The first thing we must mention is that cold calling is still effective. Whether you are a financial advisor, real estate agent, software salesperson, or any other position in sales, you should accept the fact that some of your prospecting will be to people you have never met or spoken to, especially if you are at the beginning of your career. Many salespeople I’ve talked to try to avoid cold prospecting with all their energy. However, if you can mentally overcome the challenges every single one of us faces, it can create some outstanding results.
Here are some tips to help you on an everyday basis, regardless of the type of sales you are doing:
Start Early
The best business prospectors I know swear by doing their cold calling in the morning. They prioritize it and do it before the day gets away from them. If you give your mind time to create excuses, you will talk yourself out of doing it.
Remove Distractions
Clean off your desk. Close your open browser windows. Put your cell phone away and call from a landline. Stop giving your mind excuses to work on different things because it will try to talk you out of it.
Get Warmed Up
Find someone in your office that can roleplay with you. Practice what you are going to say and how you are going to respond to your prospect’s objections or concerns. Always find a way to make the roleplay end with you getting the appointment. By warming up prior to beginning, you will find yourself already in a mental state to be effective right from the start, which will help put you in a rhythm to keep going.
Develop a Rhythm
The hardest part is getting started. Once you have made a couple of calls, you will fall into a rhythm, and each call will become easier to make. You will naturally develop more confidence as you make more phone calls, knock on more doors, ask for more introductions, etc.
It's Okay to Use a Script
Don’t neglect using a script to get started. As you practice with it and get more repetitions, it will become natural to you, and you can begin working on other areas of the call. The script is just a template to help you overcome the anxiety of not knowing what to say. When you have an outline and can reference it live on the call, you will be more confident to simply make the calls.
Just Do It
I know way too many salespeople that are always “getting ready to get ready.” You literally do not need to prepare any more than 1) having the prospect’s contact information and 2) having a script or some idea of what you are going to say when they answer. Additional preparation isn’t going to make you more effective. The practice of actually doing the calls is going to make you more effective.
Once you master this skill, it’s going to put you on another level as a salesperson, if for no other reason than most people WILL NOT DO IT. It does not cheapen your brand to reach out to someone and explain how you can help them. They don’t even know you can help unless you contact them. They may just need to hear from you. Stop making excuses and start making the calls!