Sales Strategies – Confessions of a Cold Caller

I’m thinking your holy grail as a sales professional is to talk to as many customers as possible who have the money, the authority, and the need for what you have to offer. You’re nodding your head in agreement. But here’s the thing: we may differ on how we accomplish this.

Are you cold calling? Working through the usual lists (that everyone else has, including your competition), a list that has the usual suspects, the guy you call week after week?

Let me ask you a question. Which is more important? Spend your time finding clients or talking to qualified clients who have a need right now and attracting them?

Let’s take this one step further.

Which is more productive? Spending hours calling potential clients, requesting precious time (I say requesting, what I mean is ‘begging’, it’s true, and you know it. If in doubt, tell your manager you don’t have appointments this week, go ahead, I dare you you!)

So we agree then, begging time to discuss a solution to a problem that you don’t even know if they have or not? (And yes them I haven’t identified it, what are they doing for 40+ hours a week?) or signing deals with people who want to buy now?

Here’s another thing.

You and I know that timing is everything. How many times has she finally reached out to a customer and finds out that she just signed on with her competition, now has a contract, and doesn’t see the need to revisit the problem for at least another year!

In fact. How long did it take you to arrive at this answer? Days? weeks? months even?

I know what you’re saying now; Although this has been his experience from time to time, he has found success connecting with people in organizations and has had flourishing business relationships and financially rewarding success. I know. As a sales professional, I have done this myself and am known for my ability to make appointments from the coldest of calls. However, I soon realized that it was not about how many dates I made, but about how much time I consumed to do the bare minimum. It was all about how many deals he closed, and doing that was way beyond the realms of cold calling.

I quickly learned that the type of buyer who accepts cold calls was increasingly the type who had too much time (hence the quote) and this held true throughout the sales process as the proposal continued to pass and deadlines and deadlines tightened. reassigned. He wanted to talk to decision makers who were now ready for what he had to offer, or at least felt like they wanted to understand their options so that when they made a decision they could make it quickly.

This is what I mean. As a consumer, when you need something done, do you sit by the phone and wait for the salesperson to call you?

To illustrate: It’s January and your car needs service. What is your job? Do you wait in the vain hope that a qualified mechanic will call you, schedule an appointment, discuss the issues involved, offer a price, and then you can get your car fixed? NOT! You take action. Call them. You ask the questions, get the answers, and then make a decision (and a quick one, since it needs to be done).

You pre-qualified yourself! You didn’t start calling in July saying, “I’m just doing inquiries. In fact, I don’t need to until January.” And even if a shop called you in July (let’s say you did there earlier, and it’s a courtesy call) and your car didn’t need service until January, there’s no way you’re going to take it. more soon! I dare say you will wonder why they were so desperate for business that they called you months in advance!

You see my point. I noticed that the quality of my leads dropped when I reached out via cold calling. I’ve learned that the few times I did get leads through the office, I closed them much more quickly and effectively. The dynamic was also different, I didn’t have the need, they did. What he wanted was more of those types of clients. So I started looking for a way to get them.