Making cold calls presents many sales professional with difficulties. But, making these calls does not have to be a challenge or roadblock on the way to success. By following this tried and true method in cold calling, your sales team can be better prepared to pick up the phone and scheduling appointments.
Distract the prospect, before they can turn you away. For example, “Hello, this is Bob Jones. Does my name ring a bell with you?” This shifts the prospect’s thought process from defensive, cold-call resistance to trying to think about whether he or she has connected with you previously.
Ask permission to continue the call. One of the best ways to level the playing field and fight cold call resistance is asking permission to continue the call, whether the prospect remembers you or not. By saying, “I wasn’t sure if you would remember me, but could I mention something else, and we can then see if we have anything to talk about?” you create an environment in which it is ok for the prospect to say no. Many times, prospects agree to continue the call.
Insert your 30-scond commercial. A cold call should not be all about your product, but a quick introduction helps the prospect understand the reason you are calling and peaks interest before more time is dedicated to forming a business relationship. An example of a 30 second commercial would be: “My company is Peak Performance Management, and we help companies like yours solve sales problems and uncover opportunities with their sales efforts.” Then add the different types of problems or opportunities you uncover for other companies.
Ask to be invited in. Asking to be invited to a meeting further helps to reduce a prospect’s defensiveness. By asking questions like: “Do situations like this affect your sales and revenues? If they do, why not set up a date and time when we can meet to talk about this further?” the prospect can realize they need your product or service, rather than trying to force an appointment.
Ask if the prospect will have any reason for canceling the meeting. Handling any rejection or reasons to cancel an appointment allow the level of interest to be discussed, and save you from spending time in dead end appointments. The best way to confirm the prospect is interested is asking, “I have us scheduled to meet at your office on (date and time). Will anything come up to prevent you from meeting with me then?”
If the prospect answers yes, ask questions to help resolve the conflict. If the answer is no, reconfirm the meeting and end the call.
By following this method for cold calls, your sales team can begin to set more appointments and increase the likelihood those appointments will lead to a sale.
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