How to warm up cold calls
Cold calling refers to selling that involves face-to-face or telephone contact with private individuals or businesses without a prior appointment. This important mode of contact between a supplier and a customer can also be an unpopular one, and many a door is slammed in the face of a salesperson trying to organize a sale. Over time, each salesperson develops selling skills that work to his benefit, but some of the following techniques can “warm” up a cold call to lessen the prospect of rejection.
Research and prepare
Before venturing out to start selling a product, do your preparation by researching its unique selling points and how the product will fit into and cater to the intended market. The more knowledgeable the salesperson is about the product, the better the probability of making a sale. Check out the statistics in the area being targeted such as the income and background of the population and the marketability of your product or services to this area. Knowing all aspects of the product makes it easier to use the right sales pitch or respond to queries. Awareness programs in the appropriate areas should be implemented a week or two prior to spearheading your marketing campaign in the area or sector you intend to target. This kind of awareness creates the right environment for the consumer to be approached for your services or products.
Introduce and keep it short
Cold calling involves an introduction that sets the background on how the sale will proceed. Some salespeople are given the chance to proceed with their pitch, while for others it is halted even before they have a chance to begin promoting the product. Rather than being too personal and overly friendly and irritating the listener, it is better to keep the call professional and relevant. The aim is to find ways of holding the attention of the listener so that he wants to find out more about what you are selling. A short introduction summarizing what you do is better than a long pitch that can make the listener impatient or bored. Depending upon the product or service being sold, economical, financial, or political awareness can also make you sound credible and create an interest in the listener.
Look and Listen
During the cold call, do not be the only person talking but engage the prospective customer in a conversation in which he has the chance to express his opinions. Making the customer feel involved without being too personal and intrusive is a good starting point. During a face-to-face cold call, look at the person’s expression and body language and work with him. During a phone call, listen to what the person on the other end is trying to say to you. If you can offer the person what he requires, you will have an opening to work with; but if you insist on reading from the script without any compromise, you have missed that sale.
Firm but friendly
A friendly person with a smile on his face is easier to buy from than someone who is rude or arrogant. If you are a nervous or shy person, cold calling might not be for you as you have to deal with rejections and irritated people quite often. Keeping calm in all scenarios and trying to find a common ground regarding the price or type of product requirement is a far better option than being rigid and not being prepared to negotiate a cheaper price or a discount.
Have a flexible script
Most cold callers work with a prepared script that is used to answer questions or describe the product being sold to prospective buyers. Depending upon company policy, before you initiate a cold call, you should discuss the degree of flexibility regarding price or discounting with the person organizing the cold call. This will give you a chance to negotiate, depending on the buyer’s interest or keenness. Without flexibility, you will sound like a recorded message that most listeners just want to switch off.
Practice makes perfect
Do not let rejection put you off cold calling, but treat it as a learning ground. The more experience you gain of human behavior, the more ways you discover to sell your product while expanding your network of acquaintances. With each call, mistakes are avoided; new ideas are entered into the script, and ways of dealing with new experiences are added to the list. For many salespeople, it helps to keep a diary of notes about how a call could have been improved and how their personal input could have been enhanced. Like many other fields in life, even in sales, the well-known cliché, “practice makes perfect” can definitely hold true.
