that wasn’t a calculated move from a wealthy and experienced sales VP (Jarrod) who can probably smell a salesman’s B.S. claims from thousands of miles away?
The awesome takeaway, among all the other great advice given in the video was this: Doing one of anything will not get you anywhere. It really is a numbers game, once you’ve nailed down the basics of how to get over the ten-second hump of the phone call where the person decides whether they’re going to hang up or not.
Anyway, I’ll leave you guys with a few sage tips for cold calling to take with you today. If you’re truly stumped, I doubt you could go wrong heading over to Cardone University and signing up for his cold calling course. The man’s a legend in the sales world, after all.
Have a Script
In fact, if you’re easily stressed, you might need two scripts to get you through the first couple of days: one to guide you through the call, and ‘another’ to help you relax and avoid a complete blowout!
Anyhow, all good salespeople tout the benefits of having a refined script that you can use to guide you through the call, and lean on when you get lost or start to crack under the pressure. I love this article on building a good script on Monster’s Sales HQ section, including their advice about foregoing the ineffective and aggravating “How are you today?” opener.
Figure Out What They Want Before Dropping Your Pitch
Hold on there Sonny boy! You haven’t even asked them what they do for a living and you’re already asking if they want to buy your Pneumatic Laser Transcoding device?
Launching into your pitch before finding out more about their needs is something newbs, lazy and downright fed-up salespeople make. Go back to the video and listen to Jarrod’s progressions during the few mock calls he offered up — they’re priceless, really — and he does it so seamlessly.
That could be you one day…
Have a List of Objections and Common Answers to Them Handy
If you have a good script and have made it this far without being hung up on, you’ll need a list of common objections and how to handle them. If you’re forging a new trail on your own, you’ll have to create this list as you go. You might not even figure out how to overcome most objections until after the fact — after you’ve dropped the ball on a particular call and go back and analyze later to figure out what you should have said.
Regardless, study this list often. Practice it with coworkers, or family members if you’re a one man/woman army. Add to it whenever you can. Practice makes perfect, and the more genuine you can make your “objection to the objection” the more effective you’ll be overall.
Here’s a few other goodies to take with you:
- You have to convey energy and enthusiasm. Dare I bring up the boring monotone car salesman from the video above again?
- Don’t pause after saying hello. This shows your inexperience or ineptitude at communicating well with others. Wasting people’s time is a great way for them to justify hanging up! Be flawless, follow your script. Only pause after asking them a question!
- Don’t multitask or dilly-dally while you’re talking. No magazine flipping, reading the latest business advice on here or Noobpreneur, messing with your cell, or watching ‘unmentionable’ content online while talking to a prospect.
- Have a prerecorded message ready for voicemail. This will save your brain and voicebox a LOT of unnecessary work!
- Track your email opens and call those prospects the same day. Win, lose, or draw, you’ll at least know if they’re a prospect or a dud — sooner, rather than later. Hit them while you’re still fresh in their mind.
- Constantly remind yourself that every hang up or rejection is another step closer to closing that big deal. Persistence, my friend. Persistence!
Just do it! Death will come sooner or later and relieve you of all your discomfort!
Share your thoughts/tips in the comments. Looking forward to hearing from you guys!
Main Image Credit: Hartwig HKD/Flickr
