Sales & Marketing Consultant, Bestselling Author & Sales Conference Speaker

We have all had the experience of looking at the telephone, holding a list of numbers to call, taking a deep breath and dialing numbers. For many, the experience of cold calling is a painful one. We hear objection after object and no after no. The truth is, cold calling can still be maximized for great results. How can you have success at cold calling? How can you maximize your efforts with cold calling to achieve maximum results?

Strategy
The only element of your cold calling technique and strategy that should be ‘cold’ is the actual dialing of the number. Practice. Practice. Practice. Take the time to practice your script in front of the mirror, or better yet, in front of your friends and family. Friends and family will be your toughest critics and that is exactly what you need in order to fine-tune your cold calling strategy. A great technique is to make sure that the script you are using for your calls doesn’t sound scripted. Don’t use words or phrases that are unnatural. Keep it simple, keep it short and keep it to the point.

Overcoming Objections
Before you pick up the phone for the first time to dial a potential customers number, make sure you have familiarized yourself with the most common objections that you will encounter. The key is to not sound scripted. Take a few minutes each day to go over the most common objections and speak out loud your rebuttal. Simply put, a cold call should be treated in the same fashion that you would treat an in-person sales call. The only difference is that the conversation is via the telephone. And never forget to smile! The old saying that your smile can be heard in your voice still remains true.

Numbers
In the end, cold calling is a matter of numbers. A great way to avoid becoming discouraged is to remind yourself that every ‘no’ you hear simply means that you are one-step closer to hearing a ‘yes’. The moment you start to get discouraged, you need to step away from the phone. When you are in a negative mindset or a frustrated mindset, this will reflect in your voice. Your voice will sound anxious and even desperate. Try to stay as calm and as positive as you can and the minute you feel your energy start to drop off, simply call it a day. Cold calling should be part of your strategy for marketing your business, but it is not your only resource. When the time comes to put the phone down, simply take 10 minutes to refresh and start on your next task on your agenda.

Happy Marketing!
Sean
(Image Creative Commons)
Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

In today’s marketing world of high-powered ad campaigns and high-tech internet marketing, its easy to overlook to lowly telephone. However, this simple device is still the lifeline of most business, and its often the best way to communicate with current and future clients.

People respond much better to a phone call than they do to a lot of other sales devices. Not only is a phone call much more personalised than, say, an email or a Facebook wall post, but it gives you an opportunity to tailor your speech to what the customer wants to hear, and gives you an opportunity to overcome their objections.

However, as powerful a technique as the phone call is, it also provides you with considerably more opportunity to alienate your clients that you get with most other sales techniques. Follow these three techniques to optimise your results when calling clients over the phone.

Bypass the Guards

As they say in sales, timing is everything. This is true in the most literal sense when you’re dealing with telephone marketing. The time of the day that you call can make or break you chances of success.

If you are calling a new client while they’re at work, you run the risk of getting stopped by gatekeepers, particularly if they’re a busy professional or manager. Gatekeepers are the secretaries and administrative personnel who surround your potential client or partner, and insist on taking a message. Bypass them by calling after before 9 am or after 5 pm. They’ll have gone home, leaving your client to take calls for themself.

Avoid Calling Your Clients at Home

Lastly, you run a risky gambit by calling people at home after work. People’s schedules vary widely, and you can never be sure that you’re calling at an appropriate time when you reach someone at home during the week. Calling a client during dinner or while they’re unwinding later is one sure fire to ruin the relationship. Unless it’s an emergency, save it for the daytime or the weekend.

Always Smile

Its sounds silly, but make sure that you’re happy while you’re talking to your clients. You can project confidence and enthusiasm through the telephone, and a lot of this is controlled by whether you’re smiling and thinking enthusiastically about building the relationship or selling your product.

On this same note, make sure to sound professional. Even more so than in face-to-face conversation, you can’t rely on pauses like “um” and “uh” to break up your sentences in a telephone call, and you must remember to be polite, and fill your speech with “thank you” and other words of consideration.

By following these few simple tips, you can improve your existing client relationships, and build new ones, over the telephone.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

Do you feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall when you make hundreds of cold calls each day?

If so, then you’re not alone.

But have you tried prospecting online via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook?If not, then you need to get involved. It’s the future of prospecting and soon my latest book will reveal all on how to do it – step by step!

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Sales Guru Brian Tracy has said of my book:

“In today’s challenging sales environment, you need all the help you can get! This fast-moving book shows you how to attract more prospects and make more sales – the modern way.”

Brian Tracy – Author, The Psychology of Selling

So are you in?

Get on over and download your copy of my FREE REPORT The Sales Person’s Crisis right now!

I’ll let you know when the solution is out!

Best

Sean

Sean McPheat
http://www.seanmcpheat.com

Yup – we’re back to cold calling. I know exactly why you hate it so much. It’s the introduction – breaking the ice – that makes things rough. You don’t really want to make the call and the person on the other end really doesn’t want to listen to you.

So what do you need to do in order to a) make your life easier and b) keep your potential prospect on the phone? Try doing the following right at the beginning of each call:

1. Let your prospect know exactly how much time you need – 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. Whatever it is – be true to your word.
2. Make sure your prospect knows why you’re calling – to set up an appointment review something, provide information, or to make a sale.
3. Tell your prospect why he should stay on the phone. Relate your call to something he is familiar with – a previous phone conversation you’ve had or an informational package you mailed the week before.

Getting your clients to relate to your call is paramount. The sooner you can do so the more likely it is they’ll be willing to stay on the phone and hear what you have to say. Are they too busy to talk? Set up a better time to call back. Keep your phone calls quick and to the point. Doing so will ensure you don’t waste the valuable time of your prospects – or your own!

Sean

http://www.seanmcpheat.com