If You Must Make A Cold Call…

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As a trainer I get these questions all the time: How do I make a cold call? Should I be making cold calls in the first place? Do cold calls work?

I must be honest–I hate ’em. But if you must make cold calls here are some tips I gave to a client last week as he posed the questions above.

[Head Right]. My fave author, Stuart Wilde, says, “expect nothing. Then you’ll never be disappointed.” Cold calls are no exception. Occasionally, I’ll be driving by a new business and I’ll pick up the phone to talk to the CEO, just to keep my skills sharp. My odds grow with my detachment. I have absolutely no expectation of him picking up the phone or inviting me in. When I’m detached I come across differently–and more inviting. Strange paradox isn’t it? Like a friend says, “the best time to get new business is when you don’t need it.”

[Techinque Right].  Be vulnerable. Don’t be so buttoned up. Tell the truth. It’ll set you free. Say, “John, this is a long shot (it is). I saw your name on a list (if you did) and wondered if I should even call you (you probably had this thought). I have no idea if what I do would have any value to you (you don’t at this point so why assume?). Rather than assume it did or didn’t, I thought I’d call you, tell you the kinds of problems we solve and then you tell me if we should talk (pretty vulnerable, isn’t it?).”

[Intent Right]. Your intent on these is to do one thing and one thing only–determine if it makes any sense to talk further. That’s it. It is not to impress him or get him to ask you over. Keep your itent true and you’ll be more attractive if you must make these calls.

If you’re a sales manager overseeing a team making cold calls–and their performance is awful–then check out their intent. If it’s about “getting appointments” or “pleasing the manager” it won’t work.

Better than cold calls…

Even better for your new business development is a good ‘referral program.’ Begin thinking leverage–how do I use my current clients and associates as a sales force? How can I help them refer me to other prospects or other referral partners? Asking those questions–and coming up with answers–will make cold calling irrelevant. But if you must…there you have it….

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2 replies
  1. GEORGE HECKENDORN
    GEORGE HECKENDORN says:

    WE NEED HELP GETTING WITH AND THRU EVENT COORDINATOR TO THEIR DECIDING COMMITTEE
    OFFERING OUR NO RISK SILENT AUCTION PROGRAMS. WE HAVE BEEN USING COLD PHONE CALL PROSPECTING WITH ONLY MODERATE SUCCESS YET OUR PROGRAMS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE SOME OF THE VERY BEST MOST PROFITABLE IN OUR REALM. HELP

  2. David Elkington
    David Elkington says:

    I work with a Hosted CRM application provider the focuses on the inside sales space (InsideSales.com). Our entire application is build and designed to help sales reps (not telemarketers) effectively sell over the phone. This includes cold calling. I agree, cold calling is not fun. If done effectively, it can generate effective and somewhat cost effective leads. However, I have found that leads generated by cold calling are on average between 2x to 4x more expensive that a company or sales rep can generate via the web (if also done effectively). This is not the whole story though.

    An example:

    We have a customer that uses our system to power dial a list to generate leads. They were able to generate around 1 lead every 1.5 hours. Considering the cost of employees, systems and overhead, they were paying around $100/lead. From the web (using PPC, SEO, and lead providers) they were paying around $20/lead. This seems pretty strait forward, go with the web leads. What’s more, the cold call leads seemed to be less qualified than the web leads. The web leads generated actual buyers. The leads generated from cold calling identifying companies that were at the beginning of the interest cycle. Thus, in the short term the web leads closed better and seemed more effective. However, they saw an unexpected reversal of value in lead sources. Even though the web leads were smaller opportunities and they closed faster and more often. The leads generated from cold calling we very targeted to the industry and size that that worked for this customer. This customer began to close deals greater than the sum of the smaller deals that came from the web. So in the end, cold calling held its own compared to web leads.

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