Successful cold-calling takes a solid strategy. I know you hate cold-calling. You don’t want to bother people. You don’t want to feel rejection. You’d rather send a cold, impersonal email overloaded with information that the prospect may or may not be interested in and hope you catch them in a good mood. But that’s not effective. And just blindly calling people from a list hoping against hope that they will be interested in what you are trying to sell is a recipe for wasted time and aggravation.
Here’s a simple 4-step formula that will make your cold-calling more effective at setting up appointments and getting sales.
Step One: Do some homework. Before you call someone you don’t know, look them up on Facebook and LinkedIn. Visit their website and business pages. Look at the Facebook groups they are involved in. See who your common connections are. Get to know them and what they are interested in.
Step Two: Craft a script. Write out two or three questions you would like the prospect to answer. Actually write out what you want to say. Be sure to ASK for what you want from the prospect. Along with your script, you should also write out your voicemail message. Make sure you tell them why you are calling and what your next follow-up will be. You might say “I am going to send an email to (recite email address so they know where to check) and will call you back on Friday” or something. But be prepared with a strong message.
Step Three: Practice your script in front of a mirror at least two or three, or maybe a dozen, times. Make sure you are smiling. Your prospect can hear the smile in your voice. Make tweaks to your script. Get comfortable with what you are saying. If you can, visualize the conversation going extremely well so when you do make the actual call, you can call with confidence and expectation of getting a Yes.
Step Four: Actually make the phone calls. Set aside a consistent time every day (or at least a couple days a week) and designate it as your calling time. Get yourself into a habit of calling prospects as part of your daily or weekly routine. The more you call, the better you will get. It’s okay if you get no results from the first couple attempts at cold-calling. It’s a skill that needs to be learned and practiced.
And if you keep in mind the “go for no” approach, you’ll soon be teaching others your successful cold-calling techniques.